The Sad State of Friendship Fountain

[fieldafm]

So can we find a way to blame Khan and the Jaguars? I mean it's because of them downtown is in the state it Is!

Well, they do suck up a large portion of the bed tax which is supposed to go to things like Friendship Fountain also.

Sorry but that's incorrect. Of the 6% bed tax in Duval: 2% is dedicated towards capital improvement/maintenance on sports facilities, 2% is dedicated to bond debt repayment for prior sports facilities capital improvements and 2% goes towards tourism-related efforts (something like 3/4 of which funds Visit Jacksonville).  Other Florida counties have a dedicated slice of the bed tax's pie going towards parks (those counties like say Walton or Sarasota also don't have 73,000 seat stadiums, 5,000 seat indoor/outdoor amphitheatres and 15,000 seat arenas)... but Duval does not. As the Duval bed tax is constructed (by ordinance), your favourite punching bag Khan is not 'stealing' money from Friendship Fountain.

Friendship Fountain IS a tourist attraction.  It is why it was built and is identified by the City as a tourist attraction, along with the entire Southbank Riverwalk I might add.

Your personal opinion be as it may, but both Friendship Fountain and the Southbank Riverwalk are both identified as City parks. As such money for maintenance, capital improvements, and the like are derived from the Parks Department's budget. That budget is primarily funded through the General Fund. The bed tax is not a dedicated funding source for the Parks Department. Bed tax money specifically goes towards Sports Facilities and the Tourist Development Council (and Visit Jacksonville eats up the majority of TDC monies). 

[Kerry]

That is not my opinion - it is why it was built.  When opened in 1965 it was the tallest fountain in the world.  Heck, even Visit Jacksonville lists it as an attraction.

From Wikipedia for what it is worth.  I would argue the entire "park" is a tourist attraction and eligible for Bed Tax funding.

The fountain and Friendship Park was designed by Taylor Hardwick, the Jacksonville architect who also designed the Haydon Burns Library. An area of 14 acres (57,000 m2) of land were donated for the project by the Southside Business Men's Club, an organization dedicated to the improvement of the Southside that was established in 1932.[3][unreliable source?][4] Begun in 1963 and completed at a cost of $1.7 million,[5] the park opened in March 1965. The "world's largest and tallest" fountain at the time, it became a popular tourist attraction.[6]

[Snaketoz]

I would agree. (It's a tourist draw) It's original intention was to draw visitors off the interstate to visit.

[Steve]

On that note.....I guess you can call things like JP Small Park, St John's Town Center, and the Airport as Tourist Attractions. Under that argument, about anything that a tourist could conceivably visit could have this money used for it.

I'm confident that's not the spirit of the Bed Tax.

[Steve]

Also, funding can't go to "tourist attractions". It's supposed to go to Tourism-Related effort. These are thinks like Visit Jax, marketing related efforts, ad campaigns, etc. These funds aren't supposed to go to Tourist Attractions.

[Kerry]

What are you talking about - St Johns Town Center, the airport, local parks DO get the benefit of the bed tax.  What do you think Visit Jacksonville is promoting in their brochures?  Since St John's Town Center is a very successful privately owned for-profit operation someone would have a hard time making the case they should get direct funding though.

"tourism-related efforts" seems pretty self-explanatory to me.  Anything aimed at increasing tourism.  I would even throw in the USS Adams, MOSH, Museum of Modern Art, and Cummer as recipients.  Heck, someone could even convince me The Landing should be eligible since it is featured prominently in marketing material by the City and was developed in partnership with the City.

Anyhow - it is just a City ordinance.  It's not written in stone by a supernatural being.  All it takes is vote of the City Council to change it to whatever the needs are.

[KenFSU]

On that note.....I guess you can call things like JP Small Park, St John's Town Center, and the Airport as Tourist Attractions. Under that argument, about anything that a tourist could conceivably visit could have this money used for it.

I'm confident that's not the spirit of the Bed Tax.

Correct.

Stadium upkeep and financing aside, the spirit of the bed tax is to create more overnight visitors to Jacksonville.

If you attend a TDC meeting, the first and ultimate question asked when funds or grants from the bed tax fund are requested is, "How many room nights will this generate for Jacksonville?"

Hence the name, the bed tax is collected from beds, for the purpose of creating more beds.

The hoteliers don't go through all the trouble of collecting and paying the tax for altruistic purposes; they expect to reap the benefits of its use.

Someone pulling off the highway to look at Friendship Fountain or driving in from St. Augustine to shop at the St. Johns Town Center doesn't generate room nights.

That 2% leftover after stadium upkeep and bond repayment is primarily used for 1) marketing efforts to promote overnight visits and 2) for event-specific grants (Jazz Fest, NCAA Track Meet, Warrior Run, etc.) awarded based on guaranteed room nights.

[Downtown Osprey]

What are you talking about - St Johns Town Center, the airport, local parks DO get the benefit of the bed tax.  What do you think Visit Jacksonville is promoting in their brochures?  Since St John's Town Center is a very successful privately owned for-profit operation someone would have a hard time making the case they should get direct funding though.

"tourism-related efforts" seems pretty self-explanatory to me.  Anything aimed at increasing tourism.  I would even throw in the USS Adams, MOSH, Museum of Modern Art, and Cummer as recipients.  Heck, someone could even convince me The Landing should be eligible since it is featured prominently in marketing material by the City and was developed in partnership with the City.

Anyhow - it is just a City ordinance.  It's not written in stone by a supernatural being.  All it takes is vote of the City Council to change it to whatever the needs are.

You should lobby for it

[Kerry]

On that note.....I guess you can call things like JP Small Park, St John's Town Center, and the Airport as Tourist Attractions. Under that argument, about anything that a tourist could conceivably visit could have this money used for it.

I'm confident that's not the spirit of the Bed Tax.

Correct.

Stadium upkeep and financing aside, the spirit of the bed tax is to create more overnight visitors to Jacksonville.

If you attend a TDC meeting, the first and ultimate question asked when funds or grants from the bed tax fund are requested is, "How many room nights will this generate for Jacksonville?"

Hence the name, the bed tax is collected from beds, for the purpose of creating more beds.

The hoteliers don't go through all the trouble of collecting and paying the tax for altruistic purposes; they expect to reap the benefits of its use.

Someone pulling off the highway to look at Friendship Fountain or driving in from St. Augustine to shop at the St. Johns Town Center doesn't generate room nights.

That 2% leftover after stadium upkeep and bond repayment is primarily used for 1) marketing efforts to promote overnight visits and 2) for event-specific grants (Jazz Fest, NCAA Track Meet, Warrior Run, etc.) awarded based on guaranteed room nights.

If that is their objective they failed miserably.  By creating a vibrant downtown with multiple attractions far more room nights are generated.  This City seems stuck on the whole magic bullet game changer attitude.  Instead of raising the water level and floating all boats they keep pinning all the hopes to one-off tidal waves.  Instead of gearing everything towards peak demand for specific events they should trying raising the baseline.

[Steve]

Regardless - I'm not saying that the Bed Tax money shouldn't go towards parks. I'm just saying it doesn't legally - and that was set long before anyone in Jacksonville had heard of Shad Khan or Lenny Curry for that matter.

I wouldn't be in favor of JUST expanding what the money can be used for - it's the equivalent of living paycheck to paycheck and then taking on a car payment. But....I'd be okay raising it to say 8% and allowing the money to be used for Urban Public Spaces. A 2% change won't impact people's decision to come here but it would be a nice benefit for us.

[Kerry]

This thread only raises my frustration level with the City.  Looking around at the fruit of all the City's labor I come back to the same inescapable conclusion - what a monumental waste of money, time, and resources.  We could have achieved these results with almost no effort or expense.

[Papa33]

The world's "largest" videoboards at the time.  It never  became a popular tourist attraction.

[Snaketoz]

Jacksonville got into the tourism game late.  From the 1920s onward, Jacksonville wanted to attract industry not tourists.  We got the pulp mills, the fertilizer plants, chemical plants, shipyards, and everything else that repelled tourists.  It's going to be difficult to turn this ship around.  We are always going to be that big town people pass through to get to the "real" Florida.  Meanwhile, we are left to clean up the mess all of these industrial plants left behind.  We need to clean up and repair what we have.  Improve our schools, get real with crime, and the growth will come.  We have a lot to offer, we just don't have the leadership to guide us.

[remc86007]

The world's "largest" videoboards at the time.  It never  became a popular tourist attraction.

No, but it got a good amount of play on national television and it occasionally still gets mentioned during Jags game broadcasts. A lot of people are moving to Jacksonville, and it is becoming a more well known city in part because of things like the video boards. When you add those boards and the new practice field/amphitheater together, shots of the stadium look way more impressive than they did previously. It no longer looks like the Jags play in an oversized college bowl.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

The world's "largest" videoboards at the time.  It never  became a popular tourist attraction.

I'm guessing you're not including the thousands to tens of thousands of 'tourists' who come to the city to watch a football game 12+ times a year?