ULI-Downtown Activation-Art Walk

[Noone]

Anybody going? May 4

Starts at 5pm at the Omni

Being put on by the Urban Land Institute and Downtown Vision

4 speakers
1. Christine Burdick- Pres. Tampa Downtown Partnership
2. Tom Chatmon- Executive Director -Orlando Downtown Development Board
3. Marjorie Ferrer-Executive Director-Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority
4. Don Shea- Executive Director-Jacksonville Civic Council

Its last minute but here is a number
904-486-8256 Carolyn Clark

[fsujax]

I do not think this is a free event. If I remember correct it's $25.

[tufsu1]

fsujax is correct....it is $25...note that 5pm-6pm is social hour...the program starts at 6pm

https://netforum.uli.org/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?site=ULIMC&webcode=DCouncilEventInfo&Reg_evt_key=db7c6c5d-027e-4598-987e-b5f6581459dd&RegPath=EventRegFees

[fieldafm]

Yep, $25.  Way to keep any emerging young leaders from going at a time when motivated, young, engaged creative people are downtown en masse 

[tufsu1]

sadly, $25 is pretty cheap for a ULI event

[Noone]

tufsu1, Lake, you guys were there. What did you hear that you liked and didn't like?

[tufsu1]

I think the best things I heard was the uniform agreement from the panel that we should focus on singles and doubles....and that retail is the final piece in downtown redevelopment, not the first.

The revitalization history of Delray Beach was very interesting....the first thing they focused on was festivals/events...trying to have at least one every week

Carry that forward...I've always found Tampa and Jax. to be similar...so seeing what they are doing downtown may be the most useful...as an example, Tampa had a symphony concert last night in their new downtown riverwalk park...we did movies in the park on the southbank last night and symphony concert is later in May at Met Park...similar concept, but different effect.

We have seen what happens when we activate downtown by moving Jazz Festival from Met Park into the core...and obviously we have lots of events in the Landing courtyard, but since it is closed off to the rest of downtown, you'd never know it.

[thelakelander]

I like what the lady from Delray Beach had to say the most.  They revitalized their downtown through common sense "tactical urbanism" solutions. 

1. A regular rotation of special events so some sort of street activity was always taking place.

2. Clustering complementing uses within a compact setting: They already had a number of art galleries so they aggressively went after restaurants and wine bars to complement them.

3. Modified zoning and regulation to spur the type of walkable development and atmosphere they desired.  For example, an industrial/warehouse area's zoning had to be changed because the old code didn't allow for restaurants to locate within those buildings.  They also have a height limit of 60' because they wanted a certain type of setting that was different from the larger cities in South Florida.

3. Loved her stance on parking.  Delray Beach has free on street parking.  Her belief was that there are several better methods to deal with parking than using meters to fleece customers in a zone that already has to struggle to compete against businesses and districts outside of the downtown zone.

[billy]

Zoning should be modified to allow residential uses in Light Industrial buildings fifty years of age or older.

This is not for the benefit of downtown, but would help other neighborhoods.

[thelakelander]

Definitely agree.  I think the industrial overlay zoning the council did a few years back needs to be either revamped or eliminated.