Jax Beach will restrict alcohol sales

[fieldafm]

Matt, I believe you are my new best friend...

[fieldafm]

After attending the grand opening of Bold City Grill last night... I'm in a Bold City kinda mood.  Come out to Three Layers next Tuesday, you buy me a 1901 and I'll buy you a latte(or whatever it is you coffee people drink, I substitute Diet Mt Dew for coffee).  I have a few things I want to discuss with any MJ followers that want to listen anyway.

[Jaxson]

Funny how people have different perspectives. When I think of having a life on "warp speed", I don't see it as having the time to make self absorbed rants on message boards....but that's just me.

I happen to love Jacksonville. However, I have a biased opinion as we chose to move here(after several visits to our "contenders") after deciding we wanted to leave the Northeast. I will definitely say that Boston is far away my favorite city.....to visit. Definitely not to live(weather and COL the reasons). There are definitely many things I would change about Jacksonville (with downtown improvements number 1)but that doesn't change the fact that I love living here. For those that do not, I would offer the following suggestions:
1. Identify why you really do not like living here ( perhaps it is your own situation and not Jacksonville itself)
2. Work toward improving things that you do not like about Jacksonville or your situation.
3. Or MOVE to another city

Yes, easier said than done. Warning: Effort, compromise, and  sacrifice may actually be involved.

That, sanmarcomatt, is where the frustration begins.  There are many idealists, including me, with hopes for a better city.  We understand that effort, compromise and sacrifice are important.  Even with pragmatism and patience, I find that many obstacles are just impossible to move.  For example, moving Amtrak back downtown.  You are right - easier said than done.

[Bativac]

Funny how people have different perspectives. When I think of having a life on "warp speed", I don't see it as having the time to make self absorbed rants on message boards....but that's just me.

I happen to love Jacksonville. However, I have a biased opinion as we chose to move here(after several visits to our "contenders") after deciding we wanted to leave the Northeast. I will definitely say that Boston is far away my favorite city.....to visit. Definitely not to live(weather and COL the reasons). There are definitely many things I would change about Jacksonville (with downtown improvements number 1)but that doesn't change the fact that I love living here. For those that do not, I would offer the following suggestions:
1. Identify why you really do not like living here ( perhaps it is your own situation and not Jacksonville itself)
2. Work toward improving things that you do not like about Jacksonville or your situation.
3. Or MOVE to another city

Yes, easier said than done. Warning: Effort, compromise, and  sacrifice may actually be involved.

There are some things in this city that cannot be changed, regardless of actions on the part of a concerned and frustrated individual. When my wife and I bought our home a year and a half ago, we did it out of an attachment to Jacksonville, due to its natural beauty and the proximity to family (all of my family lives here). I've lived here almost my whole life.

But over the past two years of trying to work with the urban community doing book readings and workshops, and attending and participating in various downtown-oriented events (Art Walk and the Holiday Displays are the first that spring to mind), it's become clear that the problems with this city run deeper than shortsighted leadership. The residents themselves are part of the problem. There is a resistance to forward-thinking ideas here. As a kid I didn't realize this - after all, when I was growing up, the Landing and the Riverwalk were built. MOSH was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. And Friendship Fountain!

I got older and travelled more and realized, wow, Jacksonville has a ways to go. But by and large, people complain if tax dollars are spent on anything. And I mean anything. Which I can understand, but it keeps certain improvements from happening. Couple that with the pervasive opinion that if something is old, it needs to be torn down. Spend no money fixing it up. Tear it down. (Sometimes stated more enthusiastically i.e. "Tear it down, baby!")

So for a couple years, my business partner and I made a go of it. Meanwhile we travelled. We have encountered more open minds and had greater success outside of Jacksonville than we ever had in town. I mean - our own schoolboard was uninterested in having a local published writer and illustrator visit schools FOR FREE to speak about community and talk about writing and art. Why then have other cities in other states welcomed us? Even PAID for the privilege? Yeah, maybe we're doing something wrong - but look around you. There are almost no historic buildings left. Downtown is a ghost town. Strip malls are built and left to fall apart while new strip malls are built, further out. Families look to live in St Johns County because of the Jacksonville school system, and it has been that way as long as I can remember.

So in my case, I've cycled thru the first two of your options and am looking at number 3.

Sorry for the long winded reply. Rant over.

[marksjax]

Well said. More to our problems than meets the eye.

[Captain Zissou]

I agree that the problems of our city pervade all layers of our society.  From the townspeople to the top, people want their lives to remain unchanged, but at the same time have no tolerance for the old and historic.  My contention is, who cares?  We don't necessarily have to change the whole city to create the life we want to live here.  Even among the 'young professionals' in Jax, most of them are blissfully ignorant about many current issues. 
My goal is to carve within our city a life that I can enjoy.  Mark, Jason Albertelli, Scott McAllister, and others haven't necessarily catered to the current market with their venues, but created the kinds of places that they would enjoy.  It turns out, the market has been very receptive to what they have done and it has actually changed the preferences of the city.  You can do this with more than just bars.  Stephen Dare has done this in just about every aspect of his life.  There was a need for metrojax, but there wasn't necessarily a demand for it initially, but the market has responded and now changed to the point that many of us would die (not literally) without it.

This is what more people need to do, and I believe this is what Field and San Marco Matt are saying.  These are also the kind of people that the city needs to be more accommodating and helpful to.  We need more pioneers in this town.

[Bativac]

We need more pioneers in this town.

I agree 100%. But a lot of the would-be pioneers end up leaving!

[Captain Zissou]

We need more pioneers in this town.

I agree 100%. But a lot of the would-be pioneers end up leaving!

Because the city gov'ment runs them out of town.  If it was easier to do business and make a buck, more would stay. 

[Bativac]

We need more pioneers in this town.

I agree 100%. But a lot of the would-be pioneers end up leaving!

Because the city gov'ment runs them out of town.  If it was easier to do business and make a buck, more would stay. 

No kidding. It's very frustrating. I shouldn't have to include "Jacksonville exit strategy" as part of my business plan. Friends shouldn't have to leave town to start fashion labels or production companies.

[Captain Zissou]

we do need a lot more pioneers, and a lot more support for their outlandish ideas!

Couldnt agree more. 

In strict honesty however, I am only one of a group of 5 people who created metrojacksonville.com.

The God Bless Stephen, Steve, Ennis, Dan, and of course Bob 'The Man" Mann.

[ChriswUfGator]

We need more pioneers in this town.

I agree 100%. But a lot of the would-be pioneers end up leaving!

Because the city gov'ment runs them out of town.  If it was easier to do business and make a buck, more would stay.  

The residents are just as responsible for running people off. People expect resistance from those who they're telling are doing a bad job, that's a natural expectation. But when you start getting B.S. like that from these "Well son, if you don't like it then MOVE" assholes, like what has been displayed even in this very thread, then it really sucks the wind out of you and makes you question why you care. If it was just about "me first" then this subset of people (including me) who care about what's wrong and want to see things change would already be out of here and living in Boston.

The reality is a big chunk of the population in JAX is travel-illiterate and haven't seen enough functional examples of what is failing here to recognize the problems, and from that ignorance they conclude that everyone who points out we should be doing something different is a whiny crybaby and then cue the "Delta's ready when you are" crap. Another large chunk of the population are truly indifferent and just don't care. The third chunk, the ones who are traveled and recognize the problems, tend to be part of the same system that caused the problems (huge construction, real estate, finance, etc., presences here) and these people have a ve$ted intere$t in the status quo.

The people who care, recognize the problems, and arent't part of the problem, get fed up with the "If you don't like it, then you can LEAVE!" bullshit and they do leave. Despite having several well-regarded prep schools, a law school, two state universities, and a large private university here, a full 78% of Duval County residents have no college education. So I guess this "Delta's ready when you are" attitude that comes up every time someone suggests changing anything has just worked out awesome, hasn't it? Most of them do leave.

And the way this city treats its artists and creative types is even more abhorrent. Look at the B.S. Stephen Dare went through with his dinner theatre and SPAR. Look at how our pathetic local 'establishment' has co-opted the arts and entertainment scene, woth Allegretti stealing credit for Art Walk and RAM, and Florida Theatre management stealing credit and trying to steal the whole idea for the Florida theatre conservatory, and on and on. This city's idea of supporting its artists was holding a "Starving Artists" sale where the artists had to show up and pin to the wall the actual bill they were late on, for the public to view, in order to be allowed to sell at the show. How humiliating.

The attitudes around here are just obnoxious, truly. Some of it can be seen in this very thread. People need to wake up, if they want much of anything to change. Starting with dropping the hostility and having open minds to the possibility for change.

[urbaknight]

I get the "if you don't like, then leave!" snub all the time. I even heard it from a cop when I complained about a truck straddles completely across the sidewalk. This was downtown too! I told him that where I come from, motorists have rules to follow and they can't park anywhere they wish. I also went on to say that people in wheelchairs, baby strollers, and old people with their walkers have no way to get around the truck without going into the road. And the cop told me that if I wasn't happy here, to go back where I came from! So, even the cops don't care about the plight of those who are competent and care about JAX.

[Bativac]

We need more pioneers in this town.

I agree 100%. But a lot of the would-be pioneers end up leaving!

Because the city gov'ment runs them out of town.  If it was easier to do business and make a buck, more would stay.  

The residents are just as responsible for running people off. People expect resistance from those who they're telling are doing a bad job, that's a natural expectation. But when you start getting B.S. like that from these "Well son, if you don't like it then MOVE" assholes, like what has been displayed even in this very thread, then it really sucks the wind out of you and makes you question why you care. If it was just about "me first" then this subset of people (including me) who care about what's wrong and want to see things change would already be out of here and living in Boston.

The reality is a big chunk of the population in JAX is travel-illiterate and haven't seen enough functional examples of what is failing here to recognize the problems, and from that ignorance they conclude that everyone who points out we should be doing something different is a whiny crybaby and then cue the "Delta's ready when you are" crap. Another large chunk of the population are truly indifferent and just don't care. The third chunk, the ones who are traveled and recognize the problems, tend to be part of the same system that caused the problems (huge construction, real estate, finance, etc., presences here) and these people have a ve$ted intere$t in the status quo.

The people who care, recognize the problems, and arent't part of the problem, get fed up with the "If you don't like it, then you can LEAVE!" bullshit and they do leave. Despite having several well-regarded prep schools, a law school, two state universities, and a large private university here, a full 78% of Duval County residents have no college education. So I guess this "Delta's ready when you are" attitude that comes up every time someone suggests changing anything has just worked out awesome, hasn't it? Most of them do leave.

And the way this city treats its artists and creative types is even more abhorrent. Look at the B.S. Stephen Dare went through with his dinner theatre and SPAR. Look at how our pathetic local 'establishment' has co-opted the arts and entertainment scene, woth Allegretti stealing credit for Art Walk and RAM, and Florida Theatre management stealing credit and trying to steal the whole idea for the Florida theatre conservatory, and on and on. This city's idea of supporting its artists was holding a "Starving Artists" sale where the artists had to show up and pin to the wall the actual bill they were late on, for the public to view, in order to be allowed to sell at the show. How humiliating.

The attitudes around here are just obnoxious, truly. Some of it can be seen in this very thread. People need to wake up, if they want much of anything to change. Starting with dropping the hostility and having open minds to the possibility for change.

You are dead on. Especially the part about artists. And the part about people getting fed up with the "if you don't like it then leave" attitude.

I hate to come off like I hate Jacksonville, because I don't. The city has beautiful natural features and a rich history. But it's just so damn frustrating.

Another comment - I have never walked, bicycled or jogged anyplace else in this country (or out of it) where people deliberately throw trash at you as they speed past you. What the hell is that?

[urbaknight]

This city truly does hate pedestrians! I found out that if you're on a bicycle, you're considered a pedestrian as well. Why do people have a problem with those who get around without any mechanical help?

[simms3]

^^^That's weird.  Up here a bicycle is considered a vehicle (which poses its own problems).

Wait, can't you get a DUI on a bike?  And on a skateboard?  On a riding lawn mower?  Basically anything with wheels?  Are  you sure that bicyclists are considered pedestrians?