JAX 2025 Survey Results

[thelakelander]

I wanted to bump this thread to remind everyone that the next meeting is tonight from 6-8 at the convention center. It seems as though Metrojacksonville has turned into a bitch and whine fest, but if you really care about what is happening now and in the future in jacksonville you will be there to try and do something, instead of whining about nothing getting done. I hope to see mant MJ's there.

Considering the input to 2025 from most of the posters of MJ, I dont doubt that you will.  Especially as Ennis was invited and joined the effort before it got underway in the public.

So, it will no doubt be nice to have you join the rest of us who have been there since the beginning.

Where were you Stephen? I didn't find you or Lake, but did have a nice chat with Mayor Brown, Bill Bishop, Mike and John Noone.

I participated in the Transportation and Downtown categories.  Then I had to leave early to go speak at the follow up JCCI Forward event across the street.

Sitting at 2025 tonight, it was evidently clear why our downtown sucks.  It's the same tired ideas regurgitated over and over. 

It's beyond time for a new generation of placemakers to step up. 

I expected the ideas and issues mentioned in previous studies to rise to the top in this one as well.  Over the last 40 years, we've studied Jacksonville to death. We've come up with everything from moving sidewalks to turning LaVilla into a municipal golf course. There's not much new that will come to light that hasn't been discussed except one thing that's been mentioned on this site in the past.  That's modify policy, remove some hands out of the cookie jar and allow free market creativity and innovation to take control.  People are repopulating pedestrian scale neighborhoods all across the country.  We need to streamline policy and put to death some old bad ideas to help naturally facilitate that movement. For example, a mobility fee and plan starts to incentive and level the playing field for infill development.  Having a council member lobby for expansion of sprawl by approving a moratorium, does the exact opposite.  Another example is the gas tax situation, which Jim Bailey recently wrote about on Jax Daily Record.  I used to be against it's renewal until a recent discussion with Councilman Gulliford.  Cutting it does nothing but allow us to maintain our roads and transit less than what we do today and allows St. Johns and Clay County residents to work and play in Jax at Jax taxpayer's full expense. At some point, we have to stop being cheap and start investing in ourselves....and that point needs to happen quick!

With that said, the key to the success of JAX 2025 will hinge on the implementation phase.  If it leads to modification of old efforts to allow organic change and a will of the community to implement change for the better, we'll be on the right track.  If it ends up sitting on the self, it will be just like the rest of dusty planning documents in the library's special collections section.

[thelakelander]

What went on tonight?

We basically took vision statements created from previous efforts and listed ideas to incrementally move towards the general goals expressed in the statements with methods of how to track their progress. So for example, if you wanted to increase TOD and infill development along existing and future transit corridors, you might modify policy to incentivize that style of development pattern.  To effectively measure if you're making progress, you could track the number of building permits for new TOD/infill on an annual basis. 

[tufsu1]

I wanted to bump this thread to remind everyone that the next meeting is tonight from 6-8 at the convention center. It seems as though Metrojacksonville has turned into a bitch and whine fest, but if you really care about what is happening now and in the future in jacksonville you will be there to try and do something, instead of whining about nothing getting done. I hope to see mant MJ's there.

Considering the input to 2025 from most of the posters of MJ, I dont doubt that you will.  Especially as Ennis was invited and joined the effort before it got underway in the public.

So, it will no doubt be nice to have you join the rest of us who have been there since the beginning.

Where were you Stephen? I didn't find you or Lake, but did have a nice chat with Mayor Brown, Bill Bishop, Mike and John Noone.

Lakelander was there....didn't see Stephen though...and Ock, you fail to mention the 3 words we shared

[CG7]

The mayor spent 10-15 minutes at our table during the downtown portion, and spoke mainly about his disire to bring some beanch of all the Universities to downtown. We discussed the Urban planning dept of JU, and he said he would like something along the lines of SCAD. We mentioned a few enhancement to what we already have downtown, and he seemed pretty interested in a couple ideas. I know many people here share my sincere hope we can make something happen besides just another plan.

[Lucasjj]

The mayor sat with us for a while when I was in the Arts and Entertainment section. We were talking about SCAD with him as well and the benefit of having a school anchored there to help with art programs.

I thought the event last night was well attended and provided a lot of different views from a very diverse crowd. Implementation is key but it is real uplifting to see so many people coming together to try and make this work.

Plus we got to hear Lakelander speak at the JCCI Forward event explaining the importance of downtown connectivity.

[jcjohnpaint]

Does the mayor know that UNF used to hold art classes at MOCA?  We stopped teaching there because we did not have the student interest.  They also had to pay for parking.  If the mayor wants to do something by bringing art DT, then why not start with what we already have:  UNF already working DT.  Again, a pie in the sky idea of bringing SCAD into town to save the day instead of tapping into resources that already exist.  Also bringing SCAD into town could harm already existing programs at JU, FSCJ, and UNF.  All these depts are young and still fragile.   Personally, I think this mayor is more of a dreamer than a researcher. 

[tufsu1]

I think the idea was something "like SCAD"...not SCAD per se....so yes, fledgling programs at JU and UNF would count

[Lucasjj]

The mayor was not looking for SCAD or any school from outside Jacksonville. He mentioned the Art Institute and the need for colleges already in Jacksonville to be more present downtown. The work with MOCA and UNF was brought up.

The activity last night was to list what Jacksonville needs in a certain area and how to measure it. Our group suggested that the surrounding colleges need to have more presence to understand what is currently taking place and if there is demand from the students. The colleges would be the best place to start and know what can be provided and what is realistic. The city can then be that bridge to help faciliate the next step. No college is going to move downtown tomorrow, but programs like MOCA and UNF need to be encouraged and helped along.

[Tacachale]

Does the mayor know that UNF used to hold art classes at MOCA?  We stopped teaching there because we did not have the student interest.  They also had to pay for parking.  If the mayor wants to do something by bringing art DT, then why not start with what we already have:  UNF already working DT.  Again, a pie in the sky idea of bringing SCAD into town to save the day instead of tapping into resources that already exist.  Also bringing SCAD into town could harm already existing programs at JU, FSCJ, and UNF.  All these depts are young and still fragile.   Personally, I think this mayor is more of a dreamer than a researcher. 

That's a good point about art classes at MOCA, making classes work there from the city's end (eg, by allowing free parking) would be a good place to start.

And while I agree that getting something like SCAD downtown isn't realistic, I don't think we should see it as a bad thing if it were to happen. Jacksonville has too few higher ed options, not too many.

[jcjohnpaint]

Personally, I think having a SCAD architecture or urban planning chapter here would be great. 
We have been in the works for a new building for the Visual Arts Program for some time, maybe this would be a good start.  I don't think anyone would mind teaching DT.  We desperately need space none the less. 

[Overstreet]

Personally, I think having a SCAD architecture or urban planning chapter here would be great. .......

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It would likely mean a Dick Blick store would move in. 
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I don't think SCAD would be interested.  Of course FCCJ, or whatever, has been downtown......and UNF has been downtown. But interest is more toward their suburbane campuses.

[Ocklawaha]

Lakelander was there....didn't see Stephen though...and Ock, you fail to mention the 3 words we shared

I couldn't, I still had that damn gag you wrapped around my mouth!

[BrooklynSouth]

LOL! I just put a long post on another forum topic about moving UNF downtown! I had no idea the mayor was thinking about this. It is a stirring plan for me because putting student housing downtown near the classrooms would instantly bring hundreds or thousand of shoppers/pedestrians to the neighborhood. I've seen this at NYU and VCU.

[urbaknight]

Sitting at 2025 tonight, it was evidently clear why our downtown sucks.  It's the same tired ideas regurgitated over and over. 

It's beyond time for a new generation of placemakers to step up.

If the same ideas continue to be discussed, maybe they'll finally be implemented.

[kreger]

The mayor is right, we need any and all kinds of colleges, universities, and schools downtown. SCAD wouldn't set foot in a city without an HRO in place that protected everybody. If you want something different you have to do something different. Go ahead Alvin, take us to the next level...put an end to bigotry in JAX.