Mayor John Peyton: Investing in Jacksonville's Future

[Joe]

The Riverwalk extensions represent the best idea that Mayor Peyton has had in his entire term of office.

Unfortunately, I share the attitude of other posters above. I have so little faith in Peyton that I find a hard time believing that anything will ever get done. Certainly nothing is going to get accomplished while he is still in office if this is a two year visioning process.

[copperfiend]

It will get finished when Peyton Jr. (Daniel Davis) is elected.

[heights unknown]

^From what I heard, the vision will be shaped by the community during a two year visioning process.  To me, it sounded like everything would be on the table.  You want a convention center, push it.  You want a streetcar or skyway extension, push it.  You want more green space on the river, push it.  Museums on the river, push it.  That's how things sounded to me in the press conference.

It may have sounded that way at the press conference, but this presentation or plan if you will does not, in my opinion  expound on much of what was said at the press conference (from the best that I can decipher and from what you have said Lakelander regarding the Mayor's plans/vision for downtown).

So...what is he (Peyton) really trying to do regarding downtown?  What are the goals and/or visions? JaxNole stated it best in his first post of this thread which Peyton should have outlined in his presentation, but his presentation, in and of itself which should have clearly outlined the focus, vision and goals for a successful downtown for the public, was poor and lacking.

Heights Unknown

[heights unknown]

zoo, I am with you.

I have lost confidence in these ideas with little to show for it.  Are there no project managers out there with integrity to say no to an out-of-scope task, for fear of retribution or job loss?

If we are to engage City Council at Mayor Peyton's suggestion, I want to know who the responsible parties will be, what channels we will have to continue the dialogue and how action items will be assessed and prioritized.

And...what really bothers me "zoo" and JaxNole, is that our leaders in City government, including the Mayor, are getting paid to provide the public with what works, what will be successful, and to know what the public needs; sometimes the public will not "come out" so to speak and let city leaders and other authorities know what's on their minds or what they want, and, most times the public really don't know or have no idea what they want; they count on City leaders to make those decisions and provide them with viable options and alternatives, and if the public doesn't like them or disagree with those recommendations, believe me, they'll let the City leaders know.

Heights Unknown

[thelakelander]

The presentation is what Peyton showed yesterday.  I understand the sentiment about doing something immediately, but do what and where?  To implement something, you have to actually have a project to implement.  Currently, there is no plan or money for the major riverfront sites discussed yesterday.  So what is the guy supposed to build and how will he pay for it?  Do we really want the 4th floor coming up with solutions on their own instead of engaging the urban community?

We can dig up old plans, but they don't specifically address the courthouse, shipyards and JEA sites.  Looking back, the 2000 Downtown Master Plan is conceptual at best but its no where near a being a real vision plan.  We can go with Zyscovich's visioning process, but its not even complete and it does not even address the downtown core.  We can go back to the old plans that eliminated LaVilla, but who wants to implement more of that nonsense.  We can go back to the plan for a pedestrian mall around Hemming, but JCPenney, May-Cohens, Woolworths and Ivey's are no longer there to anchor it.  We demolish 11 East and countless other buildings to make room for Jack Diamond's downtown mall (DC style, not shops) but does that really get us anywhere?  We could also go back to Peyton's plan to take out Friendship Fountain, the Landing and to install hot dog charts on the Main Street Bridge.  However, if we really want progress, its best to keep that bad idea six feet under.

Personally, coming from Peyton, I'll take this approach with him.  Because the last plan "The Big Idea" was a disaster and the last pocket park was a waste of financial resources.  I would hate to see something like those ideas forced on these downtown sites because we simply want to see action, hell or high water.

It may be me, but I had already come to the conclusion that Peyton's true legacy project would be either the courthouse or Trail Ridge Landfill.  Whether its the Shipyards, a new convention center or figuring out what to do with Friendship Fountain, there is a need to develop true strategies and funding solutions for these sites.  Now if it should take two years completely another story.

[Lunican]

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/10363234001?isVid=1&publisherID=1155951816&videoId=23960005001&playerID=10363234001&domain=embed

[vicupstate]

One thing that should and could take place now, is negotiations for the land for the Riverwalk extentions.  I can't imagine anything that comes out of the visioning process being at odds with an extention of the Riiverwalk(s).  Plus it takes YEARS to get all the property owners to agree, or at least it did with the last extention.  

That would at least being that part to reality a lot sooner, once money is available to build it.  
We do need to look for opportunities to do things in tandem because the long it takes to see concrete results the more difficult it will be to maintain 'buy-in' from the city council and the citizenry at large.

[thelakelander]

^That was a point mentioned by Peyton yesterday.  He felt that even though funding is a concern, various steps can occur simultaneously and the implementation of certain projects can happen incrementally, as funding solutions become available.  RAM, the Tillie Fowler Monument, St. Johns Park and Fidelity Park were mentioned as an example of riverfront enhancement projects happening incrementally.  The first phase of a revitalized Kids Kampus/Metropolitan Park will be the next example.

[nestliving]

Have tentative dates and locations been announced for the visioning process?  I am interested in attending.

First, I would take no more than month to conduct Lessons Learned workshops that demonstrate the poor decisions (Main Street pocket park) and what the alternative could have been with greater city foresight and SME (Metro Jacksonville) input.

I complain enough on here.  Now it's time I contribute.

Is there a listserv or mailing list I can join?

Why don't you start by moving downtown?
It's sounds to me like you are the sort of person DT needs to help with it's resurgence. The loft next to me is empty and I bet much cooler than any place in Orange Park. I'll even help you move.  

[JaxNole]

The presentation is what Peyton showed yesterday.  I understand the sentiment about doing something immediately, but do what and where?  To implement something, you have to actually have a project to implement.  Currently, there is no plan or money for the major riverfront sites discussed yesterday.  So what is the guy supposed to build and how will he pay for it? 

From a project management perspective:
1.  Brainstorm
  a.  Funding sources
  b.  Potential contractors
  c.  Identify obstacles to projects implementation
  d.  Identify project champions

2.  Swiftly strategize a PR/communication campaign to
  a.  Raise community awareness (i.e., take a cue from Mayor Delaney re: BJP)
  b.  Make repeatedly known meeting dates and locations and allow a six-week lead time
  c.  Present plan with excitement, that despite the economy, this vision is worth seeing through to fruition

3.  Engage community leaders, especially those most averse to this administration's performance, to convey this can be done

4.  Resolve to remain transparent, available and open to community input

There are many items that can be done before the projects go live that carry minimal cost.  

Pre-planning is just as important as implementation.

[JaxNole]

Have tentative dates and locations been announced for the visioning process?  I am interested in attending.

First, I would take no more than month to conduct Lessons Learned workshops that demonstrate the poor decisions (Main Street pocket park) and what the alternative could have been with greater city foresight and SME (Metro Jacksonville) input.

I complain enough on here.  Now it's time I contribute.

Is there a listserv or mailing list I can join?

Why don't you start by moving downtown?
It's sounds to me like you are the sort of person DT needs to help with it's resurgence. The loft next to me is empty and I bet much cooler than any place in Orange Park. I'll even help you move.  

Actually, I live in Riverside, close to Riverside Park.  I go downtown at least twice a week via the Riverside Trolley for lunch (I work at Fidelity), go to RAM, walk to The Landing after RAM and take my suburban friends downtown to show them the architecture, urban fabric, new buildings courtesy of BJP and what a grid street system is like (as opposed to cul-de-sac town).

I live in a two-story building, occupying the entire second floor, with 1200 sq. ft., 9' ceilings, original hardwood floors and a 20 minute walk to work and 15 minutes to points of interest in Riverside.  Rent is dirt cheap.

What is the loft like and where is it?  I'm open to a loft as long as it is cost-effective.

Please email me directly!

[thelakelander]

The presentation is what Peyton showed yesterday.  I understand the sentiment about doing something immediately, but do what and where?  To implement something, you have to actually have a project to implement.  Currently, there is no plan or money for the major riverfront sites discussed yesterday.  So what is the guy supposed to build and how will he pay for it? 

From a project management perspective:
1.  Brainstorm
  a.  Funding sources
  b.  Potential contractors
  c.  Identify obstacles to projects implementation
  d.  Identify project champions

2.  Swiftly strategize a PR/communication campaign to
  a.  Raise community awareness (i.e., take a cue from Mayor Delaney re: BJP)
  b.  Make repeatedly known meeting dates and locations and allow a six-week lead time
  c.  Present plan with excitement, that despite the economy, this vision is worth seeing through to fruition

3.  Engage community leaders, especially those most averse to this administration's performance, to convey this can be done

4.  Resolve to remain transparent, available and open to community input

There are many items that can be done before the projects go live that carry minimal cost.  

Pre-planning is just as important as implementation.

Right now, we don't have a vision.  Planning a specific project with no vision in place leads to isolated development.  This is what occurred in downtown during the most recent boom.  The end result is despite the investment, urban synergy between various projects has been difficult to stimulate.  With a vision, the specific projects start to add up to an ultimate goal.  So at this point, we have not reached the project management level with mega sites discussed yesterday.

[JaxNole]

So did Mayor Peyton conduct a pre-vision presentation?

[thelakelander]

My understanding is that there currently is no vision and he wants this proposed community visioning process over the next two years to actually define one.

[Adam Hollingsworth]

TheLakelander -- Nice job on the live blogging from the Mayor's downtown/river rollout yesterday.  We also appreciate the expansive coverage and pictorial references to put the vision in context.  As you know, the Mayor has been talking about a river access program for some time...you can count on the next two years as a time of investment, community conversation and the development of action plans ready to implement.  We'll need the help from the folks on this forum to make it a reality.  Yesterday was really exciting for me personally.  It's fair to say that we've been a bit beaten up of late.  It was great to be talking about something that builds momentum and gets the creative juices flowing.  This is my home and my wife and I are raising a child here.  We love spending Saturdays at the Riverside Arts Market.  Our son never tires of being outside.  What the mayor will be putting in place isn't just a vision -- these are the places my family, his family and your families will be enjoying long after our term ends.  This is not about the crisis of the moment, it's about making our home a better place 20, or even 50, years from now.  Adam Hollingsworth, Chief of Staff, Mayor John Peyton