Mag’s Cafe in Downtown Jacksonville will close Oct. 6

[thelakelander]

Mag's Cafe, a Downtown breakfast and lunch spot at 231 N. Laura St. across the street from the Main Library, is closing Oct. 6.

Owner Bobby Reynolds cited the inability to retain and hire staff and the Downtown "homeless situation" as reasons he is closing after three years.

He said over the years his staff has been accosted and 911 had been called.

He also pointed to the lack of Downtown development.

Full article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/oct/05/mags-cafe-in-downtown-jacksonville-will-close-oct-6/

[Ken_FSU]

It is absolutely fucking infuriating how needless and preventable this was. Had the DIA and the city simply done the job they are being paid to do with any sense of urgency or accountability, Mags would be open for years to come. Guy has visual blight literally on top of his building that he can't change. Ron's apartment project beside him has been a crumbling reminder of our lack of urban progress for years. Hemming has been largely returned to the homeless (after seeing the same able-bodied, mentally-sound faces loafing around the park for six years with cell phones freeloading off everyone else, my sympathy starts to wane), and I have never seen a combination of so many legitimately unstable vagrants on the streets and so few police officers. We can build fancy new offices for the DVI, but we can't reopen the Main Street Library to Laura Street. It's just sad. DIA is the FIRST ONE to claim credit for projects they are on the periphery of, at best, and the last to take accountability for the continuing closures and increasing blight.

[Ken_FSU]

Stopped by at lunch time to say goodbye to Bobby, after stepping around the zonked out vagrant laying in front of my office door.

She's already closed

[thelakelander]

^In 2006, we came up with the Lighting Laura plan:

https://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2006-may-updated-laura-street-lighting-and-parking-plan





We thought it would be a low hanging fruit. Between the Landing and Hemming Plaza, with the Trio coming online, we thought it was a no-brainer to take advantage of these three anchors to stimulate foot traffic, and then funnel investment in-between, creating a four block stretch of street level vibrancy and activity in the core of downtown.

17 years later......not only did Fuddruckers never open, we found a way to pulverize the park, turn the Landing into a vacant lot. As for the Trio coming back online, that's a conversation for an entirely different thread. Never in a 2006 thelakelander's mind, did he imagine Laura Street not being vibrant and lively by 2023.

[Ken_FSU]

Never in a 2006 thelakelander's mind, did he imagine Laura Street not being vibrant and lively by 2023.

^I remember this proposal clearly, it was such great stuff. I believe you guys also suggested RFPing what is now the Main Street Pocket Park, which simply made too much sense.

What's even sadder is that Laura Street is somehow actively worse than it was in 2006.

If anyone hasn't been down Laura Street in a while, it's truly shocking how bad it's become.

Mag's shuttered. Jacob's Jewelers shuttered. The storefronts beside Wolf & Cub shuttered. The Trio surrounded by torn & faded "Coming Soon" signs and razor ware.

Very little pedestrian traffic aside from wild-eyed homeless folk daring you to make eye contact.

I have a sinking feeling that Mags isn't going to be the last to close up shop by the end of the year.

Hoping to see all of the other proposed projects come to fruition, but it's baffling to me that getting Laura Street right isn't one of the highest priority action items for the city and DIA.

It's also why I have no faith in any "master plan" that the DIA puts together. If you can't get a single key street right with all the low hanging fruit already in place - underutilized retail spots at the Main Library, a distressed park across from City Hall, a vacant Snyder Memorial, interesting but blighted historic signage atop Mags, ample opportunity to open the office tower lobbies to the streets, etc. - how are you going to get the broader northbank and southbank right?

Just makes me sad to see people like Bobby, who really want to give it a go in downtown Jacksonville and who buy into the dishonest hype from things like DVI reports, have to close up shop because the city and our well-paid downtown leaders aren't doing the job necessary to support them.

[Captain Zissou]

Hopefully Lori paid attention last night at the great cities symposium.  She was there and the lesson from Cincinnati was start with one block in the center of town, make it great, and build from there.  You could start with JWJ park and work your way south on Laura to the river and then fix that park, then work your way east down bay street. 

Lori used to be committed to getting the retail on bay street and Ocean "The Elbow" right, but I haven't heard her mention it in years.  Now that she has her shiny toy in the Pearl Street District, I don't see her carrying about small retail enhancement projects for the rest of her term.

[vicupstate]

This is why I have such a hard time believing someone is willing to invest $2 billion literally a stone's throw from Laura Street. I realize JWB has done some fantastic work DT, but it just seems 5-10 years too early to be doing something of that magnitude. I wish them well, I really do, but it seems like a mighty big leap based on what is there now.   

[thelakelander]

IMO, the biggest blight on downtown has been removed from the scene via the recent election. Downtown has been an ATM machine for the politically connected donor class for years. It's been a big game of priorities focused on politically connected winners and losers for a long time. Many of these downtown projects and businesses are no longer with us for that specific reason. Wash the local petty politics out of the way and give the market a chance to do its work. We are blessed with a beautiful city, great location, weather and economy. There's no reason downtown will remain the way it is, if the door to revitalization becomes more inclusive and open.

[Ken_FSU]

IMO, the biggest blight on downtown has been removed from the scene via the recent election. Downtown has been an ATM machine for the politically connected donor class for years. It's been a big game of priorities focused on politically connected winners and losers for a long time. Many of these downtown projects and businesses are no longer with us for that specific reason. Wash the local petty politics out of the way and give the market a chance to do its work. We are blessed with a beautiful city, great location, weather and economy. There's no reason downtown will remain the way it is, if the door to revitalization becomes more inclusive and open.

With interest rates expected to remain high through next year, leadership struggles at the DIA, JTA, and JSO contributing to the problem, and a current climate that necessitates not just REV grants but cash completion grants for many projects, what do you think reasonable/realistic progress looks like by the end of Donna's first term?

[thelakelander]

Reasonable for me starts with accepting the reality of our situation. We've screwed some stuff up over the last two decades and completely whiffed during the perfect economic cycles because our priorities were elsewhere. Nevertheless, the revitalization path follows the same proven steps that were recommended years ago.

As far as private sector projects go, we will need to provide some sort of incentives to make many of them feasible. That's not a negative. We've simply not done the things on the public side to create an environment where incentives aren't required in the Northbank and LaVilla. I do believe more help should be shifted to those areas of the CRA than Brooklyn and the Southbank. We can dive into the private development side if you like, but if it were me, I'd really focus on the public infrastructure investment component.

Reasonable progress for me is focusing on and knocking out the low hanging fruit, yet long delayed public infrastructure projects. Get the Northbank Riverwalk completed and reopened. Finish Friendship Fountain. Get the first phase of Riverside Plaza done. Do something with Courthouse Plaza and JWJ Park. Get the two-waying of Forsyth and Adams underway and completed. Right now, downtown looks like a war zone and these are projects that are funded and should not take years to complete when prioritized. So that's step one.

Step two is to do the same with the projects coming down the pipeline in the CIP. These include the two-waying of Pearl, Julia, Monroe, extending the Emerald Trail down Hogan Street, finishing the McCoys Creek Greenway. Money isn't the issue. Implementation is. If what I've mentioned above is completed or well underway by the end of her first term, I believe that would be a significant accomplishment that proves the city is finally willing to smartly invest in its downtown public realm (something that hasn't been done effectively since the Delaney administration)......which is something that leverages private development.

I also think that a lot of headwind can be made by flipping the composition of most of the boards and commissions and tweaking some public policies. Our discriminatory zoning policies are the primary reason most of urban neighborhood commercial spaces sit vacant and boarded up. Public policy is helping to block the market and create obstacles for inclusive and more equitable investment. We're really doing places like the Eastside and NW Jacksonville a huge disservice. A stroke of a pen could go a long way to unleashing economic opportunity.

Just as important is cleaning house with some of these board and commission positions. You want to kill the U2C, improve downtown development projects, etc.? Flip those associated boards by getting rid of a few yes men and women and replace them with people who are qualified for those positions, yet have the ethics and backbone to do what's right for the community instead of what's right for their business, political or personal pocketbooks.

Regarding the private development projects, some of them have always been pretty pie in the sky to me (i.e. American Lions). I believe the realistic projects (i.e. the first phase of Gateway, the Jags stuff.....once a deal is in place, etc.) will get done or be well on their way by the time her first term is up.

I also believe there will be additional low hanging fruit opportunities that will pop up, that we can take advantage of with limited funds, to strategically cluster private development around many of the public infrastructure projects mentioned above.

[Ken_FSU]

Reasonable for me starts with accepting the reality of our situation. We've screwed some stuff up over the last two decades and completely whiffed during the perfect economic cycles because our priorities were elsewhere. Nevertheless, the revitalization path follows the same proven steps that were recommended years ago.

As far as private sector projects go, we will need to provide some sort of incentives to make many of them feasible. That's not a negative. We've simply not done the things on the public side to create an environment where incentives aren't required in the Northbank and LaVilla. I do believe more help to be shifted to those areas of the CRA than Brooklyn and the Southbank. We can dive into the private development side if you like, but if it were me, I'd really focus on the public infrastructure investment component.

Reasonable progress for me is focusing on and knocking out the low hanging fruit, yet long delayed public infrastructure projects. Get the Northbank Riverwalk completed and reopened. Finish Friendship Fountain. Get the first phase of Riverside Plaza done. Do something with Courthouse Plaza and JWJ Park. Get the two-waying of Forsyth and Adams underway and completed. Right now, downtown looks like a war zone and these are projects that are funded and should not take years to complete when prioritized. So that's step one.

Step two is to do the same with the projects coming down the pipeline in the CIP. These include the two-waying of Pearl, Julia, Monroe, extending the Emerald Trail down Hogan Street, finishing the McCoys Creek Greenway. Money isn't the issue. Implementation is. If what I've mentioned above is completed or well underway by her first term, I believe that would be a significant accomplishment that proves the city is finally willing to smartly invest in its downtown public realm......which is something that leverages private development.

I also think that a lot of headwind can be made by flipping the composition of most of the boards and commissions and tweaking some public policies. Our discriminatory zoning policies are the primary reason most of urban neighborhood commercial spaces sit vacant and boarded up. We're really doing places like the Eastside and NW Jacksonville a huge disservice. A stroke of a pen could go a long way to unleashing economic opportunity.

Just as important is cleaning house with some of these board and commission positions. You want to kill the U2C, improve downtown development projects, etc.? Flip those associated boards by getting rid of a few yes men and women and replace them with people who are qualified for those positions, yet have the ethics and backbone to do what's right for the community instead of what's right for their company's, political or personal pocketbooks.

Regarding the private development projects, some of them have always been pretty pie in the sky to me (i.e. American Lions). I believe the realistic projects (i.e. the first phase of Gateway, the Jags stuff.....once a deal is in place, etc.) will get done or be well on their way by the time her first term is up.

I also believe there will be additional low hanging fruit opportunities that will pop up, that we can take advantage of with limited funds, to strategically cluster private development around many of the public infrastructure projects mentioned above.

Great stuff!

Thanks, Ennis!

[jaxlongtimer]

Reasonable for me starts with accepting the reality of our situation. We've screwed some stuff up over the last two decades and completely whiffed during the perfect economic cycles because our priorities were elsewhere. Nevertheless, the revitalization path follows the same proven steps that were recommended years ago.

As far as private sector projects go, we will need to provide some sort of incentives to make many of them feasible. That's not a negative. We've simply not done the things on the public side to create an environment where incentives aren't required in the Northbank and LaVilla. I do believe more help to be shifted to those areas of the CRA than Brooklyn and the Southbank. We can dive into the private development side if you like, but if it were me, I'd really focus on the public infrastructure investment component.

Reasonable progress for me is focusing on and knocking out the low hanging fruit, yet long delayed public infrastructure projects. Get the Northbank Riverwalk completed and reopened. Finish Friendship Fountain. Get the first phase of Riverside Plaza done. Do something with Courthouse Plaza and JWJ Park. Get the two-waying of Forsyth and Adams underway and completed. Right now, downtown looks like a war zone and these are projects that are funded and should not take years to complete when prioritized. So that's step one.

Step two is to do the same with the projects coming down the pipeline in the CIP. These include the two-waying of Pearl, Julia, Monroe, extending the Emerald Trail down Hogan Street, finishing the McCoys Creek Greenway. Money isn't the issue. Implementation is. If what I've mentioned above is completed or well underway by her first term, I believe that would be a significant accomplishment that proves the city is finally willing to smartly invest in its downtown public realm......which is something that leverages private development.

I also think that a lot of headwind can be made by flipping the composition of most of the boards and commissions and tweaking some public policies. Our discriminatory zoning policies are the primary reason most of urban neighborhood commercial spaces sit vacant and boarded up. We're really doing places like the Eastside and NW Jacksonville a huge disservice. A stroke of a pen could go a long way to unleashing economic opportunity.

Just as important is cleaning house with some of these board and commission positions. You want to kill the U2C, improve downtown development projects, etc.? Flip those associated boards by getting rid of a few yes men and women and replace them with people who are qualified for those positions, yet have the ethics and backbone to do what's right for the community instead of what's right for their company's, political or personal pocketbooks.

Regarding the private development projects, some of them have always been pretty pie in the sky to me (i.e. American Lions). I believe the realistic projects (i.e. the first phase of Gateway, the Jags stuff.....once a deal is in place, etc.) will get done or be well on their way by the time her first term is up.

I also believe there will be additional low hanging fruit opportunities that will pop up, that we can take advantage of with limited funds, to strategically cluster private development around many of the public infrastructure projects mentioned above.

Great stuff!

Thanks, Ennis!

Agree.  I might split hairs a little on private incentives.  I think most of those should only go for restorations of historic buildings.  Rather than put taxpayer money in new buildings, I think it is better spent on investing in the infrastructure projects that Ennis outlines as examples which will benefit all projects.  Addressing and investing in policing, streetscapes, homelessness, cleanliness, traffic, mass transit, parks/greenspaces, better zoning, etc. will likely "guarantee" private investors will be all over Downtown at some point without incentives being necessary.  These initiatives will also benefit small and large businesses equally, not favoring one over the other.