"Until the meters are abolished, the one way streets taken up and a policy is formulated for the homeless downtown, NO RETAIL will be able to succeed.
We have literally tried everything except the obvious.
Despite the fact that every resident, visitor and merchant (with the exception of the bitter old jeweler) consistently says the same thing."
How utterly wrong!. To begin with you ignore the many successful long term business's in the core downtown. Everytime a business closes you blame it on the same old tired reasons. There were more business closings in Regency Square Mall in the past year than in all of Downtown. And many new start ups are enjoying success. You can't blame every business failure on these non issues.
How do explain the success of Chew, Zodiac Grill, River City Deli, Desert Rider, Quiznos, Confetti's, Sunrise Deli, International Deli, Ray's, John,s Deli, Pete's Pizza, Mudville Grill, Pizza Italiano, Wades, Benny's,Burrito Gallery, London Bridge, The Atrium and I'm sure I missed a few. And this does not include anyone in The Landing. There are approx. 18000 people working in the core and if you can't succeed with that captive market its not the meters and one way streets...its bad business. Quit blaming these things and quit being so critical of everything. You create so much negative energy here that it is amazing. And to defend a national sub chain like it is something to be cherished as part of every great Downtown is so contradictory. I want the above mentioned eateries to survive as they are privately owned by members of our community and not investors on the NYSE.
And as a long time merchant I can assure you that most of us enjoying success do not agree with you as you infer "all merchants" and we continue to invest and grow and succeed. And we do not focus on whats wrong but rather the enormous opportunities available Downtown and what is so clearly right.
Stephen,
You so misunderstand who I am. These are not my policies as you claim as I neither support or oppose. I am too busy running a business to be very involved. I am only here at metjax for entertainment. I am not the sharpest tack in the box so I have to try extra hard to stay focused and profitable in a difficult market. I do not disagree with most of your points, it would be hard to, but mostly I disagree with your passion for bashing everything when there is so much evidence of success to point to even in this shrinking market. Your attitude and approach is cancerous at best.
I also notice that you resort to personal attacks and juvenile namecalling when ever you are called out in these blogs. I have seen in the past that anyone that dares to disagree with you is immediately and viciously attacked. This does not encourage real and open debate of ideas, only disharmony. You discourage opposing views on this blog....and that is too bad for the rest of the membership.
Quotenice list, captain dumbass.
Lets keep the debate clean guys. We're all adults here. :)
I respectfully disagree. Although my first contact with you did call you a hard on, I have never again denegrated you personally. Yet you always refer to that from 2 years ago. You said that you were offended and that told me not to refer to like that again and I respected that. But you personally attack me each and every time I enter a debate..Why is that? Are you incapable of mature dialogue or afraid of dissent, I don't get it.
Until there is a time that you do not consider every business open or closed in Downtown a failure there is no debate, only your opinion. You have consistently refused to accept that not everyone wants the same Downtown that you do and that many of us are just simple hard working merchants tires of you bashibg us I see no way to have a discussion.
"none of them agree with you, and being friends with many of these people, and having had them bitching about the same things at the same meetings that your pompous ass was too good to show up for, most of them totally agree on the issues."
As an example of what I am talking about is this statement is patently false.
But essentially I have to admit that I am outshined but your sheer genius and do not deserve to waste your time by opposing your brilliance. I bow to your superior point of view Stephen and as always good luck in all your pursuits.
Firehouse Subs closing Adams Street LocationQuoteWhen the last stack of meat and cheese is pulled out of the steamer on West Adams Street Saturday afternoon it will be the end of Firehouse Subs’ Downtown location.
The restaurant opened in January 2002 and was the first street-level tenant when the new Police & Fire Pension Fund Building opened. Since then, midday business during the week has been brisk, often with a line forming at the counter long before the lunch hour officially began. Evening and weekend sales were soft, however, prompting the decision to lock the doors for the last time.
“We applaud their courage in joining us as Downtown pioneers and hanging in there for six years,†said John Keane, executive director and administrator of the Police & Fire Pension Fund.
“When we opened and they moved in, The Carling was empty and so was 11 E. Forsyth. Firehouse Subs helped stabilize the rebirth of Downtown.â€
The Adams Street location was one of 291 restaurants chain-wide and 29 in the area and a company-owned unit.
“It was just not the right location,†said Robin Sorensen, who founded the company in 1994 with his brother, Chris.
“We were about a block out of the traffic flow. When we opened, we understood a lot of things were going to happen on that block. But they didn’t happen fast enough,†he added.
Sorenson also said while it’s always a difficult decision to close a unit, it doesn’t happen very often.
“In 13 years, we have opened 300 stores in 14 states and we’ve only had to close 10. The company also owned the only other location in a Downtown in Little Rock, (Ark.) and we had to close that one too a couple of years ago. Nights and weekends account for half of the total business at a unit. When we look at a location now, it has to have at least 20,000 people in a three-mile radius. We probably have that in Downtown Jacksonville for lunch, but they need to be around for dinner and on the weekends, too.â€
The six employees will be transferred to other stores in the area, according to Sorensen.
Keane also said having Firehouse Subs as a tenant “Was a great tie-in because one of the founders of the company, Chris Sorensen, is a retired firefighter who gets a pension check every month and so is his father, Rob, who is a retired Fire Captain.
“We hope some day they will return to Downtown,†he said.
quote]
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=48499 (http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=48499)
I posted this at metjax also:
QuoteI can tell you that it doesnt help business when you park outside a business briefly to run in and pick something up and then you are greeted upon leaving by a surly ticket writer. In fact, this has happened to me recently in front of the Starbucks on Forsyth. I told the guy that he was impeding commerce and he said it wasnt his fault that Starbucks didnt do "market research" before opening downtown. He said he owned a business and he knew what he was talking about. Basically, no business should be downtown then I guess. I can also tell you that it was interesting to be lectured by someone who is perhaps one tenth as intelligent as me.
Anyway, I did violate the parking laws out of necessity but the point is the law is ridiculous. To argue that there is not a parking problem downtown is to be unaware of reality. There are so many places where more or even free parking could be added (adding diagonal spots to appropriate streets and the harm to downtown property values and therefore tax receipts is greatly outweighed by the gains from coin fed meter and parking tickets. Perhaps if we had a Mayor who actually appreciated urban areas and who did not have a vested, financial interest in the suburbs booming...
listen people...downtown locations are meant to operate based on foot traffic....free parking is not the long-term answer....I can show you many succesful downtowns that have parking meters....the thing to do would be for businesses to provide vouchers for up to 2 hours in a parking garage.....now that idea has been tried elsewhere and it works!
Parking meters that were based on current technology, instead of 1940's technology would be a big step in the right direction. Not everyone has or wants to fool with quarters. This is the 2000's, something that can accept debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards is needed.
From what I understand, it is nearly impossible for a restaurant to make a profit off of only one meal. You can only bring in so much from one meal. Once the lines get too long, the newer walk-ups, simply walk away and go elsewhere. You could add more registers, and cooks, but you still have to provide the table space. You can't 'extend' the lunch hour to 10:30 or 1:30, the patrons are on a schedule. If you charge more, you will lose patrons to cheaper alternatives.
At some point, you max out your capacity. You have to have a second revenue window, ie breakfast, dinner or the weekends. How many eateries did a great lunch business, but nothing else, and went belly up? There are too many to count. There are exceptions, but there is usually an explaination for their success. If the business owns the property, and acquired it when property values were low (not that long ago), then a low overhead might make it do-able. However, no one new will have that advantage.
Until DT has more of a 24-hour population, (residents or a substantial nightlife) this cycle of open and close will largely continue. The parking nonsense makes matters worse though, and needs to be addressed.
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 26, 2007, 12:52:50 PM
listen people...downtown locations are meant to operate based on foot traffic....free parking is not the long-term answer....I can show you many succesful downtowns that have parking meters....the thing to do would be for businesses to provide vouchers for up to 2 hours in a parking garage.....now that idea has been tried elsewhere and it works!
Listen tufsu: This system is great in an area where there is already a tremendous draw and population base in the urban core like NYC, DC or Chicago. However, in a place like Jacksonville with a declining downtown (relative to past years) it is counterproductive to put your downtown at a competitive disadvantage to competing areas by having an unneeded meter/ticket regime. I wish we had a problem in downtown with so many people coming there that they overwhelmed all available spots but this just isnt so. We need more allowable parking spots and free parking for 2 hours. Why are you so afraid of this given the fact that it works just 3-5 minutes away in Five Points and San Marco?
You remind me of those Gator fans who supported Ron Zook as head coach just because he was head coach and represented the status quo. Of course in that situation sanity prevailed, Zook was canned, we hired Meyer and won a National Championship. Well, it is time for downtown to hire a new coach and win some games too. We need a new parking system that does not punish people for coming downtown. It is as simple as that.
Stephen is this guy for real or are you just talking to yourself for shits and giggles. If he's for real have him pull his head out of his ass and look around. I seriously doubt he's been downtown or has ever talked to anybody who's been downtown because any blind idiot see there's a parking meet issue in that zipcode.
Quote from: gatorback on September 26, 2007, 02:36:22 PM
Stephen is this guy for real or are you just talking to yourself for shits and giggles. If he's for real have him pull his head out of his ass and look around. I seriously doubt he's been downtown or has ever talked to anybody who's been downtown because any blind idiot see there's a parking meet issue in that zipcode.
He is real. He has a place at the Landing. http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=46622&text=ganson
has he ever been downtown? I don't consider the Landing "downtown" it's more like the riverwalk. Downtown is north of Bay or Water Street to like south of union. The landing is in its own world.
Do you mean it's like the UN building in NYC is actually on international ground and not in the US?
Does he own the "drug store" that charges $2 for a pack of gum?
Wow. All I'm asking is has he ever been to downtown Jacksonville not just the Landing. If he's been downtown before then he'd know about the parking problem down there. There's really no parking problem at the Landing. The landing is it's own little bubble, people say, "Hey, let's go to the Landing, or, I'm at the Landing" not, vs, "hey, I'm downtown near the old Firehouse Subs." Huge diff. right? The real downtown is north of Independance Drive, North of Bay, North of Water. You can take a boat to the Landing, but you can't take a boat downtown--yet. ;D
I agree that meters that accept dollar bills and/or credit cards would be very helpful...or even centralized boxes on each block (like they have in DC)....
....that said, many of you have noted that there is a parking problem downtown...mainly that there aren't enough short-term inexpensive spaces....that's because too many office workers park in the meter spaces instead of the garages....imagine how much worse it would be if free parking were provided on the street!
the reason free parking works in San Marco, Riverside, etc. is because there are much fewer office workers so the spaces turn over quickly.
I agree that relaxing the situation is a good idea. Changing the perception is going to be enough work.
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 26, 2007, 06:38:54 PM
I agree that meters that accept dollar bills and/or credit cards would be very helpful...or even centralized boxes on each block (like they have in DC)....
....that said, many of you have noted that there is a parking problem downtown...mainly that there aren't enough short-term inexpensive spaces....that's because too many office workers park in the meter spaces instead of the garages....imagine how much worse it would be if free parking were provided on the street!
the reason free parking works in San Marco, Riverside, etc. is because there are much fewer office workers so the spaces turn over quickly.
Doesn't this sound like an enforcement issue? Regardless of whether there are meters are not, parking enforcement would be responsible for ticketing violators, like office workers who park their cars in time limited spots all day. Maybe that new van they purchased can help with this problem.
tufsu: This is the box: [] Now, let's think outside of it for a minute. If we (1) increase the number of available spots downtown on the street by adding in diagonals and new parallel spots wherever possible and (2) give free parking for 2 hours enforced by meter maids, wouldnt this tend to bring more people downtown by removing the disincentive of the lack of spots combined with the tickets (given after just 30 minutes or sooner if you dont have quarters or park in a spot which is wrongly marked as no parking) under the current system? Also, the two hour limit, as explained before, would prevent downtown workers from leaving their cars on the street all day for the most part. Again, a lack of parking isnt the problem downtown now. It is the toxic atmosphere created by the meters and the tickets and the lack of free parking spots. Get it?
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 26, 2007, 06:38:54 PM
I agree that meters that accept dollar bills and/or credit cards would be very helpful...or even centralized boxes on each block (like they have in DC)....
....that said, many of you have noted that there is a parking problem downtown...mainly that there aren't enough short-term inexpensive spaces....that's because too many office workers park in the meter spaces instead of the garages....imagine how much worse it would be if free parking were provided on the street!
the reason free parking works in San Marco, Riverside, etc. is because there are much fewer office workers so the spaces turn over quickly.
Free parking does not mean unlimited parking. The two hour limit would still be enforced, just as I assume it is in San Marco/Five Points.
Quote from: stephendare on September 27, 2007, 08:09:24 AM
this idea that san marco has fewer workers than downtown is patently ridiculous, incidentally. San Marco has just as many workers with fewer parking spaces per person than downtown does.
downtown has a 40 percent vacancy rate at any time of the day downtown.
San Marco would panic if their numbers got that low.
Downtown thinks up new ways to penalize the remaining customers.
If DVI cant figure these basic, easily solved problems out, then DVI should go.
get real...more office workers in San Marco?
where the on-street parking exists?
I doubt this would be true even if you included the Southbank buildings and Baptist Hospital
please show me the stats!
I think downtown clearly has more workers than San Marco but the point is the no meter regime works in San Marco. What do we have to lose by trying this in downtown? Our retail base there? Nope, already gone. I say give it a try. Look at Greenville, SC for confirmation that this can work wonders in a medium sized downtown.
so now we're comparing Jacksonville to Greenville, SC?
I thought you all want people to stop thinking small and realize that Jax. is becoming a big city!
Phoenix is big, but Savannah offers more in terms of quality urban development and walkability. The same would apply for Orlando and say..... Madison, WI. Instead of "being the biggest", lets focus on "having the best quality of life".
The funny thing is that Greenville's downtown is much more progressive and lively than Jacksonville's. If we had the type of environment Greenville has created since 2000, Firehouse would be hiring more help to serve subs late into the night instead closing up shop. Just goes to show how far we have fallen behind the curve.
^^ Indeed. The daytime is the LEAST problematic period for parking in Greenville. The evenings and weekends are now the issue. Parking enforcement stops at 5:00pm and even though the municipal garages are free in the PM, and the day workers are gone, the restaurant patrons and residents consume all the parking.
On a typical day in each city, there are more people in one block of DT Greenville than the entirety of DT Jax.
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 27, 2007, 11:16:57 AM
so now we're comparing Jacksonville to Greenville, SC?
I thought you all want people to stop thinking small and realize that Jax. is becoming a big city!
I love your willfully ignorant style of argument. It is quite ineffective. ;)
Greenville was offered as an example of a livelier downtown than Jax which has free parking and which became more active after the parking was made free. FYI, I can tell you are not into travel or research, so I will just tell you that the Greenville CSA has a 2006 estimated population of 1,203,795. The urbanized area is not quite as large as Jax but the two areas are pretty comparable.
BTW, are you Mark Rimmer?
Oh and Stephen touched on a good point. Specifically, workers downtown frequently go to eat lunch in Riverside and San Marco and Springfield but the reverse is not true as often (And, I know this from personal experience as one who owns an office downtown, spends most of my waking hours here and has friends and relatives who work downtown). Please explain what key difference there is between the two areas with regard to the lunch rush, tufsu.
I must say, there have been times I've met people for lunch in downtown and have ended up driving to Five Points, Springfield and San Marco because it was much easier to do, than finding a couple of quarters to stick in meters during lunch hour.
Btw, here's a few pics of Downtown Greenville's Main Street, that I posted on MetJax about a year ago. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd love for a street like Adams or Laura to be as vibrant as this.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/lakelander/Greenville/MainStreet-4.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/lakelander/Greenville/MainStreet-5.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/lakelander/Greenville/MainStreet-3.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/lakelander/Greenville/MainStreet-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/lakelander/Greenville/MainStreet-2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/lakelander/Greenville/MainStreet-7.jpg)
Riverside and 5 Points are mad houses during lunch. I've given up on going over there at lunch time. Wish we had more/better places in Springfield.....always plenty of parking there.
Great shots, Lake. Note the multiple free diagonal spots there. You simply make the sidewalks a little narrower and stick in the diagonals. We have these massively wide sidewalks in downtown Jacksonville as if it was Paris and no one walking on them. It is actually pretty ridiculous. Cut the parking spots out of those and bring the people in. This is really a no brainer.
In fact, many of those pictures remind me of Jacksonville's Hemming Park. Imagine free diagonal parking along that park and all of the people who the additional parking would attract.
Here is another shot of Greenville's Main Street:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Mainstgvl.jpg/800px-Mainstgvl.jpg)
Note the plentiful diagonal free parking. Rather than having extra wide car lanes (which encourage speeding thereby scaring pedestrians) and extra wide sidewalks (bereft of pedestrians of course) as is the case in Jacksonville, make them a bit narrower and add in the diagonals. Also, the presence of parked cars shields the pedestrians from traffic who will then feel safer walking the streets and who will be increased in number because they were able to find a hassle free parking spot downtown. People drive to downtown, park for free, and walk around. Happens every day in San Marco and Riverside-Avondale. What a concept!
Now, eventually when you get to a much larger sized urban area with hundreds of thousands of people coming downtown each day and/or living there, this paradigm would start to break down. But, right now and for the foreseeable future we are far from having that problem. It is time for a change.
Greenville needs a Trolley System...
Ocklawaha
Greenville is getting ......... BRT. They're transit authority is pulling up an old rail line and putting buses into it. However, for some strange reason it's no where in the ballpark of $750 million.
Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 27, 2007, 05:15:41 PM
Greenville needs a Trolley System...
Ocklawaha
There is a free DT Trolley. Of course, it's the Trolley-style bus, similiar to the ones Jax uses, not a genuine rail trolley.
There are two significant differences though. 1) the word "Free" is promeniently displayed on the vehicle and 2) it gets respectable useage.
The local baseball team uses them to carry fans to the field, from a large surface lot that is several blocks from the field itself. The Baseball field itself has no dedicated parking. The team ownership also pays part of the maintenance.
Quote from: thelakelander on September 27, 2007, 05:24:11 PM
Greenville is getting ......... BRT. They're transit authority is pulling up an old rail line and putting buses into it. However, for some strange reason it's no where in the ballpark of $750 million.
Actually the rail line was pulled up many years ago. Like twenty or more.
The city bought the right of way for next to nothing a few years back. Part of the ROW will be paved for the buses to use, with a parallel walking/running/cycling lane as well. Half of the walking/running/cycling path will be rubberized to reduce stress on (human)joints.
Rumor is the buses will run on hydrogen, so there will be no fumes. The total length is just over 8 miles I believe with a total price tag of $20mm. Federal and state funds are anticipated to cover all but $1-2mm of that. About 75% of the 8 miles will be totally absent of normal vehicular traffic. No traffic lights, or interaction with other vehicles.
Hell, for $1-2mm, what have they got to lose? The hope is that in future decades after TODs and such have built up along the ROW, that a conversion to rail will occur.
I'm not against the concept of BRT. I think it can be a very good choice when it costs $1 to $2 million/mile. Its when it ends up costing more than rail that I have serious issues with it.
However, there's a lot of research out there showing its pretty difficult to attract quality large scale TOD investment with BRT. So Greenville will probably see TADs rise (car oriented developments in the burbs that happen to be adjacent to the old rail line), as opposed to TODs (developments with the mass transit option designed as a centerpiece).
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 27, 2007, 11:16:57 AM
so now we're comparing Jacksonville to Greenville, SC?
I thought you all want people to stop thinking small and realize that Jax. is becoming a big city!
The problem comes when cities smaller than us are doing things right. Yes, Jacksonville is a larger city, but somehow, with their smaller population and (assuming) smaller city budget, they've figured it out.
Quote from: thelakelander on September 27, 2007, 10:35:14 PM
I'm not against the concept of BRT. I think it can be a very good choice when it costs $1 to $2 million/mile. Its when it ends up costing more than rail that I have serious issues with it.
However, there's a lot of research out there showing its pretty difficult to attract quality large scale TOD investment with BRT. So Greenville will probably see TADs rise (car oriented developments in the burbs that happen to be adjacent to the old rail line), as opposed to TODs (developments with the mass transit option designed as a centerpiece).
In the abstract, I would agree, but in this instance there are circumstances that make this BRT more likely to achieve TOD's versus TADs. One, the line runs through two large chucks of currently-developing land, one is called Verdae, and is a large mixed and multiple use development. The other is the International Center for Automotive Research (ICAR). ICAR is more employment-oriented but is mixed use as well. Both are being designed with the ROW in mind, and with their highest densities along the ROW.
Second, with a normal BRT, the route can be changed relatively easily. Don't like Atlantic Blvd, move it to Beach Blvd instead. But with the majority of the system being exclusively buses only, there is no way to change the route to other roadways without intergrating the new route into normal traffic. This would exponentially expand the travel times, gas consumption,etc. To me this huge disincentive, would make changing the route non-sensical.
my comments regarding Greenville were not to say that they aren't doing some good things....and perhaps more than Jacksonville....its just not an apples-to-apples comparison...better comparisons for Jax. would be Orlando, Charlotte, Nashville, Austin, Richmond, etc....
and by the way Mr. Dare...I don't drink the DVI kool-aid.....you're the one who use the 80k number they publish.....my info. is based on data from the Census and InfoUSA employment data....San Marco is nowhere close to downtown in total employment
QuoteSecond, with a normal BRT, the route can be changed relatively easily. Don't like Atlantic Blvd, move it to Beach Blvd instead. But with the majority of the system being exclusively buses only, there is no way to change the route to other roadways without intergrating the new route into normal traffic. This would exponentially expand the travel times, gas consumption,etc. To me this huge disincentive, would make changing the route non-sensical.
True, but the highway/bus lobby has been selling bus transit for nearly 100 years, as "The Flexible Alternative." This century of preaching and teaching is rooted in every developers mind as a FACT. That "fact" is what kills TOD with BRT systems. Add in features on fixed routes like Miami-Busway, many entrances and exits for BRT buses to join the system in-route. So if 2 out of 12 routes using the BRT are not performing, we just reroute them. They no longer join the parade of buses, and service suffers along the Billion Dollar busway.
No sane developer will stake the family farm on the odds that JTA will "Do the right thing." Costs? Has anyone SEEN the price of hydrogen buses? Might as well buy AMTRAK for the City's exclusive use. Ocklawaha
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 28, 2007, 11:16:10 AM
and by the way Mr. Dare...I don't drink the DVI kool-aid.....you're the one who use the 80k number they publish.....my info. is based on data from the Census and InfoUSA employment data....San Marco is nowhere close to downtown in total employment
and just to follow up on my previous post.....2005 employment figures for San Marco and the Southbank combined are about 11,000....the downtown core alone (Jefferson to Liberty and Beaver to the river) has over 29,000
plus Stephen...you mentioned the Dalton Agency in San Marco area....aren't they the ones moving downtown who forced Boomtown out?
WTF? Hey, don't y'all realize that parking meters are already installed? They require almost no investment? They work like a magic gum ball machine, a few hundred dollars invested returns .25 cents per 1/2 hour forever, or at least until you drive all the customers away. Why with parking meters making up to $12.00 a day, it's an immediate income for all of Jacksonville to spend and enjoy. Contrast that with new development that would come from free parking. We might see $100's of millions of dollars in new development, but the key word is "might". So on the one hand we keep the meters and have REAL revenue today, on the other we trash the meters with the chance that someone will spend the big bucks. Just like us, take the quarter so we don't deal with the millions... besides, who in Jacksonville can count that high? Oh the humanity!
Ocklawaha
is that 12.00 per mete or for all the meters combined? And then the parking ticket revenue! Why bothers?
Quote from: Ocklawaha on September 28, 2007, 12:56:05 PM
WTF? Hey, don't y'all realize that parking meters are already installed? They require almost no investment? They work like a magic gum ball machine, a few hundred dollars invested returns .25 cents per 1/2 hour forever, or at least until you drive all the customers away. Why with parking meters making up to $12.00 a day, it's an immediate income for all of Jacksonville to spend and enjoy. Contrast that with new development that would come from free parking. We might see $100's of millions of dollars in new development, but the key word is "might". So on the one hand we keep the meters and have REAL revenue today, on the other we trash the meters with the chance that someone will spend the big bucks. Just like us, take the quarter so we don't deal with the millions... besides, who in Jacksonville can count that high? Oh the humanity!
Ocklawaha
Personally, I'd have a really hard time believeing that a single parking meter makes more than about 3.00 per day tops.
Parking meter revenue is a good place to steal money from. There is no proof of how much money they collected, so report half and keep the rest.
How many are broken victimizing the weak with parking tickets. My meter was broken and I got a ticket. If I didn't fight it I would have had to pay.
Sucks to be you I guess, hell, someone has to support the Police Welfare Program. You know, if we could engineer a gum ball machine on top of each meter we could double the citys revenue overnight! A simple device to plug the door, would assure the gum balls were not despensed. This way we only have to buy the gum balls once and we can have broken machines that just make pure income all day long.
Hey, let's be the first City to introduce night time meters too! We might stretch that $12 bucks into $15 or $20! Big money Jacksonville, big money. With that sort of revenue dedicated to our Mass Transit and Parking problems we could buy another new Gillig BRT "look" bus by 2027. Gotta love it Jacksonville.
Ocklawaha
Yes. That we should also install the meters on the water at the river. Hey Jacksonville, why not ticket the cars waiting on the mainstreet bridge...HUGE revenue stream for retirement fund.
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 28, 2007, 11:43:36 AM
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 28, 2007, 11:16:10 AM
and by the way Mr. Dare...I don't drink the DVI kool-aid.....you're the one who use the 80k number they publish.....my info. is based on data from the Census and InfoUSA employment data....San Marco is nowhere close to downtown in total employment
and just to follow up on my previous post.....2005 employment figures for San Marco and the Southbank combined are about 11,000....the downtown core alone (Jefferson to Liberty and Beaver to the river) has over 29,000
plus Stephen...you mentioned the Dalton Agency in San Marco area....aren't they the ones moving downtown who forced Boomtown out?
Wow, 29,000 people within just a few blocks on the Northbank!
(http://www.isledegrande.com/picpage/images/fantasy-land-sign9-6-07.jpg)
It's a stretch, but this is a somehow related topic.
I heard a commercial for the new Freestyle coke Machine. Apparently it has over 100 flavors that you select using a touch screen. Grape Sprite, Fanta Zero, Cherry Vanilla Coke Zero, etc.........
Anyway, they have them at all firehouse locations now. I plan to try one this week.
They're cool. I recommend a 50/50 ratio of Vanilla Coke and Orange Coke. Reminds me of an orange creamsicle. No joke.
I ate at firehouse on 17 / NAS Jax the other day and they had that new machine, it was awesome. You can get a soda flavored however you want it, it's pretty nifty. I like vanilla coke zero, regular coke (except Mexican regular coke) is too syrupy. But sadly for Tufsu, that soda machine probably has more flavors than downtown has office workers...
Quote from: Jimmy on February 09, 2011, 11:04:42 AM
They're cool. I recommend a 50/50 ratio of Vanilla Coke and Orange Coke. Reminds me of an orange creamsicle. No joke.
X2
Pretty simple fix, add more residential space downtown northbank side. No people = no need for commercial.
okay, so imagine we have more residential space over her. from whence will those new residents come? why should they move from wherever they are? for that matter, whose money is goïng to be used to build new residential when there are already houses goïng empty all over the city?
Awe, Tufsu, you forgot the Winn-Dixie. I hear if you call 3 weeks in advance and ask nice you can get the chef's table.
did you notice that the post above wasn't from me?
Stephen, I wasn't talking to you
and since you're always one to parse words, I never said there were 56,000 in the downtown core...I said there was something around that number in the downtown area (which includes Brooklyn, LaVilla, Stadium, and Southbank areas) with 18,000 of them in the northbank core.
You and your buddy claimed the number was closer to 7,000.....which years later still remains an unfounded claim.
Quote from: stephendare on February 19, 2012, 05:29:59 PM
Quote from: tufsu1 on February 19, 2012, 12:31:30 PM
did you notice that the post above wasn't from me?
Of course I did. It correctly listed the number of people downtown at the time. Obviously it wasnt your post. You went on within the thread to argue that there were 56 thousand people in the core.
Stephen, I wasn't talking to you
and since you're always one to parse words, I never said there were 56,000 in the downtown core...I said there was something around that number in the downtown area (which includes Brooklyn, LaVilla, Stadium, and Southbank areas) with 18,000 of them in the northbank core.
You and your buddy claimed the number was closer to 7,000.....which years later still remains an unfounded claim....it's nice to see that you now admit the correct number was 18,000!
Quote from: tufsu1 on February 19, 2012, 09:21:24 PM
Quote from: stephendare on February 19, 2012, 05:29:59 PM
Quote from: tufsu1 on February 19, 2012, 12:31:30 PM
did you notice that the post above wasn't from me?
Of course I did. It correctly listed the number of people downtown at the time. Obviously it wasnt your post. You went on within the thread to argue that there were 56 thousand people in the core.
Stephen, I wasn't talking to you
and since you're always one to parse words, I never said there were 56,000 in the downtown core...I said there was something around that number in the downtown area (which includes Brooklyn, LaVilla, Stadium, and Southbank areas) with 18,000 of them in the northbank core.
You and your buddy claimed the number was closer to 7,000.....which years later still remains an unfounded claim....it's nice to see that you now admit the correct number was 18,000!
Hogwash, you claimed 29k on the northbank core. I quoted you a page ago. Not coincidentally, right above where I posted that picture of the "Fantasy Land: Under Construction" sign. And the true figure is indeed <10k, so we were a lot closer than your rosiest or rosy estimaflations.
Quote from: tufsu1 on September 28, 2007, 11:43:36 AM
and just to follow up on my previous post.....2005 employment figures for San Marco and the Southbank combined are about 11,000....the downtown core alone (Jefferson to Liberty and Beaver to the river) has over 29,000
plus Stephen...you mentioned the Dalton Agency in San Marco area....aren't they the ones moving downtown who forced Boomtown out?
and as the quote on the page says, that number was based on Census, InfoUSA (and Florida ES-202) figures for 2005....not those from DVI, JEDC, and the like from 2007-2009.
now yes, these sources have their flaws...for example, from what we can tell, every City employee was addressed to City Hall in those figures, regardless of where they actually were stationed.
but at least I based the claims on published sources....you've just used conjecture
that said, I have to now go and make a living.....riding buses all day and asking people what they really think (vs. assuming) :)
...and the urination competition continues. ;D