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So the word on the street is that come July 1, an out-of-state company will hire a dozen or so city hosts, dress them up like bumblebees and have them patrol Pacific Ave. daily. Seriously.
Their mission is to thwart illegal, annoying and disruptive activity on the strip in hopes of rejuvenating the bottom line for local businesses.
Their price tag is a jaw-dropping $130,000, which will be paid out to Service Group Inc., a company based in Pennsylvania, by the Downtown Management Corp.
Euphemistically known as “city hosts,” these ridiculously dressed employees — they will wear yellow polos and black pants “in such a way that is clearly visible and attractively displayed” (direct quote from the company’s website) — will patrol downtown and report loiterers and panhandlers to the police.
And if precedent has any bearing, this idealistically Orwellian plot to scrub our city clean of what the local businesses deem as “undesirables” will flop. And flop big time.
The idea of a city host program is by no means a new one. In 1994, the Downtown Association funded a similar and cheaper program that within a few months succumbed to failure. Some of their problems included high employee turnover because of low wages, disorganization and ineffectiveness.
Earlier this year, the city jumped in the mix by passing a set of controversial ordinances that required jail time for repeat loitering and panhandling offenders, increased fines for the same charges and implemented laughable restrictions on the time someone could sit on a bench downtown. These changes were overwhelmingly supported by local businesses. Obviously, they feel they’ve failed.
Even more recently, the bus station downtown began playing classical music through cheap, plastic speakers in front of the station in hopes of spurning panhandling. I guess it was infeasible for the city to install speakers for the length of the strip that would give justice to Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” Or maybe local businesses owners just don’t dig the Romantics.
Worse yet, Service Group Inc. hasn’t proven they’re worth a dime. The company has run several similar programs in cities like San Jose, Denver and Camden, N.J. Most of us know what San Jose looks like — for those locals claiming downtown isn’t even worth seeing here in Santa Cruz, I suggest you take a brisk walk through downtown San Jose at night. I also suggest you bring mace, knives and a gun. As for Camden, N.J., one research firm named Camden the second most dangerous city in America last year. That dubious award came three years after Service Group Inc. was hired to reduce crime in the city.
Most importantly, what are we supposed to make of this price tag? As most people realize by now, we’re in the midst of a severe economic crisis. The state of California is about to hijack over a million dollars from the city of Santa Cruz. On top of that, the city is facing the largest deficit since Santa Cruz’s birth as an American town in 1876. There are hundreds of other programs and organizations that are more deserving of $130,000 in this climate. Obviously, the Downtown Management Corp., which is funded by local business owners, can do what it wants with its money. But it seems overly simplistic and irrational to assume that dumping well over $100,000 into a Orwellian snitch program can really reignite sales downtown.
If we really want the homeless off the streets of downtown, and that’s what this program really intends to do, then we need to invest that $130,000 in cheap housing, medical and psychiatric care and job reeducation programs.
Increasing the police force — something many people have suggested — and hiring goons in bumblebee outfits will do nothing to reduce loitering and panhandling, and certainly will not lead to an explosion of sales downtown in this economic environment.
I’m afraid that in hopes of making a few extra dollars, the city and local business owners are forgetting what Santa Cruz is about. We’re here together in this tiny speck on the map, whether we like it or not, so let’s make it work together.
Rather than invest huge sums of cash in programs that are destined to fail or at best bandaid an aging wound, the Downtown Management Corp. should invest in a working cure.
Click here to read more of Daniel’s writing at his blog.
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DanielWilkinson Co-founder of the Cournalist. |
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