Parking Privatization: Jacksonville vs. Nashville

[Peter Griffin]

The city received an unsolicited proposal to privatize parking, they didn't start this ball rolling, a private company did.

This latest proposal was not the city's idea.

[Kerry]

Yes, but that just illustrates how inactive the City is.  City Hall needs to be more proactive in areas such as this and not just waiting around for the private sector to come up with things.  Also, it might have been an unsolicited proposal but the immediate response should have been "great idea but we will do it ourselves", and not even entertained the idea at this point.  If the City does their due diligence and determines that they couldn't effectively do it themselves, then put out a competitive RFP.  However, my experience has been that by the time an unsolicited proposal is made public the decision has already been made.

[thelakelander]

City Hall needs to be more proactive in areas such as this and not just waiting around for the private sector to come up with things.  Also, it might have been an unsolicited proposal but the immediate response should have been "great idea but we will do it ourselves", and not even entertained the idea at this point.  If the City does their due diligence and determines that they couldn't effectively do it themselves, then put out a competitive RFP. 

I agree with this!

[Steve]

Yes, but that just illustrates how inactive the City is.  City Hall needs to be more proactive in areas such as this and not just waiting around for the private sector to come up with things.  Also, it might have been an unsolicited proposal but the immediate response should have been "great idea but we will do it ourselves", and not even entertained the idea at this point.  If the City does their due diligence and determines that they couldn't effectively do it themselves, then put out a competitive RFP.  However, my experience has been that by the time an unsolicited proposal is made public the decision has already been made.

This. I Completely Agree.

[fieldafm]

I do know this though - downtown Jax meters are currently more than 85% full now which means 2 things.  1) We aren't charging enough and 2) People are discouraged from going downtown because there isn't any parking.

Sorry. Those 'facts' are opinions, and not correct.

Downtown Jax meters are not more than 85% full across the board. In certain parts of Downtown, meter utilization is high. In other parts of Downtown, meter utilization is low. In some parts of Downtown, meter enforcement is essentially non-existent. On any given day, about 80 metered spots are occupied by non-paying City employees and elected officials. Quite a few metered spaces along Independent Drive, Hogan St, Laura St, Bay St and Adams St have been taken out of the inventory due to various demolition and construction projects. I can name north of half a dozen business owners who park in metered spaces outside their front door from 8-5pm Monday through Friday, and then complain that their 'customers can't find parking'. Several times a month, metered spaces along Hogan St are taken out of the parking inventory due to school busses and tour busses from performances at TUPAC. Some publicly-owned surface parking lots are well-used. Others are not well-used (and instead said users park illegally across the street for free, with no enforcement for those illegally parked). Others are not open to daily (or even off-peak) parking. Others are currently closed to any monthly or daily parking (cough: the Landing East Lot).

As a downtown resident and business owner who has fully studied local utilization rates, revenues (which have gone down in recent years since a competent administrator left the Office of Public Parking), demand/supply and who talks to monthly and daily parkers on an almost day-to-day basis... my conclusion isn't that 'people are discouraged from going downtown because there isn't any parking'.

Instead they 1) don't have enough good reasons to choose to pay to park downtown instead of simply going elsewhere (that's a demand issue), and that 2) it is unreasonably hard to be a true consumer because they are confused as to the various parking options (that's a management issue). You'd be surprised at how much revenue is collected at metered parking after 6pm on weeknights and during weekends, even though metered parking is free during these periods. There is also zero uniformity on pricing among both public and private options.  Some public and private facilities aren't even consistent as to when they are open to accepting off-peak customers. 

Neither of these conclusions point to a supply issue.

I'm saying this also, as someone who does believe that there are some easy fixes that can be accomplished without relinquishing these duties to a private operator, who believes that there is an unmet need for some strategically-located public facilities to offer free parking during certain periods to help economic development efforts, and that strategic price increases at both public on-street facilities and within public structured parking facilities are warranted (but that doesn't mean that prices should go up across the board among all available public parking spots).  That is to say that I fully agree that there are specific pricing strategies and supply management strategies needed... but those aren't blanket statements based on a paragraph read in a book. Instead that's based on regression analysis of localized variables. The application of theories based on an understanding of what is actually happening around you is more important than the book itself.

[fieldafm]

The city received an unsolicited proposal to privatize parking, they didn't start this ball rolling, a private company did.

This latest proposal was not the city's idea.

That 'unsolicited' proposal has the implicit backing of several powerful people in City Hall. So, let's not pretend like there isn't a preferred outcome among some (though not all) of the button pushers.

[Captain Zissou]

Recently I've been spending a bit of time in Bradenton, FL where I stay at a 1941 hotel downtown that has since been converted to a Hampton. A new large garage opened up right across the street and it's right next to their main restaurant/entertainment areas.  When I was there for thanksgiving, they shut down the main drag to cars and set up a stage and vendors.  Open containers were permitted and people came out in droves.  Most of these people parked in the garage for free and walked over.  The next day I went for a run on the Riverwalk, which is far better than Jax's.  Below are some quotes from the city administrator about the garage that seem much more thoughtful than anything I've seen in Jax.  Parking is supposed to be helpful to the citizens and businesses of downtown.  It's not supposed to profit off of them.

The parking garage is already complete, but will not be open until construction on the sidewalk surrounding the garage is complete. Bradenton's City Administrator, Carl Callahan, said he doesn't want to open up the garage until it's safe for people to walk in and out of it.

Callahan said the sidewalk project should be complete by September 8th the latest, but most likely will be done by Labor Day Weekend.

This new parking garage will have 500 parking spaces, and will be free to park for the first few months.

"We've had a lot of construction in this general area. Between the garage, the museum, the new hotel across the street. We'll be parking it free at least through the holidays just to be fair and try to be helpful to the consumers and also to our businesses downtown," said Callahan.

Once the holidays are over, people will have to pay to park. The price of parking hasn't been decided on yet, but Callahan said it most likely will be free the first two hours, just like most of Downtown Bradenton.

One more way to know this isn't in Jacksonville...

The garage is on budget for the project's $13.8 million price tag

https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article231761403.html

[fieldafm]

The temporary free parking sounds like a local strategy that works best for their particular situation.

Here in Jax, I believe there is room for free night/weekend parking at two specific public parking facilities, outside of a special event.

While certain parts of the DIA boundaries should likely be changed to free two hour parking, I don't believe that 24/7 free parking is the right thing to do throughout the entire DIA boundary.

Another thing to consider is that the tax base downtown is not what it once was. Public parking is the DIA's only dedicated funding source, as most of the Tax Increment Financing monies are already encumbered. Paying for infrastructure improvements like converting one-way streets to two-way streets (which would further enhance the Downtown experience for the end user and has proven to result in increased sales for business owners) could be bonded out and paid for with increased efficiencies in how the Public Parking Fund is managed.

Again, its all about what the end goal is.  If the end goal is to do the kinds of things that would make Downtown Jacksonville a true destination, then tailoring parking management to meet those goals is one of several critical tools needed in the tool belt.

[thelakelander]

Another dedicated funding source could have been the Downtown Historic Preservation Trust Fund but they didn't want it.

Again, its all about what the end goal is.

This is the biggest elephant in the room. It's also one I don't think the city actually knows.

[thelakelander]

Mayors Office knew about this privatization attempt eight months earlier:

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2020/01/07/former-dia-board-members-bigmoney-parking-contract.html

[acme54321]

And Curry just recently appointed this guy to the JEA board?  You can't make this stuff up

[marcuscnelson]

I hate to bring it in here, but given the national issues, I'm constantly finding myself unsurprised that the former chairman of FLGOP seemingly can't help but be blatantly corrupt and detrimental to this city in every possible way.

Like, it's one thing for it to be just JEA, or just Lot J, or just the convention center, or just the Landing, or just parking, or just any of the other things mentioned on this website every day. But this is laughable. Every single step this man has taken in office is somehow either beneficial only to his own interests or harmful to our community. Or both. What is it going to take to get the house in order? How many times are we going to find out about what Lenny Curry knew, and when he knew it?

[Papa33]

The fact that the Buisness Journal is reporting this  as an investigative piece tells me some of Curry's reliable supporters are smelling the stink.

[Kerry]

Good thing consolidation got rid of all the corruption and shady deals.

[thelakelander]

I hate to bring it in here, but given the national issues, I'm constantly finding myself unsurprised that the former chairman of FLGOP seemingly can't help but be blatantly corrupt and detrimental to this city in every possible way.

Like, it's one thing for it to be just JEA, or just Lot J, or just the convention center, or just the Landing, or just parking, or just any of the other things mentioned on this website every day. But this is laughable. Every single step this man has taken in office is somehow either beneficial only to his own interests or harmful to our community. Or both. What is it going to take to get the house in order? How many times are we going to find out about what Lenny Curry knew, and when he knew it?

My guess is that a lot more questionable activity will come out in the next few months. What has come out so far, makes Corrine Brown look like a Girl Scout in comparison. It will be interesting to see what the ending outcome will be and how this JEA fallout will impact the rest of his initiatives like Lot J.