David Ginsburg, Downtown Cincinnati Inc.'s newly appointed president and chief executive officer, said he understands his marching orders clearly.

The most important goal for the group is to help provide a clean and safe downtown. That, in turn, will help keep businesses from bolting to the suburbs and will attract new firms, shoppers and residents.

It's been a tumultuous year for DCI, which provides services for downtown property owners and businesses .

Mayor Charlie Luken blasted DCI for straying from its mission, and the organization completed an unflinching self-review that pointed out the group's lack of focus and "organizational arrogance."

Former president Rick Greiwe resigned in June, and Mr. Ginsburg was named interim president. DCI's executive board appointed Mr. Ginsburg on a full-time basis last week after a review of 70 applicants.

Mr. Ginsburg recently sat with Enquirer reporter Ken Alltucker to discuss his plans:

Question: How will DCI under David Ginsburg differ from DCI of the past?

Answer: I think the DCI of the past accomplished a lot of things. It was certainly a tribute to my predecessors, Dave Phillips and Rick Greiwe.

What I hope to accomplish over the next couple of years is to have DCI very focused and very effective. We have gotten very clear marching orders from our stakeholders. Our focus is on safe and clean, supporting development through attraction and retention services and marketing downtown. I like to make that simple and easy by saying that our job is to clean it up, fill it up and talk it up.

Q: Downtown's office market is in a slump and retailers are struggling. What needs to happen to turn things around?

A: Downtown faces many challenges, but I think downtown is well-positioned to meet these challenges. One of the things we have learned about studying other cities is how interdependent each of the sectors is. If you want to have a healthy residential market, you have to have a healthy retail and office market. If you want a healthy retail market, it helps to have a lot of people living downtown. A prerequisite to any of that is to have a downtown that is safe and clean in terms of reality and perception. We have to work extra hard to ensure the experience people have downtown is as good or better than any other place they may choose to do business.

Q: Has the strong mayor form of government made a difference?

A: I think people look to the mayor for leadership, and I think the mayor has provided very clear direction and leadership to us. Quite frankly, that makes my job easier, because I know what to do to play my role in the revitalization of downtown.

Q: There has been talk about the future of Closson's and Maisonette, two staples of downtown. Will they leave downtown? How important are these companies to downtown's image?

A: Closson's and Maisonette are names that are virtually synonymous with downtown. We have to look at every business in the context of the economic realities of the 21st Century. Businesses change. Customers change. We need to keep up with the times. Being part of the team that works with those businesses, I look forward to doing everything we can to retain those businesses. But I do understand there is some vulnerability in both cases.

Q: As president, what will you do to keep businesses downtown?

A: One of the things I am very proud of at DCI is our ability to build relationships with our stakeholders, our property owners. Currently, we contact every tenant that has a lease expiring over the next two-year period. We do it by mail and follow up with as many phone calls and office visits as we can. We have uncovered all kinds of issues, ranging from people who want to expand to people who've had problem with a panhandler to things as pedestrian as a burned-out street lamp.

I think we can do a much better job. I'd like to be able to contact all the tenants downtown. As we build up our database and learn what some of the issues are, I think we can find more systematic ways to address their needs so we can really create a customer-friendly environment that businesses want to be a part of.

Q: What will the downtown plan do to help matters, and what is DCI's role in that planning process?

A: One of the things that I think is a very positive sign for the future of downtown are three processes that are going on at once. One is the mayor's economic development task force that is looking at how the city can become more user-friendly to work with. Second is the center-city plan which will ultimately result in a business strategy that will focus everyone around the unified vision and implementation. And DCI's future directions task force has resulted in a far more focused, and thus effective, DCI. I think the confluence of these three processes at this time represents the best hope for the future of downtown.

What I've learned in my years here is that the fewer people a prospect has to talk to, the better.

Q: How has downtown changed since April 2001 riots?

A: If this downtown is ever going to take its place as one of the great downtowns, we're going to have to learn to embrace diversity. Here at DCI, we have a small business task force that works to retain small businesses and women- and minority-owned businesses. That, to me, is one of our top priorities.

E-mail: kalltucker@enquirer.com