Audrey Moran: Why I Want To Be Mayor

[Audrey]

Answers yet Audrey? At least give us a like or dislike for the following... we can always fill you in on the facts surrounding each. Hell's bells, I don't even care if you, once armed with the facts and figures, decide we can't do it... at least tell us if you like the idea?

SKYWAY, EXTENSION TO ATLANTIC IN SAN MARCO?

SKYWAY, EXTENSION TO BLUE CROSS/BROOKLYN?

SKYWAY, EXTENSION TO EVERBANK FIELD?

STREETCAR, HYATT DOWNTOWN TO PARK AND KING?

STREETCAR, TO SHAND'S/SPRINGFIELD?

STREETCAR, TO STADIUM (ROUTE DIFFERENT THAN SKYWAY)?

STREETCAR LOOP DOWNTOWN/DURKEEVILLE?

COMMUTER RAIL TO AVENUES?

COMMUTER RAIL TO COLLINS-WELLS ROAD?

COMMUTER RAIL TO AIRPORT ROAD/MAIN STREET (includes rebuilding a 3 mile freight-passenger connection)

COMMUTER RAIL TO BALDWIN?

MOVING AMTRAK BACK DOWNTOWN?

MOVING THE CONVENTION CENTER INTO DOWNTOWN?

BUILDING THE JRTC (JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL)?

LOBBY FOR MORE AMTRAK SERVICE AND REGIONAL RAIL SERVICE (Gainesville-Jax etc)?


OCKLAWAHA

You definitely have a passion for local transportation issues.  When the Skyway was built in 1989, it was an exciting idea for downtown.  What we have now is only the first phase of construction with 2.5 miles of rail.  The second phase was never started.  Currently, we have an elevated rail system that doesn't really connect anything.  If the Skyway is going to have an impact on downtown, it has to bring people downtown.  San Marco, Brooklyn and Everbank Field are all good suggestions.  I would love to park-and-ride for a Jaguars game and save time (and gas) not sitting in traffic.  People need a reason to come downtown.  The shopping hub for Jacksonville used to be downtown.  People in cities like Chicago and New York go downtown to shop.  How do they get there?  Mass transit.  Jacksonville needs a major revitalization of downtown -shopping, movie theaters, an entertainment district, a school (Florida Coastal are you listening?) and the list goes on.  If people want to come downtown and we have a transit system that moves people efficiently, downtown will come alive.   

I think that the JTA is on the right track (pun intended) with the new Trolley service.  More and more people are riding the Trolley because the routes make sense and they are user friendly.  Business people take the Trolley at lunchtime to go to Riverside and the Landing for lunch.  It alleviates parking concerns and saves gas.  The routes are well thought out and convenient for riders so people are using the Trolleys.  I'm not sure that I share your same vision when it comes to streetcars, but I'd like to hear more about how and why you think Jacksonville can benefit from them.  As I mentioned before, I have policy groups in place that are meeting to discuss priorities and solutions to our most challenging issues.  Of course, transportation is on that list and I look forward to sharing the findings and developing a strategy for mass transit.

This conversation will continue and it needs to continue.  Open honest dialogue is what we need.  We may not always agree, but I will always listen.  Thank you for sharing your ideas and concerns.

[wsansewjs]

Please do Ock. I am 24 years old with a progressive blindness and have a driver's license revoked from DMV due to the vision loss. I am at the mercy of JTA Connexion and their absurd service in timing and consistency. Not limiting to JTA Connexion, but I do use JTA and its city buses too.

I will do anything to help out and push for effort in making this transportation as the number one issue in this city. Please, its not that I am biased to one and only issue, but the transportation issue is a very simple issue that brings the complexity. It also brings more solutions to other issues that the city have. It is kinda of the metaphor, "If you build it, all will come."

-Josh

[fieldafm]

I think that the JTA is on the right track (pun intended) with the new Trolley service.

I'm not sure that I share your same vision when it comes to streetcars, but I'd like to hear more about how and why you think Jacksonville can benefit from them.

Im a little different than Ock in that he thinks the PCT service is an abomination, whereas I view it as a better service than what we had three years ago(nothing) and actively express opinions to JTA about route expansion and fine tuning the end user experience(payment options and merchant transit programs) to make what we have better.... but I once shared the very same skepticism about fixed transit.  Im officially a convert b/c of this site and the editorial staff here. 

Ock, sounds like a fixed transit presentation is in order!

[Ocklawaha]

AUDREY, You now officially have my attention!

~ Where there is no difficulty there is no praise. ~

Shall we put together a plan for downtown? An intermodal bus-Skyway-rail-streetcar mix that would be both economical to build and maintain, as well as be the envy of every other city south of Charlotte and east of New Orleans?

You do know we can do this professionally, even if it is just a concept plan for your policy group on Transportation. Within our board and inner circle of active members are several talented people including professional urban planners, transportation planners, railroad planners, railroad and I.T. executives. I think I speak for all of us when I say we stand ready to assist you and any other person within the city who is willing to further the advancement of our transit system. The recent $250,000 dollar commuter rail plan was in reality a cut and paste of previous plans we had published in MJ.

In short? Consider we can (AND SHOULD) advance the Skyway to logical end points around (NO WITHIN) the central business district. The technology JTA chose was initially expensive, but expansion can now be accomplished for about the same price as Light Rail. End points at:
*Atlantic in San Marco, at the FEC RY. (future commuter rail station where bus-BRT-train-Skyway could meet)
*Everbank Field, via East Bay Street with a bus/streetcar connection at Newnan, entertainment district.
*VA Clinic/Shands, via FSCJ - west of Hogans Creek - new VA Clinic - Shands.
*Brooklyn at Blue Cross (this presents an opportunity to save fire station #4, moving it across the street and making it part of the terminal. It also presents an opportunity to save Annie Lytle and create a bus/monorail station out of it that would encompass a theater, TOD, history and gateway walk into 5-Points. This again is only 442 feet from the ORIGINAL planned route.

The vehicle and track technology design is really not conducive to further expansion beyond a core system, thus I would consider it COMPLETE at the completion of these expansions.

STREETCAR? Far too much for us to go into in a brief response post, but let me explain that streetcar is the nations LEADING urban density builder... Every city, (and there are over 60 since I first proposed this to mayor Godbold 30 years ago) has experienced a building boom along the streetcar lines amounting to hundreds of millions - even BILLIONS of dollars. Streetcars have a well documented track record (pun intended) as a catalyst  for development that exceeds anything in the bus/BRT/monorail stable. We will supply you with all the data you would need to see how this could be the powder needed to fire Jacksonville's cannons.  Sufice it to say streetcar performs far better then BRT and at a cost of about $5 million a mile - complete, it is cheaper then either Skyway or BRT.

Commuter Rail would be the workhorse backbone of the system, least expensive to implement and complimentary to our PORT, JRTC, HSR and AMTRAK plans. At about $3 Million a mile, this system could (and should) someday reach St. Augustine, Fernandina, Macclenny and Green Cove Springs, with a supplemental service into downtown Gainesville several times daily.

BRT and enhanced JTA city buses plus a system of executive express buses would extend the reach of the overall system.

As for JTA's PCT (sometimes called trolley) services, I'm not in the least against the idea of a frequent system of connector buses making downtown or close-in loops. I am in complete agreement, though I would change a couple of things, 1. replace these vehicles with true TOTAL electric vintage style buses, 2. quit telling the public they are "trolleys" which to any big city-transit savvy person, makes us look ignorant.

Your ball Audrey...

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Audrey, in short this is why an investment in logical fixed mass transit is needed.  It brings a much higher ROI than anything else (ex. downtown college, DDA, etc.) someone can cook up for urban/downtown redevelopment.

Why Build A Streetcar in Jacksonville?

Cities around the country are planning or building new streetcar systems to focus development in their urban cores. After years of unsuccessful urban revitalization strategies, Jacksonville should consider the impact of viable mass transit investment on the surrounding built environment.

Why Streetcar, Why Now?



The streetcar is a powerful catalyst for economic development. Although the improved transportation provided by the streetcar will improve the character and feel of the city, the greatest benefits come from the streetcar’s ability to focus and spur investment all along the route.

In other cities, building a streetcar line has been an effective way to increase investment and development in their urban cores.



Portland has seen $2.8 billion in added value to the city. Tampa’s streetcar line stimulated $1.1 billion of development. Little Rock’s route brought $700 million into the city. Even Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city with 710,865 fewer residents than Jacksonville, has seen $175 million in added value along their streetcar line.

Streetcars promote growth and economic development in a myriad of different ways. They make downtown housing more affordable, bring in more customers to support downtown retail, improve property values, create a more vibrant city, and increase public safety by keeping more eyes on the street which improves the overall business climate.  In short, the stimulate the type of development that the JEDC and DVI have dreamed about for years but have been unable to deliver.



The Jacksonville area is expected to experience tremendous population growth in the next 50 years. A complete and easy to use transportation network, which the streetcar can be a part of, will ensure that a substantial percentage of this growth occurs in dense urban areas like downtown instead of at the fringes of the city. This form of growth is sustainable as it encourages development that maximizes existing infrastructure, decreases vehicle trips on freeways and arterials, reinforces walkable neighborhoods, and enables a wide spectrum of economic opportunities for a city in desperate need of them.

[thelakelander]

With that said, all you really have to be is the city's biggest cheerleader for better mobility.  Funding mechanisms that won't require raising taxes or a public referendum are already being put in place for an initial line that will connect downtown to Riverside.  This short affordable starter line has the chance to be a great example of how fixed transit can positively and economically impact the city when it connects people with a variety of walkable destinations where they can live, work and play without an over reliance on cars.

[CS Foltz]

Gentlemen...........you both forgot one small detail...........you know the one about for everyone dollar invested in rail, you get a six dollar return? JTA is more concerned about protecting their turf and their game plan! I can not argue about the"Trolley" being used correctly but that is not the whole JTA system hard at work. Do I need to mention about the 1,800 some odd stops, changing of the schedules (no apparent reason or planning) and lets not forget about the lack of simple shelters for weather protection! Ock and lake, do your thing and inform Ms Audrey of just what is going on!

[tufsu1]

ok...let's try this again...JTA's job is to provide transportation services....the 6 to 1 ROI is usually not found in operating costs, so the gains are mainly seen by the local government....as such, COJ needs to tell JTA they want to see rail!

[Ocklawaha]

ok...let's try this again...JTA's job is to provide transportation services....the 6 to 1 ROI is usually not found in operating costs, so the gains are mainly seen by the local government....as such, COJ needs to tell JTA they want to see rail!

So true TUFSU, though the newest data from Cincinnati puts the ROI at 14 to 1!
AUDREY, TUFSU, CS FOLTZ AND LAKELANDER, see: "Economic Development" at:
http://www.cincystreetcar.com/economicdevelopment.html

Otherwise as far as operations are concerned, streetcars are cheaper then buses to operate. See line 5 in "The Infrastructurist."
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/06/03/36-reasons-that-streetcars-are-better-than-buses/

OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

Y'all might also like to explore the UTA TIGER II Grant Application for the "Sugar House Streetcar," in Salt Lake City, which was recently funded. It shows a 34 to 1 ROI.
http://www.ssl.state.ut.us/homepagemedia/Sugar%20House%20Streetcar%20TIGER%20Application%20FINAL.pdf


OCKLAWAHA

[mtraininjax]

Jacksonville, has seen $175 million in added value along their streetcar line.

Where and How? Is this 175 million dollar value translated into taxes that I don't have to pay for? How does this benefit me, exactly. Give us exact details. I don't care about Tampa or Portland, I only want to know about the 175 million here in Jacksonville you describe.

TIA.

[thelakelander]

Mtrain, re-read the post. It said Kenosha has seen $175 million.  So how does it help you?  It can keep tax dollars in your pocket with less financial investment in mobility and supporting needs such as police and fire that arise from being spread too thin.  In your neighborhood, Quality of Life would be another impact.  Would you rather have a six lane Park Street that takes out Five Points and Park & King or a streetcar to deal future congestion?  Your personal transportation costs could be significantly reduced if reliable mass transit became an option in your lifestyle.  I could go on but there are three possible benefits for people living in your neighborhood right there.  That's pretty decent considering the 2030 Mobility Plan funds that line through private investment.

[Audrey]

Ock, sounds like a fixed transit presentation is in order!
[/quote]

An excellent idea!

OCK, please put together what you have and bring it to Campaign HQ at Metro Square - Bldg A, Suite 108
(3563 Philips Hwy).  I look forward to reviewing your proposal with recommendations and sharing it with our Transportation and Logistics Policy Group.

"Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much."

[Lunican]

Jacksonville, has seen $175 million in added value along their streetcar line.

Where and How? Is this 175 million dollar value translated into taxes that I don't have to pay for? How does this benefit me, exactly. Give us exact details. I don't care about Tampa or Portland, I only want to know about the 175 million here in Jacksonville you describe.

TIA.

Nice Mtrain. Here's the actual quote...

Even Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city with 710,865 fewer residents than Jacksonville, has seen $175 million in added value along their streetcar line.

[dougskiles]

Audrey, I'm glad to see your interest in MJs presentation.  Can you share with us who is on your Transportation and Logistics Policy Group?

BTW, I look forward to meeting you this week at Matt Carlucci's party.