The 1992 Downtown White Paper: The Proposals

[Metro Jacksonville]

The 1992 Downtown White Paper: The Proposals



The second part of the acclaimed Downtown White Paper of 1992.  Produced by a select group of professionals, architects, and gentlemen businessmen, the White Paper confronted the nightmare scenario left in the wake of the cities ill managed Hemming Park improvement project.

Reeling from the shocking loss of 4 million square feet of retail in 2 years, the unwinding of the office lease market, and the beginning signs of failure from the Riverfront projects, listen as the Blue Ribbon Panel makes proposals to save the sinking downtown.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jul-the-1992-downtown-white-paper-the-proposals

[BridgeTroll]

At a board meeting with Metro Jacksonville, we were informed by the intrepid Jack Diamond that the panel fondly dreamed of leveling the entire LaVilla Neighborhood and part of Durkeeville to create the nation's first Urban Golf Course.

  Just imagine the layout...The fairways in a grid pattern strangely reminiscent of the long gone avenues... greens could double as pocket parks... panhandlers at every teebox and green selling cold water... polluted retention ponds and creeks as water hazards...  instead of sand traps... piles of brick and concrete block.

Come to think of it... this may still happen... since the new courthouse will be within walking distance...

[vicupstate]

 

Currently the downtown receives only a small portion of the tax increment dollars generated by the downtown TIDs (less than $1.5 million out of approximately $7 million annually).

Can you detail this spending? In many states, TID/TIFs REQUIRE the funds to be spent within it's borders.  What else is it being spent on?  Regardless of what is legal, it  is wrong to do otherwise.  I wouln't be surprised if FL law isn't the same, and since no one is raising a stink, they get away with it.   

I disagree that the DDA is not beneficial.  There has been a noticeable lack of attention to DT since it was disbanded.  The recent T-U series documented this as well.  I bet a survey of major cities would show at least 80% of successful DTs have such an organization in place.   

[Wacca Pilatka]

The section about the people who are crazy for brick pavers got me to laugh out loud.

[CS Foltz]

Makes me wonder just what that "study" cost the taxpayers and what the hell were those people ingesting? I need to find out so I might make sure to not get any!

[DeadGirlsDontDance]

I'm just imagining the conversation the Powers That Be had about residential buildings downtown:

Idiot: "Hey, there's some people living downtown!"

Palooka: "Really? If there's people living downtown, then even MORE people might WANT to live downtown, and they're going to need somewhere to park."

Moron: "I know, let's knock down the buildings where people already live, and turn them into parking lots for people who haven't moved downtown yet!"

Slack-jawed Yokel: "That's a GREAT idea! My drunken brother-in-law's construction business is going to go under if he doesn't get some work soon!"

All: (raising moonshine jugs in a toast) "Bombs away!"

[cityimrov]

Apanel fondly dreamed of leveling the entire LaVilla Neighborhood and part of Durkeeville to create the nation's first Urban Golf Course.

When they say "urban golf course" they mean something like those Japanese style vertical golf courses which go up from first floor to 18th floor, right?  Please say that's what they meant.  

[thelakelander]

No.  They envisioned the type of sprawling golf course you would find in Ponte Vedra.

[heights unknown]

First Urban Golf Course; what a laugher.  Shortsighted, no good, no planning, bunch of worthless wanna be politicians!

"HU"

[Jaxson]

I'm just imagining the conversation the Powers That Be had about residential buildings downtown:

Idiot: "Hey, there's some people living downtown!"

Palooka: "Really? If there's people living downtown, then even MORE people might WANT to live downtown, and they're going to need somewhere to park."

Moron: "I know, let's knock down the buildings where people already live, and turn them into parking lots for people who haven't moved downtown yet!"

Slack-jawed Yokel: "That's a GREAT idea! My drunken brother-in-law's construction business is going to go under if he doesn't get some work soon!"

All: (raising moonshine jugs in a toast) "Bombs away!"

I love it!  Here is some more...

Rube: I have a plan for revitalizing downtown.  And it might just work this time!

Yahoo: Why would you want to do something stupid like that?  I only go there to catch th fireworks every year.

Rube: Well, you're gonna love my plan.  We are gonna demolish a few more buildings.  There is a real nice, historical one that needs to go --- ASAP!

Yahoo: Well, Einstein, what are you gonna replace 'em with?

Rube: Well, my name ain't Einstein.  And, I am not quite sure if I know what we'll replace those old and useless buildings with.  I am just sure that someone will come along and build something shiny and nice.

Yahoo: Well, I will be sure to bring my lawn chair when the wrecking begins...

Rube: You better bring some pepper spray.  You know how dangerous it is downtown!

[simms3]

I have to agree and disagree with all of you.  Many of the same business leaders that were around in the discussions then are still around today (and maybe that's a problem, maybe not).  I don't feel lik personally attacking them since they have do have skin in the game (whether you think so or not), but I personally liked many of their ideas, and most of them seem to be what we all agree on and talk about on this board every day.  The few that warranted disagreement got unwarranted extra criticism, imho.

We all have different insights nowadays regarding what works and what does not work because we have studied and witnessed more than a decade or downtown renewals across the country.  In 1992, they were still in the midst of white flight" from downtowns, and if my memory serves me correctly, the early 90s was the height of the crack epidemic that brought murder rates higher than ever in history before.  For city leaders and business leaders to come together then and advocate for a "heritage district", corny as it may seem now, light rail, symbiosm between well placed and densely placed cultural institutions and other ideas we currently advocate for here IN 1992 is quite significant.

It is my opinion that most of the commentary provided in this article could have been short and sweet.  Just 1 or 2 sentences could have sufficed and made a larger impact without leading into personal attacks on those who took the time to come up with the plan.  If we want these same people to listen to us now, we can't solely bash them personally and stereotype them.  Some of these leaders are actually some of the biggest liberals in the state (Preston Haskell being one of them).  They are very interesting people that come from varying backgrounds and have varying interests that would probably surprise most of us.  I don't think that all of them would "never" take the train, etc.  Not all of them live on one of the courses in PVB, etc.

This White Paper seems like the best plan yet (of the 3 that have been highlighted), and talks about public art, art space, rail, connectivity, etc.  I think we should quit insulting those who came up with it, and bring this paper back from the grave.  We can use this paper to elicit more support by putting it in the hands of current city and business leaders, and say: "Look, we had good ideas in the past.  Why haven't we done this _ and this _?  This needs to be modified because we know _ does not work now, but otherwise it is a good idea.  This is how you convince suburbanites why a healthy downtown is vitally important to a healthy city (see section 1).  Etc."

I know I am going to get criticized personally as well here for going against the grain, but from my perspective, it seems to me that we have touched on the right path before.  Why aren't we further along like Nashville, Charlotte, NOLA, SLC, etc?

Also, while I generally agree with most people's criticism of our current mayor and his "cronies," the people of Jax are not very well travelled, cultured, or educated, and so they keep electing some really bad city council members.  I hear too much criticism directed at local business leaders and head civic leaders and not enough criticism/solution directed towards our own peers and city council members.  It seems to me that the people holding this city back the most are our own people.

OK rant over.

[Fallen Buckeye]

^No I agree simms3. Personal attacks are counterproductive and a good way to stop progress. I agree there was good and bad in the solutions here. I think we have to assume good intentions of all parties here, and clearly state our alternative ideas and the reasoning behind them. The Lakelander is particularly good at discussing ideas from this perspective on this forum which actually gives his statements more power and credibility.

I agree that there were some steps in the right direction as far as solutions go on the White Paper such recognizing the symbiotic relationships that develop in mixed use development and I believe that they recognized that mass transit was important as well. Obviously some of these ideas have been implemented imperfectly and need some fine tuning. Some of these ideas are obviously flawed and need to be discarded such as the land banking idea. In those cases we need to show why those IDEAS (not people who came up with them) are flawed and what is a better alternative.

[BOfficer]

Seems everyone has "good ideas" on what should be done to better manage Jacksonville, the growth, aesthetics, education, entertainment, etc., but where is the action? 

City planning can only go so far, at some point it comes down to creating incentives to move businesses to the area.  Businesses bring jobs, brings demand for better entertainment, education, aesthetics, culture, etc.