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Hello Everyone.
We received word today about the Mayor Meeting at 10am tomorrow to discuss parking options for SW 1st Ave. It is advertised as this, and we just would like to understand how this meeting came out of seemingly nowhere?. There is a vocal group of 4 business owners that currently make profit off of the street space wanting to keep the street closed. Mayor Harvey Ward has publicly supported the same closure. He has also said he will not support the recommendation of the Downtown Advisory Board to open the street. There is also a vocal group of 40 plus business owners plus the City’s own handpicked Downtown Advisory Board communicating to return the street for the use of customers coming into downtown to support ALL local businesses equally.
Is it in the best interest of the City of Gainesville to gather them all up in lot 10 for an open discussion? on the purpose of this street? We are just trying to understand the mission here. We wrote earlier that it appeared the City was pitting business against business, and this sudden meeting appears to support. The City has a responsibility to do what is right on SW 1st Ave. - not turn it over to a street debate. The business community has spoken, the Downtown Advisory Board has spoken, we just need leadership on this subject.
Scott Downtown Business Collective
On Sep 9, 2024, at 4:16?PM, Hirofumi Leung <hiro@dragonflyrestaurants.com> wrote:
Thank you, Scott, I am willing to help in any way to assist in opening back up more parking spaces for guests. Furthermore, a well organized and funded event quarterly with all businesses involved sounds like a great and better idea. Hiro Hello City Leaders, Hope we all had a great weekend minus the loss. Our family was out on Friday night to see the buzz of the City. In the pre game excitement downtown as it was busy all over. Restaurants like Dragonfly, Oak and the Top (to name a few) - and stores like Hear Again Records, and Hippo Pops all had a positive energy about them. We supported a great art show at the Wooly and another fantastic art show curated by Gabby at the Hipp theater. Everything was healthy…..everything that is, except for the City's Streatery concept on SW 1st Ave. It was rather weird and bleak. For one, half the street was cordoned off for what appeared to be a large Miami Hurricane Football Party in the heart of our downtown. The bar was given the rights by Mayor Ward and City leaders, to extend their patio into the street, as the City staunchly pushes the Streatery concept. When asking a bouncer from the bar, he said the admission price to enjoy the patio on our downtown street was $20 person. Unfortunately, due to the loud sound system and DJ, the surrounding businesses were adversely affected. The nearby beer and wine bar was rather empty and the manager not impressed. The front of a nearby iconic upscale restaurant was blasted with music from the street and loud generator buzzing from a bar’s large extended area. The rest of SW 1st Ave was empty and void of energy. Pics are included. After a long summer of Gainesville City leaders hyping up the Streatery in Fall, this example was rather tragic. This area could have provided parking to support ALL downtown business at 5pm, then another 40 customers at 7pm, then another 40 patrons at 9pm …. and so on. This could have been 120 plus points of access for downtown commerce. Instead it was a money grab for one business. This bar was promoted by one of our City commissioners on their facebook page as a great success to the vision of Streatery on SW 1st Ave when they came to town, and Mayor Harvey Ward and a couple commissioners clearly see events like this as a success. The problem is 43 downtown businesses see this area as misguided, and that the Streatery concept is flawed, and the City is ignoring us all. Downtown business owners know that Streatery can be a successful monthly event downtown if the City can program, fund, and deliver. The City is already not delivering enough programming to areas like Depot Park and Bo Diddley Plaza, but if they can show promise for a monthly event, this could be an asset. In the mean time, we need to return all of SW 1st Ave to the function of feeding local establishments with customer access. This is not a case of downtown businesses not being united, or businesses quarreling as some City leaders are suggesting, this is a lack of leadership in respecting the downtown as a whole, and not giving special treatment to a few. Streatery Football Party $20 Admission <image001.png> <image002.png> Streatery Empty streets behind Football party - No customer access parking for downtown businesses / void of energy at 7pm and 10pm <image003.jpg> <image004.jpg> <image005.png>
Hello City Leaders, Here is a good example of two different perspectives, discussing the concerns and visions for our special downtown. Commissioner Eastman is in blue, and I am communicating in red. We are discussing the letter sent to City Leaders and to the public, for debate on these important topics. Thank You. Here’s a return on comments, thank you for your time on this Brian. I appreciate your interest and knowledge of the growth patterns of downtown. I don’t agree with certain points, but appreciate the topic. Your responses are useful in understanding the perspective that we have been engaging with. I would like to send our responses and view points here to the City Commissioners, Mayor and Manager. We hear you and have heard you. We are trying to balance the need to have available parking, keep parking inexpensive/free, and create a more vibrant downtown that people will actually come to visit. From our perspective, patrons do already visit and enjoy this downtown. Stripping away parking options and mandating full paid parking is a great disservice to downtown customers and business owners. This email accuses our staff of telling you false information. I don’t think that is true, and there seems to be some confusion about who is responsible for what and some of the decisions made. In November 2023 Harvey Ward told us in our scheduled meeting that the parking bollards are permanent / do not retract or fold - said the bollards have to stay. In February 2024 Andrew Persons told us in a scheduled City Manager meeting that there are contracts/liability insurances in place for the area extended to the street. Not talking about City sidewalk patios, but extension into the street. We asked for these in February, March, and April of 2024 - and the City has not provided. You were not present at either of these meetings. We do not consider these two people to be confused City staff members, these are our City leaders. - The City Commission is responsible for making decisions about the city, including downtown parking and public spaces. Yes
- The bollards are definitely removable. All things in this world are removable. Ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust. The bollards are attached to the ground and, with enough force, can be removed. What staff was probably telling you is they cannot take them out without City Commission approval. With a 4 vote majority you can get those bollards removed. It was Mayor Ward. In November 2023 Mayor Ward told us in our scheduled meeting that the parking bollards are permanent / do not retract or fold - said the bollards have to stay.
- All of the businesses on SW 1st have an agreement with the city and a $1,000,000 insurance policy. In February 2024 Andrew Persons told us in a scheduled City Manager meeting that there were contracts/liability insurance policies in place for the areas extended into the street. Brian if you have the insurance paperwork showing a February 2024 policy in place for these businesses occupying the Street, showing the extended street portion is included in their policy, please send over. Let me know if you can supply this. I will retract this point if needed. A high ranking City Official said days ago there are no current contracts or insurance policies on the street part, and that the liability is on the people of Gainesville. It was their own words.
- I’m not sure where you’re getting that “all roads lead to Harvey Ward.” He is 1 of 7 votes on the City Commission, just like I am 1 of 7 votes on the City Commission. I don’t think it’s fair to single him out specifically. We deserve criticism of this as a body if you disagree with the decision to close this road off to cars. Harvey has been very vocal he intends to ignore and push forward after 35 downtown businesses, the City’s own Downtown Advisory Board, and local business entities that have invested in Downtown for decades, have all asked for alternative solutions to create Downtown stability and growth. After months of chasing down who is engineering this movement, many have come to the conclusion he is the head. His comment in the paper was clear. People see the commissioners flexing under his vision.
- You’re gonna need to be more specific about “maximizing parking”. Repainting is easy to do, but there are also engineering considerations for safely getting cars in and out without backing into traffic and getting drivers hurt. It wouldn’t surprise me if we had some outdated painted lines that could be easily repainted to include more parking, but if you could be more specific about what this request is that would be helpful. I’ll run that by our transportation staff. Within the network of streets just off of downtown there exists many spaces that can be added. I live around campus area and see the parking density used, there are many spots to win on these side streets. Downtown needs ALL of these options to grow. Re painting is cost effective. In service of Commissioner, it would be great work to spend time evaluating these potential spots together with the transportation folks. That could be productive in finding more solution to the main complaint of the town.
- The City has no ability to open up the library parking lot. The Library District is a separate government entity. I’ve brought this issue up for a while at the Commission after meeting with Adam Bass a year or so ago, and the Commission has sent a letter recently to their board, which they’ve decided to not move forward with. I’m not really sure why, but I appreciate Linda McGurn going and advocating for that directly to them. Their main concerns are probably security and trash clean up. Now that the Ambassador program is being installed we could get the most out of this trial period by having Ambassadors responsible for the safety and clean up of the lot - just like the program touts. The City should continue the push for use of these lots. We can find a way.
You are welcome to send that email out to your email list. It will cause headaches for us and we will be inundated by people who are upset at us. At the same time, the business owners along SW 1st will almost certainly do the same thing in the opposite direction, just like they have done in the past. It will be a big fight between two sides of downtown business owners fighting with each other about what is best for their businesses. I have to believe there’s a better way than just infighting between downtown business owners. Maybe your "temporary" solution will work, but we need to discuss it and plan for it, which City staff is telling me will be happening soon. There are 3 businesses who are financially benefiting, telling the City to keep 1st Ave closed. There are 35 plus downtown businesses plus the City’s own Advisory Board telling the City to reopen the streets that belong to everyone. What we are dealing with appears to be indecisive action. The City needs to stand up and say the street is for ALL of downtown, not just a few who increased revenue there during Covid. Crybabys and other businesses would still enjoy having their Covid patios, but they have been returned. The businesses currently using the street already enjoy a large patio on City sidewalk, that is permitted to them by the City of Gainesville to use. In a downtown setting each parking space is vital for a potential customer of any establishment. People park in front of the Top and go to Harry's or Loosey’s or The Hippodrome Theater. Businesses don’t get to consume parking spaces just because they are located next to them. That’s not how it works. Spaces are for all customers coming in to support any of the downtown businesses, just as it’s been for the last 100 years. For over a year the City has damaged the public’s view regarding their ability to access downtown - by removing parking options. The City has affected commerce with these street closures, and now on top of that …we have full paid parking. This headache you speak of was created by the City, and belongs to the City leaders who have spearheaded this. We are not aware of anyone fighting. And just for context, from what I’ve seen there are 38 parking spots on SW 1st Ave. Our most recent parking study says there are 2,053 parking spots in downtown right now, so removing this street and opening it to parking will result in a 1.85% increase in downtown parking. Please do not use misleading data as this is again incorrect. We have lost more than 75 parking spaces in the heart of Downtown in the last few years. Each space can potentially house a customer 5 to 15 times a day. So on average of 10, we have lost 750 points of access per day. Downtown parking has been the most contentious issue in downtown for at least 50 years. Businesses in downtown have been complaining about downtown parking since the beginning of time. Chesnut Office Equipment, which was the business who was in your building before you guys bought it, blamed “lack of parking in downtown” for why they couldn’t make the business work in downtown in 1994. Everyone complained about that, but in their place came businesses that were more in the service industry and had customers that wanted lots of activities in close, walking proximity. We are very aware of our building's history. Whether Endel Brothers, The Gainesville Bank, Woolworths, Chestnut Office or Top/Wooly. For which ever moment in time, or which ever business in place, access puts a customer into an establishment. Downtown will never be as supportive as Butler Plaza, but permanently eliminating access points is a detriment to the core. The City has spent millions creating parking lots in downtown over the decades. We subsidized the McGurn garage, we built a City garage on SW 1st, we knocked down large swaths of downtown businesses to make surface-level parking. We’ve been working here 30 years downtown, please give examples of the swaths of businesses knocked down, and millions spent on Parking lots downtown within those 30 years. The SW parking garage is about to be consumed by lot 10 build, and with The Palms contract and student parking - Customer access will be a further decline. Today there are 2,053 public parking spaces owned by the City in downtown. All of those millions of dollars didn’t seem to do anything but make the place even deader. What is truly dead right now is SW 1st Ave. When the City decided to make parking lots into usable places, like we did with Union Street Station, that has helped to bring people back to downtown. People want to be downtown because they like downtown and the things it offers. Yes Union Street is great and they have a parking garage hooked to it. More access Parking options equals more success - we agree!! Patrons have to park somewhere to come enjoy "the things it offers”. . .They like being able to walk between multiple places, like the Top and Hear Again. People need to find parking as well, most folks dont walk/take the bus/bike, but is removing a street that is being used for dancing, food, and music to add 1.85% more parking spaces to downtown worth the tradeoff? 35 downtown businesses said open the street for parking. Long term business leaders said open the street for parking. The City’s own Downtown Advisory Board said open the street for parking. As you know, dancing ,food and music take programming. The town has watched the City’s programming ability dry up at Depot Park. Can the City do a monthly temporary street closure for a well planned event - each month downtown? Let’s see. We hope so, but permanently closing a street of access for downtown customers for an occasional dance party - absolutely not. I don’t think so. I agree we need to do a better job of programming that space and actually putting investment into it so it looks nice and is inviting, but I don’t see a very small increase in overall parking as being worth the trade off. If The City wants to start programming more... please do. It should be done where the City has already invested millions of taxpayer dollars - At Depot Park and Bo Diddley Plaza. Maybe you do, but in the end we’re just trying to balance all the needs, wants, and interests in downtown to make it a better place that more people will go. Feel free to reach out anytime if you want to talk in person. My cell phone is at the bottom. We see Mayor Harvey and a few commissioners as trying to make something really big happen. Many in politics feel the need to travel this road. But downtown needs smaller steps of safety, access, infrastructure updates (drains , sewer updates, power updates), better lighting, less gunshots, more police detail, and much more parking options. Our downtown is now full of strife, financial stress to businesses, people pitted against each other - all as the City continues creating drama and mayhem instead of solid small steps forward for success. Full paid parking doesn’t even win the city much return yet look at the division it is causing. This is all harmful to the very businesses you say you are proud of. Please tell us someone dancing on a brick road will not be more important than safety, access, and infrastructure updates. We need to put GCRA funds where they count. We need to open the streets for customers.
Hello Everyone, The City of Gainesville continues to ignore the business community downtown so our next step is to reach out for public support. We will be sending our experience out to the good people of Gainesville. The inconsistency of City communication is concerning. We were told by City officials the SW 1st Ave. bollards cannot come down as they are permanent. We have been told by City officials there are contracts and insurance policies in for businesses expanding income into SW 1st Ave. After a meeting with high ranking City Official last week we were told neither of those City statements were true. After months of asking questions on who is responsible for this mission of removing access and charging access to downtown, it’s quite clear the road leads to Mayor Harvey Ward. We have many steps moving forward, this letter is next. Hello to the Great City of Gainesville! Ten months ago a concerned group of downtown merchants provided Gainesville City leaders with 35 signatures of downtown businesses supporting two requests. 1) To keep limited parking free with time limits for downtown customers, and 2) To return SW 1st Ave to the benefit of patrons visiting downtown. These two requests were fueled in part by diminished sales, diminished parking options, and multiple closures. These requests were for the benefit of promoting access to downtown, and to strengthen our city core. Collectively, local business leaders support access, safety, and solid promotion as the key elements of a success. However, new City policies are now threatening public access by restricting parking spaces and charging for access. This is already affecting the health of downtown tenants. The Downtown Business Collective, The Go Downtown group, and the City’s own elected Downtown Advisory Board have all been unified and vocal to Gainesville Mayor Ward and the City Commissioners, but we are not being heard by City officials. For 10 months we have been ignored and now we need your help. We are reaching out to the Gainesville public to help support downtown destinations and speak out to Mayor Ward and our City commissioners. This is your downtown! Despite the request from merchants and customers to increase parking options, the City has continued to remove parking as they push for pedestrian and event areas that consume blocks of downtown with street closures. We suggest events should be hosted at dedicated event venues such as Bo Diddley Plaza or Depot Park which the City has already significantly invested in. These places currently need more event programming to be healthy. Special street events can always be held with temporary closures instead of permanently removing parking space options for customers. These street closures are also fueling the City’s excuse to charge customers coming downtown. Mayor Ward is defending paid parking, saying it is to refresh parking spaces due to limited spaces downtown. What has not been mentioned is the City has removed more than 75 public parking spaces from the heart of downtown in the last few years. They have removed 75 points of customer access that feed local businesses. Access in the morning, daytime, evening, and late night. Under the new City ordinance customers will be charged or fined if looking to support a business for breakfast, lunch, coffee shop, Church services, ice cream, convenience item, haircut, or album? This additional cost is a detriment for all daytime establishments, which already have financial challenges. As tenants downtown, we consistently hear “there’s no place to park” from Gainesville residents. We also recognize faster growth in the corporate side of town, where parking is free and accessible. We want Gainesville to enjoy the businesses that they love downtown. The following parking solutions are low cost ways to provide more parking for visitors & customers, support local business, and support downtown growth. - Open all of SW 1st Ave to customer parking, as each one of these parking spaces connects a customer to a destination as it’s been for the last 100 years. The businesses occupying this area already enjoy a permitted patio on City sidewalk property in front of their business like others downtown. The street belongs to all potential visitors coming to support all downtown establishments like The Hippodrome, Dragonfly Sushi, City Church, Paramount Grill, Wyatt's Coffee, Gator Spirit Food Store, Fade Away Cuts…. and many more.
- Maximize parking on all the city side streets in the downtown area. This alone will produce substantially more spaces just by repainting lines.
- Open the Library parking lot and the State Attorney lot after 5pm on weekends when demand increases.
We are asking for help from the people of Gainesville, Downtown patrons and staff members, to reach out to City leaders to voice the concerns you have. This is your downtown!
Scott n Hal @ Top, Wooly, Pop A Top Andrew @ Hear Again Music
Linda and Ken McGurn
Kyle @ Crybabys and Baby J’s
Gabby @ The Hippodrome
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Downtown Business Collective < downtownbusinesscollectivegv@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 9:46 ?AM Subject: Downtown Parking To: < wardhl@gainesvillefl.gov>, < chestnutcm@gainesvillefl.gov>, < sacore@gainesvillefl.gov>, < walkerdn@gainesvillefl.gov>, < bookea@gainesvillefl.gov>, < willitscw@gainesvillefl.gov>, < eastmanbm@gainesvillefl.gov>, < currycw@cityofgainesvile.org>, < hessonsc@cityofginesville.org>, < planning@cityofgainesvillefl.gov>, < needm@cityofgsinesville.org> Hello Manager Curry, Mayor Ward, and all others copied on this email, In October 2023, a group of 35 Downtown business owners participated in a survey to Protect Patron Parking in downtown Gainesville. The results were sent to the city. The goal was to open a dialogue between the City and downtown businesses about our needs concerning two main obstacles: First, an app-based parking fee for patrons visiting downtown establishments; and second, the closure of an integral street of parking used by all merchants, churches, and patrons for downtown customer access. The responses were clear. 35 of 35 businesses were opposed to paid street parking, yet the proposal sent out by the city only days ago calls for paid street parking. Also, 31 of 35 would prefer to see 1st Ave reopened for regular customer access with the ability to close it for events. Both the community and the business owners raised a ruckus when the City implemented paid street parking in 2022. As a result, the city reverted back to the free two-hour time limit. Now that time and elections have passed, the city is looking to implement what appears to basically be the same plan - paid parking by day for shoppers, lunch-goers, and coffee-grabbers; meanwhile, club-goers and street-drinkers can maybe luck out and get a free spot at night. We met with Mayor Ward in November where we learned that there was no active Streatery Plan aside from shutting down SW 1st Ave. We highlighted the following: downtown businesses all share free street parking, every parking space is a potential customer, and the closure of SW 1st Ave has caused other areas East of Main to absorb extra traffic. We also collectively acknowledged that there are other businesses in the area that do not benefit from the closure. Mayor Ward expressed his understanding and stated that he would get back to us after Thanksgiving. We have not received communication since. We, the Downtown Business Collective, are now joining with Go Downtown, which has developed some great promotional ideas for our unique City center. We’ve found that our concerns are very much shared with members of Go Downtown so we will also become members and encourage others in the DBC to do so as well. We shared our concerns at the last Go Downtown meeting and we’ll be attending the meeting in March concerning the City’s current parking proposal. We hereby request contact information for a department within the City that can answer the questions below. These would be departments within the City that communicate specific codes, permits, or special arrangements or leases etc. that are involved with allowing the current conditions on SE 1st Ave. The following 4 questions are the start of our next focused process. 1) In reference to the SW 1st Ave businesses represented as A,B, and C that have: expanded into the City street; that have been documented as purchasing and owning furniture, tents and fencing that occupy the public street in temporary or permanent fashion; and that benefit financially from expanding into the public street - Are these businesses A, B, and C leasing these public streets from the City? And are these leases similar to other current tenants who are leasing City property in the downtown area and in the new Entertainment District? 2) Are there current liability insurance policies being paid by tenants who benefit from expanding their square footage into the public street? Do businesses A, B, and C have insurance policies in place to cover costs of typical drinking establishment issues that may arise in these expanded outdoor areas so such liabilities are not burdened on the taxpayers of Gainesville? Current City leases have a mandated $1-2 million policy for liability involving certain alcohol consumption areas. 3) Are these City leases, agreements, or licenses to occupy public streets only available for businesses A,B, and C, or are other downtown establishments able to set up tents and fence off space beyond their landlord leased area? If other businesses are allowed to expand their square footage into public property, what’s the process? Which department can restaurants contact about having streets adjacent to their properties closed for outdoor seating, tents, and performances? 4) Are the current businesses expanded into the SE 1st street regulated (like all downtown businesses) to provide proper occupancy additions to their businesses? Are there proper bathroom accommodations for these increased guests occupying these expanded patios? Other businesses downtown must provide occupancy load for patios and bathroom fixtures per those occupancy loads. These answers will help other business owners and entrepreneurs have an understanding of this process moving forward. Thanks so much for your time. Downtown Business Collective
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