Learning from Greenville, SC

[idraterbfishin]

I have lived in Greenville for 21 years, and my brother attended law school at UF, so I am very familiar with jacksonville.  Greenville is a much better city for pedestrians, the core of business and entertainment is all within a 3 mile radius.  Also the Falls Park mentioned in the article is connected to Northern Greenville and the massive Cleveland Park by a 27 mile long paved path.  As for the free parking that has been talked about on this post, the main street free parking is limited to two hours as to keep business people away.  It does not mention that the parking garages in Greenville are free on weekends as well.  The garages do cost 50 cents an hour during the week.  The downtown crowd and the residents of the surrounding areas of downtown are highly educated, not the idiots mentioned in a previous post.  Like Jacksonville is to Gator sports, Greenville is to Clemson.  Jacksonville does have the Atlantic Ocean, an NFL team, and the Landing.  I believe Jacksonville could benefit from downsizing its city limits so tax dollars could flow into downtown beautification, and not into housing projects.

[duvaldude08]

Well unfortunately "downsizing" the city limits is not in our power. The consolidation took place in 1968 and Im sure it be heck trying to reverse that. Consilidation is the reason Jacksonville's situation is much different than other cities. in our situation, consolidation Zapped our downtown to almost nothing. That and the extreme racial tension that caused everyone to spread out in attempt to get away from each other. And the city government at the time did nothing to stop or control. And city government there after ignored the problem. People in Jacksonville are so used to not going downtown, it doesnt bother them. It bothers outsiders more than it bothers the citizens of Jacksonville. I personally would like to see downtown grow and develop, but most citizens are perched in their suburbian world and could care less.

That's why I always say not to compare Jax to any other city, but we have our own set of unique issues that need to be addressed. and honestly until we get a mayor in office who actually cares, not much of anything will change about downtown.

[vicupstate]

I don't think consolidation is the issue at all, and never has been, IMO. 

Indianapolis is consolidated and has a great DT.  Same for Nashville.  Denver too, albeit the geographic size is small.  Louisville hasn't been consolidated very long, but it does have a great DT.

Houston is HUGE and sprawled out like crazy, yet DT Houston is experiencing a renaissance as well.   

Charlotte is technically not consolidated but it is large and sprawled-out geographically, yet DT is the core of the city in every respect, and is has made a huge revival too.


The REAL reason DT Jax suffers is it's leadership, or the lack thereof, along with a dearth of understanding as to what makes an urban area successful.  It's past time to drop the 'consolidation' excuse.

[CS Foltz]

The REAL reason DT Jax suffers is it's leadership, or the lack thereof, along with a dearth of understanding as to what makes an urban area successful.  It's past time to drop the 'consolidation' excuse.

vicupstate..........you hit the nail right on the head!! Consolidation has nothing to do with petty,take care of your buddies and a severe lack of ethical leadership! From the head hockey puck on down! Until we get a complete change at City Hall..........there ain't squat gonna happen!

[simms3]

The things I noticed that Greenville did do well (and I didn't park so can't notice that) was the fact that they too had a "spine" in Main St (looked kind of like a Tryon St in Charlotte without 50 floor buildings).  They also had a good amount of plaza/greenspace and they have that great park right there.  It reminded me of a Decatur in Atlanta, but more attractive and slightly larger.

By the way, something interesting about the general area.  In addition to the absurd amount of churches (mostly Baptist or evangelical it seemed) and religious signs/billboards, their Bob Jones University is completely walled and gated.  I know that universities are supposed to be a little private to provide some sense of safety for the students, but they are also supposed to encourage and supply a free flow of ideas between a community and the school.  GT and Emory both have walls and nice "entrance ways" but both are completely accessible to the public and both flow out into the surrounding area to help shape the community.  GSU basically IS downtown Atlanta nowadays and is doing great things and there are no walls or gates except in the Commons (the main dorm building).  Just an interesting observation.