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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Wilmington to hold public hearings on downtown ambassador program

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Knowing a proposal to establish a so-called “municipal service district” for downtown will elicit strong responses from residents, the Wilmington City Council voted in favor of holding public input sessions as it considers the plan.

The council’s vote to move forward came after Ed Wolverton, president of Wilmington Downtown Inc., delivered a presentation on how the municipal service district would work. The council had asked Wilmington Downtown Inc. to examine and report on how a service district could be implemented, which it did through a task force.

If enacted, the proposal for a service district would bring ambassadors to downtown, covering the central business district, an area from west of the Cape Fear River to Davis Street at the north, Nun Street to the south and Fifth Avenue to the east.

The proposal will be controversial, both Wolverton and council members agreed, particularly as it will cost $0.07 per $100 of assessed property value within the district’s boundaries, generating approximately $276,000. For property owners, it would be a cost of $70 per year for every $100,000 in assessed value.

“There will be opposition,” Wolverton said. “People see it as a tax.”

The ambassadors would conduct daytime and early evening patrols, as well as be on duty for special events, where they could help guide visitors and locals alike to services and amenities in the downtown central business district.

Wolverton said the ambassadors would wear a casual uniform, likely a polo shirt. And while they would receive some safety training, they won’t be officers or carry weapons.

“It’s helpful, it’s friends, it’s not coming at it from a law enforcement perspective,” Wolverton said.

Wolverton said the ambassadors would help serve a number of functions, including helping deter crime, keeping areas clean, guiding residents to social services and assisting visitors with finding venues and other helpful information. The program would also help fund more marketing programs and promotional material for downtown economic development.

Overall, a tentative budget for the municipal service district would devote 40 percent of the funding for safety and security through the ambassador program, with another 25 percent going to cleaning, 15 percent for administration and 9 percent for economic development.

Wolverton noted that 56 other North Carolina cities and towns have municipal service districts, including Charlotte, Asheville, Durham and Winston-Salem, which the task force studied before issuing its report.

Council member Kevin O’Grady said the presence of ambassadors would benefit downtown.

“They’re another set of eyes and a call for help if you need it,” O’Grady said. “For our visitors, and we have a lot of them, this could be a good thing.”

After the presentation, the council voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing on the municipal service district proposal.

Mayor Bill Saffo, who said he supported the effort to establish the municipal service district, said he believed that it would be helpful to have multiple meetings on the proposal, which could include a public meeting as well as a public hearing.

“There are people out there that may be supportive of it if they understand the particulars of it,” Saffo said. “There’s been a lot of misinformation.”

Timing would be a concern, O’Grady noted, as the council would have to approve the service district by June 1 for it to be considered in the 2016-17 budget cycle.

Saffo countered that he wanted to make sure the city “did it right” when implementing the program, and would rather the program be delayed a year rather than rush through a proposal.

“Whether we have the MSD this year or next year, it’s not going to change the outlook of what downtown looks like,” Saffo said.

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