Hemming Park Problem

[fsujax]

hopefully, they take out those God awful water oaks!

[tufsu1]

Meanwhile, I am at UPS store and parked at a meter that only gives you thirty minutes.

at the request of the UPS owner, nearby meters were reduced from 1-2 hours....there was a concern that short-term drop-in customers couldn't find spaces because of semi-long-term parkers.

[Debbie Thompson]

Back to the park.  It's beautiful.  For goodness sake, leave it alone.  More security. Provide daytime assistance for the homeless that gather there because they have nowhere else to go.  Cheap plastic chairs and tables chained up?  AWFUL!!!!!    Whose idea was THAT? 

[Jaxson]

Would it be nice to have a summer concert series in the park.  Plenty of local bands would benefit if the concerts are planned right.

[fsujax]

The park was beautiful when it was first built. Look at all the old pictures full of flowers, shrubs, stately palms, grass it looked like Florida. Today it looks ugly.

[John P]

hopefully, they take out those God awful water oaks!

If I don't finish my business within the next 18 minutes and get the hell out of downtown, then Im going to get another 15 dollar ticket.

No doubt I will have to forgo the pleasures of the park today.

pay $5 and you can spend the whole day downtown. thats cheap

[Jaxson]

The park was beautiful when it was first built. Look at all the old pictures full of flowers, shrubs, stately palms, grass it looked like Florida. Today it looks ugly.

Hemming Plaza today looks very dated, and not in a good way.  Its last major revamp attempted to turn it into a facsimile of the suburban shopping centers - down to the surrounding the Confederate monument with fountains.  Overall, in my opinion, it does not look like a historic urban park with a story to tell but it does look like a brick and concrete attempt to beautify an area that already had character.  Most importantly, it appears that all of the city powers are powerless when it comes to crafting solutions to this situation.

[WmNussbaum]

How about putting a parking meter next to each chair? Want to sit? Okay, just 25 cents for a half hour during the work day. Meter expired? Move on!

Just joking. Maybe. I guess a bunch of meters would just make the place uglier.

Pipe classical music all over the park 24/7. Okay, maybe a show tune or two - just no hard rock or rap (not that rap qualifies as music).

Can all the pamphlet boxes be eliminated? How about charging a fair amount of money to put one on a public sidewalk, right-of-way, etc.? (Does anyone know if fees are charged now?) I think some  are legitimate - like the T-U and Folio - but I am sick of seeing all the cars-for-sale, apartments-for-rent crap around town. I think I'm going to start saving my dog's poop bags and emptying them into some of those ugly boxes.

Build a kiosk with some refrigeration and rent out cheaply and short-term to a florist. Seeing flowers for sale while you're walking around really lifts your spirits.  Get the local florists' association to help with getting members to sign up for a week or so.

[Adam W]

hopefully, they take out those God awful water oaks!

If I don't finish my business within the next 18 minutes and get the hell out of downtown, then Im going to get another 15 dollar ticket.

No doubt I will have to forgo the pleasures of the park today.

pay $5 and you can spend the whole day downtown. thats cheap

actually, you can't.  not in the actual downtown, john.

And compared to the prices in the suburbs,-----which is free, incidentally--- its not cheap.

Not even when you pull back and look at it in the larger picture.

The downtown parking also costs 1.2 million dollars annually to enforce.  All of us pay that price.  And thats not including the lease rape that happens to the downtown businesses who are forced to additionally pay outrageous amounts to the parking garages in order to complete their commercial leases.  25% of the total lease pricing downtown is paid for parking.

Its not cheap.

And if you want to know why most people will not use Hemming Park, the parking enforcement element of downtown is the reason.  Not the configuration of the benches in the park.

But thanks for being asinine anyways, I suppose.

There is a flipside to that, though: it's hard enough to find on-street parking Downtown even with the meters. If on-street parking were free, it would be close to impossible. I'm just going on my own experience (and it's 5 years out-of-date), but I always found it challenging (at the very least) to find parking downtown. At least meters cause people to move.

That said, a 30 minute limit is a bit harsh. I think an hour or two would be more reasonable.

[thelakelander]

The key to finding on street parking is to park on side streets and walk a block or two to your desired destination.  You'll have no problem ever finding a space west of Julia Street, north of Church and east of Main (assuming you're north of Forsyth).  Even during the day, you could lay down in half of these streets and not worry about getting ran over by a car.  I have a few people in my office who continuously circle the block waiting for someone to move from a space near the front door, instead of parking and walking a block.  Completely silly, imo.

[John P]

I looked at the park today again. The oak trees dont block anything. There are bushes on top of the planters and some small crepes and bushes that need trimming that do block sight, but the oak trees do not.

[mtraininjax]

Good article in the Sunday Paper by Littlepage regarding Hemming Plaza. I don't agree with him, but he did make some good points.

[mtraininjax]

Even during the day, you could lay down in half of these streets and not worry about getting ran over by a car.

Have you seen the average teenager at the wheel? Texting in one hand and talking on the phone in the other. They might as well think they are driving on the Autobahn, let alone pay attention to the road ahead. I have also seen way too many people going the wrong direction down our so-called 1-way streets. Driving downtown is as bad as it is in the burbs!

[ronchamblin]

The below email was sent to me from Dan MacDonald, who is Denise Lee’s assistant:

“It was decided that with the final report being submitted to the AD Hoc Hemming Plaza Committee that there is no need for any further sub-committee meeting at this time. The Ad Hoc Committee offered its thanks and congratulations for the serious work done by the members of the sub-committee. Its recommendations will be an important part of the final report that is presented to City Council President Stephen Joost.”

It looks like however that the meeting of the AD Hoc committee, to which “all interested parties” are invited, will be held on April 18th in the Don Davis room at city hall, at 10:00 a.m.  I presume that this might be the last meeting before submittal of the final report to the City Council.  Therefore, if any of you want to impress upon the city council members who will be present; that is, Denise Lee, Don Redman, and Bill Gilliford, the 18th would be a good time to do so. The meeting notice suggested that if anyone has questions about the 18th meeting, to contact Marilyn Allen at 630-1404.

My gut feeling is that we are seeing a momentum, on MJ and other environments, carrying the eventual decisions further from complete tree removal, complete table/chair removal; the two items seeming to gain the most opposition.  The tree question seems to be the most volatile item, whereas as long as the benches remain, some might tolerate the use of removable tables and chairs, something which I hope not to see.

Many seem too, to wish avoidance of spending much money on the park, partially because doing so would mean removal of certain amenities according to an old plan most of us disagree with; amenities such as trees and permanent tables and chairs. 

Lastly, I have to agree with Lake’s (Ennis’) persistent push for restrooms in the park.  What does the visitor think, on a Sunday, or in the evening, or even in the day, when they must face a non-restroom environment?  If not for now, surely in the future, when we’ve achieved a better balance of park “people”, we can place a restroom in the park. 

Most probably realize that not having a public restroom in the park area places a burden on the surrounding businesses, and even on the library, who do have restrooms.  Not only do the area’s small businesses pay maximum property taxes (zero property tax abatements) in spite of experimenting with and enduring the current low-foot-traffic city core, they must also provide and maintain, in spite of attempts to avoid and control it, restrooms for the public.  Having a restroom in the park, or near it, would avoid the occasional defecating and urinating throughout the area, behaviors apparently necessary not only from what we call the homeless, but also from the average citizen who finds themselves in the area on a “closed” day or night with nowhere to go.  Yes, while being closed, I’ve seen the average citizen, dressed quite well, use the alleyway near the Snyder Memorial church for a restroom.  Do you think that not having a restroom in the park is a negative for the overall image of the park environment, causing people to avoid it?  You bet.  Will a restroom in or near the park require a special design, and creative plan for security?  I think so.  Now might not be the time to place a public restroom in or near the park.  But soon, I hope it will be.

One more thing and I’ll shut up.  Our objective, no matter what, on this park thing, should be to increase the positives and decrease the negatives.  Although the persistence of the imbalance of park users “is” a negative, our decisions should not be persuaded excessively by this fact, but should, by assuming an eventual solution to it, be persuaded by our vision for the ideal, the vision of a park ready to serve all, at any time, by the best we can place in it, including the shade of oaks amongst the hot concrete of the city core.

[mtraininjax]

What does the visitor think, on a Sunday, or in the evening, or even in the day, when they must face a non-restroom environment?

We have this already, its called the Jacksonville Public Library Main Branch.