Rummell: One Spark is not a 'turning point' for Downtown Jacksonville

[thelakelander]

Peter Rummell is right!

Downtown Jacksonville looked like a postcard from a revitalized future last week, with thousands of people filling the streets from Wednesday through Sunday evening for One Spark.

Come Monday morning, though, the city center was mostly lifeless again, with little going on besides office workers streaming in and out. For an event that brought 260,000 people Downtown over a five-day period, the lasting impact will be very little, one of the most powerful advocates of revitalization said Tuesday.

"We need to make sure the population doesn't think this is somehow a turning point," Peter Rummell said in an editorial roundtable meeting with the Business Journal. "It's just not."

full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/feature/one-spark-2014/2014/04/rummell-one-spark-is-not-a-turning-point-for.html

[Keith-N-Jax]

yeah I think most on here know this already.

[David]

I've been holding my tongue on saying this, out of fearing of sounding cynical,  but with the big multi day events that happen in downtown, there's a sort of temporary carnival atmosphere that I associate to them. Yes One Spark is a great event, as is the Jazz Fest, and the Superbowl we had nearly a decade ago, but when you're in the middle of it you can't help but sense how temporary it  is.

Artwalk does this to a lesser extent, but with less tents the setup feels a little more authentic and less carnival-esque The actual buildings/venues are in use more it seems. (I do miss the old library being used though)

We all want downtown to go from having that temporary lively atmosphere to a sustained bustling core, but the big question is still how and when.

That said, It does seem more alive than ten years ago. At least there's a few more nightlife options, but I know that's not going to be enough for everyone .

[Bridges]

"So if we're going to grow, and we're going to have policies that are positive and attract long-term capital, we've got to be able to compete with Charlotte and Indianapolis and Nashville, and they're all at the table."

But not at our table.  Those cities are at the Adult table. We're at the kids table fighting over not eating our veggies and who pulled who's hair. 

I get what he is saying, and I might not fully agree on his solutions, but he has a point.  I like to view One Spark as just that, a spark.  And for any spark to catch fire, you've got to feed it with the right fuel.  Rummell thinks money is that fuel, and to a large part it is.  But smart design and forward thinking ideas are also fuel.  You can't start rubber stamping large parking garages with inadequate space for retail and strip malls with parking in the front, or demolishing buildings for more parking spaces.  You can't be waged in a war with the homeless so much that you're willing to destroy one of the center parks in your downtown.  You can't ignore the connectivity of the surrounding neighborhoods and how they play into downtown, or ignore alternative modes of transportation.  You can't put barriers up for small business to start, and also regulate competition out of the game. 

Those are the kindling needed for the fire to start.  Then you take that One Spark, and you can feed it the oxygen of money. 

[CityLife]

I think One Spark, along with Jazz Fest, Art Walk, Florida-Georgia and other downtown events show that if you have it, they will come. Its just a matter of programming the crap out of downtown; opening enough bars and restaurants; and having more cultural events. The more these things happen, the more people will want to either live downtown or in one of the In-Town neighborhoods (which are already hot as is), or will want to relocate their business downtown to be near the action. There's obviously a lot more to downtown revitalization than just programming and events, but it is the one thing that can be done to boost downtown even if the big $ isn't ready just yet.

I would really like the DIA to take a look at permanently closing down a few streets in the downtown core (Hemming Plaza notably) and making the city more walkable, pedestrian friendly, and event friendly. This would be one step towards creating a more permanent festival type atmosphere downtown. It would also make having restaurants, bars, and entertainment type businesses more viable in certain spots.

[NativeDigs]

Downtown has the potential to attract people but it needs to incorporate more than bars and restaurants. Laura Street could/ should be a main strip that draws people from the library, museum and park (Hemming) to the river with the street lined with retail stores that people want to shop at consistently.

When I saw the Barnett building this weekend, I could not help but think about a Banana Republic at being at the corner. It's a store that works in every downtown (and was one of the quality stores in the Landing way back when).

[mtraininjax]

If you want to look at what ails Downtown, look no further than the Landing. Sleiman has all kinds of events daily, weekly, monthly to bring people TO the Landing. He cannot rely on the 3,000 people or so who live downtown, he has to PULL people in from the burbs with events, concerts, you name it.

He has a mini-OneSpark going on everyday. All of his and downtown's issues would be resolved with 15,000 people living downtown. Forget shops and the what-ifs until you get more people living downtown. Vendors will follow and so will shops to serve the people living here, but there cannot be new shops without more people there.

[tufsu1]

If you want to look at what ails Downtown, look no further than the Landing. Sleiman has all kinds of events daily, weekly, monthly to bring people TO the Landing. He cannot rely on the 3,000 people or so who live downtown, he has to PULL people in from the burbs with events, concerts, you name it.

He has a mini-OneSpark going on everyday. All of his and downtown's issues would be resolved with 15,000 people living downtown. Forget shops and the what-ifs until you get more people living downtown. Vendors will follow and so will shops to serve the people living here, but there cannot be new shops without more people there.

not true.  I know many people who live downtown that won't step one foot into the Landing.  The fact is the place is tired and Sleiman has done little to renovate the space, and in fact has made some decisions (Rush Street anyone) that have actually hurt the center's reputation.

[I-10east]

Gotta love the melancholy negativity, because Jacksonvillians just love to rebel in being complete buzzkills about EVERY effing thing...Jesus....

[I-10east]

^^^Nobody expects for Jax to become Manhattan overnight, so he's just being a buzzkill for the fun of it. The same old 'see I told you' people with little substance....

[ronchamblin]

I am happy to have found, within the last several posts, encouraging opinions, as some tend to approximate some of mine.  There is hope.   

[ronchamblin]

Many are arriving at the opinion that the process of attempting to bring the DT core to a condition approximating that of the '40's and '50s is certainly a complex endeavor, and a very difficult endeavor, else we would have accomplished it by now, after almost thirty years of effort.

What have those supposedly engaging the process of attempting revitalization been doing wrong?  What significant necessities for success have they not perceived?  Have they missed come critical components, without which little or no progress can be made?  What entities or conditions have been the hidden roadblocks to progress?

[Cheshire Cat]

Stop the presses, Peter Rummell speaks.  He says "One Spark is not a 'turning point' for Downtown Jacksonville.  Well duh! Who knew?  This headline gives me a headache really as does some of the conversation following it which misses the mark completely.  One Spark did what it was supposed to do and did so in grand fashion.  It is the brainchild of Elton Rivas and is meant to be a crowd funding event for entrepreneurs  in the areas of art, innovation, music, science and technology. In two years the event has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations.  It was and is an event for "all" of Jacksonville that was "staged" in our downtown.  It created a positive buzz and excitement about "new ideas" and "financing" for creators to start new enterprises throughout the city and beyond.  Peter Rummell is a man who tagged his wagon to a very successful event and decided to put some money into it.  The same can be said about Shad Khan.  But this event is not about these men or their take on Jacksonville or downtown.  It is about new things, new ideas and a creative spark coming to life in our city.   It was about people, not the downtown core.  People like creator Kyle Willis and his art cards connecting with the people of Jacksonville.    It was and is about creating excitement about and "sparking" new enterprises in the above stated categories.  It was about getting our collective "mojo" working in Jacksonville and stirring up excitement and interest.  ONE SPARK WAS A TURNING POINT FOR JACKSONVILLE that happened in the hearts and minds of people which is where all good ideas come from.    Rummell making this about brick and mortar projects and downplaying the important changes in perceptions is unfortunate.

[I-10east]

^^^Long time no see CC, I totally agree with you!

[Keith-N-Jax]

Of course you do.  What Rummell said was absolutely correct, no matter how much you disagree.