Rick Mullaney Unveils Plan for Jacksonville

[Metro Jacksonville]

Rick Mullaney Unveils Plan for Jacksonville



Rick Mullaney, Republican candidate for mayor of Jacksonville, shares his 34-point plan to shrink government and grow jobs.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jan-rick-mullaney-unveils-plan-for-jacksonville

[peestandingup]

Gotta love this one:

Part III

17. Stop wasting taxpayer money on the Skyway

Sometimes, we have to admit when something is not working. The Automated Skyway Express (ASE) is a train to nowhere, and it's taking the taxpayers for a ride. The ASE costs the people of Jacksonville $5 - $8 million a year, with taxpayers kicking in $9 for every $1 fare. As mayor, I will lead the charge to place a moratorium on Skyway operations and stop the waste!

Notice he never says anything about replacing it, or the fact that it was never finished & that's the reason it "goes nowhere". Gotta love it.

I sometimes think the only reason that thing was built was just to half-ass it, then kill it to show that public transportation is some kind of waste.

[thelakelander]

I noticed that as well and would like to see what else he has to say about this and mass transit in general.  If we don't truly address our mass transit issues during this next term, we endanger our chances of being able to compete against our peers in this 21st century economy.  If Rick reads this thread, here are a few things I'd like him to consider with this particular issue.

1. The skyway is a part of an overall dysfunctional transportation network.  Despite the bad press, unreliable service, broken turnstiles, not being fully integrated into the overall mass transit network, going nowhere to nowhere, its JTA's 6th busiest route, most popular in terms of ridership/mile and ridership has increased 18% over the past year.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-oct-jta-transit-ridership-numbers

The skyway is easy to single out because of its prominence but placing a moratorium on it doesn't really solve the real transit elephant in the room, which is the organization running it and the bus system into the ground.  Considering we subsidize our bus system and roads more than the skyway, I believe we need to look at our overall transportation system's problems holistically.  Before going the moratorium route, I'd recommend actually attempting to integrate it into the mass transit network by eliminating all buses out of the downtown core (saves O&M cost/increases ridership by eliminating duplicate routes), pushing for TOD around existing stations, wrapping trains with ads (revenue increase) and leasing ground floor station space to retail/food vendors (more revenue/ridership).

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-oct-re-evaluating-the-skyway


2. Moratorium aside, I love the urban medical district concept.  However, it becomes more difficult to pull off when you don't effectively connect medical anchors and the university with reliable fixed mass transit.  You also miss the opportunity to benefit from the economic infill development that tends to spring up around stations that would create affordable housing opportunities, retail and jobs that many urban core communities (including DT) need and desire.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jun-before-after-rail-spurs-economic-development

The problem with downtown and urban core revitalization is the fact that we've ripped apart connectivity and clustering complementing uses together within a compact setting.  At a minimum, we need to start working to reestablish that urban core connectivity between downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods.  Doing such (which could be funded by the Mobility Fee and a revamp of bus operations) would lay the foundation for more long term market rate economic development than more significant investment in something like a convention center, blowing up DT blocks for more greenspace or subsidizing the creation of an entertainment district ever would.


3. I'd also suggest getting more familiar with the 2030 mobility plan and fee that is working its way through council now.  It takes the old traffic concurrency system and utilizes fees being generated by development in a manner that integrates mobility with land use.  Urban core CIE priority projects are transit based and actually tie the Shands area and EWC with DT and St. Vincents.  Considering their connection to the proposed LaVilla transportation center, we also have an opportunity to utilize the skyway to provide direct access between these areas and the Southbank medical cluster.  It's a good plan to piggyback this plan's funding mechanism as a way to build upon the idea of promoting our healthcare sector, downtown and urban core revitalization.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-dec-2030-mobility-plan-presentation


4. I'd like to get Rick's opinion on desire to have a new $40 - $50 million transportation center office building as a higher priority than improving the actual system or relocating Amtrak back downtown.  Considering the high number of vacant office buildings in the core of downtown, it would seem to make more financial sense for a public taxpayer funded agency to take advantage of a cheaper existing space (many within walking distance of JTA's own skyway) to consolidate office needs.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-dec-a-closer-look-at-the-transportation-center

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-oct-an-empty-feeling-inside-the-walls-of-downtown

5. Also, I'd like to get Rick's thoughts on the latest BRT plans.  I wonder why can't we have BRT lines and reliable bus service right now with our existing infrastructure and buses?  If we want to run premium bus service down corridors like Philips, modify the existing network and run it without waiting years for a federal handout to basically purchase more buses.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-sep-trimming-the-fat-how-to-reduce-the-cost-of-jtas-brt-

[peestandingup]

All good points, Lake. Although I would assume that he probably knows a lot of this stuff, however won't admit to it because he wants to play up his "conservative" role & to the people of Jax in general (many of whom probably see public transportation strictly for poor people and/or a failure after seeing the Skyway turn into a boondoggle). So as open minded, rational, historical buffs as we all are here on this forum, let's not forget where we're actually talking about (an extremely car-centric area that has the biggest footprint of any US city, has no respect for its core or its history, & has one of the worst public transportation systems I've ever witnessed).

Speaking of which, I still think there's something to the creation of this thing & what they realistically had planned for it. Someone once told me the cost per mile of the Skyway (can't remember the exact figure), but it was insane & dwarfed the cost of any light rail system. So they basically ended up building the smallest most expensive system they could that they knew probably couldn't be extended (for cost issues). I mean, who the hell does something like that?? They can't be THAT stupid.

I think they got just what they wanted outta this thing.

[Jimmy]

When I read this list, I "hear" it in John Peyton's voice.  "We're really gonna run the City like a business this time.  Honest, we swear."

[fsujax]

No other points on mass transit other than killing some form of it or really transportation for that matter. Very disappointed and I will not be voting for him. Guess I know who I am supporting now!

[thelakelander]

Someone once told me the cost per mile of the Skyway (can't remember the exact figure), but it was insane & dwarfed the cost of any light rail system. So they basically ended up building the smallest most expensive system they could that they knew probably couldn't be extended (for cost issues). I mean, who the hell does something like that?? They can't be THAT stupid.

It cost $184 million for 2.5 miles or $73.6 million per mile, which is insane.  Although this was paid by the federal government as a part of a demonstration project, we made things worse by doing the following:

1. Didn't build route as originally proposed.  The original route had it going north along Hogans Creek to Shands and east down Bay Street to the courthouse area.  That would have at least tied downtown with a major employment center and two residential neighborhoods (Springfield & Sugar Hill) to the north.  For transit to work, it really needs to actual go somewhere and tie major destinations together.  Right now, it doesn't do this.


Original route vs what has been built.

2. We built two systems.  The first was a people mover system with MATRA vehicles.  When we extended it to the Southbank, we replaced that system with a monorail using Bombardier equipment.


The original skyway

3. We paid for a state of the art operations and maintenance center that was designed for a much larger system.


Inside the J. Charles Sawyer Operations Center in Brooklyn

4. We have an expensive double tracked river crossing in the middle of the Acosta Bridge.


The expensive bridge, parking garage and an example of an elaborate station can be seen in these images.

5. We also constructed some pretty elaborate stations.  We sunk a whole lot more money into these things than what was necessary.  Looking at the convention center line, I also wonder if we spent money on purchasing ROW and demolishing buildings to make space for it instead of designing it 100% within existing public ROW.


6. The elevated structure the monorail sits on is over engineered for the vehicles in use.  We actually have a 2.5 miles of parallel concrete bridges when we could have gotten away with a monorail beam on top of modest support columns.


Compare this amount of concrete with the concrete used in the Indy example below.


All in all, we wrote the book on how not to implement a mass transit system.  Its a shame, considering Indianapolis just built a similar double tracked system a couple of years ago for $26.6 million a mile.  To pour salt on our wounds, its O&M costs are $1 million/year and it operates 24/7.


The Indianapolis' Clarian Health People Mover opened in 2003, tying two medical centers together with a medical university, just north of DT Indy.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-sep-the-clarian-health-people-mover

I mention all of this because if my experience with MJ has taught me one thing, its that to move forward, you really must understand the past and how we got to where we are today.

So when a number is tossed out there, like a $5 - $8 million a year O&M cost, I tend to be more interested in knowing why and seeing the numbers that combine or are omitted to come to that conclusion.  This is how we were able to prove the old BRT plan would have cost taxpayers a cool billion.

Once that's known and understood, it will be easy to develop solutions to significantly streamline numbers such as that.  However, at this point, I'm skeptical that it takes a moratorium on the skyway (the effect) to figure out that it is being run into the ground along with the existing bus system.  So the question becomes, how do we restructure or flip the apple cart to make sure that reliable cost efficient mass transit is the number one priority at 100 North Myrtle Avenue (the cause)?

[Dashing Dan]

With no drivers, the hourly operating cost for the skyway is much lower than the hourly operating costs for buses and trolleys.  It's past time for Jax to reap more of the benefits from the skyway's high initial capital costs.

For starters, run more bus routes that terminate at outlying skyway stations.  The SS6 and WS6 routes were recently reconfigured to do this.

A more ambitious option would be to extend the skyway beneath I-95 down into San Marco, including an FEC crossing.  The FEC crossing would give the skyway a unique advantage over driving in San Marco, running rubber tire trolleys there, and maybe even walking!  Instead of going up closer to the Southbank, the BRT would be cheaper and more reliable if it connected with the skyway at some point near Philips Highway and Atlantic Blvd.

Unfortunately, the existing skyway system will need some upgrades in order to make it more reliable, including better functioning escalators, fare collection equipment etc.  TOD near the existing stations would also help out a lot.

[Dog Walker]

His whole plan strikes me as technocratic and managerial.  The plan of a COO, not a CEO.  A lot of the fixes he proposes are great, but where is the vision for the future?  "More efficient government" doesn't really inspire, does it?

[Captain Zissou]

These are not the points I thought he would make in a statement like this.  He says nothing about downtown, the core, sprawl, or transit.  I do agree with a lot of his points, but I would like for him to be more vocal on some of the things I mentioned above.  I would really like for him to commit to bring more businesses downtown.  It's great to bring businesses within the city limits, it's even better to get them into the core.

I do really like that he mentioned soliciting private donations and funding for projects.  I don't think our current mayor has done that on anything of significance.  Simms will agree that private money is crucial to building up quality of life amenities like parks, public spaces, and cultural venues.  Do you think Charlotte would be close to what it is today without significant private investment??

[TheProfessor]

Sounds like he burned some bridges with all of these specific steps.  No plans for smart growth?

[jcjohnpaint]

honestly I don't care for his points.  He is playing off his conservative agenda.  I am a liberal and I will vote for a Republican if I like what they have to say.  I am not hearing it from this guy.  If he has something to prove to his party and constituents then he will continue to put party before problem-solving.  His point on the skyway is proof of this.  Instead of solving a problem he wants to tear it down.  I can keep going on, but I really think Lake did a great job covering it. 

[jcjohnpaint]

and I guess one other thing is that the skyway has pretty decent ridership for a train that goes nowhere.  If it went somewhere or linked to other transit then I think it would be fine.  Thanks for the maps Lake and this is the point.  Close the circle and then see what happens. 

[stjr]

I don't have time right now to reply ad infinitum to the Skyway boosters here, but Mullaney reflects what I have said all along:  The tone of the overall, non-MJ community, is to not support further investment in the Skyway.

And while people here focus on the sunk investment, the missed opportunities, etc., they miss focusing on the fact that, at whatever the costs, most people do not see the cost/benefit to keeping the Skyway in business.  Just cutting costs means nothing if there still is no appreciable benefit derived from the remaining costs.

Also, conveniently overlooked here, is that the existing Skyway is, after over two decades, 90+% below ridership projections made WITHOUT the benefit of a larger system.  So, claiming that if would perform better if "only it was expanded" in no way addresses this huge shortcoming.  Due to this history, proponents of the Skyway lack major credibility with the voters over any future promises of its potential.  

Lastly, I think the "man on the street" looks at the Skyway and sees a "common sense" lack of appeal to this mode of transportation versus other options.  As I have said before, a true lover of mass transit would sacrifice the Skyway project to rally support behind other mass transit modes that would provide much better cost/benefits and yield stronger political backing.  The Skyway's continued operation just serves to undermine and frustrate those efforts.  In this day and age, where politicians are facing very hard choices over budget issues, they can ill afford to squander precious resources on projects that offer very little benefit or evidence of success or to advocate for new projects until less successful ones are "pruned" out of the mix.

Aside from the Skyway, I do find it amusing that Mullaney plans to focus so much effort on City procurement and contracting given his past involvement and track record with this area as General Counsel.  I think when the TV and other ads starting running, his opponents will be exploiting this "Achilles heel" of his.  Not sure putting it as a centerpiece of his platform will enhance his campaign.

I agree with those who note the absence of quality of life issues being discussed here.  Taxes and jobs are just a piece of the greater puzzle.

[peestandingup]

As I have said before, a true lover of mass transit would sacrifice the Skyway project to rally support behind other mass transit modes that would provide much better cost/benefits and yield stronger political backing.  The Skyway's continued operation just serves to undermine and frustrate those efforts.

No, I actually think most people would probably agree with that. The problem is, that doesn't seem to be what this guy is saying (replace it with something else).

I think in tearing it down, that'll probably set the city back in these regards for decades & anything with the words "mass transit" attached to it will be a hard sell to people. But then again, they can't keep a failed system going either. Especially one that was obviously doomed from the start & too expensive to properly build out.

So yeah. They've kinda screwed the pooch with this thing. Whoever came up with this system in the first place needs a colossal beat down.