The Office of Special Events is moving the Hemming Plaza stage to the parking lot next to the Blackstone Building and the Main Street Stage to the Shipyards.
Thoughts?
Personally, I think it's a mistake moving it away from the central core of downtown and literally turning its back on the small businesses along Adams, Forsyth, Laura, etc (but I guess the Office of Special Events will rake in more with vendor fees since they can pack the Shipyards with more outside food vendors). When Theresa O'Donnel-Price moved the event into downtown, it was the best thing to happen to Jazz Fest... since, ever.
If the Administration really cared about Hemming, you wouldn't see something like Jazz Fest being moved away from it.
IMO, it would be better to keep the venue as it has been for the past few years, which has been proven to be wildly successful, and further develop the Jazz After Dark program along Bay Street for special after hour performances (Bay Street is filled with bars).
Maybe the Office of Special Events will prove me wrong, but I have serious doubts. Im all for celebrating our river, but moving this festival in the middle of downtown was what made it work so well. Moving it back to an isolated site defeats the synergy created of having activity within a compact setting where downtown businesses can reap the rewards. For the past year, several people have told me that OSE wouldn't mind Jazz Fest being moved back to MetroPark.
Moving the Jazz Fest back to MetroPark is the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. Hopefully, that never happens.
Hemming, Laura Street and the surrounding venues seemed pretty ideal for an event like the Jazz Fest. I guess, we'll find out pretty soon if OSE really knows what they are doing with events that should be designed to help expose and support local businesses and the core.
I can't believe they're actually going to do this. The downtown set up was amazing.
Well now Mayor Brown can have a headline saying he saved the Shipyards!
On the bright side there will be 2 waterfront venues instead of just one and hopefully the shipyards will be developed soon necessitating another change in the near future. Laura St's loss will be Bay St's gain.
QuoteWell now Mayor Brown can have a headline saying he saved the Shipyards!
Sarcasm aside... this seems to be more about the Administration wanting to distance themselves from previous administrations by putting their own stamp on the festival.
I'll leave that up to you to decide whether that's good leadership or not.
QuoteLaura St's loss will be Bay St's gain.
Or, you could choose to have win-win solutions like keeping a WILDLY SUCCESSFUL format intact and continuing to work with the Bay Street bars to host exclusive 'Jazz After Hours' performers... and grow that portion of the festival. That would seem to more beneficial then having 'winners' and 'losers'.
I agree Urban. Also it's not like the Jazz Fest 'makes' Hemming Plaza, as they have quite a bit of other events (Art Walk, One Spark etc). I'm kinda at a 'wait & see for more info' approach concerning this proposed move. Like you said, atleast we would be getting another venue.
Agree with every word in the original post. I'd really like to hear their thought process behind the proposed move.
The news of this change is very disappointing. The Hemming / BG Stage / Landing setup has been awesome and put such an emphasis on the urban core.
It also provided several natural places for relief from the heat should festival goers want to escape it for a bit, while at the same time supporting local businesses. Hemming Plaza for the most part was shaded, there were natural pockets of shade from the surrounding buildings all throughout the fest and if that wasn't enough, there were several options to go inside to escape it for a few - BG, Burro, Dos, Chamblin's, etc. all within blocks. Now, festival goers are going to be in a big lot at the Shipyards? And sitting along Bay St. in the direct sun?
Sounds to me like change just for the sake of change.
^but you'll get to look at the river and the closed off weed-filled industrial remains of the Shipyards through a chain link fence. Plus you can take advantage of the view of Berkman 2's corpse. There's no Chamblins or other little boutiques to visit but Maxwell House has a pretty large brick wall to serve as a backdrop. Anyway, one good thing is, if you're too disorderly, the jail is right across the street.
Change for the sake of change. Pretty disappointing. It's even more disappointing that they think Metro Park would somehow be better.
Stephen, haven't they done the gated VIP thing before last year? I missed it in 2012 (or was it canceled?), but seem to remember it in 2011. You're right though, its a mess.
WTF?! Is this definitely happening or just being talked about at this point?
This is straight up a BAD idea--why ruin one of the very few times of the year that our downtown is actually fun, alive and filled with people instead of looking like the set of a post-apocalyptic zombie movie?
Is it just the "hassle" and logistics of having to close down multiple streets for a weekend? Ugh, I don't get it.
QuoteIf the Administration really cared about Hemming, you wouldn't see something like Jazz Fest being moved away from it.
Hey, where are all the I'm with Alvin crowd?
The event belongs on city owned property, not a parking lot owned by the Farahs or anyone else where the city comes in and says they are using it and if you don't like it, well screw you.
Move it the RIVER, its the best asset the city has. Hemming Plaza is now up to One Spark to revive. The Jazz fest belongs in Met Park. Even if it is Mayor Alvin Brown Presents the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, as if he owns it, which he will again this year, I am sure.
Quote from: mtraininjax on February 12, 2014, 11:19:21 AM
QuoteIf the Administration really cared about Hemming, you wouldn't see something like Jazz Fest being moved away from it.
Hey, where are all the I'm with Alvin crowd?
The event belongs on city owned property, not a parking lot owned by the Farahs or anyone else where the city comes in and says they are using it and if you don't like it, well screw you.
Move it the RIVER, its the best asset the city has. Hemming Plaza is now up to One Spark to revive. The Jazz fest belongs in Met Park. Even if it is Mayor Alvin Brown Presents the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, as if he owns it, which he will again this year, I am sure.
Thoughtful, well reasoned and succint points. Nothing but the best from mtrainjax! :o
BTW, the City pays for the use of Farrah's parking lot... just as they will pay for the use of Petra's parking lot in this newest iteration.
But now Downtown's Front Door (The Chamber) can take center stage
I mean, if you really want to showcase the river, why not put a stage on a barge between the Hart and Main St. Bridge and have the river taxis ferry people to and fro? ;D
Quote from: stephendare on February 12, 2014, 10:55:02 AM
Last years jazz festival was a little nightmarish logistically.
They stonewalled Theresa Price, who actually knew how everything worked and volunteered to help out.
They fired everyone involved with the previous years events, and lost Tiffany Valla Hutto, who spent hella time developing the talent for the event, and then they simply ignored all of her offers to help out.
While most people on the forums might not have noticed, it was a hot mess.
I noticed: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,18519.msg330234.html It was clearly off last year & now I know why. Seems to me instead of doing what worked before, these new guys in charge are just gonna continue to run it into the ground. Two years ago, Jazz Fest was on its way to being a world class jazz festival. Now? Not so much.
And having it on an abandoned field (which is right next to an abandoned park), waterfront or not, is the stupidest idea that's came out of this city in a while. For one, you'd think eventually that the Shipyards (along with Met Park) are gonna be developed into something else within the near future anyway. So what happens then? They'll likely move it right back to Hemming is what, so there's that.
And as has been said, Hemming is the center of the city, has shade, lots of built-in places to sit, other places to go eat & drink besides a tent, the stretch of Laura has activities up & down it, the Skyway is there, etc.
Seriously dumb move.
I thought the move of Jazz Fest to the urban core and Laura Street was such a fantastic decision. They opened up the old church for live jazz and created a bustling corridor that made you feel like you weren't in Jacksonville anymore. Moving this to the Shipyards is just dumb. Talk about a slap in the face to our small businesses downtown. Remember how used the Skyway was during Jazz Weekend? There isn't any public transit to the Shipyards which means people will have to drive and I'm sure the city will charge for parking. Why does Jacksonville have to ruin things just when they become decent? ::)
Not that I agree with the move or was impressed with last year's festival, but it is worth noting the City put it on with a smaller budget each of the last 2 years.
QuoteBTW, the City pays for the use of Farrah's parking lot... just as they will pay for the use of Petra's parking lot in this newest iteration.
The Office Manager at Farah told me to my face that what the City pays is peanuts compared to the value that they get out of the use of the space. It is not a fair price for the use of the space, hence the statement that it is essentially a strong-arm tactic. Eddie and Chuck did not go to the city and say, "Hey, we want you to take over our parking lot for a week and force our people and clients to go elsewhere", at a time when the whole area suggests you should shut down for that week. Its packed. I'm sure that's exactly what Eddie and Chuck wanted! lol!
Whether or not the elephant and his peanut soldiers are doing to Jazz Fest works downtown, it is obvious he (and it is his name on the show Stephen, not Toney's not Mike's, it is the Alvin Brown Presents show) wants to take the circus down to the river and stomp out any possibly realization that Hemming Park is worth saving.
Again, One Spark will have to save Hemming Plaza. The mayor sees that his constituency on the Southside does not CARE about Hemming Park and wants it moved, and we are getting closer to an election year.......
Coming from someone who has rented that same parking lot, the fee is the same.
The Farrahs have been good to downtown.
So, keep on ranting... it makes you look quite intelligent.
mtraininjax, Hemming is as good as dead if we're hoping that One Spark or any single special event will save it. Just saying.
I do not support the move... You would think Don Redman would object to the "noise" wafting across the river. ::)
Is almost like the mayor's office doesnt know what they're doing. That would be something huh.
Don't fear Jaxons, the City got AARP to sponsor this years event (no joke), so you know it will be exciting.
Wow. Time to dig some acts from out of the grave.
Quote from: CityLife on February 13, 2014, 10:26:42 AM
Don't fear Jaxons, the City got AARP to sponsor this years event (no joke), so you know it will be exciting.
Although it seems like jazz is generally an older genre of music (no offense to anyone).
I can see Jazz fest being moved if the reason was to start rehabbing the Trio and Barnett buildings. Then I'd support the move. But that would be the only acceptable excuse. I'm quite sure that's not the reason, the city just wants to move backward. They saw something that actually works; And they just can't stand it. Maybe it's too much work for them to have it DownTown. Lazy backwoods bastards!
Quote from: I-10east on February 13, 2014, 10:44:22 AM
Quote from: CityLife on February 13, 2014, 10:26:42 AM
Don't fear Jaxons, the City got AARP to sponsor this years event (no joke), so you know it will be exciting.
Although it seems like jazz is generally an older genre of music (no offense to anyone).
The AARP sponsorship is somewhat odd I think. As far as your reference to jazz being an older genre...Go back two years to Trombone Shorty delivering a spectacular night time performance on the stage at Main and Adams. There were families with kids dancing, Burrito Gallery was packed with Millennials, and downtown felt alive. For a mayor who likes to talk about the need to recruit young people to live in the urban core, he certainly hasn't a clue of how to actually do it.
Well, Jazz Fest is happening now, lol (I know, easy to miss these days & not a lot of word around). I rode my bike by the shipyards earlier today & seeing that setup made me cringe. Nothing around (besides an abandoned park next door & an unfinished high-rise skeleton sticking out like a sore thumb), seats strewn out in a field with the sun blaring down, zero shade, zero life.
I predict this will be the worst Jazz Fest ever. I'm not even bothering with it this year.
the zero shade just seems silly to anyone in these parts.
The whole Main St street stage was just awesome to me. I will miss that this year.
I loved it too. Seems like it was very popular with lots of ordinary jazz lovers.
Quote from: peestandingup on May 23, 2014, 02:22:12 PM
Well, Jazz Fest is happening now, lol (I know, easy to miss these days & not a lot of word around). I rode my bike by the shipyards earlier today & seeing that setup made me cringe. Nothing around (besides an abandoned park next door & an unfinished high-rise skeleton sticking out like a sore thumb), seats strewn out in a field with the sun blaring down, zero shade, zero life.
I predict this will be the worst Jazz Fest ever. I'm not even bothering with it this year.
They'll just use that as the narrative for why it needs to move to Metropolitan Park. Just like last year when they ran off the team that had been running Jazz Fest, then had a disaster of a VIP area, and used that as a reason to move Jazz Fest this year.
The lineup was a dud this year, the venue location is a dud this year, and downtown seems dead right now when it should be one of our showcase weekends.
I've decided to go to the movies tonight. I'll try to make it down there tomorrow for a few hours.
Just drove by, pretty crowded dow by the main stage. Parking is packed all over. But we're in the Volstead now. Dead in here, maybe it will get kickin once the music starts here.
damn sounds like they are ruining the event, guess there will be no coverage this year from Metro Jax?? They should let Khan present it, he seems to do things right.
If you are on facebook today, post pictures of how dead most of downtown is using #bringjazzfestbacktothecore
Even after starting this thread months ago because I thought this new setup did not serve downtown's interests... I was shocked to see how dead it actually was. In fact, all of the retailers were closed. The businesses normally open had a worse than usual Friday night and the businesses that did keep the hope alive and opened up when they normally wouldn't- lost money. I went into a restaurant at 9pm who was in the process of closing down for the night because I was their first customer in two hours.
Jazz Fest deserves better.
Downtown deserves better.
Jacksonville deserves better.
The late news (WJXT) talked to the owner of Volstead, who was very unhappy with the lack of crowds. He was hoping for business after the music stopped. Then they talked to Jerry Moran of Le Cena who was over the moon happy that "those people" that clog up the sidewalks weren't in the way of his "upscale coat and tie" customers.
http://www.news4jax.com/entertainment/businesses-feeling-effects-of-jazz-festival-venue-change/26150654
Jerry Moran also thinks One Spark should be 'moved to the Fairgrounds' and refuses to even open for big events (really? You can't sell chicken parm sandwiches to-go for $12 a pop right outside your door??).
Volstead was mostly dead at midnight when I strolled in.
There were far less people in Zodiac or Pho than on a normal Friday night. Same for Burrito Gallery. I ordered a drink at Midtown Deli (who at least tried to do well by hosting some street performers outside their door to try and lure people in), but they eventually gave up and closed.
Is that good for downtown?
This event should be kept in the core. It was one of the things people seemed to enjoy most. It's hard to discover things downtown if you don't walk by.
I think they're missing the point. Revitalization and growth should be from the inside out. The coolest part of downtown is the heart of it.
^Try to take some pics. I've decided to visit my parents in Central Florida for the holiday weekend.
Quote from: thelakelander on May 24, 2014, 09:53:56 AM
^Try to take some pics. I've decided to visit my parents in Central Florida for the holiday weekend.
Ha HA HA HA I love it!!! its like watching the balloon deflate, What are these people thinking??
First off i was in the volstead until about 130 am. There were a pretty fair amount of people in there up until I left. Did it have the typical event crowd number? No. Was it classified as dead? Absolutely not.
I hadconversation with the owners and here are some numbers he gave me. Burritos gallery was down a few thousand and chamblins took a bit of loss as well though I am not sure the number. The guy also told me alvin brown wants to have it at metro park next year. I do think however that the event needs to stay where it was last year as it is very good for business. I didn't know that about la cena though. Rather poor way to think honestly.
Oh and one of the guys I know from dos gatos posted "I want to personally thank the coj for giving our city`s felons a weekend of high quality music and vibes to get them through this hot and bitter summer. They really earned it. We already gave them riverfront real estate ..... f it give em a festival. Unreal...... the best a really only good view of the main stage is had by our brothers and sisters in the county...." -Chris
Chamblins did a lot worse then 'a little bit of a loss'.
Burrito was down more then a 'couple of thousand dollars'
A bar in the heart of downtown shouldnt be doing less sales then a normal Friday night when Jazz Fest is happening.
A restaurant downtown shouldn't be seeing no customers walk in their door for two hours when Jazz Fest is downtown.
Jazz Fest deserves better.
Downtown deserves better.
Jacksonville deserves better.
Quote from: fieldafm on May 24, 2014, 12:07:30 PM
Chamblins did a lot worse then 'a little bit of a loss'.
Burrito was down more then a 'couple of thousand dollars'
A bar in the heart of downtown shouldnt be doing less sales then a normal Friday night when Jazz Fest is happening.
A restaurant downtown shouldn't be seeing no customers walk in their door for two hours when Jazz Fest is downtown.
Jazz Fest deserves better.
Downtown deserves better.
Jacksonville deserves better.
I agree with you 100% but until Ron or burritos gallery posts the actual numbers they lost it opulent be right for me to speak on behalf of their businesses :) so that is where my generalized statements came from. Now on to more important matters. In order to get the festival back to the core. You have to hit the city where it hurts. Their re election campaigns. Now what we need to do is get all the people who have suffered loss due to this and get some sort of petition on Calvin browns desk and go public with a statement from business owners addressed to the news outlets and the mayors office saying the business owners want it back there. I'm with you guys if it's something you all want to pursue. :) field is right downtown as a whole..... jacksonville deserves better than that
I will be at the volstead this evening for after dark if anyone is interested in discussing anything. If you have parking problems see my pitch thread of Facebook page for contact info.
I just attended the Jazz Fest up here in Atlanta, they hold it here in a park no real amenities in the park, but there are a few on 10th Street. I couldnt help but think how Duval had a better set up. As the Jazz fest up here feels more suburban, eventhough its in midtown Atlanta. They should really consider moving the Jazz fest of Jax back in the heart of the city, instead of a dead zone near the river.
QuoteIm all for celebrating our river, but moving this festival in the middle of downtown was what made it work so well.
The Festival was at Met park for a very long time. Then the city tried to get cute and move it all over town, after it was originally at Mayport. So they take it out of Mayport, where Mayport is dying a slow death, move it from Met Park, which is dying its own slow death and to Hemming Plaza, that was already dead, to the Peyton Pocket park along Main Street, which looks dead on a regular basis, now to the Shipyards that was dead, brought back to like with a couple of off the wall proposals, and now has a festival, not on the grass, but instead a stage built on the asphalt of Bay Street.
Everywhere the City puts this festival is toxic to the neighborhood or area. Maybe Special Events should move it to Mandarin, if we want to kill off the Southside. Should strengthen the Mayor's Southside base.
Kudos to Mayor Brown to put racing stripes on the Shipyards Proposals by setting up a stage next to a potential huge tax revenue source for years to come. What better place to put "Mayor Alvin Brown Presents" the Jazz Fest, than to entertain potential investors of what the shipyards could become, than to plop the festival on the location. Nice backdrop of Berkman II skeleton. How much more dead of an area can we create at the Shipyards, so really little downside, and lots of upside.
Quoteyou literally do not have the slightest clue about this subject, and this is one of your sillier posts, my friend. I remember going to the festival at may port, where it was so successful that the city took it over and then moved it to met park. The departure of the festival was a terrible thing for may port by the way.
Without drawing a nice lovely rhetorical response, I believe the answer to why the festival moved was because it outgrew its space in Mayport, and the area did not have the resources to keep it. So unlike the festivals at the Beach, which has more resources than Mayport, this one moved downtown.
The Jazz fest was wildly successful at Met park too, but it got moved, why? New Administration, new ideas, trying to improve the City Core, put it on the spotlight, get people downtown. Now, we are off to the shipyards, where they are showing it off to others to grow more development, keeping a stage outside of Jim Bailey's office, to let him know that Brown is still in charge of the city. Nice touch.
I give Brown credit for moving the spotlight around downtown to give his discussions attention.
I thought all of the music at the Maxwell House stage was good to the last drop.
The Jammin' Jailhouse Stage had the city on lockdown. People came out by the hundreds.
The Director of Special Events should resign. They took something that wasn't broken, that had turned into a major regional draw for music lovers and, as the kids say, crapped the bed.
I was told the skyway wasn't running as well. So even if you wanted to get halfway there, you couldn't.
Quote from: stephendare on May 24, 2014, 09:49:08 AM
What would be good for downtown would be for jerry to move to the south side. Surely there is some kind of grant for blight removal available to displace people who are making a neighborhood unpleasant. Denise Lee seems to be able to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time to remove people from Hemming Park.
He is presently trying to ban people going to events at the Library for weddings, speeches, lectures, ceremonies and etc from being able to park on city streets at night, (they should be forced to park in garages) so that a couple of parties that dine at his restaurant will make dinner reservations since they don't like to fight all that parking at night. Apparently he has never heard of the concept of valet parking.
Stephen, where did you learn about Jerry and the Library parking issue? I have not read or heard anything in the news thus far. Is it public information?
Anyone know what the attendance was? I read one news source that said an estimated 100K overall, although I don't know how accurate that is or how it stacks up to the other years.
But didn't One Spark do almost double that in a couple days?
It looks like the 100k figure was an estimation of the number of attendees prior to the actual event.
Stephen, where did you learn about Jerry and the Library parking issue? I have not read or heard anything in the news thus far. Is it public information?
[/quote]
His letters to city offices are a matter of public record.
[/quote]
Could you please tell me how/where to find it? Thank you!
Stephen - Kinda hijacking the thread with the Jerry Moran issue, aren't you? I see we now have a new Jerry Moran thread, so that is good, but I'd kinda like to stay on topic of the Jazz Festival.
QuoteIn order to get the festival back to the core. You have to hit the city where it hurts. Their re election campaigns. Now what we need to do is get all the people who have suffered loss due to this and get some sort of petition on Calvin browns desk and go public with a statement from business owners addressed to the news outlets and the mayors office saying the business owners want it back there.
+1000
If this is truly as bad as it is being portrayed and it can be substantiated with objective hard numbers, then this should not be just forgotten. Frankly it seems as if the administration is continuously and deliberatively spitting in the face of a group of people that provided much needed (and early) grassroots support, without which he would have not won in the first place. He isn't 'dancing with those that brought him' so to speak, all in an attempt to gain favor from the opposing side. He is breaking a cardinal rule of politics, IMO and it will cost him in the end.
Ok, here's my take on this. Moving the Jazz Fest to the downtown core was inspired, and it worked out great for exactly as long as we had competent people putting the event on. Namely, Theresa Price and her team. I understand it proved difficult last year when the city no longer had them to rely on.
If the city didn't feel it could do the event properly in the core, it should have just moved back Metro Park, where there's at least the infrastructure. This year's setup meant that the event had none of the synergy of the downtown core and also none of the infrastructure of Metro Park. Unfortunately it sounds like the administration will blame the downturn in the event on the location rather than the fact that it was poorly planned and run, and take it back out of the core entirely.
Quotewhen the city no longer had them to rely on.
It would be more accurate to say 'refused their help.'
^Yes that's much more accurate, I was trying to be uncharacteristically politic.