A Day In The Life Of A Downtown Ambassador

8 November 2006 - 7:00am

In downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, a new group of citizens are giving their city's image a boost by providing a variety of services, from picking up litter to redirecting lost visitors.

"Financed through a voluntary charge on downtown property, [the downtown Raleigh ambassadors] help smooth out a downtown that still shows wrinkles, showing their best manners to the visitors Raleigh is desperate to attract, staying out till midnight, even on Saturdays.

The ambassadors, six in all, work for the Downtown Raleigh Alliance through a contract with Kentucky-based Block-by-Block, which provides cleanup and security in cities nationwide."

Full Story: A Capital idea
Source: The News & Observer, November 7, 2006
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The areas where we have severe blight and indications of more blight to come are basically the same as they ever were. How in the world are we ever going to move our community development selves into an alternative future that thinks differently about the challenges we face in our cities and low-income suburban and rural communities?