Exposing Jacksonville's "Phoenix"

[BackinJax05]

Dont know when the Evergreen Filling Station opened, but when I was a kid it was a repair shop owned by the late Herbert Packham. My grandparents & parents took their cars there for service.

Before computers diagnosed car problems there was Mr. Packham. This guy was amazing - and honest! He could tell what was wrong with a car simply by leaning over the engine and listening to the idle. Mr. Packham retired several years ago, and died a couple of years ago.

I also remember a little farther down 8th street a Hardees, a post office, a Dixie Vim gas station, and a Pic N Save.

PHOENIX would be a perfect neighborhood to gentrify!

[John P]

forgive me but I dont see anything as a "treat" there. It is extremly low income with significant crime. think Springfield pre 1984 but without as much crack violence. It took Riverside the better part of three decades to be revitalized to where it is today. Springfield is only half way there and has another decade to go. Phoenix or eastside is 0% of the way there. Check back in 25 years and it may be somewhere worth living or it may be gone all together because property owners cant take care of their homes and theres no historic designation preventing them from being demolished.

[thelakelander]

The "treat" would be the historic amenities that make up an urban neighborhood still standing.  These include the gridded streets, it's centralized location, long time companies still in operation, the neighborhood park and its preserved historic building fabric.  It terms of stimulating revitalization, it has multiple things to work with.  Many older urban communities don't have as much.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

BackinJax05, no.  let's not gentrify anything, thanks.  John P, really?  significant crime?  never heard ov a break-in or anything in the area the whole time i lived there, and the only time i heard gunshots was when some redneck neighbours (who left after a couple months) were shooting at some beer cans in their backyard.  what do you think makes a place worth living?

[peestandingup]

Lake is correct. Eastside is not nearly as bad as Springfield was back in the 80s. Plus, there's really not that many houses that are abandoned or look like they're ready to fall over/be demoed (something Spr is still struggling with today with a good chuck of their housing stock). Most of it looks to be quite livable if you're willing to accept it for what it is. Could it be better? Absolutely. But I def wouldn't give it a 0%.

But unfortunately John is right in saying that it could go either way. Things like this seem like they take forever here & are very flakey. If these neighborhoods were up north or out west somewhere, they'd be thriving. Most of it seems caused by the city's lack of vision & sitting on their hands.

Fixed transit would do wonders.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

Fixed transit would do wonders.

i agree with that wholeheartedly, and i think it's true for pretty much the whole city.

[BackinJax05]

Thanx, Lake 

A gentrified Phoenix would be treat!

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

BackinJac05, define gentrify, please.  because either it means something very different to you than to me, or you're a terrible human beïng.  possibly both, but definitely one ov the two.

[BackinJax05]

BackinJac05, define gentrify, please.  because either it means something very different to you than to me, or you're a terrible human beïng.  possibly both, but definitely one ov the two.

Learn to spell, and maybe we can talk. 

[Tacachale]

Lake is correct. Eastside is not nearly as bad as Springfield was back in the 80s. Plus, there's really not that many houses that are abandoned or look like they're ready to fall over/be demoed (something Spr is still struggling with today with a good chuck of their housing stock). Most of it looks to be quite livable if you're willing to accept it for what it is. Could it be better? Absolutely. But I def wouldn't give it a 0%.

But unfortunately John is right in saying that it could go either way. Things like this seem like they take forever here & are very flakey. If these neighborhoods were up north or out west somewhere, they'd be thriving. Most of it seems caused by the city's lack of vision & sitting on their hands.

Fixed transit would do wonders.

East Jacksonville in the 2010s (or 2020s) would have an easier go of revitalization than Springfield in the 1980s for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, because it's not the 1980s. Compared to the 1980s peak, drug-related crime, and in due course, violent crime in general, is down and continues to decrease. Second, so much of Springfield's revitalization has focused on the high end of the real estate. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but Eastside structures wouldn't require nearly that level of investment; they're more like outer Riverside in that way. And third, in contrast to the 1980s, urbanism is established in Jacksonville. There are demonstrably more people with those interests now.

With a little momentum, I'm convinced this could be Jacksonville's next great urban neighborhood.

[BackinJax05]

^^ I agree. Everything is already in place in Phoenix.

[John P]

Go for it. You can rent a room by the night there for $10.

[Tacachale]

Or we could just whinge. That's productive.

[Roger904]

What's wrong with gentrification?

[Ocklawaha]

What's wrong with gentrification?

On the surface, nothing at all, but a bit deeper and the word (in some circles) has come to mean racial purification of a neighborhood. If that is the modern accepted definition then there is everything wrong with it.