MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW)- The Downtown Redevelopment Corporation says it will move forward with a scaled-back version of its Ambassador Test Program for this season.
News13 first reported to you of the plans to launch an Ambassador Program in May. At that time, the DRC said it would hire 8 Ambassadors to work with the Myrtle Beach Police Department and patrol parts of the downtown area.
Since that time, the DRC says there were a lot of questions about the program and how it would work. So, instead the DRC will hire 3 people who will primarily patrol the Boardwalk Entertainment District.
The idea is to use this tourist season to get feedback from the community and study similar programs in other cities before fully launching one in Myrtle Beach.
“That’s one of the things we want to see reaction to is how are businesses and property owners going to react to having these folks down there and what will they see,” DRC Executive Assistant Lauren Clever said.
“Hopefully, it’s a learning process and it’s always good to get fresh eyes into an area that is again highly used. So we’re hopefully going to get some good information from this program,” Clever added.
The three people the city hired will start training this Friday. Clever said they all have ties to the community so it shouldn’t be long before they’re out on the streets.
“These are going to be friendly folks and hopefully very approachable people. They are very approachable people that’s why we hired them. They’re not afraid to approach folks, that’s another reason we hired them.
The ambassadors will be in uniforms and perform duties like trash pick-up, assisting tourists and being on the lookout for any problems.