Criticism of the Downtown Ambassador proposal has been sharp. Comments from the public included in the FOIA response to The A2 Indy about the Ambassador program range from mild to spicy.  

by P.D. Lesko

THE BOARD OF the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority issued a request for proposals (RFP) in Aug. 2014 to hire a company to welcome visitors to downtown Ann Arbor, and to police the confines of the DDA district in a variety of ways.

The 18-page RFP, released to The Ann Arbor Independent in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, lays out in detail the DDA’s desire to have what the proposal dubs “an extra set of eyes and ears” downtown.

Critics argue that Downtown Ambassadors are no substitute for the beat cops whose jobs were eliminated six years ago.

In 2009, after eliminating six downtown beat cops, former Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones told members of the Main Street Area Association that he could provide additional police protection – for a price.

Prior to the 2009 cuts, six officers were assigned to the downtown: Main Street, State Street and South University Avenue.

“I’d be willing to give you those beat officers back, but you’re going to have to pay for them,” Jones told the merchants in 2009.

He pitched a contract for services that went nowhere.

In June 2013, a resolution asking the Downtown Development Authority to fund three new downtown police officers was introduced by Council Members Jane Lumm (I-Ward 2), Sally Hart Petersen (D-Ward 2) and Sumi Kailasapathy (D-Ward 1). That resolution was approved by an 8-2 vote: Christopher Taylor and Margie Teall voted against asking the DDA to fund beat cops.

In May 2013, Lumm proposed an increase in police staffing from 146 to 149 full-time employees, at a cost of $270,000. She proposed funding the expense with a reduction in the 15th District Court budget. Court Administrator Keith Zeisloft told council the reduction could have resulted in laying off three of six probation officers.

Council members Sabra Briere (D-Ward 1), Sally Hart Petersen (D-Ward 2), Christopher Taylor and Chuck Warpehoski (D-Ward 5) voted against Lumm’s proposal.

Pols have steadfastly focused on the number of crimes committed—a number which has decreased along with the number of police officers employed. Criminal justice experts suggests, instead, that clearance rates paint a much more accurate picture of the effectiveness of local policing.  In 2013, the AAPD reported 6,440 crimes total to the Michigan State Police, 65 percent of which remained uncleared. In 2012, the AAPD reported 6,836 crimes, 70 percent of which remained uncleared.

Since 2011, over 9,000 crimes reported to the AAPD by victims remained unsolved. The AAPD’s clearance rates for sex crimes ranged from 0 to 33 percent in 2013. According to Michigan State Police records, the AAPD’s clearance rate of 29 instances of “SEXUAL PENETRATION PENIS/VAGINA CSC 1ST” in 2013 was 24 percent. In human terms, 22 of 29 victims’ sex crimes were not cleared.

Over the past six years, DDA officials and City Council members have sparred over the elimination of downtown beat cops and whether the DDA should fund the service. During the 2015 Council budget discussions, Council members Jane Lumm (I Ward 2), Jack Eaton (D-Ward 4), Sumi Kailasapathy (D-Ward 1) and Mike Anglin (D-Ward 5) sponsored a budget amendment to increase police staffing.

The proposal would have increased the number of police officers by five instead of an increase of three, as proposed by the city administrator. The Council members proposed that funding come from a reduction in the 15th District Court budget. The resolution also included a request that the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority fund three downtown beat cops.

After 24 minutes of discussion, the proposed budget amendment was voted down 7-4. Sabra Briere, Chris Taylor, Steve Kunselman (D-Ward 3) and Chuck Warpehoski (D-Ward 5) are the Council members still serving who shot down the proposal.

Three months later, in Aug. 2014, the DDA quietly issued the RFP to find a company to provide Ambassadors for the city’s downtown, a proposal that could, if implemented, cost $899,000 between 2015 and 2018.

Criticism of the proposal has been sharp. Comments from the public included in the FOIA response to The A2 Indy about the Ambassador program range from mild to spicy.

“As a former long-term, non-student resident of Ann Arbor,” one email to the DDA begins, “I have to say that this is one of worst ideas I’ve seen in quite a long time. To put this into perspective, how do greeters at Walmart make you feel? To me, they’re quite creepy….”

A post to the DDA’s Facebook page says, “….Use the money for shelter for homeless people instead of this stupid program. If it’s panhandlers you’re afraid of how about a cop to walk around downtown?”

Yet another email about the proposed Ambassador program from a self-identified “younger person,” resorted to the equivalent of electronic shouting: “YOU ARE EMBARRASSING YOUTSELF, DDA. SERIOUSLY. STOP. JUST STOP.”

Kelly Lopez and Carol Rubelman own Peaceable Kingdom, on Main Street. The merchants sent a letter to the DDA in which they write, “To put this program at the shocking expense being proposed into our area seems totally against the character of Ann Arbor.”

The two business owners go on to urge the DDA to “to explore the feelings of those most affected by this program in a public meeting.”

All downtown business owners would be impacted if only because a part of an Ambassadors’ job, according to the RFP issued by the DDA, would be to  “kindly informing downtown business owners when they may be in violation of city codes, i.e. sidewalk clearance, snow removal and graffiti removal.”

The DDA Board members also asked Block by Block to submit reports of “persons engaged in socially unacceptable behaviors.”

The members of the DDA Board in favor of entering into a contract with the Kentucky-based company Block by Block also hope to have the contractor develop a volunteer program. Ann Arbor residents would be given an opportunity to work “sprucing up” the downtown.

Not all of the members of the DDA Board support the Abassador program.

“My biggest holdup is that I don’t see the problem that some other folks see,” DDA Board member McWilliams. He called the almost $900,000 for the Ambassadors “a relatively large expenditure to fix a problem I don’t see.”

Rishi Narayan owns Underground Printing. That DDA Board member said of the program: “In theory, it could be a cool idea, but the return on the money is a long-term thing, and I think we can use that money for short-term problems and issues.”

The Ann Arbor News published an editorial in which the paper’s writers criticized the DDA’s proposed Ambassador program:

“As DDA members explored establishing an ambassador service prior to their vote, they cited rationale ranging from addressing public drunkenness to general hospitality. We have heard concerns from residents regarding a number of the more-pressing matters. We fail to see any need for the DDA to provide a Band-Aid solution with this program. If crime or public disturbances have reached a level that need addressing, it is the responsibility for our public safety leaders to seek solutions.”

In contractor Block by Block’s cost summary, five Ambassadors would work a total of 152 hours combined and be paid at a rate of $12.70 per hour. The DDA would be billed at a rate of $22.17 per Ambassador hour. Team leaders would be paid $13.70 per hour and the DDA billed at a rate of $23.42. Finally, supervisors would earn $20.43 per hour and the DDA billed by the contractor at a rate of $31.84.