by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
According to employees, the Amsterdam Sky Cafe will close Thursday. But the Sports Complex restaurant isn’t going away quietly.
Owner Mark Jackson has hung a pair of signs in his front window accusing the City and JEA of driving his restaurant out of business. Employees say they arrived to work last Thursday to find the restaurant’s water and air conditioning shut off.
The sign reads in part: “The City... is forcing us out of business...They have unmercifly (sic) shut off water and air conditioning.”
The utilities shut down appears to be the final volley fired in an ongoing battle between Jackson and the City. The contentious relationship began before the restaurant was built. Jackson felt that the City never wanted his restaurant in the Sports Complex where it would compete with concessions inside the City-owned Alltel Stadium, Veteran’s Memorial Arena and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
After the Amsterdam Sky opened in June 2004, Jackson sued the City, claiming he was wrongfully denied parking. When the City subsequently created a tow-away zone in front of his restaurant, Jackson saw it as retribution. Later, the City provided Jackson with metered parking.
JEA said its actions have nothing to do with any feud. Rather, it was the matter of Jackson’s $23,000 unpaid utility bill that forced the water shutdown.
According to JEA, Jackson illegally hooked up the Amsterdam Sky to the City’s chilled water system. JEA’s chilled water plants cool down air and ship it to buildings, replacing central air systems.
JEA spokesperson Gerri Boyce said Jackson hooked up to the system without notifying JEA and without installing a meter. JEA notified Jackson on May 23 that he had to install a meter and pay his bill. Jackson didn’t respond within 10 days as required by the notice, said Boyce.
“He didn’t reply and that’s when his connection was shut off,” said Boyce.
JEA will pursue payment from Jackson, she said.
JEA knew the Amsterdam Sky was connected to the system early on. Then spokesperson Ron Whittington told the Daily Record in a pair of 2004 stories that the restaurant was one of the utility’s private users of the chilled air system.
City Council member Pat Lockett-Felder, whose district includes the Sports Complex, said she wasn’t aware of Jackson’s recent problems. She said she worked previously with Council member Suzanne Jenkins to solve Jackson’s parking woes.
“I know he had a very tough time early on with some of his dealings with the City, but I thought we had helped him out enough that he could make a living over there,” she said.