About a year ago, the DowntownDC BID created a new department, Public Space Management (PSM), to help strengthen the quality of life in Downtown. The four-person unit has moved briskly to create positive changes in three major program areas: field asset management, security, and homelessness. We recently provided extensive information about activity in the Homeless Services program and will examine Security Initiatives going forward. For now, read on to learn more about the Field Asset Management program, charged with enhancing Downtown’s overall physical environment and the pedestrian experience.
One of the program’s goals is to find and report public space defects and have them resolved. Through stick-to-itiveness and constant surveillance, and by building relationships with government agencies, utilities and property managers, PSM’s work in this area has already paid measureable dividends.
- Through June 30th, the DowntownDC BID area has seen a 10% improvement in sidewalks, parks, streets, alleyways, and other public space assets, thanks primarily to new reporting standards and methods that we’ve implemented. Thus, 30% of the 619 service requests made to city agencies and utilities about public space deficiencies in the past year have been honored. Although more still needs to be done, this is a big step toward addressing the area’s most common problems: needed sidewalk, streetlight and street repairs and signage and traffic signal maintenance.
- PSM created a Field Asset Management (FAM) Team made up of specially-trained Downtown Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance employees (SAMs) in March. Since then, the FAM Team—trained using the new reporting methods to convey everything from loose sidewalk pavers and graffiti to faulty street signs located on Downtown streets—has registered nearly 450 unique public space deficiencies. The BID’s Operations department, where the SAMs reside, handled some of the defects internally. But PSM also submitted deficiency reports, along with photographs, to the appropriate city agencies or utilities for resolution. The SAMs now use iPhones and a mobile app to assist with improving public space asset and condition tracking and reporting.
- Tying all of this together is a Public Space Conditions Database, developed over the course of this fiscal year and completed in May. Previously, the BID had no formal or centralized location where we stored tracked information. A functioning database and mobile field app now integrate geographic information system (GIS) capabilities, reporting tools, and even an open DC 311 system. Together, the database and mobile field app allow users to report problems instantly about permanent, fixed assets such as streetlights and sidewalks to variable problems such as vandalism and abandoned bicycles. The application will also be used to conduct PSM’s quarterly homeless counts.
- The Public Space Working Group made up of more than a dozen local and national government agencies and utilities—including entities such as the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), the Department of Public Works (DPW), the DC Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA), Washington Gas and Pepco (701 9th Street)—plays a critical role in these efforts. The group receives weekly updates about public space information that the BID collects and meets bi-monthly. At the meetings, industry and city partners review unresolved service requests to find ways to expedite them and share updates, including progress made on major projects. In addition, the BID provides feedback and addresses property managers’ questions and concerns.
To keep property managers throughout the one-square mile BID area in the loop about these and other developments, PSM created a Property Managers’ Forum Blog in January. It’s an online portal where they can get activity updates, including on public and town hall meetings, homeless success stories, and other public space events. The blog has received a few thousand views and also contains city agency resources, links to media and news sites, and frequently updated stories about Downtown.
In addition to this communication tool and all the quality assurance work, PSM helps the BID keep track of a beloved Downtown people pleaser: sidewalk cafes.
During the summer, it conducts an annual inventory of the cafes, considered a true indicator of street life and a clear measure that Downtown is becoming a place where people can, and want to, have remarkable urban experiences. Although the BID has conducted an inventory of outdoor cafes since 2009, this year marks the first time that our staff can utilize mobile devices to instantly update data while in the field, ensuring that data gets collected in a more efficient and effective manner.
Cool? We think so, and we hope that you like all we’re doing to improve the quality of life in Downtown. David Kamperin, formerly a commander with DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is director of the Public Space Management department. To reach him or members of his staff, please call 202.638.3232.