Olympia Downtown Ambassadors and Clean Team honored for 10 years of service to the community

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The Olympia City Council honored the men and women in the Olympia Downtown Ambassador Program and Clean Team for their 10 years of service in extending business support and hospitality services to residents and making the downtown clean.

After reading the proclamation at the council meeting yesterday, the Downtown Ambassadors and Clean Team received a standing ovation from the council and people present.

The Olympia Downtown Ambassador Program and Clean Team programs were launched in July 2012.

"These two programs have routinely been recognized and identified integral parts of adding to the vibrancy of downtown," the proclamation stated. "[They] are a true embodiment of the vision that the city holds of 'a vibrant, healthy, beautiful capital city'."

Statistics of services

Mike Reid, Olympia Economic Development director, said they considered it a "big deal" having rendered services through the years.

He said the Clean Team has averaged covering 803 grafitti tags per month since 2018, or a total of 48,208 tags. "If each of those tags were 2 feet by 2 feet, that would equal 192,832 sq.ft. or nearly 4.5 acres."

Reid added the ambassadors walk on average 9 miles a day, covering downtown – nearly 250 miles a year.

According to Reid, Katherine Trahan has been an ambassador for seven and a half years. "That means she has walked the equivalent of 16,875 miles, roughly the equivalent of walking to Vermont and back, three times."

Over the last five years, Reid noted that the Clean Team had disposed of an average of 440 bags of garbage per month or an estimated 26,400 bags. "If each of those bags of garbage weighs 10 pounds, that's 132,000 tons of garbage that they have picked up. That's more than an aircraft carrier."

"So when [we say] it's a big deal, it's a big deal. These folks have provided a tremendous service to our community," Reid said as he demonstrated the services of people from these programs.

Councilmember Jim Cooper thanked the Ambassadors and the Clean Team. "Downtown has been the cleanest in 10 years because we instituted these programs, and we made it a city program with a living wage and a pension."

Cooper hopeful that the city will continue supporting the programs and growing and expanding more services.

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