Jacksonville, FL - Property owners throughout downtown spoke out about the need for better safety and a cleaner area, and downtown listened.

Downtown Vision Inc. (DVI) has announced plans to improve the services throughout the central core of the city. The Board of Directors of the DVI did research across the country to find what cities do, and as a result came to an agreement with Service Group Inc., a company working in 21 Downtown Improvement Districts across the country.

SGI will oversee the efforts of both the Downtown Ambassadors and Downtown Clean Team programs, making sure they continue to provide their services, but do so in a more efficient manner.

"Both programs are essential to Downtown and this move reflects Downtown Vision's commitment to providing a higher level of service, which is sorely needed at this time," said Terry Lorince, Executive Director, Downtown Vision Inc.

Included in the new services will be new heavy equipment for pressure washing and graffiti removal and new we-based tracking of routes and projects to make sure everything is done right and in a timely manner.

"We need to move past clipboards with pencil and paper for reporting and leverage the technology available that we see other cities using efficiently track maintenace issues," said Lorince. "We need to take advantage of the industry experst who can help us accelerate the program forward and do it now."

DVI stresses that the look and feel of the current programs will not change, and the new services should begin in late February.