They won't officially debut until Tuesday, but they've already been called caddies.
One of them, Zhivago Ramsey, isn't hauling golf clubs down Ellis Street. He's driving a sidewalk sweeper called the Green Machine.
Decked out in green jackets -- appropriate for the city that is home of the Masters Tournament -- the members of Clean Augusta Downtown Initiative, or CADI, break from lunch and head down toward the corner of Broad and 12th streets to continue their training regimen.
It has been a fruitful two weeks. The cleaning crew has managed to sweep up 2 tons of trash, CADI manager Rick Wiggins said. The side streets have been the dirtiest.
"These side streets don't get much attention, so we're concentrating on the areas around the trees ... to get them picked up good," Mr. Wiggins said.
A lot of that dirt is collected by the sidewalk sweeper, Mr. Wiggins said.
"A street sweeper has never been run on this sidewalk. All that dirt weighs a ton," he said.
If you see some green-clad CADI members riding down the sidewalks on Segues, those are the safety ambassadors testing out their routes.
"We're not trained to be police, but we're training them to look for suspicious people hanging around areas, traffic lights that are out. We've had several people stop and ask if they could be out at a certain time (in the morning) when they're going from their car to their shop," Mr. Wiggins said.
The high-tech system to track their routes and times hasn't been installed yet.
There are eight employees in the initiative, which is being funded by a Business Improvement District.
Businesses within that district, which encompasses 30 downtown blocks, will pay an additional tax assessment to fund the cleanup and safety services. The service will cost $370,000 a year. The assessment will bring in approximately $400,000 annually.
"The feedback from the merchants and the people downtown has been excellent," Mr. Wiggins said.
The grand opening will be held in Augusta Common at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Mr. Wiggins said people will get a chance to ride the Segues.
Reach Tim Rausch at (706) 823-3352 or timothy.rausch@augustachronicle.com.
icon.
