Five Drastic Steps To Revive Downtown Jacksonville

[Ocklawaha]

Unless I am mistaken... this is exactly what Lake is proposing.  A convention center that exposes street level merchants along the sidewalks... a walkable full time interactive building with the rest of Bay Street and the Hyatt.

Exactly how IT WORKS in Oklahoma City, walk across the street in any direction, to the west, is the fabulous Myriad Gardens, several blocks of lakes, gardens and a "crystal bridge" that contains a tropical forest year round. To the east and your facing the Amtrak station, just beyond Amtrak under the railroad is the Bricktown Canal and Entertainment District, as well as The Deep Deuce Jazz historic sites. To the north, walk over the Skybridges to either the Sheraton Inn or Renaissance Hotels and the Skyscrapers of downtown. To the south you can walk from C-Center into the Oklahoma City Arena... Any questions?

OCKLAWAHA

[tufsu1]

Corporate workforces were slashed by 75% across the board.  

really?

[stjr]

1  Special Ad Valorem Taxes that taxed the value of everything in a business.  This led to merchants moving all of their expensive merchandise to the suburbs where they wouldnt be taxed, but theoretically could be ordered for customers and driven in for delivery.  This turned all of downtown into a discount and cut rate prices zone.  All of the nice shops ended up transferring out to the suburbs.

2.  Real estate taxes that were levied on all unoccupied floor spaces of the highrise buildings.  This meant that a vacant building generated the same amount of liability no matter how little income was coming in.  The larger the building the greater the tax payment.  With all the area being forced into a discount mentality, this meant that the buildings were worth less than an empty lot, which could at least be turned into a parking lot that generated revenues.  The old guys were financially forced to tear down the structures or go broke.

3. Ad Valorem taxes on office furnishings.  The suburbs didnt have these taxes.  It became increasingly common for downtown businessmen to take any valuable furnishings, art, or decor out of the offices and replace them with shitty second hand furniture in order to avoid being taxed on the higher value.

Point of information, what ad valorem taxes were charged downtown that didn't apply state wide as these are all state based taxes as far as I know?  Aren't property (real and personal) taxes ad valorem taxes?  I don't get these three points.

[stjr]

it was a local ad valorem, similar to the special ad valorem that is presently assessed on downtown property owners to support the BID (Downtown Vision)

Tax increment district?  I don't recall anything more than the add on to fund Downtown Vision.  And, as I recall, that was voluntarily imposed by mutual agreement of the property owners downtown.  What year was that created, by the way?  Does it go back that far?

Points one and three sound like the personal property (that would include the office furnishings, for example) tax.  That applies to businesses everywhere in Florida.  

Likewise, the application of real estate taxes to the value of empty space is governed by state law and regulation.

Sorry, this explanation doesn't jive with my experience with property (ad valorem) taxes.  Maybe his complaint is over the valuations by the tax appraiser, especially regarding empty square footages in buildings.

If he is referring to occupational taxes imposed by the City, I, again, don't recall a differential between downtown and the entire City limits of Jacksonville.

I do recall that there may be a slightly higher tax rate in the "urban services district" (i.e. the old City limits).  Maybe that's the difference but that would be the rate only, not what it applies to.  Again, I think the amount of  it would also have been a nominal amount, especially for the larger players downtown.

[pwhitford]

"....while average wages for employees rose by 3 percent in 1996, the average salary, stock options, benefits, and bonuses for corporate chieftains grew by 39 percent to $2.3 million. Further, top executives in manufacturing firms made 34 times what average workers did in 1974. By 1995, that figure had exploded to 159 times the pay of the average worker.9 Thus, the disparity in pay between the top executives and the workers in their firms is widening instead of narrowing. Little wonder that workers are discouraged and asking why the divide is so wide."

And the above example is about 15 years old - I can't imagine it has gotten any better in the intervening years.

[tufsu1]

Stephen...none of the info. you have provided shows 75% reduction in the corporate workforce nationally

Yes there was a recession in the early 1990's and unemploymet went up (I believe around 10%)....but had 75% of corporate jobs been lost, we would have seen unemployment figures of well over 25%, worse than the Great Depression.

[stjr]

Stephen, FYI, I had updated my last post with the following while you were responding:

I do recall that there may be a slightly higher tax rate in the "urban services district" (i.e. the old City limits).  Maybe that's the difference but that would be the rate only, not what it applies to.  Again, I think the amount of  it would also have been a nominal amount, especially for the larger players downtown.

[tufsu1]

you didn't say anything about corporate workforces nationally...so what did you mean by this?

I forgot to mention the national 'downsizing' era that happened in the early 90s as a result of computerization of the corporations.  Corporate workforces were slashed by 75% across the board.  This was a serious problem downtown and marked the beginning of the end of Downtown's skyscraper economy.

also, guess I didn't interpret this as only applying to corporate office towers.

so...wildly assumptive?  try this....if unemployment went up from 5% to say 25% purely because of the so-called 75% reduction in corporate workforce, then corporate jobs would be approx. 27% of the national total...which seems entirely reasonable (if not low) to me

[AaroniusLives]

Ive been active in this city since the early 80s, and as much as I would like to tell you that the answers boil down to a political ideology, I can't.  Not honestly.  It boils down to thoughtless greed, unbridled corruption (across the entire political spectrum), uninformed idealism and a serious case of the stupids.

Totally agreed, and I'm a registered Democrat. While their may be some truth to the idea that those who vote "left" are those who embrace "diversity" more, and thus are those who would appreciate the modern, gentrified city center, there are plenty of Democrats living in suburbia, unwilling to give up their Drive-In Dystopias. (And wasn't the project of suburbia a Democratic initiative, to reward the country after WWII? Was it not the Democrats who invented the modern, disastrous, entirely segregated "projects?")

Moreover, I suspect that a great deal of "Democrats" don't vote Republican because of the radical lurch to the right that began in the 1970s. Remember, a modern conservative is poorly defined, and certainly doesn't match the ideology (broad brush, obviously their are many shades of red under that tent) of non-governmental interference. The Defense of Marriage Act is a great example: that's not conservatism. That's right-winged liberalism. The never-ending chipping away at a woman's right to choose is another example. If the Republicans went back to the mantra of actually smaller government, and market driven policy, I suspect they'd have a lot of voters defect from the Blue. (Alternatively, if we, the people, could agree that a middle ground approach beats polarized stupidity...or that sometimes you need Big Government and other times you don't, we might be in a better, more sane place...But we've spent too much time on politics as it is...)

There's also a strong conservative argument for getting government out of the way as it pertains to development, or at the very least, limiting the role to an appropriate size. Miami spent billions for 30 years with minimal pedestrian results, while Miami Beach skyrocketed to vibrancy because of market demand.

[Noone]

Great thread on the convention center issue.

Anyone going to the Civic Council presentation tonight at the Skyline cafe?

BTW nice picture of the river.

[fsujax]

I will be there.

[tufsu1]

Great thread on the convention center issue.

Anyone going to the Civic Council presentation tonight at the Skyline cafe?

BTW nice picture of the river.

just to correct...it is an IMPACTjax (your professional group of Chamber) event / presentations by Don Shea and Ed Burr

Government Affairs: "Downtown and Drinks" Forum on Downtown Revitalization
DATE:  Tuesday, April 19th (Tomorrow)
TIME:  5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
RSVP: Click here
COST: Free for IMPACTjax members, $10 for future members!
LOCATION: Skyline Café, 50 N. Laura St.  (42nd Floor, Bank of America Tower)
EVENT DESCRIPTION:  Do you wish our downtown had more bars, restaurants, shops, businesses and residential space?  Have you wondered what our business and political leaders are doing to attract more businesses to our city's core?  If so, plan to attend "Downtown and Drinks"!  Ed Burr, Civic Council member and former Chamber chairman, and Don Shea, Executive Director of the Civic Council, will bring IMPACTjax members up to speed on the latest efforts and proposals for how to revitalize downtown, as well as take your questions and concerns on this critical issue.  While participating in this important discussion, grab a cocktail and enjoy a sweeping, bird's eye view of the St. Johns River from the 42nd floor of the Bank of America tower!  Skyline Café, our host, will provide a cash bar and complimentary hors d'oeuvres.  Don't miss this event!

[Noone]

tufsu1, Appreciate that. Looking forward to seeing you.

[Noone]

I went. I saw. I asked.
If a convention center is built. How will the River be used?

[urbanlibertarian]

VIA the TU:

A.M. Briefing: Jacksonville Chamber taps Houston for leadership trip
Posted: April 18, 2011 - 11:52pm

By The Times-Union and news services

The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce has picked Houston as the city for its 31st annual Leadership Trip.

"We selected Houston as our destination this year because we consider it an aspirational city for Jacksonville," chamber chair-elect Tom Van Berkel said in the announcement Monday.

The chamber's trip will be Sept. 27-29. Some topics that will be covered during meetings with counterparts in Houston will be job growth, port business, downtown revitalization and education reform. For more information, call (904) 366-6646 or go to www.OpportunityJacksonville.com.

David Bauerlein/The Times-Union

I think this is an excellent choice as Houston has the reputation as being a city where property owners have a great deal of freedom to decide just how they want to improve and develop their property.  It's also reputed to be VERY quick and easy to start a business there.