Clean Up of Annie Lytle School Continues This Weekend

[Timkin]

2012-354


RESO Conf Appt of Cora Jones Hackley as a History Rep to the Historic Preservation Comm, Replacing Lisa L Simon for 1st Full Term exp 3/4/14. (Sidman) (Req of Mayor)

1. 5/22/2012 CO Introduced: R

6/4/2012 R Read 2nd & Rerefer

2. 6/12/2012 CO Read 2nd & Rereferred; R

Several preservation-minded Springfield folks did put in an application. 

She Clown.. have you ever met Ms Hackley?  Just curious.

[sheclown]

2012-354


RESO Conf Appt of Cora Jones Hackley as a History Rep to the Historic Preservation Comm, Replacing Lisa L Simon for 1st Full Term exp 3/4/14. (Sidman) (Req of Mayor)

1. 5/22/2012 CO Introduced: R

6/4/2012 R Read 2nd & Rerefer

2. 6/12/2012 CO Read 2nd & Rereferred; R

Several preservation-minded Springfield folks did put in an application. 

She Clown.. have you ever met Ms Hackley?  Just curious.

no.

[Timkin]

Just wondering how preservation-oriented she is .

[Timkin]

Good turnout again today .. During the week , Ralph W and his trusty chainsaw , continued taking down and trimming trees..   The crew today mostly worked at putting that stuff to the street but came nowhere close to getting it all.

Today I went in the building after JSO did a sweep on it to make sure we didn't have residents lurking .   Took down a sizable really beautiful Sycamore Tree.  hated taking it down but it was growing out of the roof system and so it really needed to come out.. We also cleaned out a good bit of Wild Lantana growing on the roof System.


For anyone who might like firewood , there is truck loads of it curbside on College and curbside on the FDOT right of way, at the corner of Peninsular and Chelsea.


Thanks again to all the participants and will see you again soon.  I will be there again next Saturday and possibly at times through the week with Ralph to clear more of the accumulation of cut up limbs, etc. 


Will upload pictures to Lakelander later today.  Ralph W took some as well and hopefully can do the same .

[Timkin]

July 7, 2012..... We resume at 8 am.  Everyone needed a break and it was ungodly hot last weekend.  So I know it is a bit late to post but will be there in the morning. several joining in , will send updated pictures to Lake to post.

Thanks everyone !!!!

[Timkin]

With trusty volunteer, Ralph whittling away this past week with his chainsaw, the results this week are nothing short of astounding.  This guy is just amazing and the amount of work he accomplished by himself is nothing short of Jaw-dropping.  Stop by Annie Lytle . Ride down Chelsea Street to observe yard debris piled the length of the property , curbside(not actually on the street)  The visibility into the property from all sides from the commencement of this year's effort in early June to present is a night and day difference.  Today Ralph continued on as Trish, her daughter and myself put debris curbside.  The two of them worked incredibly diligently and accomplished so much , it was just astounding.  Not sure what the temp was today,but certainly was hot and despite this ,we pressed on.  Trish's daughter was also kind enough to take updated pictures of the progress, which we will have uploaded soon.

If you go by and cannot tell the difference that our group has made on this place, its highly possible you are looking in the wrong direction.

We resume next Saturday, 8am.   Sincere thanks to all for your tireless efforts. 

I know it is July and probably the last thought on anyone's mind is obtaining firewood. We invite you however to stop by the School .. There are stacks of cut manageable pieces of firewood. Literally truck loads of it curbside on College and on Chelsea/Peninsular.  Please help us and take advantage of free firewood which will come in handy before you know it.  Thank you !!!

[Timkin]

And just yesterday evening , I sent over to Lakelander , updated pictures of the progress around the building.   Its getting there. 

We resume  work every Saturday morning around 8 am ,just in case anyone in the community is interested in joining our group and continuing the cleanup.

We are getting close to ordering those dumpsters and beginning the TASK (understatement)  of the interior clean out.

We hope the community will embrace our efforts and come join us.... we need all the hands we can possibly get to make this happen rapidly.  Thanks again so much MJ and community!!!!

[Timkin]

Saturday , August 4th will mark 2 months since we resumed work on the School after a nearly 2 year halt.  It was like it had never been touched.   In 8 weeks , we have cleared one of the Courtyards completely, the second one about 40%.. Have removed most dying, and non-contributing , and weed trees from up against the building, out of fence lines , removed probably in the neighborhood of 60-70 yards of vines, cat briar, Virginia creeper, wild lantana, etc from Courtyards, off of the building, out of its back yard, and have probably now 60% of the back yard cleared. about 80% of the College St side cleared , cleaned up and mowed,  Around the same for the Front of the School, and down the Chelsea St. side of the property. Additionally we have cleaned the fence lines almost entirely along College and Chelsea.  Visibility into the property from commencement to present is a night and day comparison. We have trimmed about 1/3 of the property's contributing trees , greatly doing away with the blight and lack of visibility looking into the property.  Have lost count of the bags of trash bagged up, Pickup truck load after load of construction debris and broken , destroyed , burned elements tossed out of the Building by vandals.  In the weeks to come ,we hope to complete the work in the Back yard.. Clearing it and the 3 adjacent lots , all the way to Roselle Street.  Removing a few remaining non-contributing, seriously diseased and dying trees , replacing concrete coverings of the front planters on either side of the entrance steps.  Following that, we will attempt to get a water source to the building so that we can pressure-wash the Cornice trim all the way around the building and Capital.  We want to repair the damage done to the Capital by the Crane which struck it , during the building of the fly-over ramp, that was never fixed.  We want to paint the roof line and the base of the building stair rails , columns, Portico , side entrances and trim all the way around the School, all to one uniform color, perhaps the cement color it once was, and keep plenty of paint on hand, as we know taggers will always try to undo what we try to make better.

Upon completion of this work we will move to the interior... the much harder part of this process. We essentially want to clear the building entirely , all floors , staircases, every room of any and all debris, remove the remaining failed parts of the Auditorium roof, and extensive vegetation growing within.   The list is extensive..  When we are done, our hope is that the building will finally be in a proper "Mothball" status, ready to undergo refurbishment.  We also hope that for the first time in decades, people will drive by it and not see it any longer as an "eyesore" but looking promising for some practical use.   One of the volunteers who happen to do restoration on old homes in the Jacksonville area , thinks that the School would be best utilized to be restored as a School and perhaps offer a variety of curriculum , including  Historic Renovation. He also feels it should always remain known as "Annie Lytle", as a tribute to the Lady who once graced it's halls and set a prominent example . 

We have to try and we hope we can get the entire community to see this "poster child"  of Demolition by TOTAL NEGLECT and help us turn it's course.  It is not too late by any means..  We have to make it happen, just as the SOS group is making it happen in Springfield, and may I just mention, doing a TOP NOTCH job of doing so !!!

Saturday Aug. 4th 8 am .. we resume...!!!!!

[Timkin]

Images from the Cleanup effort meeting on June 30th 2012 ...
























Photos by Tricia and Rachael Thorburn, PS4 Volunteers , with sincere thanks

[Timkin]

More photos from the June 30th Cleanup.... 













Photos courtesy of PS#4 Cleanup Volunteer Rachael Thorburn   

Clearly, we are making progress !   

[Timkin]

With 3 new volunteer signups today and 5 of us present, we continued on.. More trash bagged, Accumulated piles of debris in the yard to the curb, have pretty well caught up with Ralph's work as he is taking a brief recess.  Cleaned up Chelsea side entrance and even swept the stairs and terrace. Same at the back on College St.

  Its looking better and better all the time, and it is truly inspiring that more and more people are showing interest and pitching in.

Thanks so much to the group and their efforts today.. awesome results.








From the August 4th, 2012 effort.. a few photos , Courtesy of PS#4 Volunteer Carol Woods.  Thanks Carol










More to follow !!!  Many thanks to Carol, Andy ,and Elisa , all new PS4 Volunteers for their amazing efforts this weekend. To Tricia for her repeated tireless efforts.  To Ralph for his stellar efforts over and over and over, leaving us massive piles to clean up.  Some of the pics over the past efforts look like duplicates.  Go by the School and you will see , that it is simply years of accumulation of trash, vegetation, destroyed features of the School tossed out into the Courtyards, and Old plywood coverings , that are leaving once and for all.

We resume August 11th and welcome anyone who wishes to join !!

Code Enforcement stopped by while we were working ..  I think even they are impressed!  I shook hands with them and told them  we would address the issues as rapidly as we possibly can!!  They drove away !

[Ralph W]

Tim, what happened to the photos? I'm in Rhode Island digging for clams and Quahogs. No chainsaw needed.

[Timkin]

I think resolved now.  Not sure. We'll see .

[AshleyLauren]

Timkin, out of sincere curiosity, why School 4??

[Timkin]

Timkin, out of sincere curiosity, why School 4??

Please clarify?  Are you asking me why we are cleaning it up?

  1. Nobody else seems to want to or cares enough to do it.

  2.  It is an awesome building , has some great features and is very definitely savable.

  3. We feel that doing this effort is probably the only hope the building has of ever being moved forward toward being put back into use. 

   4.We hope in cleaning up the property and the building and making it look as good as humanly possible ( Much like PSOS is doing with homes in Springfield) , that this will attract a potential investor or group of investors.


We may do all of this work and still lose the building.  Who can say?  This is , after all , Jacksonville. We have to try to save it.  Without our efforts , it remains a blight and an eyesore and we want to remove both, but keep the building in place.

I have loved this building all my life and I seriously fail to understand why, of all the buildings in Jax, it was deliberately left to deteriorate and be vandalized to the point that it now is, presently.  We will never have answers to that, and it no longer matters. What does is that someone is now addressing it.  I hope it will spark some hope for it and cause other groups in the community to work on other blighted areas, such as PS4.   PSOS  is doing essentially (actually an even better job) the same thing, one old house at a time.   It is about saving our historic places.    We don't have that many left.

Everyone picks a battle.  This one is mine and the awesome team of people over the years and presently , who choose to make it better. 
   
  Our position is, we clearly are improving the property and the building.   I think that is preferable over continuing to let it deteriorate. Many adjacent neighbors  and folks in the community have expressed gratitude for the effort to make it better.  I guess that is worth something.

Wish more groups would address other buildings like Annie Lytle , that need the love and cleanup.    This project is pretty big and is going to be on-going for some time to come.  If the City, Code enforcement , and the owners have an ounce of decency, since it is costing them little to nothing  to back up and let us do this, they will do so , and let us continue.  The only way we can take it , is to a better state.  Vandals have already done most of the tear out. We just have to cart it off now. 

I hope that is a reasonable answer to your question.