Repealing Deception: The Landing and Public Engagement

[thelakelander]

On Wednesday, the city of Jacksonville officially took ownership of the Jacksonville Landing, with intentions of immediately removing many minority owned small businesses and razing the place as soon as possible. While the Mayor's Office continues its efforts to limit public engagement regarding the Landing's future, a troubling trend of historically inaccurate storytelling around the topic is appearing more and more in recent media reports. Here is a quick look at what came out of the most recent public engagement process and how the Mayor's plan is dramatically different and underwhelming at best.

Full article: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/repealing-deception-the-landing-and-public-engagement/

[marcuscnelson]

So right now, what can we do about this? What power do we have, or people we can speak to, that can either stop demolition in favor of an RFP immediately or demand a real, actual site plan before demolition?

[thelakelander]

For now, you can contact/email council representatives and the mayor's office and voice your opinions and concerns. You can also do this through their social media pages. Also feel free to share the things being exposed here with your own network of friends, family members, co-workers, classmates, etc.

http://www.coj.net/city-council.aspx

http://www.coj.net/mayor/contact-us


They say closed mouths don't get fed and if you're not at the table, you're likely the meal. Be warned, there's a lot of cheerleading going on these days, where people will tend to express opinions and biases on the Landing, as opposed to embracing a call to simply issue a RFP now for the market to decide, which simply brings more creativity and opportunity for Jax to select from. Just swat them off your shoulders and keep on moving. They'll be the first in line to order at the Landing turned food hall, public market, etc.

This town is also full of people who know better but selfishly sit quiet for a variety of reasons why the community we live in and love gets gutted like a fish. Others are simply trying to live life and could care less of what happens in town, as long as their lights are on, there's a roof over their head and food on the table. Getting active won't mean you'll rectify every situation, but it will build momentum, accountability and knock a few off their perch in the long run. In the process, you may lose a city hall annex or Jax Landing but the ground swell of public support may be instrumental in altering the future.

[thelakelander]

Good article in the Jax Daily Record this morning. This quote basically gets down to the gist of why the Mayor's plan for the Landing should be publicly vetted. These guys are politicians, not planners, architects, engineers, developers, etc. They'd actually benefit from more open engagement and issuing a RFP. This brings in a fresh and creative set of eyes that can visualize and make things happen that they'll continue to struggle with, blow a lot of public money, fail and eventually leave town for the next political gig with the rest of us left to live on with the after effects.

Goldstein said the DIA and UDA focused on the junction of Laura Street and the river.

Curry's office has not released an updated plan of what will happen to the property post-demolition, but Goldstein said she hopes the 2015 proposal gets a second look.

The key difference between Curry's plan and the UDA design, Goldstein said, is the 2015 version activates the Landing property with amenities and shops, and that shade is  incorporated into the outdoor space

A rendering of Curry's proposal released in 2018 shows green space or a park where the Landing stood, flanked by two mixed-use structures.

"(Mayor Curry's proposal) may be lively when there's a concert or event, but when it goes dark, it goes from an asset to a liability," Goldstein said.

Full article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/the-jacksonville-landings-future-mayor-set-on-demolition-but-some-say-not-so-fast

[Kerry]

Behind the scenes the Jags must be closer to pulling out than even I can imagine.  This level of out-right lying is unprecedented.

[KenFSU]

Can we quickly appreciate the gaslighting on display here.

Curry's empty grass lot is the same plan as the 2015 Wakefield Beasley concept?

Demolishing a city-owned structure with no recovery plan is the same thing as subsidizing the redevelopment of a Sleiman-owned Landing?

It's structurally impossible/cost prohibitive to cut a path through non-load bearing glass and aluminum?

It's pretty scary that the public is being fed flat-out lies, and citizens and incoming members of city council who raise legitimate questions are treated as if they are crazy.

Brian Hughes likely isn't going to be ousted as CAO, but the DIA needs new leadership quickly. Can you imagine Aundra Wallace talking like this?

[avonjax]

We can have a new slogan out of this. Jacksonville: "Tear it Down and They Won't Come!" What do you think? I love the idea of another eyesore hole on the waterfront. Great concept! Thanks Lenny! Thanks City Council! Thanks blind non-visionaries! Thanks for the former Landing! Thanks for the former Metro Park! Thanks for the Old Courthouse and City Hall Annex! Thanks for the wonderful new developments that will replace them! I LOVE WEEDS! I LOVE PARKING LOTS! I LOVE BROKEN UP CONCRETE THAT MARKS THE FORMER OLD TRASHY BUILDINGS THAT RUINED THE CITY! AND I LOVE THE EMPTY HOLES IN THE CITYSCAPE! CELEBRATE OUR PROGRESS!

[Todd_Parker]

at the very least, couldn't the city reach out to Hollywood to incorporate all of these demolitions into the next Fast & the Furious movie. Picture Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson walking across the remnants of a blown-up Jacksonville Landing, he glances over at the "Landing" sign now sitting on a pile of rubble, smoldering. He shoots the camera one of his patented eyebrow raises, smiles, and says...."well, I landed".

Pure gold.

(Attention, Michael Bay, I am available for script writing assistance)

[Steve]

I'm starting to think the best voice that people have within City Council will end up being Matt Carlucci (and with more than just this issue). Think about it:

- He endorsed Nat Glover over his party candidate John Peyton when he didn't make the runoff in 2003 for mayor
- He has enough popularity on his own that he doesn't really need to ride Curry's Coat Tails
- I don't know him personally, but aside from another office in Jacksonville, I don't get the Tallahassee/Washington vibes from him
- He's already said that he differs with Curry on this.

[downtownbrown]

yeah yeah yeah.  Just to depart from the GroupThink on this blog, I can't wait until the hideous eyesore of the Landing is gone.  I love this high dudgeon after decades of no one stepping up to fix it.  The idea of an RFP resulting in a mad rush from the marketplace to preserve this thing is absurd in my view.  Putting lipstick on this pig is not the answer. 
So go ahead. Vent.

[DrQue]

yeah yeah yeah.  Just to depart from the GroupThink on this blog, I can't wait until the hideous eyesore of the Landing is gone.  I love this high dudgeon after decades of no one stepping up to fix it.  The idea of an RFP resulting in a mad rush from the marketplace to preserve this thing is absurd in my view.  Putting lipstick on this pig is not the answer. 
So go ahead. Vent.

What do you propose instead?
How does your proposal increase vibrancy?
How viable is your proposal from financial and execution standpoints?

[Captain Zissou]

^ It's a prime piece of property in a mid sized city.  Knowing our city, they will let it go for a bargain.  At a reduced price, a developer may want to demolish and build from the ground up, but why force their hand?  It will be cheaper for anyone to reuse the existing structure, so lets give them that option.  Heck.  Lets issue the RFP now and the city can offer to demolish the structure for the builder if that's what the winning bid requires. 

[thelakelander]

yeah yeah yeah.  Just to depart from the GroupThink on this blog, I can't wait until the hideous eyesore of the Landing is gone.  I love this high dudgeon after decades of no one stepping up to fix it.  The idea of an RFP resulting in a mad rush from the marketplace to preserve this thing is absurd in my view.  Putting lipstick on this pig is not the answer. 
So go ahead. Vent.

^No worries. Your post literally confirms you don't know much about the history of how and why things have gotten to this point in time. If you did, I do believe you'd reevaluate your opinion. Nevertheless, Brian Hughes doesn't really know either since he's a relatively newcomer to the city. In any event, at the end of the day, I do believe, no matter what side of the fence one falls on, it's hard to want to limit opportunities for great redevelopment in downtown. With that said, if this general belief is applied to the Jacksonville Landing, we need to place our personal biases and opinions aside and open the opportunity for a RFP for qualified parties to redevelop the site.

Perhaps that's full adaptive reuse, maybe it's a mix of old and new or perhaps it's a full blown raze and rebuild. Seriously, what's wrong with letting the market and professionals who know what they're doing become a part of the redevelopment process? Brian Hughes isn't an architect, planner, engineer, developer or long time resident. He should be the last one telling people in Jax, what's iconic to them or if adaptive reuse is structurally or financially feasible or not.

[Kerry]

^ It's a prime piece of property in a mid sized city.  Knowing our city, they will let it go for a bargain.  At a reduced price, a developer may want to demolish and build from the ground up, but why force their hand?  It will be cheaper for anyone to reuse the existing structure, so lets give them that option.  Heck.  Lets issue the RFP now and the city can offer to demolish the structure for the builder if that's what the winning bid requires.

The City has no intention of issuing an RFP for this location.

[thelakelander]

How many years has it been since the talk first started about removing the Liberty Street deck and razing the city hall annex and the old county courthouse? How many years has it been since the DIA talked about issuing all the RFPs for city owned land and vacant buildings in DT.  None of these projects are done and the two demo jobs are overbudget and behind in timeline. It will suck for the Hyatt to have the riverwalk closed off on both sides of it for months and then vacant lots for years afterward.

So some politician telling you they'll issue a RFP after they demolish the building, but providing no timeline of when that will happen or promise of if anything will even come out of it means literally nothing if your concern is about downtown vibrancy now and keeping the businesses that are hear now, open, alive and well.

Even if they issued a RFP for complete reuse of the facility today, you'd still be looking at two to three years before renovation would be completed. Since they literally have no plan other than to give a demo contractor a handout, it means for the new few years this site will be as dead as any other morbid location in downtown. By the time something happens, Curry, Hughes and the current bunch will be long gone and on to their next political job and we'll be the ones dealing with the war zone left.