Document text
Photo by Jim Craven Jeff Levin of MacLevin's Whole Foods Saloon & Bakery in Jacksonville is unhappy with a proposed tax on restaurant meals. Business people in the town have formed a committee to make sure their views are heard. Businesses ready to fight Some owners say Jacksonville plans will hurt them, town By DAVID PRESZLER JACKSONVILLE -- The one-two punch of new parking space fees and the specter of meal and room taxes has raised the hackles of this city's business people. "This has woken everybody up," said Linda Graham, owner of Scheffel's Toys. "We have been mobilized by a cause." More than two dozen business owners packed into MacLevin's Whole Foods Saloon & Bakery on Thursday to decry a parking plan approved this week and a proposed revitalization plan that could bring meal, room and event taxes to Jacksonville. "We are on a collision course with the city," said Jeff Levin, owner of MacLevin's and one of the meeting's organizers. After nearly two hours of discussion, the group formed a steering committee to review the issues and make sure the business community's voice is heard. Frustration bubbled up several times among business owners who said the city doesn't listen to them or care about them. Some even suggested recalling elected officials. Others urged a less adversarial approach and more active participation in city government. "Bureaucracy only runs amok when the taxpayer doesn't show up," said Michael Kell, owner of The Good Bean coffee shop. "Let's approach this from an intelligent point of view." The merchants were upset over Wednesday's decision by Jacksonville City Council to move ahead with a plan that would hit their businesses with an annual fee of $20 per parking space that the city deems the business requires. The plan needs further approval by the council before taking effect. But the driving force behind Thursday's meeting was the draft plan to enhance the city's downtown that was unveiled last month. The plan, put together by a consulting firm, lays out 49 enhancement projects that would cost nearly $1.1 million. It also lays out options for paying for the work -- one of which includes room, meal and event taxes. The planning commission and city council have hearings scheduled on the plan later this month. The business owners criticized many of the projects as unnecessary at best. They said they were worried that the projects would gentrify and undermine, rather than enhance, the city's historic character. And they were vehemently opposed to using meal or room taxes to pay for them. "This is a battle that needs to be fought," Levin said. "This is a great town. Let's not lose it by making it too Williamsburg, Virginia-ish." Kell, who owns The Good Bean coffee shops in Ashland and Jacksonville, said the meal tax Ashland adopted has really hurt restaurants there. "It used to be the jewel of the dining industry but it is no longer," Kell said. "It affects everybody's business." Paul Wyntergreen, Jacksonville's city administrator, attended the meeting in hopes of quelling the concerns. He said room, meal and event taxes were included only as options. "What the consultant did is list a menu of financing options," Wyntergreen said. He said no one was specifically advocating a meal or room tax and the potential for one coming to fruition was "low." Before the meeting, Wyntergreen said the raising of the meal or room tax issue so soon after the parking debate was driving the business people's fears. "It's an unfortunate set of timing," he said. "Having two things at once in doubly scary. Everyone's sort of caught this fever all the sudden." The plan goes before the planning commission Oct. 13 and to the city council Oct. 19. The merchants vowed to be vocal at both. "We need to get a lot of people showing up at the public meetings that are coming up," said Jerry Evans, owner of the Jacksonville Inn. "It's time to let them know that we have some concerns about it." Evans said he's reviewed the plan's financing options and "every single one of them seems to look back at a business." He was especially troubled by the meal tax idea and said the city's restaurant trade is "not a great big cash cow," like some perceive it to be. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA