The DowntownDC BID was delighted to welcome foreign visitors from Adelaide, South Australia and the United Kingdom last month. A 20-member delegation from the Urban Development Institute of Australia comprised of local government officials, developers and consultants took a tour of Downtown development. D.C. was one of four cities that the group visited. (The others included Dallas, New York and Boston.) Their one-day expedition here included an economic development-transportation-sustainability orientation at the BID office, followed by a walking tour of the CenterCityDC and Gallery Place developments, both of which represent major Downtown projects that used public/private partnerships to revitalize the Center City. Bill McLeod, executive director of the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District (CID), provided a tour of the City Vista Development, while Claire Schaeffer, deputy executive director of the Capitol Riverfront BID, gave the group a walking tour of that area. Their visit ended with another walking tour, of the redeveloped public space in Columbia Heights. Otto Condon, a principal with ZGF Architects, which designed the space, led the site visit.
Always eager to share information and ideas, the BID also hosted The Welcome People, which provides visitor welcome and street management services for seven BIDs in the UK. Their “ambassadors,” similar to our Downtown SAMs, are strategically positioned at some of the UK’s best known destinations and don iconic English clothing and caps. Richard T. Reinhard, deputy executive director of the DowntownDC BID, and the BID’s economic development manager met with the company’s partners, David Miller and Calvin Lacock. Both visitors—who met with Rich Bradley, the BID’s executive director, during two visits he made to the Victoria BID—also took a walking tour of Downtown D.C., ending their trip on a hearty note at Hill Country (410 7th Street), the Texas BBQ people.