How I would fix Downtown right now:

[lewyn]

Personally, I'm moving out of town myself in a couple of months!

[comncense]

I agree with ya Bativac. I know I have gone to Orlando many times just to go out for the weekend in downtown Orlando. It's a shame that out of all the major cities in FL we probably have the worst downtown area. The sad part about it is that the powers to be seem content with keeping it that way.

[thelakelander]

Probably? No, we do.  We were in a foot race with Tampa, but i'll give them the edge now because of their Channel District, new public spaces and cluster of museums.

[Bativac]

I agree with ya Bativac. I know I have gone to Orlando many times just to go out for the weekend in downtown Orlando. It's a shame that out of all the major cities in FL we probably have the worst downtown area. The sad part about it is that the powers to be seem content with keeping it that way.

Yeah - Orlando, hell even St Augustine have more going on. My wife and I will head down to Orlando for a couple days and not go anywhere near a theme park, there's enough to do.

We bought a house right next to the Hart Bridge because we liked the area and it was so close to downtown, which we really (stupidly) thought was on the upswing. She started making preparations to open a bakery downtown, even got a job in a small gym to spend more time in the area. That was 2009...... things haven't exactly improved since then.

Well, I guess they did install that roundabout. Them bumpy bricks sure are somethin'. And the statue looks real good right there in the middle.

[Ocklawaha]

Park JTA'S "PCT TROLLEYS" in a semi circle at the end of Hogan Street, seal the windows and doors and fill them with salt water... instant aquarium.

Make the trip into downtown pleasant by cleaning up the trash, lighting and landscaping. In rural Oklahoma towns near OSU, we had these little hard surfaces (besides what they pass as dirt) sort of white in color... they called them "sidewalks" and most little towns of 100-1,000 have them. Perhaps Jacksonville should investigate this novel technology. Oh, and it's only been 45 years, don't you think we could have found a light bulb or two for the Commodore Point Expressway?

Seriously, how about getting Amtrak back in downtown WITHOUT spending the mint on it.

OCKLAWAHA

[DeadGirlsDontDance]

23. Bike lanes.

[CS Foltz]

The more that I look at downtown, the more I think the powers that be wish for it to stay that way! This could be why nothing has been done to this date. Too much possible money to be made by those in the know.....sweetheart deals for property that has had the buildings torn down..........kinda like in Springfield and the SRG mode of building!

[Timkin]

EXACTLY, CS.   

[Timkin]

You guys are talking crazy talk! All good ideas and common sense for the most part.

I really think the biggest obstacle concerning downtown is that most of the people who live in this city and who vote in elections do not care about downtown - or, they actively dislike the idea of even the appearance of money being spent downtown.

Young people looking for an exciting downtown aren't gonna wait for the older generations (who think downtown had its chance) to die off. They'll just leave and find someplace that does have an exciting downtown. Or someplace like the Town Center, a fake downtown but with the requisite shops, eateries, people watching, walkability, etc.

It's going to take a mayor with a strong backbone and a serious desire to see downtown Jax return to glory. He or she will have to push things thru and convince the citizens of Jax that improving downtown and making it attractive will not only cost the average Jax resident nothing, but perhaps save them money (more businesses downtown = more tax dollars coming in).

I would agree with this ,and add that it will take subsequent administrations and councils ,etc to maintain this course.   If every other major city in Florida can have a vibrant downtown , so too should Jacksonville.   Look at the sprawl around Orlando ( a relatively small town in itself ) and yet its downtown area is alive practically around the clock .

[Kay]

10. Moratorium on suburban road building/widening/overpasses so that we can stop subsidizing the continued sprawl of our city.

Ditto a hundred times over!

[ChriswUfGator]

Personally, I'm moving out of town myself in a couple of months!

Sorry to hear it! You were my favorite professor.

[Steve_Lovett]

10. Moratorium on suburban road building/widening/overpasses so that we can stop subsidizing the continued sprawl of our city.

Doug, as you and I may have discussed before this is exactly the strategy that Portland, OR pursued - with great success.

[dougskiles]

And it costs nothing.  I'm not even suggesting that we use the money saved for Downtown projects.  Stopping the bleeding would be good enough.

[AbelH]

I wonder if you guys could condense this into a list that could be submitted as a Letter to the Editor. I'd love to send it to Mike Clark and see if he'd run it, perhaps even as an op-ed piece?

There are just some really great suggestions here. I'd love to see them pushed into the discussion.

[Timkin]

As well as all of the above mentioned ideas, I would propose a ban on destroying anymore significant Historic Buildings and making utilizing these places and tying them into the downtown vibrancy plan. We cannot afford to lose one more piece.