There’s something about the elusive prospect of revitalizing Downtown that’s irresistible to certain types of columnists. And here in the Bold City that cohort includes one Ron Littlepage, who can, with a straight face, spend years shrieking about a few grand here and there wasted on city officials traveling to study other burgs and then turn around and argue we should spend millions on Downtown revitalization. I think part of it is the word ‘revitalization:’ it has a bracing ring to it, no? Let’s see what kind of sloppy thinking and confused analogies Ron’s going to use to tell us about this:
Imagine a park in a city's downtown that covers one square block.
I wonder what the Jacksonville analog might be? I bet it rhymes with “Lemming as a.”
It's so well regarded that it's known as the "city's living room."
I have to admit, at this point I’m curious about which city Ron has chosen to shame Jacksonville. Despite the Jimmy Ray Bob gimmick, I’m pretty sure it won’t be, say, Birmingham. Also, I’m imagining Jacksonville’s living room as a place adorned by JagGator banners and strewn with whatever one uses to consume crystal meth.
There are more than 300 programmed events in the park every year.
For some events, as many as 25,000 people come to the park.
There are water fountains and public restrooms.
I think Ron limits a high percentage of his paragraphs to one sentence to make it look like he’s written a full-length column. In this case it allows him to ignore the implausible, unhygienic horror of 25,000 locals packed into Hemming Plaza on an August afternoon. I can smell it from here in my mom’s Mandarin basement.
The park is not only used by the city's residents. It also attracts thousands of tourists.
Imagine a park that has been described this way:
I’m guessing the girl with kaleidoscope eyes might be there, having just been dropped off by a newspaper taxi.
"All week long people of all ages and walks of life enjoy the [park's] features, which are equally diverse: chessboards built into stone columns, a collection of public art, food carts and even a flower stand."
Such a park exists.
The hell you say. With public art and flowers? And vertical chessboards?
It's Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square, and it's a park we should be looking at as the city moves forward with plans to restore Hemming Plaza as a central part of our downtown.
How did Portland pull it off? With innovative thinking and the recognition that a high quality of life costs money.
It’s always innovative thinking, and always from out of town, plus taxpayer money that inspires ’60s detritus like Ron to put forth revitalization schemes. He won’t mention two facts that have more of an impact on Portland’s successful living room park than innovative thinking or cash: the weather is conducive to going outside without sweating like a pig, and Portland is one of the most yuppiefied cities in the U.S. (someone tell Ron about Portlandia) and thus far less crime-ridden than Jacksonville’s Downtown.
Before the opening of the square in 1984, $750,000 was raised by selling pavers etched with the donors' names.
We did this in San Marco Square about a decade ago. People bought pavers because they were reasonably sure the bricks with their kids’ names wouldn’t be pried up and used to smash shop windows.
A nonprofit was set up to manage the events and to oversee maintenance, security and promotion of the park.
Hmm, if the merchants are going to pay for security. . .
Operations are funded by rents from tenants in the park: a bookstore, a coffee shop, food and flower carts.
And the city kicks in $1.2 million a year to cover the cost of security and landscape maintenance.
But three sentences ago you said the merchants were going to pay for security. Make up your mind.
That last item is likely to be a stumbling block for success at Hemming Plaza. It shouldn't be.
Depends on who’s going to pay for it, I’d say.
A City Council ad hoc committee has been looking for ways to turn our downtown park into a place people want to visit instead of avoid.
I have an idea.
Last week, the committee agreed the city should solicit proposals from people or groups interested in managing the park.
The committee also agreed that the keys to turning Hemming Plaza around will be programming regular events that attract people to the park, providing sufficient security so park visitors feel safe and keeping the park clean and user friendly.
Here Ron is dancing around the real issue of Hemming Plaza, which is euphemistically labeled security. That issue is getting bums out of the park. They don’t particularly worry me, but that’s because I only drift through there in the middle of the day and just looking at my 5’9”, 270-pound frame tires out the thugs. A young mother with toddlers shouldn’t go near the place.
That sounds a lot like the ingredients used in Portland's success with Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Did you read my previous paragraph, Ron? Oh wait, right, you couldn’t possibly have read it.
But success comes with a price tag; in Portland's case, $1.2 million a year from the city's general fund.
Back to the money. Why is it that City Council members going on junkets to random cities to learn ‘best practices’(which I agree is a waste of money) is deplorable, but trying to shoehorn those ideas into a completely different city is cool? Also, don’t use semicolons; just don’t.
Remaking Hemming Plaza will require an investment of taxpayer dollars as well.
Why spend the money?
Hit me with your best argument.
Hemming Plaza is not Jacksonville's "living room."
Wait, it’s not our living room? Along with your other six close readers, I’m confused. Because it seemed like you were banking on this whole living room argument.
It's the front door to City Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Main Library, the federal courthouse, the Skyway.
Oh. OK. It’s the front door, not the living room.
It's also the key to revitalizing downtown, a top priority for Mayor Alvin Brown and a major part of the platform he campaigned on.
Also, it’s a key. But to the front door or the living room will remain unclear.
I realize some argue that will never happen, but it will if Jacksonville is innovative, bold and forward thinking.
Cities like Portland are. There's no reason Jacksonville can't be.
Maybe not, but the local daily dedicating regular op-ed space for decades to a hack like Ron certainly doesn’t help.
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