Print ArticleThe Good: The city finally installed parking signs that extend from the side of garages (see Metro Jacksonville's Laura Street Proposal from 2006
Illuminated signs that have the capability to display "Open" and "Full" were installed recently on the Ed Ball Building and Water Street Garage
The Bad: The city managed to make the Ed Ball entrance extremely confusing, by having contradictory information on the entrance to the garage.
The top picture displays the hourly parking rates, while the bottom picture shows the "Monthly Cardholders Only" warning.
The Fix: Metro Jacksonville believes that the city is in the process of allowing hourly parking at the Ed Ball Building. However, we need to remember that with downtown visitors, we only have one chance to make a first impression. The city should not have installed the exterior sign or the hourly rates without removing the "Monthly Cardholders Only" sign. This is part of making downtown friendly for the end user.
Downtown Wayfinding Signage
The Good: The City has begun to install wayfinding signage downtown, something else that Metro Jacksonville has pushed for since 2005.
The Bad: The sign is incorrect. This photo was taken on Forsyth Street, as you are heading east from Laura to Main. From there, the Florida Theatre is two blocks straight ahead on the right. However, the sign tells the driver to make a right at the next street, which in this case is Main Street. Following this sign will take a motorist over the Main Street Bridge, to the Southbank and on to I-95.
The Fix: Fix the sign. There is no excuse for brand new wayfinding signage to be so blatantly incorrect.
Downtown Retail
The Good: Perdue Office Interiors has renovated the bottom floor of the Woolworth Building (circa 1916), and turned it into their showroom.
In an interesting coincidence, the Woolworth Building was built the same year that Perdue was founded - 1916
The Bad: While Perdue has opened, across the street, Starbucks has closed as a result of a national shuttering of hundreds of stores.
The Fix: Not easy - however, it would help vacancy rates if Downtown Vision had a comprehensive list of retail spaces available for lease downtown, and provided this information on the web and in promotional material so that interested parties could have a one stop shop for retail space information.
Downtown Hotels
The Good: The Omni Jacksonville Hotel is conveniently located across from the Times-Union Center, and a half block west of the Landing. Inside the hotel is a bar that is open until midnight or one am (depending on the night), and a nice restaurant.
The Bad: From the street, the place might as well be invisible. There is no indication of a restaurant or a bar. The entrance in the picture below is for employees only.
The Fix: The picture below is of the entrance to the hotel on Water Street. It is hidden because of the poor use of space. Not only could this space be a better entrance, it could also be used for dining or afternoon cocktails, giving Water Street a sense of place.
Using this space for outdoor seating would bring life to Water Street and become a great indicator that a restaurant is nearby.
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Hurricane
March 31, 2010, 07:53:59 AMGreat article. I agree with everything. Good job with calling out both the good and the bad. I remember when I moved here and we made our first attempt to go to the landing. It was definitely mass confusion. City planners need to make sure and remove all personal memory and create signage and direction as if they had never been here before.
fsujax
March 31, 2010, 08:09:46 AMI can't believe they screwed up the wayfinding signage!
Overstreet
March 31, 2010, 09:18:00 AMMaximum ticket for Ed Ball parking garage daily cash rate is $6.96? Is that plus tax or not? But wouldn't $7 be so much simplier.
Often the problem with signs is that the work order is never really properly written up. The guy installing the sign just follows the work order.
JeffreyS
March 31, 2010, 09:21:14 AMYou could have included some of the innerstate signs that have been added for the downtown exits. These are small but important improvements that need to systematically continue. Good job for the lobbing effort and to coj for starting to make it happen.
Miss Fixit
March 31, 2010, 10:06:55 AMLOVE the idea of outdoor seating at OMNI Water Street entrance!
JeffreyS
March 31, 2010, 10:14:21 AMThey have had a street sign outside of the Wachovia entrance near the the proposed seating. The sign advertises a restaurant on the tenth floor.
Captain Zissou
March 31, 2010, 10:31:32 AMIf there is outside seating in that courtyard and a restaurant that faces water street in the Landing with outside seating, that would do a great deal for the area and create a great atmosphere. That would create some momentum for the Hogan St park between the Landing and TUPAC.
Then if that surface lot between the Humana building and the Wachovia building gets developed, WhabaamM!! Sweet downtown area!!
TheProfessor
March 31, 2010, 10:31:51 AMI thought the wayfinding signage would be on nicer pedestals??
Steve
March 31, 2010, 10:52:16 AM^Honestly, I don't really care what pedestals they install that on, as long as they are correct.
thelakelander
March 31, 2010, 10:54:44 AMThat place on the 10th floor has great peach cobbler. Btw, I just came from the Ed Ball Building. That garage appeared to be open for public use this morning, despite the card holder's sign still being up.
aubureck
March 31, 2010, 01:30:27 PMThe Ed Ball parking garage is open to the public, it has been for a long time since a lot of contractors, etc come in to pull permits or go to the tax collector's office. It is a shame that the conflicting signs are on there, I know it really confused me the first time I tried to go there.
finehoe
March 31, 2010, 01:32:49 PMIt'd also be nice if they were more pedestrian-oriented (i.e. not so high off the ground).
devlinmann
March 31, 2010, 01:35:06 PMa stronger group of arts presenters would aid in this effort
hanjin1
March 31, 2010, 01:49:04 PMI use that garage whenever i go to the dentist and have never had a problem even though i'm not a card holder.
Steve
March 31, 2010, 02:05:02 PM^That's not not the issue. The issue is that it is unfriendly and confusing to the end user.
tufsu1
March 31, 2010, 05:25:42 PMMaybe the wayfinding sign is correct...but it was supposed to be hung on the Florida Theatre block of Forsyth.
Lunican
March 31, 2010, 06:23:49 PMWell then maybe they should move it.
coredumped
March 31, 2010, 07:54:52 PMI really wish that incorrect sign was a joke. You can't tell me all the people who had a had in the sign didn't notice it was wrong. Think about it, it was someone's job to find out the best location to place a sign, and then decide what to put on it, and finally, which way to place the arrows! Simply amazing.
On another note, I'm a regular on this site and didn't know the Omni had a restaurant inside, certainly visitors to our city wouldn't know.
</rant> Good article
Edit: My post sounds so negative, I want to add that I'm glad to see these changes, they're certainly a step in the right direction.
TheProfessor
March 31, 2010, 07:55:25 PMIf you see a problem with a street sign, a street light out, or any other city maintenance issue, then feel free to use your tax dollars and call 904-630-CITY...They are usually helpful to fix any problems.
CS Foltz
March 31, 2010, 08:07:52 PMUnless it is an "alley" light in Springfield! Then there appears to be an issue..........since the city appears to be trying to discontinue those lights,maybe they have an exception to those rules?
thelakelander
March 31, 2010, 08:18:05 PMThe have a few places inside there.
There's also a restaurant on the 10th floor of the Wachovia Building and a gift shop in the enclosed mall like space connecting the two buildings.
thelakelander
March 31, 2010, 08:21:31 PMNo, its wrong. If it were hung on the Florida Theatre block, it would direct you to the Southbank via Newnan. That route would only work for a duck tour.
JoeMerchant
March 31, 2010, 08:29:48 PMWell maybe the Duck Tour is on its way...couldn't say that without laughing.
CS Foltz
March 31, 2010, 08:46:23 PMDucks were a pig in the water..............LCM's and LCT's were not much better!
Steve
March 31, 2010, 08:47:11 PMI can't imagine that it was supposed to go there, but either way, the current state is wrong, and that is not acceptable - bottom line. We have a huge issue with making downtown user-friendly, and we pull this crap. No excuses; fix it!
CS Foltz
March 31, 2010, 09:02:27 PMSteve...........we appear to have money for the mayors pet projects, but don't appear to have money for common basic necessities or services...........but hay...... We can always get fee'd to make up the difference right? Only $58 Million Dollars in the hole at the October Budget Meeting!
stjr
March 31, 2010, 09:21:00 PMRegarding the Omni, who ever designed the orientation of that building should have their sanity questioned.
When the master plan for the rest of that block finally gets completed, the Omni will be nearly invisible, lost in a sea of high rises (I wonder what view the guests will have? Glass mirrored windowed walls?). The drive up entrance (which also services the parking garage!) is not just invisible, it's almost inaccessible. The super narrow two-way driveway is often blocked with cars, taxis, and limos barely leaving one lane for passage. The same driveway is the pedestrian exit from the parking garage for all the patrons who park there for the T-U center events. But, since the driveway has no or little sidewalk coverage, hundreds of people (enough that they have a cop at the crosswalk mid-block) must walk its length down the center of the driveway dodging the cars coming and going to the hotel and garage. Stupid, stupid, stupid. One day, an expensive lawsuit by an injured pedestrian might get them to fix it.
The other poor execution is that Juliette's fine dining restaurant in the hotel has no parking validation for the over-priced garage. I don't think the hotel does either for events there (unlike the Hyatt which does). The excuse is that the Omni doesn't own the garage. You would think when they negotiated for the building they would have addressed that since spaces are reserved for hotel guests and valet parking.
I have also wondered why Juliette's (and other downtown restaurants) don't promote pre-theater dinners and/or dinner/theater ticket/parking packages as I have never seen that either.
As to the wayfinding signs, it looks like they could be in the street light shadows at night. Is visibility then an issue?
Jerry Moran
March 31, 2010, 10:07:21 PMFrom the Florida Times-Union letters to the editor:
Why bother when most of the shows during the week start at 7:30 PM or earlier? Only non-working or retired people have the time and schedule to attend events held at that time. This has been said before: How can one get off work at 5 PM, go home and clean up, get the kids squared away, drive downtown, find parking, gobble down a dinner, and then make a 7:30 show? Almost no one. I told the Mayor that at his Make a Scene Downtown meeting last year. I called Stacy Ridenour at the Symphony and discussed the issue at length. Nothing is going to change. Virtually every one of my pre-event guests are nervous about making the show in time, and say they would like the starting time moved back to 8 PM or later during the week.
So, the Jacksonville Symphony has no one to blame for lousy weekday attendance but themselves.
The FL Theater seems to be having more 8 PM week day shows, and are to be commended for that.
Coolyfett
March 31, 2010, 10:30:26 PMThats the Omni Entrance?? I thought that was something else. Ive stayed at that hotel n always entered where the driveway is. Good deal on the parking signage. They do need to fix the direction signs.
Keith-N-Jax
April 01, 2010, 01:58:06 AMWe live here and dont know these things exist. How would you know I've never seen any advertisement?
finehoe
April 01, 2010, 08:56:15 AMNot just the orientation, but the design, period. That is one ugly building.