2030 Mobility Plan: The Cutting Edge of Planning

[dougskiles]

I learned today that that builders association has successfully lobbied for legislation to be introduced that puts a moratorium on the mobility fee payments for a year.  I think it will be up next month.  The argument was that since nobody is building now anyway that it won't matter.

I hope our council takes a hard look at how successful the moratoriums in Clay and Nassau were in encouraging growth versus St Johns County, which held on to their impact fees.  My feeling is that it will do nothing to encourage more building; it will only provide more taxpayer subsidies to developers who were going to build regardless.

[thelakelander]

The argument was that since nobody is building now anyway that it won't matter.

LOL!  So if nobody is building now anyway then why suspend it for a year?  That's some logical Jacksonville lingo in the works right there. 

Your gut feeling is right.  The real reason there is not much building going on right now is because there's no market.  Half of our homes are underwater, we have thousands of empty existing homes and empty office and retail square footage whose square footage adds up into the millions.  I can't wait to see this one hit the public.  If the developer isn't paying his fair share then they're asking for taxpayers to further subsidize them.

I'd love to see these guys come with some real stats on this moratorium stuff.  This state is full of real life examples of impact fee/concurrency moratoriums that did nothing to encourage growth in regions that simply did not have a market new development.

Who's sponsoring this bill so we can plaster their name to the general public?

[Ocklawaha]

So when high quality transportation is offered â€" meaning rail, not bus â€" conservatives are using it. If you look at the demographics of rail transit riders. what you see is that a lot of the people on board are conservatives... ...So the fact is that where high quality transportation is provided, conservatives use it. But there isn’t much rail transit in this country for us to use...
...They have sufficient money that they own cars. which means that if they ride transit they ride from choice, not necessity. Which means they want high quality transit, not just something to get around.

BRT is popular in Oakland...


...And Eugene


...Or along the BRT in Boston


...stupid, version 2.0

Regardless of his rich man, poor man statements, Mr. Lind makes some points that everyone from the TIMES-UNION to CITY HALL need to sit up and notice. JTA'S ridiculous BRT plan that parallels the local railroad lines and the Skyway has not been designed by people with credible surface transportation expertise. This might explain why in the transition committee for Mayor Brown, JTA'S contract planners tried a last minute move to remove all rail from the recommendations.  "We've already studied that and we're not going to do it," was the words they used. perhaps this is good news, because looking at the record, do we really want them to mess this up?

The only thing in JTA'S BRT sales pitch that has a modicum of truth in it is the national moniker "Just like rail only cheaper..." It doesn't look like rail, it won't become rail, it doesn't perform like rail, for all of the hype, it is after all, just another bus. Even though the JTA price tag has been as low as $2 Million per mile or as high as $26 Million per mile they continually claim BRT is "CHEAPER then rail." Memphis has built streetcar for $3 Million per mile, and several commuter lines have come in around $2 Millinon per mile, hardly the hundreds of millions that JTA claims rail will cost. CHEAPER? Yes BRT is "cheaper," perhaps they should look up the definition of the word Cheap!

As Mr. Lind says, bus transit is not attractive to a large segment of the population and will not attract choice riders. Do I think BRT has a place in Jacksonville? Yes, but not running alongside or under true fixed route mass transit, competing with ourselves is just plain stupid. 

OCKLAWAHA

[dougskiles]

Who's sponsoring this bill so we can plaster their name to the general public?

When I find out more specifics, I will let you know.  Likely, you will beat me to it.

I expect it to come out under the disguise of a 'job creation' bill or something similar.

[thelakelander]

Well it appears that council will torpedo the mobility plan this Tuesday by voting to place a moratorium on mobility fees for an extended period of time.  Evidently, they already have enough votes and actually believe that this will stimulate the economy despite it not working anywhere else in the State. 

Long story short, we (the taxpayers) will subsidize private development interests 100% until council decides to accept mobility fee money. Only in Jacksonville.

I'll go on the record here and say this won't improve our economic conditions.  Concurrency, Mobility Fees, Impact Fees or whatever we want to call them didn't create the underwater homes, vacant strip malls and office complexes consuming our landscape now.    Placing the burden on an already struggling taxpayer won't stimulate the economy either.  However, it will hamper us by indefinitely delaying public infrastructure improvements Jacksonville must invest in to economically compete with its peers in the 21st century economy.

[thelakelander]

Who's sponsoring this bill so we can plaster their name to the general public?

When I find out more specifics, I will let you know.  Likely, you will beat me to it.

I expect it to come out under the disguise of a 'job creation' bill or something similar.

Btw, the bill was introduced by Bill Bishop and co-sponsored by Lumb, Carter, Love, Holt, Crescimbeni, Gaffney, Lee, Anderson, Redman and Schellenberg.

[Doctor_K]

The hits just keep on coming - from all the usual suspects.

I hear Oregon is nice...

[thelakelander]

Lol.  Sometimes I just don't understand Jacksonville.  We say we want jobs, good economic development, parks and schools.  However, we don't want to pay taxes to fund these things and when someone finally cooks up an innovative way to fund some improvements without tax dollars, we sink that too, while increasing the financial burden of bad development on ourselves.  We complain about the amount of money the skyway loses but fall in love with an Outer Beltway that will need a level of annual subsidies that could be as much as 12 times the skyway's.  We claim to want to be fiscally conservative but when someone comes up with an idea to save $800,000 by not building a road in the front of the courthouse, we complain about that two.  We can use buzz words and preach about our potential all day but the one and only thing holding Jacksonville back from greatness is ourselves. 

Btw, I'm just venting.......

[fsujax]

Ennis, i think we all just need to run for City Council. I am not joking!

[avs]

the one and only thing holding Jacksonville back from greatness is ourselves.

This city continues to shock me with its backward ways.  Urban core council people, of all of them, should be supporting mobility fees.  sheesh  way to show their behinds once again

[jcjohnpaint]

Lol.  Sometimes I just don't understand Jacksonville.  We say we want jobs, good economic development, parks and schools.  However, we don't want to pay taxes to fund these things and when someone finally cooks up an innovative way to fund some improvements without tax dollars, we sink that too, while increasing the financial burden of bad development on ourselves.  We complain about the amount of money the skyway loses but fall in love with an Outer Beltway that will need a level of annual subsidies that could be as much as 12 times the skyway's.  We claim to want to be fiscally conservative but when someone comes up with an idea to save $800,000 by not building a road in the front of the courthouse, we complain about that two.  We can use buzz words and preach about our potential all day but the one and only thing holding Jacksonville back from greatness is ourselves. 

Btw, I'm just venting.......

Yeah until the educated are running things... the dipshits will continue to win.  The same names always come up when such destructive decisions are made.  Putting personal mantras ahead of common sense makes no sense, but it seems that is all Jacksonville has got. 

[Jason]

IMO, certain credentials or prerequisites should be required for all elected city leaders.  Perhaps a degree in political science, planning, ethics, buisness, or finance etc (depending on position).  Maybe then we could have qualified city leaders running our city!

[John P]

Ennis, i think we all just need to run for City Council. I am not joking!

This is a good idea. I am not joking either. The urban core and its organizations and metrojacksonville could get a candidate in office. There is enough volunteerism in these neighborhoods and through metrojacksonville that it can be done. Just as I mentioned a 'DRAFT ENNIS DAVIS' effort to replace Killingsworth I think he or another educated and well liked individual would do very well in a race. We collectively have the knowledge and resources to do it successfully. Its time to be the change you seek.

[Doctor_K]

Ennis, Bob, Stephen, et al.

[JeffreyS]

Can the Mayor veto this attempt to torpedo the Mobility Plan?