Consider unintended consequences when making plans for downtown Gainesville

Jack and Jill had trouble getting up the hill, but parking in downtown Gainesville proved to be an even bigger problem.

Tom Miller and Lauren Warhol Caldwell played the title characters in “Jack & Jill Go Downtown," a short play they wrote on the difficulties faced when visiting downtown. They performed the play last month at the Black C Art gallery downtown, putting a satirical spin on such challenges as struggling to use a mobile phone app for parking and dealing with the city’s aggressive “parking ambassadors.”

The play comes after the city’s short-lived experiment in turning free downtown parking spots into paid ones, which caused downtown business owners to revolt after many of their customers disappeared. The City Commission voted in February to suspend the plan’s implementation, but will hear from a parking consultant this fall in deciding whether to proceed.

I attended a showing of “Jack & Jill Go Downtown" that included a discussion afterward, where attendees complained about how city government approached parking and other aspects of downtown. Miller, a longtime local artist and performer, suggested that the city was turning off people from visiting downtown.

“If you want people to come downtown, welcome them,” Miller said.

The play was on my mind as I attended a recent City Commission meeting that included discussions of the Downtown Gainesville Strategic Plan and the city’s Streatery initiative. The strategic plan has largely been a disappointment, with the city and the University of Florida paying $250,000 for a consultant to come up with ideas that they should have figured out on their own.

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But at least the plan put the focus on downtown at a time when developments west of Interstate 75, such as Celebration Pointe, are providing increased competition for customers. While Celebration Pointe is a sterilized version of a downtown shopping district, Gainesville needs to ensure its downtown is also clean, safe and easily accessible to continue to attract visitors.

A seven-day-a-week cleaning crew downtown, funded in the upcoming city budget, is a good start. There is also momentum behind the idea of revitalizing Sweetwater Park, including holding more events there and connecting the park with other natural spaces and trails in a greenway loop around downtown.

The Streatery initiative marks another major decision on downtown’s future. The initiative started early in the pandemic, when portions of Southwest First Avenue and Northwest Second Street were closed to vehicle traffic to provide space for outdoor dining. The City Commission is now moving forward with a plan to spend millions to keep most of that space closed to traffic permanently.

Owners of restaurants and other businesses that use the outdoor spaces spoke in favor of the idea at the commission meeting. But Mike Warren of the AMJ Group, which is developing the new Hyatt Place hotel downtown, raised questions about how closing the street would affect deliveries to a grocery store planned at a development the company is building on a Southwest First parking lot.

Commissioners should consider the unintended consequences of any downtown plans. The Streatery has provided needed places to eat, drink and listen to music outdoors, but a family experience makes me concerned about the long-term plan.

My late grandfather owned a bar and restaurant on a Northeast Ohio street that was thriving until around the mid-1970s, when the street was closed to traffic and made a pedestrian mall. The business and others closed as customers faced difficulty visiting there. A few years ago, the street was again opened to traffic, leading to a revival as new businesses opened.

Cities should be designed for people, not cars, and self-driving vehicles will eventually transform transportation. But for the time being, people still largely drive to visit downtown.

The parking problems faced by Jack and Jill were exaggerated, but the play hit on concerns shared by many residents. Let’s be thoughtful in developing downtown plans that truly welcome people there.

Nathan Crabbe is The Sun's opinion and engagement editor. Contact him at nathan.crabbe@gvillesun.com or 352-374-5075. Follow him on social media at twitter.com/nathancrabbe and facebook.com/nathancrabbe.

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Nathan Crabbe: Downtown Gainesville needs to be welcoming