Salvaging the Main Street Pocket Park

[gatorback]

The city permits vendor locations all over the downtown.  Last time I checked the city had 32 locations( down from 39--I think) for street vendors.  I know Hemming Plaza has 2 street vendor locations one at the north east near the library and one at the south west near the skyway.  I don't think there's a vendor location at the new pocket park.  Would a vendor make any money there?  I guess if the vendor sold 1/2 spent cigarettes and practically empty beer bottles at .50 to a $1.00 they would.   I bet one of those pay toilets I see people getting married in in NYC would make a ton of money!

http://newsfeedresearcher.com/data/articles_e51/ide2007.12.20.01.29.24.html

"The Bride Wore Two-Ply"   

[heights unknown]

I think the best solution is to hand grenade it; no, just kidding.  Obviously this park is a result of poor planning; and whoever planned this park needs to be fired.  You need some type of communitive spark around such places to feed in the people that will make it a true park; without the people, it is a "pocket failure." 

Being that the park is a failure, you can do one of two things, actually three, either build a ramp from the library over main street to the park, or put in attractions, statues, or even some type small scale venue or restaurant to attract people, or bulldoze it and wait for someone to purchase it or wait until retail, restaurants, etc. spring up around it to support the park or just sell it and let something else be built on the property.

Heights Unknown

[gatorback]

Build a fence around it.  That'll cause peole to want to get into it.  Keeping people out has always caused people to want to go in.  Check out the fence around this park.  Okay, it's exclusive.  Yes it's private.  Yes it's the only private park in NYC and in fact the only private park in New York State!  The people who own the apartments around Gramercy are all Tenants in Common and they alone own the park.  You gotta have a key to get in or apparently a car.  I asked one lady to let me in and she said "but how would you get out."  Drew Berrymore, Modonna and Sandra Bullack all live there and jog in the park.  (Drew gets her wheet grass juice around the corner.)

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Dgramercy%2BPark%2Bfence%2Bpictures&w=492&h=380&imgurl=www.startsandfits.com%2Fimages%2Fgramercy_fence.jpg&size=92.9&name=gramercy_fence.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startsandfits.com%2F2005%2F03%2Fwhoops.html&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startsandfits.com%2F2005%2F03%2Fwhoops.html&p=gramercy+park+fence&type=jpeg&no=2&tt=14

[thelakelander]

Ock, that's a nice collection of statues.  Something like those would help pull in more people than the amount using the park today..

[NJ to JAX WHAT DID I DO?]

Two of the best public parks I have ever been to in my life are:

Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY

and

Washington Square Park in NYC

Why Stewart Park is a success:  Great Picnic area.  The park is on the lakefront of Cayuga Lake. It is mostly grass, with sporadic grills and picnic tables throughout.  Therefore, people set up shop for a big barbecue on a Sunday afternoon and then use the space for soccer, frisbee, volleyball etc after the meal.  Also, Ithaca is full of hippies so periodic lake front drum concerts go down.  There are also places to go biking, fishing, duck feeding, and playground equipment for kids at the park.  In general, it is a fantastic place to be any day of the week.  It is a center for the community.  There is such a wide variety of things to do there for such a wide variety of people, all ages can be found: kids, college students, parents, grandparents.... a great mix!  I miss having communities that are built around parks like this here in Jacksonville.  Ithaca, a small college town of about 30000 people actually provided me a higher quality of life than here in Jacksonville...a town of 700000 people.  Believe it or not, there are more great ideas coming from those 30000 people than the 700000 people here in Jax.

And now another city with more great ideas than Jax....NYC.  Washington Park was a success because it does have a great fountain and archway.  A place where people can take pictures and film movies!  But for me its greatest feature was people watching and Joey Joey.  Joey Joey was a street performer from the Bronx.  Every Saturday night in the summer, I would see him putting on his show in Washington Park: riding on a unicycle, juggling flaming torches, making jokes about New Jersey, and entertaining people with his NYC attitude and style.  His act was appealing to all ages, all ethnicities, locals, and tourists.

In comparison to these parks, the pocket park is literally nothing to speak of.  And this is what I notice about Jax parks in general.  The COJ website brags about having one of the largest park systems in the country.  Well, for such a large city, I would hope so!  But most of the parks listed are very small, out of public view, and barely used by anyone.  For instance, I live in Baymeadows and the best local "park" I have is the abandoned golf course there.  And the only park in my mind in Jax that has appeal and is the center of a community is the Memorial Park in Riverside.  That park is great.  Also, Riverfront Park in San Marco is cool, but way too small. Am I wrong about this?  Is there a cool park anywhere in Jax where people go to hang out and be seen?  To spend an afternoon?  To have a picnic?  To take their kids?  To read a book?  To play soccer?  To play bocci?  Is this the twilight zone?

[gatorback]

Mandarin, back in the day!


South of Green Cove Springs today!

Ocklawaha

What if we put one of these jobbers.  It would be an attraction right.  People on their way thru could stop and ride the Free Train...would the JTA ever go for something like this. (A transportation system that goes nowhere with no rider ship? ha!)  How much would it cost us to put in a lil choo choo train like this in that park.

The more I think about it the more I think it works.  It could be a "Mass Transit Education Center" where we teach the young and the old about mass transit and the benefits there of.  There's probably federal dollars available for something like a transportation re-eduction center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I57Kk8jlqE4&feature=related

It'd bet totally awesome.  The little ones that go to the library could stop next door and ride one of the 7 1/4 thingys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63lVrFQtr2Y&feature=related

We could total keep the statue concept as well.  They could be transportation dinosaurs like this concrete car



These are so cute and available

[thelakelander]

Two of the best public parks I have ever been to in my life are:

Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY

and

Washington Square Park in NYC

Why Stewart Park is a success:  Great Picnic area.  The park is on the lakefront of Cayuga Lake. It is mostly grass, with sporadic grills and picnic tables throughout.  Therefore, people set up shop for a big barbecue on a Sunday afternoon and then use the space for soccer, frisbee, volleyball etc after the meal.  Also, Ithaca is full of hippies so periodic lake front drum concerts go down.  There are also places to go biking, fishing, duck feeding, and playground equipment for kids at the park.  In general, it is a fantastic place to be any day of the week.  It is a center for the community.  There is such a wide variety of things to do there for such a wide variety of people, all ages can be found: kids, college students, parents, grandparents.... a great mix!  I miss having communities that are built around parks like this here in Jacksonville.  Ithaca, a small college town of about 30000 people actually provided me a higher quality of life than here in Jacksonville...a town of 700000 people.  Believe it or not, there are more great ideas coming from those 30000 people than the 700000 people here in Jax.

And now another city with more great ideas than Jax....NYC.  Washington Park was a success because it does have a great fountain and archway.  A place where people can take pictures and film movies!  But for me its greatest feature was people watching and Joey Joey.  Joey Joey was a street performer from the Bronx.  Every Saturday night in the summer, I would see him putting on his show in Washington Park: riding on a unicycle, juggling flaming torches, making jokes about New Jersey, and entertaining people with his NYC attitude and style.  His act was appealing to all ages, all ethnicities, locals, and tourists.

In comparison to these parks, the pocket park is literally nothing to speak of.  And this is what I notice about Jax parks in general.  The COJ website brags about having one of the largest park systems in the country.  Well, for such a large city, I would hope so!  But most of the parks listed are very small, out of public view, and barely used by anyone.  For instance, I live in Baymeadows and the best local "park" I have is the abandoned golf course there.  And the only park in my mind in Jax that has appeal and is the center of a community is the Memorial Park in Riverside.  That park is great.  Also, Riverfront Park in San Marco is cool, but way too small. Am I wrong about this?  Is there a cool park anywhere in Jax where people go to hang out and be seen?  To spend an afternoon?  To have a picnic?  To take their kids?  To read a book?  To play soccer?  To play bocci?  Is this the twilight zone?

Memorial Park, Boone Park and Riverside Park are the three that I can think of, with Memorial Park fitting the description more of a public square.

Hemming once was and still has the potential to gain its lost luster, but its being ruined by a lack of foresight for the new uses coming in around it.  Imo, the next urban public space to regain its lost luster will probably be the chain of parks lining Hogan's Creek, between Downtown and Springfield.  There's been a significant turn around there in the past two or three years.

[gatorback]

The destiny of the Main Street pocket park was predicted by urbanites long ago and now the prophecy has come true. Today Metro Jacksonville suggests some ways to turn a lemon into lemonade.

So, who died and left Metro jacksonville to say that the parks are lemons to begin with.

Why do you think the parks belong to you and that you should have any say who uses them?

[thelakelander]

umm, let me take a stab at it....because the public (ex. me/you, etc.) paid/pay for them?

Park's in general aren't lemons, but most would agree that this particular location is one instance where we would have been better off spending $700k of taxpayer money somewhere else.

[gatorback]

not being one, it's public they have as much right to it as the rest of us don't you think?

[thelakelander]

Who are they?  Everyone has a right to use it and I would hope more people would.  However, that does not justify the expense if you could have done better elsewhere with the same amount of money.

[gatorback]

Will do.  Living on the street is tough.  Nobody wants you.  You can't get a job.  You can't afford to ride the bus.  Nobody wants you on their property. You're pretty much screwed all around.  And if it's a public park then let them have it.  If it cost $1M, $2M, I'm sorry that's just the way it is I'm sure one of the good old boys got the contract poured a lot of concrete and paid taxes and employed their friends.

I see this one asian lady everybody at the bus stop.  With her bags.  That could be you.  It practically was me if not for friends, but not everybody has that support network. 

[gatorback]

Who is they?  Everyone has a right to use it and I would hope more people would.  However, that does not justify the expense if you could have done better elsewhere with the same amount of money.

Jacksonville?  Justify the expense.  Listen to what you're saying.  lol

[thelakelander]

That doesn't mean its right.  You strive to do better.  If there were not people who would strive to make better uses out of the city's resources it would be worse off today.  For residents and the homeless.  Don't get trick into accepting status quo.  If that were the case, people like me would still be forced to sit at the back of the bus or pick cotton with no pay.

[gatorback]

I salute the taxpayers that elected those council members that built that park because if just one person found a peaceful moment from the tragic lives they live, which you are only lucky to not have been dealt, then to me it  was worth it.