by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Last year will be recorded in Downtown’s history as a year of growth, albeit slight, and 2011 is shaping up to be remembered as the year the appearance of the neighborhood experienced some major improvements.
That was the gist of the discussion at Wednesday’s quarterly operations meeting by Downtown Vision Inc. About 40 people, including Downtown property and business owners, residents and City officials, attended the meeting at the Main Library.
DVI is the 501(c)6 nonprofit organization funded by property owners and the City to advocate for a 90-block improvement district in the urban core.
It holds four open meeting each year to provide project updates and solicit feedback from participants.
DVI Executive Director Terry Lorince said that last year, 23 businesses opened Downtown, consisting of 16 new retail businesses and seven “Off the Grid” galleries where artists take over empty retail locations at a reduced rent as a way to activate vacant space.
She said 12 businesses closed last year, consisting of two galleries and 10 traditional retailers, for a net gain of 11 businesses, five of them “Off the Grid.”
Lorince said the next step is to attract more of the local arts community Downtown, a step under discussion by DVI and the City.
Lorince said they are exploring the possibility of developing a program that could offer working and living space to artists in spaces that are presently empty.
“We surveyed 600 artists and a third of them identified Downtown as their location of choice,” said Lorince.
With an election for mayor and City Council in March, Lorince said another of DVI’s initiatives is educating the candidates about the issues facing Downtown.
“We all have to work together,” said Lorince.
Council member Don Redman, who represents Downtown, attended the meeting and suggested that since churches bring so many people Downtown each week, it would be a good idea to include their locations on the maps distributed by DVI.
The “Downtown Guide & Map” lists the churches in a directory, but unlike commercial and government buildings and parks, does not show church locations.
DVI Director of District Services Amy Harrell reported that based on data collected by DVI in a recent study, 24,000 meals are served each week Downtown to people assisted by homeless shelters and other social service organizations.
She also said there are 1,000 shelter beds Downtown, which account for 21,000 of the meals each week.
Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Deputy Executive Director Paul Crawford provided an update on several projects that will change the streetscape and public space environment.
The fences have been removed at Metropolitan Park, allowing more access to the riverfront recreation area. Crawford said the next phase in the short term will include installing irrigation and planting grass and trees.
In the longer term, a new entrance to the park will be built on Gator Bowl Boulevard. The new entry will be funded through the City’s capital projects and parks budgets.
The big development in the heart of Downtown, the Laura Street improvement project, will be completed in March or April, he said. The schedule has been delayed due to the discovery of basements in buildings along the street.
The City is working with property owners to shore up the voids in order to install the new sidewalks, he said.
“It looks like a disjointed construction effort, but we’re moving rapidly,” said Crawford.
When asked why the blocks of Laura Street near the Landing haven’t been opened to vehicular traffic even though the work is finished, Crawford said traffic engineers are concerned about allowing access to the area until the project is further along because the traffic pattern has changed.
“It’s difficult to transition from one-way to two-way traffic a block at a time,” said Crawford.
As for why the new trash cans on those blocks are still wrapped in plastic and unusable, Crawford said that until the City’s Solid Waste Division can get a truck on those blocks to empty the cans, they will remain wrapped.
He said Laura Street from Forsyth Street to the Landing should open to vehicles as well as pedestrians within three weeks.
The Friendship Park improvements on the Southbank will be completed by June, including repairing the pumps and jets on the fountain and installing new benches, lighting and other fixtures, he said.
Crawford said demolition of the Southbank Riverwalk from Friendship Park east is scheduled to begin in June. The two-year project will replace the original wooden boardwalk with concrete similar to the Northbank Riverwalk.
“We’ll have something that will last 50 years,” said Crawford.
To be on the mailing list for the next DVI operations meeting, call 634-0303.
356-2466