Parking Issues in J'ville (Downtown & Otherwise) are Non-Sensical

[tufsu1]

So there are only 110thousand workers in jacksonville?  That would be fairly big news, as it would bring our unemployment rate up a bit.

Where did you come by this tidbit?

ok...there you go spinning numbers again.

as has been stated many times, the downtown "office" market includes the northbank, southbank, stadium area, and Brooklyn/LaVilla.....also reported many times is that total employment in that area according to JEDC/DVI was around 54,000 in 2008/2009.

So, using the 5-10% range, that would mean regional employment for the Jax. metro area would be between 540,000 and 1,080,000.

And according to the Florida Statistical Abstract, employment in the metro area for 2007 was 587,000.

Any questions?

[Live_Oak]

The metro area is most definitely not just Duval County.

Why are you comparing your 6000 workers in the Downtown Core to Tufsu's 54K workers in a much larger area?

[tufsu1]

54,000 in the entire downtown area....18,000 in the core....these are the figures from JEDC/DVI for 2008/2009 (regardless of whether you believe them or not)!

All we did in that other thread is figure out that there weren't 18,000 in the core anymore...and that it was likely closer to 12,000-15,000 in 2010....and I'm going to play along...

So, let's go with it....just say that the overall downtown area also decreased at a similar rate as the core itself...still leaves 36,000-45,000 as the total employment in the district in 2010....we'll call it 40,000 to be simple

So, if the Jax. metro area (which includes Clay, Duval, St. Johns, and Nassau counties) still has 587,000 jobs in 2010....then the downtown market would comprise 6.8%....which is similar to other cities throughout the country.

I'm not saying it is good....believe me I wish we had a 20% market share, like DC or NYC....but our problem is not unique...it is endemic of a nation-wide movement of employment out of traditional downtowns.

[uptowngirl]

It is simple stupid really. What is DT right now during the day, that would bring people? Work- maybe the library. If work leaves, there will be no need for parking garages and lots. It has never made sense to me to charge people parking to go to work. It seems to me someone thought this is a great business and if the city supports it (by not offerring any alternative) then we can make a killing. Businesses know they have to pay enough to cover this parking expense, or move. When you take into consideration how many employees are making the trek to work (do not live DT) it just makes sense to move out of DT. The other cities you mention TUFSU have a huge population living in the urban core, it is like comparing apples to oranges.

i.e. parking is like an extra tax on employers, why should they pay it ?

[tufsu1]

Just got an e-mail from Cornerstone (Chamber of Commerce)...included was this:

Parking a Key Issue for Downtown Revitalization
The Chamber's Board of Governor's downtown revitalization committee has been meeting for several months. At its last meeting, the focus was on the parking environment in the core area of downtown. Presentations and discussions were held with leaders of JEDC, JTA and Downtown Vision, which showed the assets and challenges of downtown parking. There is a great deal of public and private parking in the downtown core area but it is not coordinated under one agency or easily understood by day or night users. Parking is considered by the committee as one of the critical elements that must be addressed and simplified as we move toward solutions on governance for downtown and increased vitality in the core area.

[JeffreyS]

I have an idea to make it simpler pull out the meters and put in two hour limit signs.  This seems to work very well in the more dense and more successful areas known as Riverside and San Marco. You can PM me for the info to send my consultants check.

[CS Foltz]

stephen..........I agree! Something is about to take place and we taxpayers probably are not going to like it! There is some sort of plan and we will get to pay for it and that will be the extent of that! Business as usual for City Hall and theirs!

[tufsu1]

yawn

[CS Foltz]

I figured it out stephen.............tufsu knows that the City will be selling leases on parking spaces! This is being advanced in an effort to increase revenue! They can make more money this way and it is self sustaining since they are not making any more parking spaces and I figure we will be losing half of the metered available spaces to increase worth on the ones left! Perfect sense to me!

[tufsu1]

Here's a blog report from Ventura, CA

http://fulton4ventura.blogspot.com/2010/09/parking-management-that-actually.html

[CS Foltz]

Good idea tufsu! Now I should ask .....when is City Hall going to hand out parking coupons? If an interested taxpayer shows up for zoning commision or Ethics or Council Meeting, starts vary and last time I attended one of those, too early for after 6 exemption and ended up parking down the hill from City Hall. That 4.5 hours cost me $10.00 and I really did not wish to park in a parking garage!