Mall on Duval narrowly escapes cancellation

BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

One vote.

Just one vote made the difference between ending the Mall on Duval pilot program and keeping it going for the next few months. A last-minute barrage of criticism of the six-month test that closes three blocks of Duval Street to vehicles on the weekend almost sealed its fate, with several business owners on the affected three blocks saying the Mall is costing them customers and money.

Despite the fact no one had heard anything from the negatively impacted businesses, primarily art galleries in the 600 block of Duval, until about two weeks ago, commissioners were concerned enough by the complaints to discuss ending the pilot program immediately. Ultimately, a single-vote majority agreed to a compromise, voting 4-3 to extend the pilot program to November instead of next February, as was originally proposed.

“This agenda item has turned into a highly emotionally-charged issue in the last two weeks,” Mayor Teri Johnston, a strong supporter of the Mall, observed.

A large crowd packed the commission meeting, including a contingent put together by Carl Fischer, President of the newly-formed Central Duval District, a coalition of several businesses in and around the Mall that have worked to keep it open since it began in February. Those supporters wore t-shirts saying, “We Love Mall on Duval,” and several spoke in support of extending the pilot program. Joseph Madrid, an employee at Tucker’s Provisions, 611 Duval St., read a letter from the owner, Kurt Matarazzo, supporting the Mall. So did Maureen Johnston, manager of Willie T’s restaurant, 525 Duval. Ed Russo, who owns The Green Pineapple, 1130 Duval St., with his wife, said the Mall has brought local residents back to Duval.

“I’ve seen so many people there that I haven’t seen in years and years and years. It’s becoming the place to be,” he told commissioners.

“Mall on Duval has brought activity back to our area, which is helping our businesses,” said Joey Schroeder, the owner of multiple commercial buildings in the 700 and 800 blocks of Duval.

But an equally passionate group of business owners said the Mall has driven people off of the sidewalks and into the streets. As a result, several art galleries, which depend on their window displays to bring people into the store, are hurting.

“The Mall seems to suck the people away from our storefront along the pedestrian sidewalk, for which we pay a premium compared to other locations, and into the streets away from the gallery,” said Kellie Alpert who operates an art gallery at 601 Duval St.

“We had already seen a reduction in our sales,” said Amber Shaffer, who owns Wyland Gallery, 623 Duval, with her husband, Jay. “When [Duval] started to be closed earlier [2 pm Friday through Sunday, instead of the original 5 pm], that just increased our negative situation.”

What caught commissioners’ attention were statistics presented by Dan Dingeman, owner of Mangos Restaurant, 700 Duval Street, which has seen a 13.5 percent reduction in monthly sales year over year since the pilot program began in February. Dingeman said he recently surveyed all 64 businesses in the 500, 600 and 700 blocks of the Mall to see if the owners and/or managers were in favor of it.

“Forty of them, 63 percent, have said this hurts their business. Sixty-three percent! I don’t know what else you have to hear from us,” he said.

Commissioner Greg Davila was startled by those numbers and proposed that the Mall pilot program only be extended through October to give city staff time to do its own survey of business owners to corroborate Dingeman’s statistics. Ultimately, he agreed to extend the program through November, as proposed by Commissioner Jimmy Weekley. But Davila said that while he has heard from “lots of people” who like the Mall, he doesn’t want to do anything to hurt local business owners.

“If we’re hurting half of the businesses, if they still say no [at the end of November], I’m not in favor of continuing this,” he said.

Commissioners Clayton Lopez, Billy Wardlow and Mary Lou Hoover voted against extending the pilot program. Wardlow said it was time to pull back the program “and go back to the drawing board.” Hoover proposed stopping the Mall for three months to assess its impact.

“Somehow, I think we’ve missed the mark,” she said.

But Johnston and Weekley pleaded for more time to work out the issues voiced by the opposing business owners. Weekley pointed out the city has been discussing shutting down all or portions of Duval Street to traffic since 1985 and the pilot program is the first time the idea has taken shape.

“We need to be able to continue this and get through the issues that are separating us now,” he said.

Commissioner Sam Kaufman agreed.

“If we pull the plug on it now, it could be another 30 years until the momentum is created again to try to do something like this,” he said, adding, “We’re sort of stuck in the middle here. We don’t want to hurt the businesses but we don’t want to pull it away from people who really like it.”

Johnston said she was surprised to hear the recent complaints, pointing out that there has been a weekly public meeting since the Mall began in February open to all business owners. No one had said anything negative about the pedestrian walkway until the last two weeks, she said.

“There are a handful of people that didn’t have any suggestions, don’t want to make it work and want to cut the program off. I just don’t think that’s what this program is about,” she said. “It’s about trying to create a better experience on a street that I think we can all admit is well worn at this point.”

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