by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
Downtown property owners, residents and business owners gathered in the Southbank’s Aetna Building Thursday morning to hear Mayor John Peyton, Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton, and Mike Saylor, director of planning and development for the City, answer questions and address issues about Downtown.
Many concerns had been voiced before and the answers were a bit redundant, but all the dialogue hammered one point: Downtown Jacksonville is in the spotlight, needs a lot more thought and consideration and there is a valid concern for the future.
The early morning breakfast was sponsored by Downtown Vision Inc., and Terry Lorince, executive director of DVI, led the forum. Some of the topics discussed included:
• Lorince broached five areas: housing, the urban experience, “the ‘P’ word” (parking), business retention and covering the basics. She talked about the need get more pedestrians downtown and said creating a Riverfront with more promotions and events will create a more pedestrian Downtown.
• Peyton says he realizes the Landing’s parking problem is not easy. If it were, there are three other mayors who would have done it. His attempt now is to develop a workable plan in good faith, one that will satisfy Landing owner Toney Sleiman, the City and developer Cameron Kuhn, who purchased the SunTrust building.
• “I will not waiver as mayor, on handing over public land, closing Hogan Street or turning over the east lot free of charge,” said Peyton of one Landing proposal.
• “We are the 850-pound gorilla on this,” said Council member Suzanne Jenkins, adding that she’s not promoting a proposal to hand over land for free, but that there’s no need to own the land under the Landing. “I don’t want to make a bad deal, but I want to work on a good deal.”
• Steve Crosby, chairman of the Board of Directors for DVI and president of CSX — one of the two Fortune 500 companies in Jacksonville — said the event was a great opportunity to bring stakeholders together. Jacksonville has an unbelievable landscape, said Crosby. “God gave us the geography ... our forefathers moved us in the right direction,” he said.
• Peyton said there are big thoughts in the works, but they are all in the early stages. He said there is a presumption that there is a lot of vision and very little action. “A lot of folks worked hard to get us where we are today.” He took the group on a mental journey back 15 years ago when the window dressing at the Hilton was plywood, City Hall was on the river and there was no symphony hall. Since 1991, the River City Renaissance and Better Jacksonville Plan have produced nearly $1 billion worth of work. “It’s grossly unfair to say there’s all vision and no action,” said Peyton. “This is a unique time in our history to seize opportunity. We have the luxury to lean forward and challenge the future.”
• Peyton said there is a consensus to apply what was learned during the Super Bowl and that public space is critical. There is a need to cherish, secure, protect and value land, while enhancing access to the river, Peyton said. “We don’t want to close our perpendiculars (roads that dead-end in the river).”
• Three things Peyton’s administration is working on: An interactive fountain, connecting the Northbank and Southbank, working with the Department of Transportation on widening sidewalks on the Main Street Bridge, and the beautification of Downtown (greening). “Good things are happening,” he said.
• Saylor said there is an effort to connect the Northbank and Southbank to form a New York-like Central Park. “But we didn’t grow that way. Our Central Park is the Riverwalks.”
• Retail stores are still a hot topic. The City has retained a national retail consultant and ideas are emerging from DVI as well. But the City wants to ensure that if retailers are brought to the market, there’s an exit strategy to assure taxpayers don’t foot the bill.
• The fact that we’re debating is good, said Peyton. The worst thing would be indifference.