5 Points Merchants: Step Up, Step In
Area leaders help formulate ideas for cohesion, strength and beautification
Jacksonville’s 5 Points District is known for its close-knit community of shopkeepers and its eclectic, bohemian collection of restaurants, bars, boutiques and other businesses. In recent months, however, it has also garnered a reputation as the go-to spot for late-night partiers leaving trash and other waste in their wake.
Frustrated with this and other problems facing their community, the shopkeepers of 5 Points have revived the 5 Points Merchants Association to address these issues and work towards solutions.
At a merchants’ breakfast hosted by Riverside Presbyterian Church on Monday, Aug. 20, the new leadership for the association emerged with Stephen Ezell of Raindogs as president. Joining him as vice president is Dori Thomsen of Saluna Yoga + Spa. Nancy Darlow from the Margaret Street UPS Store will serve as secretary, and Mixed Fillings Pie Shop’s Natasha Burton will be treasurer.
Matthew Clark, senior vice president at Colliers International Jacksonville, spearheaded efforts to revive the merchants association, which has gone through several iterations spanning decades. This new version will involve both business owners and property owners.
Clark called last month’s merchants’ breakfast “ground zero” for the new merchants association.
The merchants discussed various paths they’d like to explore to restore their community, from beautification plans to designing and installing neighborhood banners – a collaborative project with Wingard Design + Communications and Riverside Avondale Preservation – to establishing and hosting regular community events.
District 7 Council Member Jimmy Peluso was also in attendance at the breakfast and shared news about two requests he’d put in for the city’s upcoming budget, both for the maximum allowable amount of $100,000. One request was $100,000 for trash cans in commercial corridors. The second, he said, could be used as a “microgrant program” available to neighborhood and merchant associations throughout the city.
“My goal is to use some of that money specifically for landscaping, security and maintenance of the area,” he said.
Pending approval by the city council, the new budget will take effect Oct. 1.
The Resident News will provide a more in-depth look at some of the problems the 5 Points Merchants Association hopes to resolve in the coming issue.
By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News
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