It is Time to Dissolve or Restructure DVI

[heights unknown]

Nope.  Be gone with the DVI.  I've just not heard any good DVI has done for Jacksonville other then the occasional flower bed perhaps and a few "ambassadors?"  I think the ambassadors are in with parking  control and that's how DVI is funded. 

I agree Gatorback, especially if they've been given ample opportunity to do their job and do it right, and there have been no successful or plausible results; then the thing to do is to replace them.

Heights Unknown

[heights unknown]

I believe it is high time that The Downtown Vision Incorporated either be replaced or restructured.

The reasons are abundant and obvious to any who have followed this process over the past two years.

Facts like the complete failure to install wayfaring signage and proper lighting despite guaranteeing their installation throughout the downtown nearly two years ago,  Actively sabotaging attempts on the parts of the merchants and residents of downtown to reform the obsolete and destructive parking policies, Attempting to squelch and silence the very same residents and merchants on the issue of increased security and out of control vagrants, and failing to take initiative on the rerouting of traffic patterns during special events and church hours that have strangled downtown during such times.

While the Artwalk and the Ambassador Programs are worthwhile endeavors and should be maintained, the actual results produced by DVI do not justify the money and weight they are given for governing downtown affairs.

Terri Lorrince is a very nice woman, and should be retained by the city in some capacity, it would be a shame to lose someone of such obvious charm and intelligence, but many feel that DVI is simply unable to deliver on any of its basic functions as noted above, perhaps due to an overactive mission to control all the politics and dialogue of the alleged end users.

And this is not to say that Downtown doesnt need an organization looking after its affairs, merely that DVI has not risen to the challenge.

The B.I.D is a voluntary tax self imposed by the landowners of the affected area, but DVI obtains a portion of its funding from the Council as well.  The Downtown "Stakeholders" are certainly welcome to do whatever they please with the money allocated by themselves from themselves for themselves, but it is time that the city examined its own role in funding the organization.

It is possible that DVI is guided and directed, behind the scenes, by Petyon and his thugs in the City Government?  It just seems strange and out of character that important issues are either quashed or ignored.

Heights Unknown

[thelakelander]

Shugar Shack was open during Art Walk. Susann called it a day around 8 PM.

The reason many businesses are not in the DVI program is because they will not, or cannot meet DVI's coinsurance requirement, which, as previously discussed, is absurd.

DVI has no power over any downtown merchant, and cannot tell them when to open / close etc. DVI could no more tell a merchant they could not be open during Art Walk than I could legally reserve parking spaces on Laura St. by the placement of  cones.  That's only allowed on Adams St. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Shugar Shack is now permanently closed.

• If you haven’t been past The Carling on Adams Street in a while then you haven’t noticed that Shugar Shack owner Suzanne Marino has cleaned out the shop and closed.
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/citynotes.php

[JeffreyS]

That is our cities best window display gone.

[thelakelander]

Clustering is very important.  Its tough for little businesses like that to survive on their own. 

[mtraininjax]

Clustering is very important.  Its tough for little businesses like that to survive on their own.

All the more reasoning that the old Library is in trouble if it goes ahead and pursues expansion at a time when the DVI and all of downtown is hurting and operating without a vision.