Riverside & San Marco Parking Plan Draws Opposition

[Lunican]

Riverside & San Marco Parking Plan Draws Opposition

Quietly, former DIA board member Dane Grey has been pitching a deal for his company to take over city parking in Downtown Jacksonville - and to bring metered parking to Riverside and San Marco. While much of the focus has been centered around downtown, an obvious elephant in the room has been exposed. There has been little to no community engagement to introduce paid parking in neighborhoods outside of downtown with businesses, consumers and residents that don't want it.

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/riverside-san-marco-parking-plan-draws-opposition/

[Fallen Buckeye]

If DIA needs money, how about we axe the developer's cut of parking fees from the Lot J plan and give it to them instead?

[thelakelander]

^This deal sounds like the only entity really making money is Elite. With better parking management, the DIA could likely do everything in the proposal without the need of a private operator.

[jaxlongtimer]

Just look at the last lousy deal the City negotiated over parking garages at the Courthouse and Stadium complex.  Taxpayers screwed over with all the risk and none of the rewards (unless you like losses!) while the operators are guaranteed a profit.  Typical City deal gone bad.  No reason not to expect more of the same with this round.

Following the JEA model, Curry is probably looking for another big upfront payment to pay down the City's debt while giving up much more in potential annual parking contributions to the City.

The articles this week on Grey don't reflect well on him so will be interesting to see if Curry treads more cautiously.  He isn't looking good with scandals also at the Housing Authority and Kids Hope Alliance in addition to the his unpopular leader at JEA.

[fieldafm]

Just look at the last lousy deal the City negotiated over parking garages at the Courthouse and Stadium complex.  Taxpayers screwed over with all the risk and none of the rewards (unless you like losses!) while the operators are guaranteed a profit.  Typical City deal gone bad.  No reason not to expect more of the same with this round.

The same people behind the Courthouse and Sports Complex garages (Metropolitan Parking Solutions, or MPS), who's $50 million in profits have directly come from taxpayers subsidies, are the same people behind this deal. The principals of MPS are the investors in Grey's company, and Grey's company handles the management of the MPS garages in Jax.

More info on MPS' dealings with the City (and this is just the tip of the iceberg):

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/downtown-parking-garage-company-failing-to-meet-contract-audit-says/969207134

An Action News Jax investigation uncovered a new audit found the company in charge of some downtown Jacksonville parking garages is failing to meet its agreement.

The Council Auditor’s Office found MPS didn’t submit tranche requests and financial reports on time.

For example, the second tranche request for 2017 was 171 days late.

According to the audit, 23.6% of the cash flow reports between 2016 and 2017 were mathematically wrong.

The CAO said that showed the DIA was not reviewing the statements in detail.

The report said MPS failed to pay property taxes on time for the three garages since purchasing the parcels, resulting in late fees and interest totaling $480,998.

The Council Auditor said the expenses are avoidable and required the city to loan even more money to MPS.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180728/city-of-jacksonvilles-cost-for-aiding-downtown-parking-garages-hits-47-million

One of the most expensive public-private partnerships in downtown Jacksonville hasn’t restored historic buildings or turned vacant land into apartment towers.

The hefty cost to taxpayers, running in the tens of millions of dollars, is for three privately owned parking garages.

The city of Jacksonville has doled out $47 million in loans to assist the owner of the garages near the county courthouse and the arena. Theoretically, the owner will repay the loans when the parking garages turn a profit, but the garages continue to lose money, so a deal approved in 2004 will require the city to keep shelling out millions of dollars a year.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way. When City Council approved the deal for private construction of a parking garage for the new Duval County Courthouse plus two garages by the new Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, financial projections showed the city would only need to provide roughly $19 million until the private owner reached the break-even point for the garages.

Instead, the current $47 million figure is on track to keep escalating. There is no maximum amount in the agreement for the city’s obligation, leaving open-ended what the city’s costs will end up being.

[Des]

I like the idea of parking meters in Riverside & San Marco. I don't like the idea of a private company profiting off of it though... Is there not a way for the city to hire experienced staff to manage this themselves?

I work in Riverside and I'm in San Marco often and I'll frequently see the same car parked in the same spot for the entire day into the night. Perhaps parking meters will cycle people out and allow new customers to park?

[acme54321]

I like the idea of parking meters in Riverside & San Marco. I don't like the idea of a private company profiting off of it though... Is there not a way for the city to hire experienced staff to manage this themselves?

I work in Riverside and I'm in San Marco often and I'll frequently see the same car parked in the same spot for the entire day into the night. Perhaps parking meters will cycle people out and allow new customers to park?

I'd rather see time limited spots (30min, 1hr, etc) than have meters installed.  I definitely don't think the city should be locking into a 30 year parking agreement either.

[fieldafm]

Is there not a way for the city to hire experienced staff to manage this themselves?

The City already has parking enforcement staff that enforces public parking policies.

I work in Riverside and I'm in San Marco often and I'll frequently see the same car parked in the same spot for the entire day into the night. Perhaps parking meters will cycle people out and allow new customers to park?

Technically, on-street parking in Riverside and San Marco commercial areas are free for two hours. After that, a citation can be issued. There is nothing stopping public parking enforcement personnel from enforcing these policies now.

Revenue collected from City-owned parking garages, metered parking and other various parking citations (which primarily consists of handicap parking violations since existing two-hour parking is not presently enforced in practice) is held in a specific fund for capital-related improvements.  There is presently enough money in that fund to upgrade meters or invest in other technologies to assist enforcement and other parking management related strategies.

Since the present mayoral administration made personnel changes in the management of public parking five years ago... revenues have been declining year-over-year... suggesting that there is a serious management problem that can be easily fixed- not some systematic issue that only private industry can solve.

[fieldafm]

I like the idea of parking meters in Riverside & San Marco. I don't like the idea of a private company profiting off of it though... Is there not a way for the city to hire experienced staff to manage this themselves?

I work in Riverside and I'm in San Marco often and I'll frequently see the same car parked in the same spot for the entire day into the night. Perhaps parking meters will cycle people out and allow new customers to park?

I'd rather see time limited spots (30min, 1hr, etc) than have meters installed.  I definitely don't think the city should be locking into a 30 year parking agreement either.

Technically, these on-street parking spaces are time-limited to two hours. Enforcement of these existing limits has been non-existent for a number of years... leading to abuses. I see the vehicles of the same business owners parked in the same spots all day. Some business owners even illegally block off spaces for their personal use.  All of these practices violate current public parking policies.

With better management, and a comprehensive transportation demand policy in place... public parking can be dramatically improved in short order, without resorting to handing this function over to a private entity.   Here is a 2012 article that scratches the surface of the kinds of elements a comprehensive transportation demand policy may include:
https://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-sep-stirring-a-different-conversation-on-riversideavondale/page/1

[Kerry]

You already know I think the City of Jacksonville is incompetent from top to bottom - and stupidity like this is why.

Okay, now you can beat me up for being negative and always complaining.

[acme54321]

Technically, these on-street parking spaces are time-limited to two hours. Enforcement of these existing limits has been non-existent for a number of years... leading to abuses. I see the vehicles of the same business owners parked in the same spots all day. Some business owners even illegally block off spaces for their personal use.  All of these practices violate current public parking policies.

Lol.  I've lived within walking distance of the square for 10 years and never eveb noticed.  A quick Google Map tour shows that everything in the square, except for the parallel spots adjacent to Balis Park and a few next to the AT&T building are all 3 hours.  I guess if parking is really an issue they should start enforcing the regulations currently in place!

[vicupstate]

Since the present mayoral administration made personnel changes in the management of public parking five years ago... revenues have been declining year-over-year... suggesting that there is a serious management problem that can be easily fixed- not some systematic issue that only private industry can solve.

Sounds like a self-created 'reason' to privatize something that could and should be done by the public sector.  Enforcing the existing rules would probably be more than sufficient for any issues in San Marco and Riverside.  DT could work the same way, and without charging for parking, but they will never give up the revenue stream because they don't see the bigger picture. 

The whole thing is just more of the rampant corruption growing like wildfire in JAX these days. 

The report said MPS failed to pay property taxes on time for the three garages since purchasing the parcels, resulting in late fees and interest totaling $480,998.

The Council Auditor said the expenses are avoidable and required the city to loan even more money to MPS.

This is INSANE !!

Why don't the reporters writing these stories ask John Peyton about how screwed up his plan is? 

Republicans bitch up a storm about food stamps for the poor, but they don't say or do a damn thing about this type of crony corruption that enriches the few at the expense of the public.   

[fieldafm]

Why don't the reporters writing these stories ask John Peyton about how screwed up his plan is? 

Grey's company has hired Sam Mousa as their lobbyist, the man responsible for the MPS parking garage deal while working for the City. Mousa consistently avoided the Inspector General from auditing MPS' records... until his retirement, which led to the audit and subsequent Action News story linked.  MPS has been milking the books for years.

[Kerry]

Since the present mayoral administration made personnel changes in the management of public parking five years ago... revenues have been declining year-over-year... suggesting that there is a serious management problem that can be easily fixed- not some systematic issue that only private industry can solve.

Sounds like a self-created 'reason' to privatize something that could and should be done by the public sector.  Enforcing the existing rules would probably be more than sufficient for any issues in San Marco and Riverside.  DT could work the same way, and without charging for parking, but they will never give up the revenue stream because they don't see the bigger picture. 

The whole thing is just more of the rampant corruption growing like wildfire in JAX these days. 

The report said MPS failed to pay property taxes on time for the three garages since purchasing the parcels, resulting in late fees and interest totaling $480,998.

The Council Auditor said the expenses are avoidable and required the city to loan even more money to MPS.

This is INSANE !!

Why don't the reporters writing these stories ask John Peyton about how screwed up his plan is? 

Republicans bitch up a storm about food stamps for the poor, but they don't say or do a damn thing about this type of crony corruption that enriches the few at the expense of the public.   

Maybe you mean the elected Republicans.  I'm just a lowly registered Republican and I hate corporate welfare just as much as individual welfare.

[Captain Zissou]

Why don't the reporters writing these stories ask John Peyton about how screwed up his plan is? 

Grey's company has hired Sam Mousa as their lobbyist, the man responsible for the MPS parking garage deal while working for the City. Mousa consistently avoided the Inspector General from auditing MPS' records... until his retirement, which led to the audit and subsequent Action News story linked.  MPS has been milking the books for years.

I thought Mousa was supposed to be one of the good guys.  This sounds like actual criminal activity.