Downtown Dilemma on Urban Jacksonville Weekly Monday December 14th

[thelakelander]

The city has to lead the way.  Right know we have an uneven playing field.  Compared to developing in the suburban areas of town, its more expensive and a hassle to do the same in the urban core.  Give people a reason to come to the core and invest.  Make it a viable option and we'll see more success. 

The city is going to have to invest in things that enhance the area's quality of life aspects, yet do so in a manner that promotes connectivity and density to lay the foundation for stimulating additional development.  This could mean, giving a company/schools,etc. heavy incentives to come to the core, investing in real transit to better connect the urban core residential base with the CBD, true tax abatement and shifting public money from the burbs to the core (we obviously have no problem doing this the other way around). There is no one solution to the problems DT faces but the overall theme remains the same. 

[mtraininjax]

Dan - Springfield is a neighborhood, and we're talking about downtown here. So please work with me and focus on downtown, not Riverside, Springfield or San Marco.

Lake - What can city leaders do to make downtown more attractive? Incentivize, plain and simple. They can make downtown more attractive. We have to get back to incentivizing downtown, instead of this idiotic shutdown of all subsidies to attract investment. We need new leaders who share the same vision, the problem is that too much of Jacksonville is spread out to care what happens to downtown. So we will need a vibrant leader who can show that as downtown goes, so goes the rest of the City/County.

[Dan B]

Mtrain, Im with you for the most part, honestly. I just think part of the problem is people dont look at downtown as a neighborhood. It very much is, and should be looked at as a neighborhood. When people live in a place, they use its amenities, open stores that fill voids they and their neighbors have, and generally bring a vibrancy to an area that just having a business would not bring. Would you call a Strip-mall, even a full occupied one VIBRANT?

I wouldnt. I would call it functional, I would call it active, but I wouldn't call it vibrant.

[redglittercoffin]

So we will need a vibrant leader who can show that as downtown goes, so goes the rest of the City/County.

I think this is the KEY to this whole issue -- and I'm a southside yuppie living in a condo that I purchased before shortly before the peak.  I would love to see southside continue to grow and fix some of the remaining issues that it has.  However, I am cognizant of the above fact.  I think there is a lot of short-sidedness that in someone not wanting a vibrant downtown.  The city itself should be a tourist attraction -- not just tourist attractions within a city.  I think it would enhance a real sense of pride to have a vibrant downtown.  It becomes a unifying point across all 841 sq miles.  People would want to go to Jags games, not just to be at the game, but also because it is a good excuse to be downtown.  

That kind of attraction keeps fresh money flowing through corporations and people's pocket books.  -- and ultimately back into city coffers.

The general malaise towards downtown is amazing.  Blindness to the potential.

[JeffreyS]

I don't know Mtrain if you incentivize(pay) businesses not to move don't they just keep coming back with their hands out. An incentive now and then is going to be needed to help with start up costs or relocating to an area.
What you do is sell some of the building stock that our leaders only want fourtune 500s to come bail them out.  You invest in infrastructure that promotes private investment my choice fixed rail transit.  Stop paying companies to move to the southside a practice Peyton suggested but never followed through with.

An add campaign that dispelled the commonly held belief that their is a shortage of parking throughout downtown when the truth is we have much more than we need might be the cheapest route to success.

Look for the court house to get the downtown ball rolling again.

[redglittercoffin]

An add campaign that dispelled the commonly held belief that their is a shortage of parking throughout downtown when the truth is we have much more than we need might be the cheapest route to success.

LOVE this idea!  It could be done easily -- with a simple message.

[fsu813]

Even more parking could be on the way, if the owner of the Park View Inn gets his way.  Another parking garage. yeah.

[jason_contentdg]

^And just what businesses would that serve?

[FLDrifter]

Before you talk about "success" or "failure" of downtown, it is important to define the goal. Only then can you talk about "succeeding" or "failing" to reach this goal.

Downtown has succeeded in largely keeping social problems away from the suburb. Containing the jail, the shelters downtown, with a belt of low income rentals and social services stretching north. downtown has been a success. Where else would these people go? Do you want to develop downtown on the backs of the poor and homeless? Downtown has a well established blight-driving economic fabric. Why destroy what succeed so well in attracting millions in state and federal grants. The housing projects behind Shands may be a failure to some. But they just attracted actual stimulus money. I don't see any rail stimulus coming to jacksonville yet.

[thelakelander]

You won't get rail stimulus money if you don't ask or it or have a plan ready to go for it.  Nevertheless, if we are lucky, we may get some money for the Amtrak/FEC project.

[Karl_Pilkington]

not to worry, John Peyton will eventually leave office and he will move back to St. Johns county where is was living before becoming mayor.  Then all of his GOB's will pat him on the back for a job well.......done.

FlDrifter is right though, looking at it from the lens of a suburbanite, downtown has been a huge success, why change a thing?  where are all those vagrants supposed to go, surely not their neighborhoods.

[stjr]

I think an issue in recent times has been the distractions caused by the severe stress on the City's finances by the perfect storm of a State legislature interfering with home rule by attacking the local tax structure compounded by the worst economy since the depression.  This has been matched against an administration that, depending on your point of view, has been overwhelmed by this and certain other inherited issues, such as the Courthouse, Cecil, and Trail Ridge, and/or simply lacks the horsepower to multitask properly all the issues facing the City.  Regardless, here we are.

Will new leadership get us back on track?  An improving economy?  A more progressive attitude from the voters? Support, instead of corrosive interference from Tallahassee?  Perhaps, a combination of all.  Many times opportunities are fortuitous and it seems we have been having a run of bad luck.   Fortunately, bad times are often the mother of new creativity and inventiveness that foster better times.  For sure, it can only improve from here and, as such, I, too, remain optimistic.  Jax has a wealth of natural assets that have yet to be fully appreciated and exploited.  Like the pulling of King Arthur's sword, we await the right person(s) and times to leverage them.

[vicupstate]

I agree that the changes we all seek are not going to come from the current crop of city fathers.  2010 is probably not going to see much change with the economy we have either.

So...  what do we do NOW to see that an effective group of people who 'get it' get elected starting in 2011?  I've already posted about my desire to see MJ conduct interviews, make endorsenments and campaign contributions to worthy candidates.  


Before that though, lets identify people who would be good candidates.  Who are the city council members worth keeping?  Who are the community leaders that can run for the other seats.  Keep in mind that different districts are involved.

If you had to power to individually name ever member of council and the mayor, who would you choose?      

[vicupstate]

^^ Not following you there Stephen.  The list might be missing a few names, but all those listed seem to belong on it to me.  The regency Centers guy might be the only one I would question.   

[tufsu1]

sorry Stephen...I have to disagree 100%.

So is Toney Sleiman not important to downtown?

Kelly Madden - as leader of the Chamber, she can promote downtown...we have to change the mindset of corporate leadership in this town...that's what Charlotte did.

Terry Lorrince - she heads up the primary downtown advocacy organization.
Bill Cesry - developer/owner of the Libray project...pretty impotant to the Entertainment District
Rev. Brunson - we all know how strong First Baptist has been....they can also be an advocate
Mike Blaylock - imagine the impact BRT would have had on downtown streets....clearly JTA is a major player
Ron Barton - JEDC has review/approval authority for all downtown projects
Tony Allegretti - enough said

The only major void I see is citizen leadership....that's where all of us come in.