Creating a community residents are proud of

Morgan M. Hurley | Editor Downtown News

March is proving to be a month on the move for the City of San Diego. Not only is the new mayor-elect taking the oath of office surrounded by his new staff and a transition team as the month begins, the City’s first female chief of police will also be seated, and the leadership of Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Property Business Improvement District (PBID) is changing hands as well.

Ryan Loofburrow has been the executive director of the Clean & Safe Program — the PBID’s administrative and community services entity — since August of 2011, when he was recruited away from Sacramento. While there, he spent 18 years as Sacramento’s director of community services, a program equivalent to Clean & Safe.

Loofburrow recently announced he will be returning to Sacramento, after accepting a position with the nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward, to direct the organization’s “Continuum of Care,” where he will manage all the programs associated with the HUD sponsored dollars that offer services and housing to the region’s homeless population.

“It’s great for me personally, because I get to use all the skill sets that I’ve developed managing Downtown [San Diego] and working with everybody from social services, to hospitals, law enforcement and business districts here and use them there,” he said.

It is not a new career path for the young executive, who said he was originally recruited by Downtown Partnership for his experience running homeless outreach programs, skills which were only strengthened while on the job here in San Diego. Clean & Safe has a number of homeless outreach initiatives and partnerships in place Downtown, and Loofburrow and his team has worked hard to champion them.

“When I started it was nice I didn’t have to convince anybody that it was a good idea to include homeless outreach,” he said.

While he said he will miss his team and the friendships he’s made here, Loofburrow sees a synergy between San Diego and the state’s capitol that he hopes will continue.

“What I enjoyed about both [cities] – while I was in Sacramento we studied many cities, one of which was San Diego,” he said. “We implemented programs that are here in San Diego up in Sacramento so the collaboration between entities in both cities is pretty strong so that is what made the transition down here a little easier because there is such a willingness between the police dept and social services and others to work on projects together.”

Under Loofburrow’s tenure, Clean & Safe expanded and strengthened the Partnership’s homeless outreach through their Work Your Way Home program and their Make Change Count donations stations, and worked closely with outreach partners Connections Housing, Rachel’s Place, St. Vincent DePaul, the SDPD’s own homeless outreach team (HOT) and many others.

“At the end of the day, what you are trying to accomplish is a livable and enjoyable Downtown and that is only achieved through collaborations,” Loofburrow said. “[We] have done an excellent job of getting that together for Downtown.”

Although he may be modest regarding his personal stake in creating a community that Downtown residents are proud of, Downtown Partnership CEO and President Kris Michell lauded Loofburrow’s individual impact.

“Ryan has been instrumental in our efforts to revamp and revitalize the Clean & Safe program, and we would not be where we are today without his thoughtful, steady leadership,” Michell said in a statement.

Stepping into Loofburrow’s shoes is Bahija Hamraz, current vice president of district programs with the Downtown Partnership.

“I very much look up to Ryan and all the work that he has done and I’ve learned quite a bit from him,” Hamraz said. “Although we’re all sad for him to be leaving, knowing that that opportunity was available, I was very excited to even be considered.”

Hamraz, who has been with Downtown Partnership for four years, started out in accounting, where she put her strong background in finance to work, but she soon longed for a change of pace.

“I wanted to connect more with the community in an outward facing role,” she said.

When the Partnership reorganized two years ago, it enabled Hamraz to step forward and take on a new role, one that took her out into the community to share with people what the Clean & Safe program was all about. She’s been working hand-in-hand with Loofburrow and his team ever since.

“There is no one else in the organization or in the area that knows Clean & Safe better and has the relationship with my staff or with the contacts we have through our staff, so it was just a natural fit,” Loofburrow said.

“Bahija will be as amazing in this role as she has been in every other initiative she has tackled,” Michell said in the same statement. “Her knowledge, passion and creativity will ensure that we are delivering a Downtown that is clean, safe and engaging.”

A native of Vancouver, B.C. Hamraz moved to San Diego with her family while still in middle school. She will take over the executive directorship March 4, but said she doesn’t see any changes on the horizon.

“Ryan put in all the systems and the organization runs like a machine,” she said. “Everybody that works here knows what they are doing and is an expert in their particular area. So I think the biggest hurdle for me will be to make sure that I allow them to shine.

“That’s what I want to do, I want to really foster their careers and allow them to be great at what they are doing and continue to build on the momentum that Ryan’s built,” Hamraz said.

Though there are many programs within the Clean & Safe organization that are churning along, a favorite of Hamraz’s is the weekly Walkabouts.

“[The walkabouts] really give you a chance to get out there,” she said. First of all, get away from the desk, second of all get out there and really get to know your community, and then third, you can see first hand from other people what’s bothering them and you see it through their eyes and you realize ‘this is easy we can get this fixed at no cost or low cost and it will really help this person’ and I’m really excited to do that.”

Greg Parkington, former policy advisor for Council President Pro Tem Sherri Lightner, has been tapped to replace Hamraz and will also start March 4. For more information about the Clean & Safe Program, visit downtownsandiego.org/clean-safe.