How I would fix Downtown right now:

[marksjax]

Here is my list:

1. Remove all parking meters immediately. No tickets written except for handicap parking violations.

2. Make all streets two-way where feasible.

3. Re-time traffic lights.

4. Plan multiple festivals, events, parades and street parties. Close down certain streets for this. COJ pays for and executes these events. But they cannot spend more than $10,000 per event. 10-20 events minimum per year spread throughout the Landing, Adams, Forsyth & Bay Street Entertainment district. Oh, first of all, COJ must acknowledge that we actually have an entertainment district. Budget for this comes from scaling back the $750,000 spent each year on the Jazz Fest (my estimate).

5. JSO must go back to having visible officers patrolling nightlife areas on foot. That's right: no cars, bikes or horses. Just like their grandfathers did. This will help Downtown in numerous ways.

6. Re-route certain buses to drop off and pick up at Hemming Plaza. Like they did when Downtown was a vibrant area. It used to work, wonder why this ever changed? Maybe it was to be closer to FCCJ?

7. Have actual downtown business owners and residents sit in on the decision making that goes on in the Mayors office in planning the yearly special event calendar.

8. Run a free trolley on Fri and Sat nights from Riverside to the Downtown Entertainment District from 8pm-3am. Works at the Beach, why not Downtown?

9. Do not spend another dime on any expert consultants or do any more studies.

The time to act is now.

Regards,
Mark Hemphill

Mark's & The Dive Bar

 

[Noone]

Some good points.

[dougskiles]

10. Moratorium on suburban road building/widening/overpasses so that we can stop subsidizing the continued sprawl of our city.

[vicupstate]

Here is my list:

1. Remove all parking meters immediately. No tickets written except for handicap parking violations.

2. Make all streets two-way where feasible.

3. Re-time traffic lights.

4. Plan multiple festivals, events, parades and street parties. Close down certain streets for this. COJ pays for and executes these events. But they cannot spend more than $10,000 per event. 10-20 events minimum per year spread throughout the Landing, Adams, Forsyth & Bay Street Entertainment district. Oh, first of all, COJ must acknowledge that we actually have an entertainment district. Budget for this comes from scaling back the $750,000 spent each year on the Jazz Fest (my estimate).

5. JSO must go back to having visible officers patrolling nightlife areas on foot. That's right: no cars, bikes or horses. Just like their grandfathers did. This will help Downtown in numerous ways.

6. Re-route certain buses to drop off and pick up at Hemming Plaza. Like they did when Downtown was a vibrant area. It used to work, wonder why this ever changed? Maybe it was to be closer to FCCJ?

7. Have actual downtown business owners and residents sit in on the decision making that goes on in the Mayors office in planning the yearly special event calendar.

8. Run a free trolley on Fri and Sat nights from Riverside to the Downtown Entertainment District from 8pm-3am. Works at the Beach, why not Downtown?

9. Do not spend another dime on any expert consultants or do any more studies.

The time to act is now.

Regards,
Mark Hemphill

Mark's & The Dive Bar

 

Great list.  You would need an enforced  2 hour limit on parking from 9-5 M-F only.  You wouldn't need meters though, just enforcement. 

Otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing.

[thelakelander]

Here are a few more things to do that actually save the city money, while also spurring revitalization:

11. Modify public policy and work with existing building owners to agressively encourage the integration of ground level businesses with the sidewalks.

12. Modify public policy to allow creative uses like mobile food truck courts, etc. to add life to vacant lots.

13. Instead of having buses stop at Hemming, get them out of downtown (kill the loop system).  Instead, make the skyway free and run it like a real fixed transit spine by force all buses into skyway end points.  This will do four things:  

A. Cut down on mass transit O&M costs.
B. Increase bus frequencies for other neighborhoods throughout the city.
C. Max out ridership numbers on the skyway, ending the talk of it being useless.
D. Create more opportunities for infill business in DT because of the increased accessibility.

14. As for on-street parking, to deal with the meter lovers, in areas that need the turnover, add 2-3hr parking limits with signs only, just like they do in Park & King, Five Points and San Marco Square.

15. Sell off or lease out excess city owned property and buildings.

16. Maintain the public ROW (pick up the trash, light the streets, maintain the landscaping, etc.).

17. Coordinate between public agencies.  For example, if public works, JTA or FDOT is going to do repave a street, make sure things like bike lanes, multiuse shared paths, mass transit and placement of on-street parking are considered on an equal level to automobile movement.

18. Preserve the remaining building stock.  Empty buildings are better than surface parking lots and abandoned lots for a walkable environement.

19. Whatever you do, apply this concept:  "Cluster Complementing Uses Within A Compact Setting." Pedestrian level vibrancy can only be created by putting things closely together so they can feed off each other.  This is where we've failed the most in downtown during the last 30 years.

[Jdog]

A purpose of the Skyway was to remove buses from downtown, good points, Lake, i.e., on item #13, everybody on everything. 

[JeffreyS]

9. Do not spend another dime on any expert consultants or do any more studies.

I would modify this to say 9. Do not spend another dime on any expert consultants or do any more studies if you are just going to ignore what they say.

[RockStar]

Add, push last call to 3 or 4am downtown.

Oh and a nice paddle wheel casino boat cruising up and down the St. Johns...

[Captain Zissou]

4. Plan multiple festivals, events, parades and street parties. Close down certain streets for this. COJ pays for and executes these events. But they cannot spend more than $10,000 per event. 10-20 events minimum per year spread throughout the Landing, Adams, Forsyth & Bay Street Entertainment district. Oh, first of all, COJ must acknowledge that we actually have an entertainment district. Budget for this comes from scaling back the $750,000 spent each year on the Jazz Fest (my estimate).

8. Run a free trolley on Fri and Sat nights from Riverside to the Downtown Entertainment District from 8pm-3am. Works at the Beach, why not Downtown?

Working on it....

[Doctor_K]

Mark Hemphill for Mayor in 2015/2019?

[Demosthenes]

20. Resident, residents, residents. Aggressively move to repopulate downtown, and start pushing owners to prepare empty buildings for residents. Use Carrot/Stick method if necessary.

21. Adjust Zoning so that residential and commercial can more easily co-exist without seeking exceptions. The urban core should be dense, and that means mixed uses. The more hoops you make owners jump through, the less you will get accomplished.

[904Scars]

20. Resident, residents, residents. Aggressively move to repopulate downtown, and start pushing owners to prepare empty buildings for residents. Use Carrot/Stick method if necessary.

21. Adjust Zoning so that residential and commercial can more easily co-exist without seeking exceptions. The urban core should be dense, and that means mixed uses. The more hoops you make owners jump through, the less you will get accomplished.

+1

[marksjax]

Hey, you gotta start somewhere. These are relatively cheap ideas that could be in place within 90 days if our Mayor and city council would be pro active. The time is now city leaders. What's it gonna be?

You wanna just watch what's left of downtown die a slow and painful death? It's not up to me, it's up to you, the city leaders to lead. That's what we hired you for, right?

Even if these proposals don't work at least we can say that we, as a community, tried something a little outside the box for a change. The box we are in now ain't working.

We have little to lose and much to gain.

[Demosthenes]

Hey, you gotta start somewhere. These are relatively cheap ideas that could be in place within 90 days if our Mayor and city council would be pro active. The time is now city leaders. What's it gonna be?

You wanna just watch what's left of downtown die a slow and painful death? It's not up to me, it's up to you, the city leaders to lead. That's what we hired you for, right?

Even if these proposals don't work at least we can say that we, as a community, tried something a little outside the box for a change. The box we are in now ain't working.

We have little to lose and much to gain.

These ideas arent that out of the box. Other cities have successfully rebuilt downtowns. There really isnt a ton of guess work. Just a desire to do it. Something Jax has seemingly always lacked.

[Bativac]

You guys are talking crazy talk! All good ideas and common sense for the most part.

I really think the biggest obstacle concerning downtown is that most of the people who live in this city and who vote in elections do not care about downtown - or, they actively dislike the idea of even the appearance of money being spent downtown.

Young people looking for an exciting downtown aren't gonna wait for the older generations (who think downtown had its chance) to die off. They'll just leave and find someplace that does have an exciting downtown. Or someplace like the Town Center, a fake downtown but with the requisite shops, eateries, people watching, walkability, etc.

It's going to take a mayor with a strong backbone and a serious desire to see downtown Jax return to glory. He or she will have to push things thru and convince the citizens of Jax that improving downtown and making it attractive will not only cost the average Jax resident nothing, but perhaps save them money (more businesses downtown = more tax dollars coming in).