Trouble in Hemming Park already?

[thelakelander]

Dispute arises over whether old grants should count toward Friends of Hemming Park's fundraising obligations

By Max Marbut, Staff Writer

The contract for Friends of Hemming Park spells out minimum fundraising and revenue requirements for the nonprofit to receive quarterly payments totaling $1 million from Duval County taxpayers.
The first benchmark came Dec. 1 with the contract saying the nonprofit must raise $25,000 in the three months after the Sept. 1 effective date.

A budget prepared by the nonprofit shows it raised about $1,500 in the first three months, but it still received the $150,000 payment due from the city Dec. 1.

Bill Prescott, who serves on the Friends board of directors, contends the nonprofit reached the goal because of $50,000 in grants it received as far back as seven months before receiving the contract to manage the park.

City Council members who worked on turning the park over to the nonprofit disagree.

"How do you consider that?" asked council member Denise Lee. "That happened way before the agreement."

Lee chaired the committee that drafted legislation to retain the Friends to manage the park.

Council member Bill Gulliford, who chaired the committee handling Request for Proposals for management of Hemming Park, also questioned the interpretation of the contract terms.

"I think that's bogus. I don't know how you count that. The grants aren't the result of the contract," he said. "The reality is they haven't raised the money."

Full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=544862

[KenFSU]

FHP have been doing an amazing job turning around Hemming.

They deserve the benefit of the doubt, especially this early in the process.

[Intuition Ale Works]

What have they done?

I am not in the loop and want the space to succeed. Great space for beer festivals!

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

FHP have been doing an amazing job turning around Hemming.

They deserve the benefit of the doubt, especially this early in the process.

I'm not sure how you can just 'overlook' the finances even if they ARE doing a tremendous job.  At what point do you hit the panic button and realize that funding is running out, vendors aren't paid and not having foreseeable influx of cash.

Again, I'm trying to look at this objectively because I personally know, as do many of you, several of the people making this happen, but believe that I remember that one of the main selling points was going to be self-sufficiency.

Not that that won't happen, and while I agree it's extreme knee-jerk to start worrying about eventual funding this early, but $1,500 raised in the first quarter isn't even a drop in the bucket.

[InnerCityPressure]

If they were assuming the $50K counted towards it, perhaps the focus has been on programming and not fundraising.  Definitely need to give them another quarter to prove this was a fluke...

[Glenn OSteen]

If they aren't raising the money they promised, they aren't fulfilling the contract. 

If there's money involved and they aren't performing, "feeling good" doesn't get it.

There are already too many vacant buildings, empty restaurants and lost dreams that have been financed by city government.  Don't let another $1,000,000 go down the drain because of a "good idea" that just didn't get a thorough vetting.

[whyisjohngalt]

So are they not charging Vagabond coffee and the food trucks for space?

Is the $1,500 from one source?

Frankly, I'm surprised by city Council's diligence and trust the Hemming crew will get creative enough not only to meet their promise goal but also turn the park around.  A quarter isn't enough time, a year is more than enough.

Otherwise downtown would be better served forming a public/private partnership with property developer to increase housing options so that demand dictates supply, instead of the supply dictating demand equation that doesn't work.

[Marle Brando]

Curious, are food trucks/trailers allowed to operate in Hemming same as Vagabond Coffee? Opening the park to create a food truck food court weekly could be a draw and tremendous bottom line fundraiser (rent). If $1500 for 3months so far, the outlook doesn't look promising despite the job done so far with park upkeep.  I would love to see the park operate as a market of some sorts during the days andd select nights to create foot traffic. This could go a long way in activating the park, surrounding businesses like SP's and as an added bonus, help with the homeless issue a bit.

[jph]

Curious, are food trucks/trailers allowed to operate in Hemming same as Vagabond Coffee? Opening the park to create a food truck food court weekly could be a draw and tremendous bottom line fundraiser (rent). If $1500 for 3months so far, the outlook doesn't look promising despite the job done so far with park upkeep.  I would love to see the park operate as a market of some sorts during the days andd select nights to create foot traffic. This could go a long way in activating the park, surrounding businesses like SP's and as an added bonus, help with the homeless issue a bit.

Before these guys took over, there used to be 3 or 4 food trucks in Hemming on Thursdays and Fridays. Now they have the coffee place and one food truck there every day. I suspect that it's not a huge moneymaker for them one way or the other.

[CityLife]

I agree they should be given a pass for the first 3 months, though $1,500 is pretty disappointing. That said, hopefully this is a wakeup call and they step it up in the next quarter.

[tufsu1]

As I understand it, they raised $50,000 while the City  was getting all the kinks worked out on the transfer.  That money was raised under the guise that the park would be turned over, so IMO it shoukd count toward the fundraising goals.

[Rob68]

With all of the walls this park has put up against it i feel maybe we should give time and assistance to anyone trying to keep it open and vibrant...this is our cities center and it deserves due diligence from all involved. Good luck to Hemming. 

[InnerCityPressure]

So are they not charging Vagabond coffee and the food trucks for space?

Why would a food truck PAY for space when they are the draw?  When things get into full swing...sure...charge, but we're not there yet.  Vagabond is not making enough money to pay rent.

[KenFSU]

INSANELY early to be having this conversation, in my humble opinion.

Hemming was neglected for decades, handed over to the homeless and mentally unstable to use as a toilet. The city is going to need to exercise a little patience if they are serious about turning around what is perhaps the most important address in the city in terms of downtown redevelopment.

FHP didn't move into their offices until October, and I believe they weren't even fully staffed until early November.

In just a few short months, they have:

-   Completely rebranded the park
-   Moved Jaxson's Night Market to Hemming.
-   Performed general cleanup of the park.
-   Added a lunch time café
-   Added a daily coffee shop
-   Brought in a social worker to help with troubled or problem visitors.
-   Hosted a performance by the Jacksonville Symphona Orchestra.
-   Held free fitness and yoga classes
-   Hosted free concerts
-   Brought in seasonal attractions (ex: pop-up flower shop for Valentine's Day)

They are absolutely making the right moves and embracing the right principals, but a successful turnaround is going to take both time and money. I would hope that this early in the 18-month commitment, the city would be looking at the park's trajectory first, and the fundraising goal second (particularly in light of the $50k in grants that the group has raised previously). Self-sufficiency isn't going to happen overnight, and realistically, there's no reason that Hemming shouldn't continue to receive whatever annual funds the parks department has allocated for it regardless.

Revenue will come with time, but God himself couldn't turn Hemming into a money-making machine in three months. I really think we should look at the big picture, particularly for the first 18 months, and asks qualitative questions first. Is the park more vibrant? Are more people using it? Is Hemming safer? Does the new Hemming improve perception of downtown Jacksonville? Will this incarnation of Hemming foster positive synergy with other planned developments nearby (Landing renovations, Laura Street Trio, etc.)

Sure, look at the revenue slope and use the fundraising goals as soft benchmarks, but also remember that the improvement of Hemming Park is a vital quality of life investment for the city's core.

And if the park underperforms in terms of the bottom line, I would hope that the city doesn't automatically kick FHP to the curb. Instead, they should ask, 'How can we help you reach these goals?' And until the park gets a badly needed green redesign, any group is going to be squeezing lemonade out of lemons. I view what's going on now as more of a proof of concept than a long-term solution.

Jacksonville has a long history of taking bad ideas and implementing them poorly.

When the right people come along with the right ideas, I think that as a city, we really need to get behind them and provide them with the necessary resources to execute those ideas.

I have full faith in these guys to get the job done.

[CityLife]

^Great post Ken. I also think people need to see and experience the improvements to the park before digging into their pocket book, so naturally there will be some lag time for donations. Not to mention the time it takes to get revenue generating deals going.

That said, they have been given a substantial budget and have a robust staff of 7 to manage a 1.5 acre park. They should absolutely be able to create a park that is at least close to being self sustaining in terms of revenue and donations down the road. I hope they are afforded some patience, but also hope they do have some accountability in a few months time regarding required metrics.