PID Services
Public Improvement District No. 1 (see map below) provides a range of services to that area. Those services are funded by an annual assessment included in property taxes. And those services are carried out by the staff of City Center Waco, acting with direction from the Public Improvement District Board of Trustees.
More than half of the annual PID budget goes to “Clean and Safe” services which include a large range of tasks. We stay on top of landscaping and maintenance items and also constantly monitor the bird hotspots downtown and clean them regularly. Graffiti is something else we track, report and have removed expeditiously.
We try to be the eyes always on this core of Downtown Waco and address issues ourselves or report them to other agencies to resolve. To those ends, we employ a full-time staff member to circulate through downtown making note of things, addressing issues himself and being an all-around ambassador for the PID.
The PID also funds a night patrol that monitors the district via a marked vehicle and addresses specific issues as needed.
If you notice any clean or safe issues Downtown you can help us out by reporting them here. This site at the link helps us collect, resolve, and report on these kinds of issues.
Beautification of the district is also a task we happily tackle often working with community partners on items such as holiday décor and public art.
This website and the Downtown Waco social media is also a service of the PID, which has tasked itself with marketing Downtown in order to draw more business and life to the area. And the PID does some light programming with the same intention, of attracting people to the area.
City Center Waco staff, on behalf of the PID, also regularly advocates for the district while working closely with a list of partners including the City of Waco.
If you have any questions about PID services, please contact us at 254-754-898 or [email protected]
City Center Waco – Main Street
Program
Waco was selected as a Main Street community in 2014. Waco Main Street joins approximately 90 other downtown and commercial districts in Texas all using Main Street’s proven four-point approach to commercial district revitalization. Waco is a proud affiliate member of the state and national network of main street communities.
What is Main Street? – A Grassroots Network
Made up of small towns, mid-sized communities and urban commercial districts like Waco, the thousands of organizations, individuals, volunteers and local leaders that make up Main Street America™ represent the broad diversity that makes this country so unique. Working together, the Main Street America Network helps to breathe new life into the places people call home.
The Heart of Communities
The Main Street movement grew out of a recognition that a community is only as strong as its core. In an era when many people had given up hope about the commercial and cultural viability of downtown, and when suburbs, shopping malls and big box retailers were dominating the American landscape, this seemed like an unlikely proposition. But, over the last four decades, the Main Street movement has proven that downtowns are the heart of our communities.
A Movement of Community Changemakers
Main Street empowers communities to set their own destinies. While revitalization is challenging work, the Main Street program offers a road-map for locally-owned, locally-driven prosperity. Across the country, thousands of communities have used the Main Street Approach to transform their economies, leverage local leadership and improve overall quality of life.
Main Street Fundamentals
The Main Street Approach is centered around Transformation Strategies. A Transformation Strategy articulates a focused, deliberate path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown or commercial district’s economy. A program’s work on Transformation Strategies should be organized around the Four Points: Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion and Organization. A revitalization program’s work—and its Transformation Strategies—need to be informed by a solid understanding of local and regional market data and sustained, inclusive community engagement.
The Four-Point Approach
Successful downtown revitalization doesn’t occur due to one strategy or action. It takes targeted, concerted effort in the four general categories below. We have volunteer committees that concentrate on each of these Four Points.
ECONOMIC VITALITY focuses on capital, incentives and other economic and financial tools to assist new and existing businesses, catalyze property development and create a supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators that drive local economies.
DESIGN supports a community’s transformation by enhancing the physical and visual assets that set the commercial district apart.
PROMOTION positions the downtown or commercial district as the center of the community and hub of economic activity while creating a positive image that showcases a community’s unique characteristics.
ORGANIZATION involves creating a strong foundation for a sustainable revitalization effort, including cultivating partnerships, community involvement and resources for the district.
To see a list of Main Street communities across the nation, or to learn more about MainStreet America, visit www.mainstreet.org.
