San Francisco is doubling down on a program that’s been genuinely moving the needle on downtown safety. The city just announced an expansion of its street ambassador initiative to Powell Street, one of our busiest transit hubs, backed by nearly $5 million in private funding from the Downtown Development Corporation.

Here’s why this matters: since ambassadors started patrolling the Embarcadero and Montgomery BART stations last summer and fall, safety-related 911 calls have dropped by 53%. Response times from SFPD fell 58%, and more than 82% of commuters say they feel safer. Those aren’t just feel-good stats, they’re concrete evidence that having actual humans on the streets actually works.

Mayor Daniel Lurie is framing this as central to downtown’s comeback. “Public safety is the foundation for San Francisco’s recovery”, he said at the Powell Street cable-car turnaround. And honestly? The data backs him up. Crime is down 40% in Union Square and the Financial District.

What’s especially interesting is how quickly this all came together. The Downtown SF Partnership literally launched the original program in less than two weeks after City Hall put out a call for action in July. Amazon, Google, and Visa kicked in seed funding to make it happen. Now the DDC, which has raised over $60 million since launching less than a year ago, is funding both the Powell Street expansion and the continuation of HEART programs (that’s the Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team) in Union Square and Yerba Buena, which were set to expire at the end of March.

The results are showing up in real economic activity too. More than 150,000 people showed up to Union Square for a free tulip giveaway last weekend, three times the turnout from a year ago. Ground-floor leasing is rising in Yerba Buena, and foot traffic on one street there is up 25% year over year. A survey found 70% of Yerba Buena residents feel safer than they did a year ago.

Last year, ambassadors across the downtown corridor conducted over 54,000 safety checks, responded to 150 emergency calls, and filed more than 1,300 service requests. The DDC’s CEO Shola Olatoye emphasized that they’re using data to figure out what actually works.

The Powell Street expansion is just the beginning. Olatoye said the DDC is already in conversations with property owners about a broader streetscape overhaul at the cable-car turnaround, with city approvals expected later this year. Whether you’re skeptical about Band-Aid solutions or hopeful about downtown’s future, it’s hard to argue with a 53% drop in safety calls.