“Our on-site Supervision is unmatched because we understand how to collaborate with municipal government and how to leverage both public and private assets to create the managed environment that our stakeholders desire—we operate as a supplemental service to Improvement Districts, extending the services offered by the district and establishing a strong sense of stewardship for the district.”
We are a full-service Business Improvement District Management firm—having spent the past two decades managing and providing services to District Management Corporations, CDS understands how to collaborate with municipal government and how to leverage both public and private assets to create the managed environment that our partner communities desire.
Our BID management program includes three core service areas that are critical to a successful public space management program: Management & Placemaking; Maintenance & Beautification; and Quality-of-Life Management.
Management & Placemaking
We are an executive management team with more than twenty years of experience supporting District Management Corporations from their first year of operation to some that have been in business for two decades. Our seasoned team of managers apply a high level of skill to each element of Executive Management, including: Budgeting/Finance, Insurance/Risk Management, Board Management and Policy Development, Program Development and Implementation, and Government Relations.
The concept of placemaking speaks to our core mission—the revitalization and activation of a public space—making sure each district and public space we serve becomes the best it can be. CDS supports improvement districts and private real estate managers in planning and implementing programs through its project management services. CDS Project Managers work closely with clients and stakeholders to identify specific program activities; recruit vendors and other project consultants; implement project work plans; and provide Manager/Ambassador staffing for programs and events.
CDS Project Managers work closely with BID managers and at their request we often take on a support staff title, such as Operations Manager or Special Projects Coordinator, to assist in the development and implementation of a broad range of programs, including:
- Farmers’ Markets
- Streetscape Improvements
- Capital Investments/Budgeting
- Event Management
- Police/Safety Management
- District Video Surveillance
- Wi-Fi Networking.
Maintenance & Beautification
A clean and beautifully landscaped district is perhaps the best marketing tool that a District Management Corporation can employ. In each district where CDS works, a team of enthusiastic, community minded players are assembled to serve as “Clean Team Ambassadors” for the district.
Ambassadors are recruited from the communities where we serve and have the opportunity to take part in on-the-job training to help deliver great customer service in several key areas, including: Litter Control/Manual Street Sweeping, Graffiti Removal, Landscaping, Pressure Washing, Planter Watering and Snow Removal.
Our Clean Team Ambassadors report directly to supervisors who are trained in municipal code management and understand how to interface with stakeholders on issues related to public/private sanitation pick-up, illegal dumping and prohibited trash handling practices.
We also offer landscaping and planting services for commercial districts and public spaces. Our full suite of services includes spring/fall clean-ups, annual plantings, planter installation, tree removal and trimming, lawn cutting, hydro-seeding and other specialized landscaping services.
Quality-of-Life Management
Chief among quality-of-life management activities is the perception of safety and the implementation of public safety strategies and resources to treat three core issues: Homelessness/Panhandling, Code Enforcement and Police/Safety presence.
Within these three focus areas, CDS managers work with local government and elected officials to deploy uniformed safety managers, partner with local law enforcement and advocate for directed police patrols to treat the following: Sleeping in public, panhandling, disorderly conduct, illegal vending, prohibited trash handling practices, building/sign violations, hazardous conditions, damage to public amenities and street lamp outages.
Our Safety Managers maintain excellent relations with local police departments, public utility companies and private property management companies to ensure that proper communications are shared and that timely responses are made to threats to quality-of-life and other hazardous situations.