Jax Beach will restrict alcohol sales

[simms3]

I'm sorry but Jacksonville does shut down at 8.  It may be typical for a metro of 1.3 million, but it is *dead*, even on weekends (and Charlotte and Nashville aren't too much larger and they both have great nightlife).  Last call at midnight in one of the city's only two "nightlife" areas.  This is just the kind of thing that makes me never want to have ties to the city ever again because it's just too embarassing.  (This is just one of the many things)

I just think that it's funny that a poverty stricken beach town run by bums, high school dropouts, stoners, and lifelong surfers with leather for skin made this happen.

This rule is something that would actually be appropriate in Ponte Vedra, but I doubt that even they care.  I remember when family friends from S FL came up last year because they had a house in PVB, too, and they took me to dinner at a beach hibachi restaurant.  We arrived at 10 and they almost closed.  We had to beg them to stay open and this might have been a Thursday or Friday.  The whole metro, even the beaches, are **dead**.  It's torturouse for me when I visit and I can comfortably turn my brights on at 8:30 at night knowing I won't bug any other non-existent drivers on the road at that time.

I received an email from someone yesterday and I replied that I couldn't do something at the time because I received 3-4 hours of sleep a night and that my life was in warp speed and in no indication of slowing down anytime soon.  Well this is typical for people in most places, but in Jax it's like people sleep 20 hours a day and go to First Baptist the other 4 hours of the day (oh and they fit in some fried food in there too).  At the beaches I guess they sleep 20 hours, wake and bake, surf for a couple hours, put down some brewskis (while it's light out?), and go back to sleep.

[Bativac]

I'm sorry but Jacksonville does shut down at 8.  It may be typical for a metro of 1.3 million, but it is *dead*, even on weekends (and Charlotte and Nashville aren't too much larger and they both have great nightlife).  Last call at midnight in one of the city's only two "nightlife" areas.  This is just the kind of thing that makes me never want to have ties to the city ever again because it's just too embarassing.  (This is just one of the many things)

You are dead on about the city shutting down at 8. A city this big should have more of a night life.

Of course, Jacksonville is so spread out, the activity would be confined to a few hotspots here and there, and maybe some strip malls along Beach and Atlantic. There's life but you gotta look for it. But I don't think Jacksonville is alone among other cities in that regard.

I remember when I lived in Portland, Maine there was a whole area of towntown called the "Old Port." Even in the dead of winter, there were crowds and places open... bars, restaurants, etc.

Jacksonville and the Beaches are run -- and are full of -- conservative older people, whether republican or democrat, black or white.

[tufsu1]

people...the special permit will cost $75 a year....so don't get your hopes up about bars moving to downtown because of it....they'll pay the fee and stay where they are.

Same logic you used about how all the downtown corporations would pay for parking.

stop trying to always pick a fight...I didn't say the fee was a good idea (actually it is awful) but it isn't going to cause bars to shut down.

btw, I would be surprised if I ever said this about parking...if I did, please show me.

[urbaknight]

I read about people not coming back to JAX on this thread. But that's not the answer, If we all left it would completely kill our push for an urban environment for a few decades. Then maybe (a very big maybe) Those who are just babies now, may try again to take up this cause, but the movement would have to start from scratch. That could take decades more to get back to where we are now. Let's just keep on pushing for change, we'll get it sooner or later.

[fieldafm]

If you can't find something to do in this city past 8pm, you simply ARENT LOOKING.

My suggestion is to get off your couch.  I only stay in 1 maybe 2 nights a week.  More often than not, I simply don't have the time to do all that I want to do.  True story.

BTW, back on topic... this is a bad idea and will have unintended consequences for Jax Beach(after finally becoming a nice place to be, which was totally the opposite for most of my life).

Case in point, height restrictions.  All those dense developments everybody loves and wants more of now, aren't as economically viable anymore b/c of said height restrictions.  City officials have even admitted as such.

[Bativac]

I'm sorry but Jacksonville does shut down at 8.  It may be typical for a metro of 1.3 million, but it is *dead*, even on weekends (and Charlotte and Nashville aren't too much larger and they both have great nightlife).  Last call at midnight in one of the city's only two "nightlife" areas.  This is just the kind of thing that makes me never want to have ties to the city ever again because it's just too embarassing.  (This is just one of the many things)

You are dead on about the city shutting down at 8. A city this big should have more of a night life.

Of course, Jacksonville is so spread out, the activity would be confined to a few hotspots here and there, and maybe some strip malls along Beach and Atlantic. There's life but you gotta look for it. But I don't think Jacksonville is alone among other cities in that regard.

I remember when I lived in Portland, Maine there was a whole area of towntown called the "Old Port." Even in the dead of winter, there were crowds and places open... bars, restaurants, etc.

Jacksonville and the Beaches are run -- and are full of -- conservative older people, whether republican or democrat, black or white.

I don't know if that is really the problem, Bativac, or if it is that we tend to honor the squawking of the squeaky wheel too much.  If you paid attention to the Berkman Plaza thread, you could see this enormous sense of entitlement on the part of a few of the residents.

They made a choice to live in an urban environment, which turned out to be a poor choice for their personal lives, and instead of taking responsibility on any level whatsoever, they simply expected the rest of the city to change to conform to them and went around for weeks threatening to 'sue the shit out of' anyone who didnt share their entitled view of the universe.

Im from the Beaches (I grew up a couple of blocks from the ocean and went to Fletcher Jr and Sr) and over the past few years, an ugly generation of 40 something year olds has been increasingly visible down there, as they have been everywhere.  Unfortunately reasonable people try to be accomodating, and pushy people demand to be accomodated.  I don't think its so much about old conservatives (you do see them at public meetings, but the real loudmouths are the Ugly Gen X hoity toits, and they are neither conservative nor older than 45.  Just obnoxious.) as it is about a fundamental balance being tilted towards a pretty selfish point of view on the part of a few.

At some point there has to be pushback and a willingness to live together.

I think you have a point. I don't really think that conservative middle-aged people "run" everything, but it's like you said, they bark the loudest and are tended to by the people who DO run things. A lot of us in our late 20s and early 30s grew up here, spent time in other places, then came back and have just gotten a little tired of the constant promises of urban renewal and the fits-and-starts style of downtown and urban development.

We cast our ballots appropriately but in the meantime we have lives to live, and we reach a point where we'd rather live those lives in a place already full of a vibrant urban environment instead of waiting for Jacksonville to come along. I mean, we made an investment - my wife and I bought a house in an older neighborhood, close to the core, and (as an artist) I've partnered with a writer and done public speaking for at-risk inner city kids on the Northside. But the fact is that people here by-and-large want to be left alone and not disturbed. Which is cool - but it's not what a lot of us are looking for.

Fieldafm, yeah, there's stuff to do - but what a lot of us in my age group and of a similar mindset are looking for is a walkable, vibrant urban environment like you'd find in Chicago, or San Francisco, or New York, or Atlanta, or... numerous other places. Jacksonville doesn't have it, hasn't had it for a long time, and doesn't look like it's heading in that direction. So people (like me) looking for a cool place to live move on, and people looking for a cheap, quiet place to live, gravitate towards Jacksonville, and you end up with more of the same.

[tufsu1]

You did.  multiple times, and suggested that parking wasnt a concern to any of the corporations, as they were more than glad to pay for parking.  You even said this when addeco announced they were leaving downtown for the southside because of the parking.

Not trying to start a fight, just keeping it real.

so show me....if I said it, I'll admit it....of course, maybe it was just a misunderstanding...this medium leaves a lot up for interpretation.

[simms3]

They made a choice to live in an urban environment, which turned out to be a poor choice for their personal lives, and instead of taking responsibility on any level whatsoever, they simply expected the rest of the city to change to conform to them and went around for weeks threatening to 'sue the shit out of' anyone who didnt share their entitled view of the universe.

Huntsville lady comes to mind.  I have been commenting on Beaches related articles on FTU for a year now and have refrained from mentioning her for fear that my comment could be construed as a personal attack, but I'm done being so nice.

Sandy Golding may be a nice woman, but she moved to Jacksonville Beach with her husband in either the late 90s or early 2000s.  Well come 2004 when Devlin and some other investors wanted to transform the Beaches Marina from a mediocre business to a condo/yacht club/marina development, Golding formed Beaches Watch to basically push the effort to stop all new development and impose a height limit.

Now she has done some good, like pushing for a referendum so that restaurants could allow outdoor seating and pets to be brought to outdoor seating (it's a sad situation when the city has to "allow" that in the first place), but she was a relative newcomer to Jax Beach and didn't want to see any change.  She is the epitome of the person we’re talking about.  Move downtown and try to take downtown away.  Move to the Beaches and try to keep it to yourself.  Etc.

Her group had somehow come up with the statistic that indicated that in another Floyd, with future highrises traffic would back up for 5.86 miles (ok, that number came out of someone's ass...could be longer but let's not try to pinpoint how long traffic would back up in an evacuation with sketch "research").  Her group's motto is basically "No Miami Beach!!!"  Her group, Beaches Watch, basically controls Jax Beach.

It's great when the community gets involved, but I have no sympathy for the Jax Beach community.  It's a poor, run-down, uneducated, stoner/surfer/beach bum community that screams when they have to "cross the evil ditch" into civilization (I'm generalizing here and I realize this could be construed as offensive, but it's 99% true).  Nobody in that community has ever left Jax Beach!  It shows.

Hionedes, Devlin, Las Olas Development, tons of people got dicked over by Beaches Watch and Sandy Golding.  Of course the residents thought they were getting dicked over, too, and they had a point, but they claim sustainable, urban, "good" development yet their own policies restrict any and all development.

If there were one bad apple in the world, is it necessary to throw away all the apples and forbid them?  All Beaches Watch needed to do was lobby for better development/design regulation.  I agree that all of the condos are ugly as sin, and many of the best restaurants were sold off as a result.  I agree that the current situation is bad.  I'm sad that there isn't one brain in the city who knows how to solve the problem and make everyone in Jax Beach better off.  Jax Beach is a microcosm of Jacksonville, unfortunately.

[ChriswUfGator]

You did.  multiple times, and suggested that parking wasnt a concern to any of the corporations, as they were more than glad to pay for parking.  You even said this when addeco announced they were leaving downtown for the southside because of the parking.

Not trying to start a fight, just keeping it real.

so show me....if I said it, I'll admit it....of course, maybe it was just a misunderstanding...this medium leaves a lot up for interpretation.

I'd be happy to, if you hadn't deleted at least two of the comments in question as I was in the process of quoting them.

As usual, Tufsu;

[ChriswUfGator]

Well, well, well...

Lo and behold Tufsu, after running to delete your incriminating posts about how downtown's ass-raping parking policies are just awesome and the downtown businesses ought to just suck it up, it turns out that you forgot to delete one before I could quote it;

free parking is not the long-term answer....I can show you many succesful downtowns that have parking meters....the thing to do would be for businesses to provide vouchers for up to 2 hours in a parking garage.....now that idea has been tried elsewhere and it works!

Brilliant post!

Yes, that could happen. Or, back on earth, the businesses could all just leave. Which is what actually happened.

[Jaxson]

I'm officially never coming back to NE FL.  I can't be around such blatant stupidity.

I don't even drink (well I try not to ), but I'm at a loss of words here.  This kind of decision making makes me want to just scream.

NE FL basically tells everyone that graduated from a good college and wants to have a productive but fun professional career "STAY AWAY!!!!  We only want to attract blue collar families, preferably Baptists since they don't drink and are pure as the wind driven snow, and retirees who forgot to save."

OMG, I will officially not even be able to go to sleep tonight after hearing this.  I have doubtfully heard of a sillier shoot yourself in the foot piece of legislation.  That whole town is held hostage and run by a bunch of loser beach bum high school dropouts who are "afraid to cross 'the ditch'" and who sit around on the crappy front porches of their crappy beach shacks smoking j's and drinking Buds all day every day (well that and growing out their hair, getting tattoos, riding their Sector 9s, surfing if they can even still get up, and failing to keep up a marriage).

Then we have Hunstville lady who hasn't even been here a decade (just a couple years actually) before she helped ram through the 35 ft. height limit.  I think in her own words she did not want future growth taking away "the view."  Then we have all the residents who continuously complain about drunken parties and crime in the area when it's their own kids and they themselves most likely have 20 bongs lying around their crappy house.

It's just too frustrating to even pay attention to NE FL anymore.  I try to remain so hopeful, boosting my hometown and trying to do what I can from a distance, but it's futile.  Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, heck Nashville, Austin, Charlotte, San Diego, etc etc one of you will become my permanent hometown some day and the high COL and traffic will be worth it!!  Oh wait, I already live in Midtown Atlanta ha

I know quite a few of my high school and college classmates who left for greener pastures.  They chose to live in places like San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Portland (Oregon), New York, Washington, Philadelphia, San Diego, etc.  I wonder if this exodus of younger professionals has an impact on how the rest of us are able to initiate change in North Florida.

As for the Beaches, they seem to be very insular and not very friendly to us 'townies' even before this alcohol sales issue came up.  In recent months, there have been articles and opinions in the Beaches Leader newspaper about the influx of urban youth and college students making a mess of Jacksonville Beach with their rowdy behavior.  Some of the complaints blamed elements from the 'Northside' (re: blacks and African-Americans) in a not-so-subtle way.  I remember when 'cruising' 1st Street was what had the Beach natives up in arms.  I presume that the Beach folks will not be happy until they have their little paradise all themselves... 

[simms3]

^^mmhmm, Like I said, Jax Beach is a town populated by high school dropouts, pot smokers, surfers, skateboarders, literal bums, burnouts, basically people who would be the dregs of any other society.  There are some nice elements populated by transplants and 2nd home owners, but they are viewed by the Jax Beach populace as 'townies trying to take over the "nice" lifestyle they had going there.  LoL it's almost comical if it weren't so sad.

I just wish all the Jax Beach people would move further down the coast to Cocoa or further up to some remote beach in GA.  One lady in Jax Beach screws the place up just like one little old lady in Mayport screws that place up, and in the process both ladies and their followers screw up the progress of 1.3 million people.

[peestandingup]

I'm officially never coming back to NE FL.  I can't be around such blatant stupidity.

I don't even drink (well I try not to ), but I'm at a loss of words here.  This kind of decision making makes me want to just scream.

NE FL basically tells everyone that graduated from a good college and wants to have a productive but fun professional career "STAY AWAY!!!!  We only want to attract blue collar families, preferably Baptists since they don't drink and are pure as the wind driven snow, and retirees who forgot to save."

OMG, I will officially not even be able to go to sleep tonight after hearing this.  I have doubtfully heard of a sillier shoot yourself in the foot piece of legislation.  That whole town is held hostage and run by a bunch of loser beach bum high school dropouts who are "afraid to cross 'the ditch'" and who sit around on the crappy front porches of their crappy beach shacks smoking j's and drinking Buds all day every day (well that and growing out their hair, getting tattoos, riding their Sector 9s, surfing if they can even still get up, and failing to keep up a marriage).

Then we have Hunstville lady who hasn't even been here a decade (just a couple years actually) before she helped ram through the 35 ft. height limit.  I think in her own words she did not want future growth taking away "the view."  Then we have all the residents who continuously complain about drunken parties and crime in the area when it's their own kids and they themselves most likely have 20 bongs lying around their crappy house.

It's just too frustrating to even pay attention to NE FL anymore.  I try to remain so hopeful, boosting my hometown and trying to do what I can from a distance, but it's futile.  Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, heck Nashville, Austin, Charlotte, San Diego, etc etc one of you will become my permanent hometown some day and the high COL and traffic will be worth it!!  Oh wait, I already live in Midtown Atlanta ha

I know quite a few of my high school and college classmates who left for greener pastures.  They chose to live in places like San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Portland (Oregon), New York, Washington, Philadelphia, San Diego, etc.  I wonder if this exodus of younger professionals has an impact on how the rest of us are able to initiate change in North Florida.

Its because this entire town only wants to cater to old people with kids, Christians, or Joe Sixpack who works a regular 9-5. Oh, and everyone who loves their cars & loves their big honking house out in the suburbs & mows their lawns every Saturday like good little homeowners. Basically, Hank & Peggy Hill.

These little stupid restrictions, lack of vision, suburban sprawl/lack of core development infill & such only reinforce that.

P.S. My wife & I have a kid, but we're also in our early 30s, so are probably considered your typical "young professionals" who've been around the block a time or two, so we've got some perspective. Jax doesn't seem like it wants people like us here. So I think we're gonna listen & move on.

[ChriswUfGator]

Lol, you have no idea how many times on a weekly basis I wind up comparing Jacksonville to Arlen Texas.

[Ernest Street]

This is not just about the beaches..what do you call Red Light cameras and $158 dollar tickets split between some outside company that proposed this Money making scheme to the chosen few.
I have now brought up MAFIA comparisons for the third time now.
In the old days we called "Fines" and "Fees" EXTORTION. Only you don't have a thug...only a City or State LAW that you have to follow or go to jail ..or simply MOVE. (you can't just shoot them any more)
We as Residents are being taken off the streets with fines and tickets.
JEA is running roughshod on most of our bills (Except for those few A##holes who continually say their bills for their 2 story houses are only $90 dollars a month even in summer.)..(Hmm who at JEA do you have as a family member?)
In the past month I have talked to 3 Ex Navy men that are DISGUSTED with what is going on and call this type of behavior "Mean Spirited"
They agree that the current Illuminati are driving out us Old disgusted residents for some new Blood to suck.(are they really in my age group of 40 somethings?..the ones that can't control their 3-12 year olds?)
No offense, but many of my fellow residents keep their heads in the sand and don't watch news or find out about ANY Jax news shy of a murder because their life completely revolves around thier child and the private bubble that they built up.

HEY! Wake up! your child is going to be living in the community that you chose not to get involved in because you were to busy........ Think about it.
.

The other thing that disgusts me is I have to say these things online...because "I'm Negative and bum people out with my perception with what is going on around me"