Mayor Questions Validity of JTA's Transportation Center

[thelakelander]

What about local bus, greyhound, skyway and streetcar?  Hopefully, plans bring these modes in as well.

[ChriswUfGator]

Shut the convention center down, let Veterans' Arena and the private hotels handle our small number of events.

Turn the PO back into the transportation hub it was designed to be.

Problem solved.

[Jaxson]

Shut the convention center down, let Veterans' Arena and the private hotels handle our small number of events.

Turn the PO back into the transportation hub it was designed to be.

Problem solved.

From your mouth to God's ears.  Unfortunately, we have quite a circus for a transportation authority...

[thelakelander]

Anything regarding the future of the convention center would have to handled by COJ.  It's Mayor Brown's baby now.

[exnewsman]

MULTI-MODAL PLAN
Another boondoggle
I cannot understand why we end up with frustrating delays and costly overruns in this city.
And, just when I thought that we learned from our experience with the county courthouse, we see another monstrous mistake in the making - the proposed regional transportation center.
With a price tag of $180 million and a facility that sprawls out over half-a-dozen blocks, this transportation center lacks the basic common sense of making the most of the buildings that we already have.
I do not see why Amtrak and Greyhound service cannot be located in the old Jacksonville Terminal building at the Prime Osborn Convention Center.
Instead of a common-sense solution, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority chooses to create a Taj Mahal that dwarfs multi-modal stations in similar-sized cities.
It does not allow people to travel quickly and efficiently between modes of transportation - the whole point of combining such facilities.
JTA needs to go back to the drawing board, and we need to move forward with a better plan sooner rather than later.
John Louis Meeks,
Jacksonville

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters-readers/2011-07-21/story/letters-readers-exaggerated-impact#ixzz1SkJfI2nm

Source: The Florida Times-Union

The only problem with this letter is it doens't take into account that when the JRTC was being designed the city didn't have any plan (and still doesn't) to move the POCC from its current location. Had that been a definite then I'm sure the while plan would have turned out differently. There's been TALK for years and years about moving it, but only talk. Peyton said publicly it wasn't a priority for his administration.

So you can't move Greyhound or anybody else into an already occupied building.

In theory - that would be the best option for this transit center. But until somebody from the city says YES we're moving the convention center...

The POCC is a cop out for kicking the can down the road.  There should be plans for a multimodal facility that shares space with the POCC in the event that the convention center stays put.  It is unrealistic to insist that the convention center move before any plans go forward with the multimodal facility.  For the time being, can we not have Amtrak and Greyhound share the Jacksonville Terminal building and then expand when the convention center moves off the grounds?  I do not think that we can afford to build a sprawling complex simply because we are waiting for the convention center to make the first move.

Ok. But if the POCC is still operational - where do you put all the Greyhound buses? Amtrak could of course operate in the terminal building. but even the track upgrades and passenger walkways will impact current conv ctr operations. I agree the complex should be more concentrated. No arguement there. But there are issues to overcome.
According to the Arrington interview, the transit center was designed so that it could co-exist shold the POCC stay in place or with whatever the city wanted to replace it with if the POCC moved out.

I like the idea of using the POCC for the multimodal center. Renovating what's already there would seem to be cheaper than to start from scratch. I think JTA and Greyhound and whomever could share external space (bus bays. etc) and have an interanl waiting area with retail, etc inside.

I'm just saying that if the city taken action 10 years ago with the POCC we may not be having this conversation. The design would most likely have been consolidated.

[thelakelander]

Ok. But if the POCC is still operational - where do you put all the Greyhound buses?

Take a portion of that huge parking lot behind the POCC.  We need to start ridding ourselves of excess parking anyway.  There are more then enough surface lots surrounding the POCC to make up for the loss.

Amtrak could of course operate in the terminal building. but even the track upgrades and passenger walkways will impact current conv ctr operations. I agree the complex should be more concentrated. No arguement there. But there are issues to overcome.

There are issues to overcome but they can be resolved.  However, getting to that point means getting both entities to sit down with one another and coordinate a resolution that works best for Jacksonville.

According to the Arrington interview, the transit center was designed so that it could co-exist shold the POCC stay in place or with whatever the city wanted to replace it with if the POCC moved out.

I like the idea of using the POCC for the multimodal center. Renovating what's already there would seem to be cheaper than to start from scratch. I think JTA and Greyhound and whomever could share external space (bus bays. etc) and have an interanl waiting area with retail, etc inside.

I'm just saying that if the city taken action 10 years ago with the POCC we may not be having this conversation. The design would most likely have been consolidated.

I agree.  Nevertheless, since everything is still on paper, we're not past the point of no return.  It's time for JTA and COJ to sit down together and plan in unison.

[Dashing Dan]

We may not have a good convention center but we do have a good station.  In my own opinion we should use the station for a station and give up on the convention center, at least until we can afford to build a new one.

If I was planning a convention for somewhere around here, I'd be looking at Orlando not Jacksonville.

[fsujax]

Jaxson. To answer your questions. No, No and Yes

[duvaldude08]

I think its is a horriable idea to "give up" on the convention center. As someone stated earlier, Blaylock and Brown need to have a conversation about this. Because at this point, they have conflicting visions. Both projects are very important and need to be done right.  I dont think us as a city need ti give up on anything. Giving up and lack of a vision is why a downtown is a rotting corpse now. 

[Jaxson]

Jaxson. To answer your questions. No, No and Yes

Thanks, amigo

[ChriswUfGator]

We may not have a good convention center but we do have a good station.  In my own opinion we should use the station for a station and give up on the convention center, at least until we can afford to build a new one.

If I was planning a convention for somewhere around here, I'd be looking at Orlando not Jacksonville.

+1

[ChriswUfGator]

I think its is a horriable idea to "give up" on the convention center. As someone stated earlier, Blaylock and Brown need to have a conversation about this. Because at this point, they have conflicting visions. Both projects are very important and need to be done right.  I dont think us as a city need ti give up on anything. Giving up and lack of a vision is why a downtown is a rotting corpse now. 

That ship already sailed. Nobody hosts conventions here, and the building is the least of our problems with competing in that market. Holding on to a 1980s-era pipe dream of luring convention business that ultimately went elsewhere and isn't moving back is only going to submarine what we actually need downtown, which is the train station and transit facility.

[Dashing Dan]

I think its is a horriable idea to "give up" on the convention center. As someone stated earlier, Blaylock and Brown need to have a conversation about this. Because at this point, they have conflicting visions. Both projects are very important and need to be done right.  I dont think us as a city need ti give up on anything. Giving up and lack of a vision is why a downtown is a rotting corpse now.

This city has long been in the habit of biting off more than we can chew. 

Along with a lack of vision, downtown is also suffering from indigestion.

[Jaxson]

We may not have a good convention center but we do have a good station.  In my own opinion we should use the station for a station and give up on the convention center, at least until we can afford to build a new one.

If I was planning a convention for somewhere around here, I'd be looking at Orlando not Jacksonville.

Excellent point.  Orlando has a lot more to offer to conventioneers...

[duvaldude08]

Maybe Im just greedy. I want us to have the best of everything. I still think that both projects should happen. ( the right way)