Quote from Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback after his stay in Jackonsonville last week to visit the Jaguars training camp:
QuoteCoffeenerdness: I'm not denigrating Jacksonville or anything, but I stayed at the Omni Hotel downtown late last week and went down to the lobby in the morning, looking to take a walk to get a coffee. "Where's the nearest Starbucks?'' I asked the parking guy in front. He said the nearest one was a little more than two miles away, and there wasn't one in the city's business district downtown. Amazed, I said, "Any other coffee bars downtown?'' None, the guy said, at least to his knowledge.
i. An American inner city, without a Starbucks. Now I've heard it all.Quote
Some of the downtown shops like Chamblins etc may need to make some information available to hotels and other businesses!
Starbucks downtown from 2 to none. That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.
That was my thought was that it was sad that the worker didn't know about Chamblins, etc...
Chamblins is a great place and they should be known!!!
I read that this morning in his Monday Monrning Quarterback column. Not a great thing to have in the most read feature on the si.com site after the swimsuit stuff.
He did however, like Intuition
Beernerdness: The Beer of the Week (and trust me, there was a lot of competition, particularly from Intuition Brewery in Jacksonville) is Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale, which made me think I was back in Seattle. Really crisp and wonderful on the palate.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/08/05/mmqb/index.html#ixzz22mVICOz6
How much cred can you give a guy when Sweetwater (based in Atlanta, GA) reminds him of Seattle?
Sure it's a west coast pale, but seriously... Seattle?
He gets zero credit and a scathing email from me. Which is not unlike most weeks after reading MMQB. ;D
Quote from: avonjax on August 06, 2012, 11:38:37 AM
Starbucks downtown from 2 to none. That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.
He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.
This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.
Quote from: stephendare on August 06, 2012, 12:17:12 PM
Quote from: exnewsman on August 06, 2012, 12:13:30 PM
Quote from: avonjax on August 06, 2012, 11:38:37 AM
Starbucks downtown from 2 to none. That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.
He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.
This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.
There is literally only one coffeeshop in all of downtown. The Omni employees didn't cause that to happen. And the man asked for a Starbucks.
No, the Omni folks didn't cause it -just didn't help it. And I'm sure if someone had pointed him to the "one coffeeshop in all of downtown" then he would have gone - Starbucks or not.
Quote from: stephendare on August 06, 2012, 12:17:12 PM
Quote from: exnewsman on August 06, 2012, 12:13:30 PM
Quote from: avonjax on August 06, 2012, 11:38:37 AM
Starbucks downtown from 2 to none. That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.
He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.
This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.
There is literally only one coffeeshop in all of downtown. The Omni employees didn't cause that to happen. And the man asked for a Starbucks.
Good point Stephen, but he did ask for another bar and the guy said he didn't know of one.
But yes it is not his fault.
My point was how little so many people in our city know about our city.
I guess I want to know as much about where I live as I can.
Starbucks has become like McDonald's to a certain extent. You don't necessarily go there for the quality, but rather for the predictability. You can get the same item halfway across the country (if not the world) that you can in your hometown. A bit of familiarity in an otherwise unfamiliar environment.
Actually in addition to Chamblins there is the Brick inside the Ed Ball Building (Adams Street side). They're a pretty good coffee shop as well but they're only open weekdays since the only access to the shop is inside the Ed Ball Building.
He was at O'Brothers Friday night after the scrimamge with Kahn's son. Not sure what he was drinking, but he was doing it responsible as I saw him turn down drinks offered to him. He was real nice with the people around him and seemed to enjoy the place.
There's a trolley stop at the Omni. He could have hopped aboard and been dropped off right at the Starbucks on the corner of Margaret and Riverside. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.
Quote from: BigGuy219 on August 08, 2012, 12:04:17 AM
There's a trolley stop at the Omni. He could have hopped aboard and been dropped off right at the Starbucks on the corner of Margaret and Riverside. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.
He could've done lots of things, but the problem is nobody he would've asked would be able to tell him anything of value. Hotel workers are the first point of contact for visitors. Shrugging your shoulders should never be an option.
Quote from: Lucasjj on August 06, 2012, 03:22:22 PM
He was at O'Brothers Friday night after the scrimamge with Kahn's son. Not sure what he was drinking, but he was doing it responsible as I saw him turn down drinks offered to him. He was real nice with the people around him and seemed to enjoy the place.
Since he gave a shout out to Intuition brews, I would say he had at least one from our boys (and gals) on King Street. Read the entire quote on my blog at the link below.
http://sprbrewcrew.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/intuition-mentioned-on-sports-illustrated-website/ (http://sprbrewcrew.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/intuition-mentioned-on-sports-illustrated-website/)
Business visitors to our city typically stay downtown. And typically walk to the Landing. And that is what they think our city is about. It isn't just a Omni problem, it happens at all the hotels. I've spoken with someone who was working here for a week and went to the Landing every night. At least Mr. King ventured out to O'Brothers.
There's multiple places to buy coffee in Downtown, even early.
What about if you were downtown after 6pm or on a weekend?
Oh I'm distraught, Peter King couldn't find any coffee!!! Screw the sports national media, they'll find a way to hate us in Jax anyway, even if we had fourteen Starbucks downtown.
A brief unedited clip from my upcoming book about Cohen Brothers and changing retail demographics in Jacksonville since the Civil War.....
QuoteBy 1976, Morrison’s Cafeteria, which faced May Cohens on the other side of Hemming Park, had closed and neighboring Ivey’s had shuttered two floors in their six story building. However, Don Ingram, executive director of the downtown development authority pointed out that the Ivey’s closing was based on a company policy throughout the Southeast, not the downtown business environment, and that while Morrison’s closed, two new restaurants opened. According to Ingram, things were looking up for downtown, “Since 1968 there has been a 25% increase in the number of people working in downtown and Jacksonville has one of the most stable downtown areas, for a city of its size, in the nation.†In an editorial to the Florida Times-Union, Michael Lissner, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, proclaimed
“Where do women go when they want to buy quality fashion merchandise? Downtown. Where do men go when they want to see a selection of suits? Downtown. I could name a lot of other areas where downtown is the only place to really get a selection. Jewelry, luggage, home furnishings, ladies shoes, are just a few of the obvious ones.
There’s been a rash of sensationalized articles about Downtown. You know, there’s no place that you can’t find a little dirt if that’s what you’re looking for. You’ll find a roach in the most immaculate house. I’m sure there was plenty of poison ivy in the Garden of Edenâ€
When it comes to downtown, the topics being discussed today are eerily identical to what was being said 30/40 years ago. A part of me feels that if we didn't downplay obvious signs of stress over the last quarter century, we wouldn't be having some of these conversations today.
Quote from: exnewsman on August 06, 2012, 12:13:30 PM
Quote from: avonjax on August 06, 2012, 11:38:37 AM
Starbucks downtown from 2 to none. That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.
He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.
This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.
Seriously? You're going to fault the visitor for not being able to find coffee in a CBD??? GIVE ME A BREAK. Is that how we want visitors in our city to feel? "Welcome to Jacksonville, good luck".
Quote from: I-10east on August 08, 2012, 09:00:52 AM
Oh I'm distraught, Peter King couldn't find any coffee!!! Screw the sports national media, they'll find a way to hate us in Jax anyway, even if we had fourteen Starbucks downtown.
We don't have to make excuses every time someone doesn't find our downtown to be everything they have ever dreamed of. I see this very awkward moment as a good thing. We deserved to get called out for being the largest city in America without a DT, because it's absolutely ridiculous. Maybe the mayor's office will be embarrassed enough to act on it. Maybe they will start talking about how we can either inform DT employees of the various amenities downtown or entice more service providing companies to come downtown. If I was in office, I would at least be making a few phone calls to let DVI and others know this was a BIG missed opportunity. If not Starbucks, maybe Bold Bean will open a second location, maybe Dunkin Donuts, etc...
This was a very obvious and public missed opportunity for Jax and downtown, but it is nobody's fault but ours. We need to quit pointing fingers and start working to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
Quote from: I-10east on August 08, 2012, 09:00:52 AM
Oh I'm distraught, Peter King couldn't find any coffee!!! Screw the sports national media, they'll find a way to hate us in Jax anyway, even if we had fourteen Starbucks downtown.
While maybe you hate the sports media, don't you think other business travelers might have had the same experience as Mr. King did last week?
Quote from: Captain Zissou on August 08, 2012, 09:24:32 AM
Quote from: I-10east on August 08, 2012, 09:00:52 AM
Oh I'm distraught, Peter King couldn't find any coffee!!! Screw the sports national media, they'll find a way to hate us in Jax anyway, even if we had fourteen Starbucks downtown.
We don't have to make excuses every time someone doesn't find our downtown to be everything they have ever dreamed of. I see this very awkward moment as a good thing. We deserved to get called out for being the largest city in America without a DT, because it's absolutely ridiculous. Maybe the mayor's office will be embarrassed enough to act on it. Maybe they will start talking about how we can either inform DT employees of the various amenities downtown or entice more service providing companies to come downtown. If I was in office, I would at least be making a few phone calls to let DVI and others know this was a BIG missed opportunity. If not Starbucks, maybe Bold Bean will open a second location, maybe Dunkin Donuts, etc...
This was a very obvious and public missed opportunity for Jax and downtown, but it is nobody's fault but ours. We need to quit pointing fingers and start working to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
Or maybe DVI will come out with another 'Jaguaring' video...
Quote from: BigGuy219 on August 08, 2012, 12:04:17 AM
There's a trolley stop at the Omni. He could have hopped aboard and been dropped off right at the Starbucks on the corner of Margaret and Riverside. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.
I'm thinking those who are here on business aren't interested in a 20 minute round trip to get coffee. I know I'm not when I'm traveling.
Quote from: stephendare on August 06, 2012, 12:17:12 PM
Quote from: exnewsman on August 06, 2012, 12:13:30 PM
Quote from: avonjax on August 06, 2012, 11:38:37 AM
Starbucks downtown from 2 to none. That's sad. But even sadder is the parking guy has no clue about downtown where he works. I find it surprising that so many people who live in Jacksonville know nothing about it. And that is true of so many in every neighborhood.
BTW, Chamblins coffee is way better than Starbucks anyway.
He could have hopped on the Skyway at Centeral Station (right behind the Omni) and got off at Hemming and walked over to Chamblins.
This is just as much of an indictment of the lack of knowledge of the downtown workers as it is not having more choices. If you work in the service industry - and especially at a Downtown hotel - then you need to be able to offer informed suggestions when asked. Come on Omni you can do better.
There is literally only one coffeeshop in all of downtown. The Omni employees didn't cause that to happen. And the man asked for a Starbucks.
To be honest, there's really zero straight up coffee shops downtown. Chamblins is a bookstore first & foremost with a small cafe inside it (that has self-serve coffee), & then there's Einstein's, which is a bagel place with the same self-serve setup. Plus they're all open, what, like 10 minutes a day??
Not to discredit those mentioned, but there's only
places to get coffee downtown, no real coffee shops. When Starbucks left, that was it. The guy was right to criticize.
Quote from: stephendare on August 08, 2012, 09:10:50 AM
But don't you approve of not having anything going on downtown at all? you know, to save the suburbs?
What an original comment, did I say anything about the suburbs? No. They tried to put two Starbucks downtown, but they didn't stand the test of time, so what do you want? Why beat your self up over it like a scorned wife, just because some national hack makes a comment? I know, because you love the negative stories concerning Jacksonville because it somehow makes you feel non-complacent. I tell you what, why do you invest in a downtown Starbucks.
Quote from: fsquid on August 08, 2012, 09:37:39 AM
While maybe you hate the sports media, don't you think other business travelers might have had the same experience as Mr. King did last week?
True, but they tried to bring Starbucks DT, and they failed. The bigger story is the lack of residential DT.
You know I had a friend from Germany, who was at the time living in NYC come to town on business. She was staying at the Omni. We had dinner at the hotel and she asked me where the downtown was? I said you are in it and she said: really? There is nothing here!
I had another friend from LA visiting and he looked at the downtown from 95 and said wow you have a real city here. We got into downtown at 6 pm and he said: "What the hell is wrong with this place. . where are all the people?"
If someone cannot see that our state of downtown is a problem.. go somewhere else for a while and come back and you will see a major problem. I think one of the real problems is our leaders don't see a failure downtown as a problem. When people visit Jax from any other place in the world, they want to see downtown. Most people stay in downtown on business- and from what I have experienced, are always let down. We have got to stop letting the world down. Downtown is and will be our city's face to the world.
Why didn't he just walk down to Maxwell House - where there's all the coffee any man could possibly handle; do the free tour, visit the gift shop & hit up the cafe? Oh. Wait.....
- At least he could smell it.
This is another example of where an underlying problem exists, but when some outsider does something to expose it, we get all up in arms to defend it and act like it isn't a problem.
The lack of coffee options downtown is a huge problem and has been for almost a year. This would be the case even if the guy didn't mention it in an article. However, when he does we act like he is just trying to slam downtown and he is making up the huge problem. "Oh! He should have taken a half hour and ridden a trolley to 5 points", "If he really cared he would have traversed our deserted downtown to get coffee that is no better than what is offered in the lobby", "he should have kayaked over to Ortega, docked his kayak, and walked to the shop on Roosevelt. Gee! What a lazy complainer" Is the guy supposed to brew coffee himself if he wants a cup downtown?
As a city with a tourism board, DVI (again, what do they do?? ...besides make youtube videos), and dozens of other orgs who are marketing our city and our downtown to visitors and tourists, is anyone thinking about the tourists experience? Is there any need more basic than making sure that tourist knows where they can get a cup of coffee in the morning and a beer in the evening? They should have quarterly seminars where downtown service employees are educated on what options are downtown and where they are.
The other instance where this is the case is Mellow Mushroom and the parking situation. The parking problem existed well before MM. Now that MM istrying to get people talking about it everybody is acting like this is the first time it's an issue. Let's own up to our mistakes and start fixing them instead of just trying to pin the blame on someone who doesn't deserve it. In both situations we should be thanking them for bringing this to our attention, but we are doing the exact opposite.
QuoteLet's own up to our mistakes and start fixing them instead of just trying to pin the blame on someone who doesn't deserve it. In both situations we should be thanking them for bringing this to our attention, but we are doing the exact opposite.
+1,000,000
If you owned a business and a large customer said 'gee I can't spend money with you b/c of XYZ', would you:
A) Take the valuable feedback and fix it?
B) Just tell him he's an idiot and just doesn't 'get it'' and continue to stick your head in the sand?
C) Go pee on someone's lawn?
Quote from: fieldafm on August 08, 2012, 11:09:13 AM
QuoteLet's own up to our mistakes and start fixing them instead of just trying to pin the blame on someone who doesn't deserve it. In both situations we should be thanking them for bringing this to our attention, but we are doing the exact opposite.
+1,000,000
If you owned a business and a large customer said 'gee I can't spend money with you b/c of XYZ', would you:
A) Take the valuable feedback and fix it?
B) Just tell him he's an idiot and just doesn't 'get it'' and continue to stick your head in the sand?
C) Go pee on someone's lawn?
Well if I were downtown I'd choose C and slightly modify it - I'd just pee in any of our wonderful parks/plazas or in a plant holder by a trash can.
I'll bet the Omni has a concierge but Peter King chose to ask the parking guy where to get coffee nearby? Really? Also, wouldn't the Hyatt have been a better choice? I really enjoy the guy's writing and read him weekly during football season.
Quote from: urbanlibertarian on August 08, 2012, 11:38:32 AM
I'll bet the Omni has a concierge but Peter King chose to ask the parking guy where to get coffee nearby? Really? Also, wouldn't the Hyatt have been a better choice? I really enjoy the guy's writing and read him weekly during football season.
You have now posted this twice but I still don't see the point? So it's his fault because he asked the wrong employee of the hotel? Shouldn't the parking guy have referred him to the concierge if they didn't know the answer. The fault lies on the Omni for not training their employees and the marketing groups downtown for not making that info universally availible.
Quote from: Captain Zissou on August 08, 2012, 11:46:00 AM
Quote from: urbanlibertarian on August 08, 2012, 11:38:32 AM
I'll bet the Omni has a concierge but Peter King chose to ask the parking guy where to get coffee nearby? Really? Also, wouldn't the Hyatt have been a better choice? I really enjoy the guy's writing and read him weekly during football season.
You have now posted this twice but I still don't see the point? So it's his fault because he asked the wrong employee of the hotel? Shouldn't the parking guy have referred him to the concierge if they didn't know the answer. The fault lies on the Omni for not training their employees and the marketing groups downtown for not making that info universally availible.
I'll go one further... it is the Omni's fault for NOT having a decent coffee service available for its patrons...
Quote from: urbanlibertarian on August 08, 2012, 11:38:32 AM
I'll bet the Omni has a concierge but Peter King chose to ask the parking guy where to get coffee nearby? Really? Also, wouldn't the Hyatt have been a better choice? I really enjoy the guy's writing and read him weekly during football season.
I'll bet the Omni has a coffee pot. :-)
Quote from: Debbie Thompson on August 08, 2012, 01:24:53 PM
Quote from: urbanlibertarian on August 08, 2012, 11:38:32 AM
I'll bet the Omni has a concierge but Peter King chose to ask the parking guy where to get coffee nearby? Really? Also, wouldn't the Hyatt have been a better choice? I really enjoy the guy's writing and read him weekly during football season.
I'll bet the Omni has a coffee pot. :-)
and like most hotels, some shit coffee most likely.
I'm may try wandering around Downtown Saturday morning prior to this http://www.facebook.com/events/297651076998503/ to see if I can find this elusive cup of coffee. LOL
Quote from: 02roadking on August 08, 2012, 03:47:09 PM
I'm may try wandering around Downtown Saturday morning prior to this http://www.facebook.com/events/297651076998503/ to see if I can find this elusive cup of coffee. LOL
I bet there will be a lot of 'Jaguaring', perhaps a flash mob?
Quote from: vicupstate on August 08, 2012, 04:54:14 PM
Quote from: 02roadking on August 08, 2012, 03:47:09 PM
I'm may try wandering around Downtown Saturday morning prior to this http://www.facebook.com/events/297651076998503/ to see if I can find this elusive cup of coffee. LOL
I bet there will be a lot of 'Jaguaring', perhaps a flash mob?
Perhaps I'll position myself at the top of the WJCT antennae with a sniper rifle, fully automatic with my body weight in ammo and survey the situation for any 'Jaguaring'.
Too soon?
Relax. I never said the gun would be loaded.
For some perspective on the King story - his columns frequently make it clear that he has a Starbucks-specific fixation and seeks out Starbucks, not local coffee shops.
He also has a habit of picking on Jacksonville (e.g., calling it "Hartford with palm trees" and openly rooting for the Jaguars to move to London so he can make Sports Illustrated-paid visits there), which is why I suspect I-10 East, understandably, angrily reacted to King's commentary.
Of course, that doesn't change the facts that it's highly unfortunate that downtown couldn't support its Starbucks stores and that the hotel employees couldn't point King to a coffee shop.
I only read King's Monday columns as they certainly have a good bit of info in them after watching the games on Sunday. I don't recall him mentioning Jacksonville much at all the last two seasons.
Quote from: fsquid on August 09, 2012, 10:18:19 AM
I only read King's Monday columns as they certainly have a good bit of info in them after watching the games on Sunday. I don't recall him mentioning Jacksonville much at all the last two seasons.
Last fall I sent him a long and not especially pleasant e-mail after he lied on TV and said Jacksonville covers 1/3 of its seats with tarps.
He has a legitimate grievance with the coffee issue, but he has a long history of going out of his way to snipe at Jacksonville, so I understand why someone would see the name Peter King and get irritated. He was kinder this time with the positive comments about the beer and other positive remarks on Twitter about how accessible the Jaguars are to fans. He also gets a lot of access and insider information so I certainly did not mean to be critical of anyone who follows his column.
^^^+1,000,000
never heard the tarp comment. I'm guessing that was on NBC one Sunday. That is blatantly wrong and horseshit for him to say.