SAMs Work Smart, Look Smart This Spring

The DowntownDC BID’s Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance (SAM) employees have a new look and some new tools this spring that will have them working smart and looking smart in DowntownDC.

 

First, you may notice that SAMs, the caretakers of DowntownDC, outfitted in red, white and black uniforms, will be checking smartphones and speaking into push-to-talk headsets. These are BID-issued technology devices designed to make Safety/Hospitality SAMs more efficient and better able to serve visitors, residents and workers in Downtown each day. Instead of calling in to the SAM dispatch office for assistance via two-way radio, or logging their daily interactions and street defects on paper and submitting them for responses and data collection, SAMs are now using handheld devices, creating a paperless and streamlined process.

 

“No longer will SAMs use paper to fill out their daily log forms,” said BID Director of Operations Everett Scruggs.

 

Instead, data on visitor needs, street defects and interactions will be immediately transmitted to a web portal. That data will be more easily analyzed to help BID management learn where to deploy SAMs and how to better serve the Downtown community. A new, real-time Geographic Information System (GIS) will enable BID staff to immediately provide assistance in case of emergencies.

 

The public is encouraged to continue approaching SAMs for assistance as they see them using these new devices.

 

Safety/Hospitality SAMs are tasked with providing customer service, offering help, advice, directions and assistance to anyone on the streets of Downtown. SAMs are also trained to assist in emergency situations and are certified to use automated external defibrillator (AED) devices, which are now located in all SAM vehicles and kiosks.

 

SAM Maintenance staff maintain the streets of Downtown, removing trash and recycling, graffiti, stickers, gum, logging sidewalk issues and other defects and beautifying the streets with fresh paint on light poles and benches.

 

SAM Maintenance staff will now utilize two-way radios from the Safety/Hospitality SAMs to support their own safety while working. This will also help decrease response time for addressing street defects, a process that is now automated.

 

“This new data collection effort is beneficial to how we run our operation here,” Scruggs said.

 

There are also now more Maintenance SAMs serving Downtown. Maintenance SAMs have added a new team  of employees this year (14 SAMs and one supervisor) who will work a new evening shift from 1:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. to directly accommodate Downtown’s growing nightlife. (Safety/Hospitality SAMs already have an established evening shift.)

 

SAMs are also sporting a new look this spring. Gone are the red and blue uniforms of years past. Maintenance SAMs are now outfitted in red polo shirts, red jackets and black pants with red braid coupled with red hats that have black brims. Safety/Hospitality SAM’s are outfitted with white aviator shirts with red epaulets, red and black color-block jackets and black pants with red braid. Women will now have female-style uniforms and red crossover ties. SAM name plates will now be silver-colored and supervisors will sport gold-colored name plates. The new uniforms were supplied by D.C. vendor Jimmie Muscatello and by Aramark.

 

“I’m getting more compliments than ever before on the SAMs new look,” Scruggs said. “Special thanks should go out to SAM Business Manager, Jalal Chaoui, Safety/Hospitality supervisor Teresa Savoy and zone cleaner supervisor Blanca Ramirez, who along with our communications department were instrumental in developing the new color scheme and look, which were approved by the SAM uniform committee.”

 

SAMs will soon be engaged in a spring beautification push, which will include installing approximately 175 hanging baskets of flowers on street lamps throughout Downtown in the month of June.

 

Downtown spring cleaning is also going into effect with SAMs revving up their pressure washing, light pole painting and surface cleaning. SAMs will also be focusing on their graffiti removal program, which has successfully reduced the number of graffiti incidents in Downtown. Today, the BID removes reported graffiti within 48 hours due to a conscientious zone cleaning team including one dedicated maintenance SAM who checks and removes graffiti daily. You will also be able to see SAMs this spring using one of the BID’s two sophisticated gumbusting machines to remove gum from sidewalks.