4 Years of Brown: Taking DT Jax to the next level!

[CityLife]

Want to see a key difference between Downtown Jax and Downtown Orlando? Here are Jacksonville and Orlando's displays at the ICSC Conference in Orlando last August. This is one of the largest commercial real estate conferences/showcases in the southeast, if not the country. There are developers, investors, commercial brokers, and corporate reps from all over looking for projects. It is one of the best opportunities for city agencies to make sales pitches to developers and get them interested in specific projects. Jax had reps from OED and DIA (including Wallace), but they were largely absent from their booth. Their marketing materials were atrocious, laughable really. Much worse than the booth display itself. Orlando, Miami, and other cities had slick brochures, maps, and attractive booths to lure people in. They also had very engaged employees working the booth hard and making sales pitches.

Aundra Wallace had been at the DIA almost a year and had more than enough of a marketing budget to put something together for this conference and other marketing related events. Instead, they were using an old JEDC/OED booth used for random events. If you were a developer, which city would you feel comfortable investing in?

That Orlando booth looks like it was around $100k at least. Possibly more. With Jacksonville's money problems, I could see a reporter having a blast uncovering "wasteful spending" on a $100k booth.

And man, those TU Facebook comments would be awesome. Lots of "taxpayers" mad about "their money" being wasted by "big government".

Doubt it was anywhere close to $100k. Orlando is a huge conference town. You can rent setups like that from trade show/conference companies, and have the graphic design work done to make it look custom. The DIA does have money for professional services and marketing. Preparing for events like this should probably be priority #1 for those dollars. If the money isn't there, then hire a summer graphic design/marketing intern to get it done. They would have local students beating down the door for the resume boost.

As I said in the original post, the marketing materials were worse than the booth itself and are the real issue. The DIA had a very sloppily put together spreadsheet with properties for sale and for rent, with little to no information about each. Map wise, they had a very general map of downtown that looked like you could print it off the city gis website in 5 seconds. Contrast that with what you see at the Orlando booth. They had a myriad of slick pamphlets, brochures, and professionally prepared maps. Miami and other cities did as well. Heck, the sweet lady who had no idea what she was doing from Lake City even had better materials than COJ. The poor folks at the DIA/OED must have realized their setup was embarrassing, because I don't think I even saw anyone manning it on day 2.

In the DIA's defense, a staffer told me they had never been to a conference like this, so they didn't know what to prepare for. Orlando's downtown agency has been in place for years and is well established. So not an apples to apples comparison. Still, it was a very subpar effort and one that quite a few other people noticed and mentioned to me. Given how far behind the DIA is, it's no surprise that Orlando and Tampa are beating Jax on the playing field. Hopefully Curry and co are able to turn it around. I believe his new Chief of Staff was involved with the recent downtown CRA plan. That should be a good bridge between the mayor and downtown development.

[marksjax]

That is disappointing to see. No excuse for that.

[vicupstate]

In the DIA's defense, a staffer told me they had never been to a conference like this, so they didn't know what to prepare for. Orlando's downtown agency has been in place for years and is well established.

This is the most telling tidbit of everything mentioned.

[thelakelander]

A general word of advice for those of us living in the 21st century. If there's a question, try doing a simple Google search. Nothing is new under the sun, so there's most likely coverage and images available (both good and bad) of previous events and activities.

[WarDamJagFan]

Want to see a key difference between Downtown Jax and Downtown Orlando? Here are Jacksonville and Orlando's displays at the ICSC Conference in Orlando last August. This is one of the largest commercial real estate conferences/showcases in the southeast, if not the country. There are developers, investors, commercial brokers, and corporate reps from all over looking for projects. It is one of the best opportunities for city agencies to make sales pitches to developers and get them interested in specific projects. Jax had reps from OED and DIA (including Wallace), but they were largely absent from their booth. Their marketing materials were atrocious, laughable really. Much worse than the booth display itself. Orlando, Miami, and other cities had slick brochures, maps, and attractive booths to lure people in. They also had very engaged employees working the booth hard and making sales pitches.

Aundra Wallace had been at the DIA almost a year and had more than enough of a marketing budget to put something together for this conference and other marketing related events. Instead, they were using an old JEDC/OED booth used for random events. If you were a developer, which city would you feel comfortable investing in?

That Orlando booth looks like it was around $100k at least. Possibly more. With Jacksonville's money problems, I could see a reporter having a blast uncovering "wasteful spending" on a $100k booth.

And man, those TU Facebook comments would be awesome. Lots of "taxpayers" mad about "their money" being wasted by "big government".

Doubt it was anywhere close to $100k. Orlando is a huge conference town. You can rent setups like that from trade show/conference companies, and have the graphic design work done to make it look custom. The DIA does have money for professional services and marketing. Preparing for events like this should probably be priority #1 for those dollars. If the money isn't there, then hire a summer graphic design/marketing intern to get it done. They would have local students beating down the door for the resume boost.

As I said in the original post, the marketing materials were worse than the booth itself and are the real issue. The DIA had a very sloppily put together spreadsheet with properties for sale and for rent, with little to no information about each. Map wise, they had a very general map of downtown that looked like you could print it off the city gis website in 5 seconds. Contrast that with what you see at the Orlando booth. They had a myriad of slick pamphlets, brochures, and professionally prepared maps. Miami and other cities did as well. Heck, the sweet lady who had no idea what she was doing from Lake City even had better materials than COJ. The poor folks at the DIA/OED must have realized their setup was embarrassing, because I don't think I even saw anyone manning it on day 2.

In the DIA's defense, a staffer told me they had never been to a conference like this, so they didn't know what to prepare for. Orlando's downtown agency has been in place for years and is well established. So not an apples to apples comparison. Still, it was a very subpar effort and one that quite a few other people noticed and mentioned to me. Given how far behind the DIA is, it's no surprise that Orlando and Tampa are beating Jax on the playing field. Hopefully Curry and co are able to turn it around. I believe his new Chief of Staff was involved with the recent downtown CRA plan. That should be a good bridge between the mayor and downtown development.

We were in Orlando for the Surf Expo 2 years ago, as I have a friend who's company put a booth up. They had a booth which cost just under 10K but had enormous visual appeal. The Orlando booth probably cost around 25-30K just doing a visual comparison. The booth the DIA had looks like a 5th grade presentation gone wrong.

[CCMjax]

A general word of advice for those of us living in the 21st century. If there's a question, try doing a simple Google search. Nothing is new under the sun, so there's most likely coverage and images available (both good and bad) of previous events and activities.

Agreed, poor excuse and should not be acceptable moving forward.  But I'm going to hold off on ripping the DIA apart for now, especially when they are in their infancy and I have no idea what the circumstances were behind the horrid showing (or lack there of) at the event.

We are all responsible for what goes on in our city, not just those who seem to be in charge of running it or ruining it, whichever you prefer.  We have a responsibility to contribute to the "community."  Apathy kills communities.  It's become clear to me that those running Jacksonville are understaffed, underfunded, etc. in just about every category so it is nonsense to count entirely on them to turn things around.  We shouldn't just be begging investors to come to our city, we should be begging our citizens to care about our cities and do their part.  Christ, this city has more than a million people, we've got resources right here.  I know many of you on this site are heavily involved whether you're getting paid for it or not, others maybe not so much.  I for one feel like I haven't done jack since I moved here over 2 years ago to really help make a difference in improving the core and restoring the history of the city, and I think it's time.  I'm a licensed engineer working for a local structural/MEP engineering company and I know we are looking for ways to volunteer time for a good cause that would benefit the city, I just don't know if we've even been approached for volunteer help in constructing a house or cleaning up a park, etc.  We are very busy but sometimes it only takes a phone call or email to the right person.  I'm personally looking for ways to help out that go beyond doing what I get a paycheck for, just don't know where to start.  I think that's everyone's responsibility.

What is the best way to help out in Jax, to really make a difference, without stepping on toes?  Organizations? events? projects?  Someone send me a PM if there is something really specific.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

If I'm not mistaken, the Wallace hire in and of itself was viewed as lackluster at best.

I did a little bit of internet research and it appeared that he left plenty of unfinished business in Detroit and that many of the companies that were getting paid under his watch we creations (at least partnerships) of his own.

I'll go back and pull some of the old dialogue between Cheshire Cat and I on here when I get in front of a computer tomorrow.

[UNFurbanist]

A general word of advice for those of us living in the 21st century. If there's a question, try doing a simple Google search. Nothing is new under the sun, so there's most likely coverage and images available (both good and bad) of previous events and activities.

Agreed, poor excuse and should not be acceptable moving forward.  But I'm going to hold off on ripping the DIA apart for now, especially when they are in their infancy and I have no idea what the circumstances were behind the horrid showing (or lack there of) at the event.

We are all responsible for what goes on in our city, not just those who seem to be in charge of running it or ruining it, whichever you prefer.  We have a responsibility to contribute to the "community."  Apathy kills communities.  It's become clear to me that those running Jacksonville are understaffed, underfunded, etc. in just about every category so it is nonsense to count entirely on them to turn things around.  We shouldn't just be begging investors to come to our city, we should be begging our citizens to care about our cities and do their part.  Christ, this city has more than a million people, we've got resources right here.  I know many of you on this site are heavily involved whether you're getting paid for it or not, others maybe not so much.  I for one feel like I haven't done jack since I moved here over 2 years ago to really help make a difference in improving the core and restoring the history of the city, and I think it's time.  I'm a licensed engineer working for a local structural/MEP engineering company and I know we are looking for ways to volunteer time for a good cause that would benefit the city, I just don't know if we've even been approached for volunteer help in constructing a house or cleaning up a park, etc.  We are very busy but sometimes it only takes a phone call or email to the right person.  I'm personally looking for ways to help out that go beyond doing what I get a paycheck for, just don't know where to start.  I think that's everyone's responsibility.

What is the best way to help out in Jax, to really make a difference, without stepping on toes?  Organizations? events? projects?  Someone send me a PM if there is something really specific.

I'm really happy you want to get involved to help out the core! I know DT Vision is always looking for partners. They just set up a partnership with the elbow bar district and they are in the process of restoring the ocean st. alley way. Maybe talking to them would be a cool opportunity.
Here is their contact page http://theelbowjax.com/contact/ And DT Vision generally http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/DowntownVisionInc/Contactus.aspx

There is also groundworks Jax which is trying to restore the emerald necklace http://www.groundworkjacksonville.org/contact-us/
And a ton more that I'm sure others would be happy to post links for.

[tufsu1]

If I'm not mistaken, the Wallace hire in and of itself was viewed as lackluster at best.

I did a little bit of internet research and it appeared that he left plenty of unfinished business in Detroit and that many of the companies that were getting paid under his watch we creations (at least partnerships) of his own.

I'll go back and pull some of the old dialogue between Cheshire Cat and I on here when I get in front of a computer tomorrow.

he was by far and away the best of the candidates that made the shortlist

[thelakelander]

^Pretty much.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

If I'm not mistaken, the Wallace hire in and of itself was viewed as lackluster at best.

I did a little bit of internet research and it appeared that he left plenty of unfinished business in Detroit and that many of the companies that were getting paid under his watch we creations (at least partnerships) of his own.

I'll go back and pull some of the old dialogue between Cheshire Cat and I on here when I get in front of a computer tomorrow.

he was by far and away the best of the candidates that made the shortlist

OK.  Thread reread and memory refreshed a bit. 

It was all of the scandal that had followed him that had my ears perked up. 

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,19358.0.html

[CityLife]

If I'm not mistaken, the Wallace hire in and of itself was viewed as lackluster at best.

I did a little bit of internet research and it appeared that he left plenty of unfinished business in Detroit and that many of the companies that were getting paid under his watch we creations (at least partnerships) of his own.

I'll go back and pull some of the old dialogue between Cheshire Cat and I on here when I get in front of a computer tomorrow.

he was by far and away the best of the candidates that made the shortlist

He might have been the best interviewer of the bunch, but I'm not sure you can say he had the best track record.  I know of a well known person in the redevelopment field in Florida that would be a mediocre interviewer/BS'r at best, but is a dynamite worker that makes things happen. You can go back and read MJ's live blog of the DIA and see that Wallace's charisma is what got him the role.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,18603.0.html

Wallace had the weakest bio of the 4 finalists in terms of downtown development (1 withdrew). He's mostly a housing and neighborhood development type guy. The DIA board also didn't appear to do homework on his history (see link below)....and that is before the story came out about his failings at the Detroit land bank (see 2nd link).

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=18658.0

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140529/METRO01/305290038

Mayor Brown setup the DIA Board and handled the DIA CEO search firm. Had a different mayor been in place, we might have seen an entirely different candidate pool and the board may have gone a different direction.

[vicupstate]

^^ Not to mention, the entire pool of applicants might have been influenced negatively, in that this position had the strong potential to be a two year gig only. 

[CityLife]

^^ Not to mention, the entire pool of applicants might have been influenced negatively, in that this position had the strong potential to be a two year gig only.

Good point. That was absolutely a factor (probably along with the funding issues). I didn't even consider applying for one of the two junior DIA roles because of that uncertainty, and to be honest, because I didn't like what I read about Wallace. Not sure I would have even gotten the gig or even taken it, but I'm glad I didn't bother.

[mtraininjax]

Sadly, this is a very short list and in the end, I think that had a huge influence in him not getting to see the next four years. Mixed economic times (started very bad and now is picking up) and very underwhelming results.

I do not count creating a plan for pensions without a way to pay for them, as a success. Its like sending your kid to private school, but you are not sure how you plan to pay for it. Really? The job is only half-way complete, much like most of Brown's tenure, he lacked any real leadership around town, but he was probably the most camera-ready mayor we have seen in a long time.

He did get over to Avondale quite a bit more than previous mayors, so maybe his claim was that he was more urban than other mayors. The folks at The Brick appreciated his appearances.