by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“We call this the ‘Downtown adventure’ for Mayor-elect Alvin Brown,” said Bob Rhodes Tuesday to call to order the first meeting of the Mayoral Transition Downtown Revitalization committee.
Rhodes is serving as co-chair of the 16-member committee that includes developers, business and property owners, real estate professionals, architects and other Downtown advocates.
Rhodes advised the group that “we have a lot to do in a relatively short time,” referring to the scheduled time between Tuesday and June 30 when the committee is expected to have reached its conclusions and be ready to present them to Brown.
The first order of business was to define the role of the committee. Rhodes said when he asked Brown’s transition staff Director Don Shea about the committee’s mission, Shea said the group is expected to “identify ways Downtown can be improved and the optimal role of the administration” in Downtown revitalization.
“(Transition Team Co-chair) Audrey Moran used the words, ‘develop a road map for the new administration,’” said Rhodes.
The next order of business was for Rhodes to make clear to the committee it will operate under the requirements of Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law. Rhodes outlined the basic rules and said at the next meeting, the committee is scheduled to hear a comprehensive explanation of the open government and transparency regulations.
Each meeting will have a presenter on the agenda. The first was Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
“The JEDC is currently, in effect, the Downtown development agency,” said Barton. Created in 1996 to consolidate economic development, Barton said “it’s a broad umbrella of activities.”
In 2008, the JEDC published a “Downtown Action Plan” that includes 19 steps to achieve objectives for Downtown identified by a group of task forces that investigated elements including housing, retail, parks and streetscape and other issues.
“We rolled it out in 2008, just in time for the recession,” said Barton. “I’m thankful. As the development market declined, it made us identify what elements we could control and which ones we could not.”
Over the past three years, said Barton, with funding for developers nonexistent, the City has focused on streetscape and infrastructure improvements including the Laura Street project, the Friendship Park renovation and the upcoming replacement of the Southbank Riverwalk.
Barton told the committee that since the early 1980s, funds for Downtown municipal projects and incentives for private development and employment were derived from a tax increment funding district. The revenue for the fund is based on appreciation in Downtown property value over and above the baseline determined when the tax increment finance district was established. Declining property values have led to the JEDC having “basically zero TIF resources to implement the Downtown plan,” said Barton.
Barton said that projects including the parking garages adjacent to the Arena and the new County Courthouse were paid for with funds designated for Downtown development, despite the fact that those are regional assets. Other regional assets, including Friendship Park and the Southbank Riverwalk, are also being improved with tax increment funds.
“That was a bad policy decision. The Arena and courthouse were Better Jacksonville Plan projects and they should have been funded by the BJP, not by Downtown,” said Barton.
He also said that when incentives to increase employment Downtown were used, those funds came from the tax increment funding, but employment incentives to add jobs in the suburbs came from the general fund.
“A job is a job for the community,” said Barton.
In addition, what little tax increment funding revenue was generated was transferred to the City’s general fund to help balance the operating budget, he said.
Barton described the Friendship Park and Southbank Riverwalk projects as “capital maintenance” which should not be covered by such funds, but rather through the general fund.
When asked for his recommendations concerning changes in how Downtown development is conducted, Barton said he’d suggest accounting changes to remedy the situations he had described.
Barton said he’d also recommend another change in policy.
“This agency has been given responsibility but without authority,” he said.
Barton then recalled the period when Frank Nero directed the Downtown Development Authority and was deputy mayor for economic development from 1991-96.
“When Frank Nero spoke, everybody knew he was speaking for the mayor,” said Barton, who then addressed the question of the future of Downtown development, whether via the JEDC or via the “Downtown Community Empowerment Corporation” proposed by Brown.
“The mayor will have a point person to champion Downtown development. When that person speaks, everyone should jump. That’s how it has to be,” said Barton.
The committee is scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Room 757 at the Ed Ball Building on Hogan Street. Terry Lorince, executive director of Downtown Vision Inc., is the appointed presenter.
The committee’s meetings, scheduled for 8:30-10 a.m. each Tuesday and Thursday through June 30, are open to the public.
356-2466