HUD kicks in $'s to Assist in TOD Planning at 12 SunRail Stations

[fsujax]

of course they have and they are being rewarded by the federal governemnt with cash to do more. We on the other hand will continue to be losers with backwards thinking on development.

[JeffreyS]

The mobility plan had the potential to move us in that direction but we put it in the freezer.

That is an aspect of the moratorium that really has gotten overlooked.  Just like Lori Boyer mentioned about Council being more receptive to one's ideas if they are organized and have identified sources of funding... having funding in place for projects in the mobility plan would have better attracted matching monies from federal or private organizations and get shovels in the dirt.

Virtually no short terms jobs will be created with the moratorium, and this is amplified b/c it eliminates the possibility for both short term and long term economic prospects stemming from capital improvement projects identified in the Mobility plan.

One thing I learned during this recession is the critical need to reinvest in yourself while others chose not to.  That's the only way you're going to get ahead in business or in life.

I give MetroJacksonville credit for five years they have been telling the city and state that the recession is an opportunity to invest in themselves while labor is cheap and others don't.  Sadly we believe that if we don't spend any money the private sector is going to come in nurse maid us.

[fieldafm]

Sadly we believe that if we don't spend any money the private sector is going to come in nurse maid us.

I firmly believe the private sector has to lead development(this isn't the old USSR where govt builds everything)... but the city has to provide sufficient infrastructure and transportation services in areas where there is opportunity for sustainable development(read not building new expensive highways to exurbs like more beltways), along with an environment friendly to high density development(land use policies, etc) that they currently do not exhibit now.  The city has to reconnect the surrounding urban neighborhoods that they themselves deliberately cutoff.  It's time to re-connect and the city must provide a path to do so that allows private infill development to complete the process.

The Mobility Plan is amazing, the next step further is modifying zoning... unfortunately short sided thinking is making the first step less relevant at the moment.

[JeffreyS]

The private sector is going to lead you out to some swamp land they can buy cheaply. Then they will want all of the roads, utilities, schools ect ect paid for by government. At least that is the modern history of development so it costs more , is less sustainable and useable than if they government leads the private sector on how they want their community developed.

Now you have said kinda of the same thing as me accept you don't want to accept the reality of where it is going if the private sector leads.

Leaders should be elected.

[Jdog]

During a conversation I was scoffed at by personnel with St Johns County Growth Management when I reminded them about potential commuter rail and BRT down Route 1 and that they should consider encouraging higher density growth at possible intersection sites with Route 1 (i.e., at a new aligned CR 210 and Route 1 location) and find a way to reserve some space for a potential, future transit stop.   

It's hard getting planners to plan when they don't know how to plan (or, actually, they border on being anti-planning).   

 

[fieldafm]

Now you have said kinda of the same thing as me accept you don't want to accept the reality of where it is going if the private sector leads.

You would never see the development patterns we have today in Jacksonville if the city never built highways literally in the middle of the surrounding urban neighborhoods that created a mote surrounding downtown, much like the mote surrounding the fort in St Augustine... then built major roadways and highways that drove traffic patterns out to cheap land.  You really think that Deerwood/Tinseltown area would be the center of employment and populatin density in Jacksonville had JTB never been built?  I am currently typing this from land that used to be a farm until land use policies were modified and then asphalt paved its way through it.

Guess who modified those land use policies and built the road?  Guess who put a highway in the middle of North Riverside, Durkeeville and San Marco?  Guess who bulldozed all of LaVillaand later bulldozed an entire section of Main Street? Guess who let a park system rot that connected the Northbank with Springfield and subsequently encouraged traffic patterns that moved people quickly away from downtown that ruined the walkable core of the city?  It wasn't private developers.