Jacksonville is #1 at something!

[ProjectMaximus]

Oh, that very distant far away Mayport FL, yup it's definitely out of Jax's metro. SMH

Their point was that those aren't Naval Air Stations. not that it's not in/near Jax.

[ProjectMaximus]

To me, this report solidifies every other study done showing that young professionals with college degrees by and large do not suffer from the unemployment problems that other demographics face.  If anything, this offers even more fuel to the argument that the City should re-invest in the types of things that make Jacksonville an attractive place for college-educated young professionals.   

Look no further than the thoughts of former City of Jacksonville Planning Director (now the State of Florida's Director of Community Development at the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity) Bill Killingsworth:

CEOs for Cities published a report they call the Talent Dividend. Their research indicates that for every %1 increase in college attainment there is a $763 increase in per capita income. Some simple math indicates that just striving for average would net 2.5 billion dollars for Duval County annually.  That's a powerful argument for Jacksonville adding a vibrant urban product to it's real estate portfolio.

Great point! And insight from Killingsworth.

[I-10east]

Oh, that very distant far away Mayport FL, yup it's definitely out of Jax's metro. SMH

Their point was that those aren't Naval Air Stations. not that it's not in/near Jax.

You're right, my bad. That was such a poorly written article, I got confused in the backwash LOL

[I-10east]

Very interesting and extremely hard to believe.  I've always been underwhelmed by the trickle down effect of the military economy in Jax (I suppose relative to Norfolk, Seattle, San Antonio or San Diego where there are huge military hospitals

Of these four cities, only one of them has a VA Hospital, San Diego. I'm not gonna even trip on Norfolk as Hampton, VA (VA Hospital location) is only like 16 miles away. The closest VA Hospital to San Antonio is Kerrville, TX up I-10 West, about 65 miles roughly the same distance from Jacksonville to Gainesville's VA. The closest VA Hospital to Seattle is at a considerable distance, 164 miles down I-5 in Vancouver, WA (Portland, OR's metro; The other two Wash VA Hospitals are way in Walla Walla, and Spokane)

Although most heavily populated cities have VA Hospitals in the US, it's not a 'gimme'. It was all controlled by the Feds a long time ago by most accounts. So it's not like the higher ups in Jax are opposed to receiving a VA Hospital. As for hospital transit here in Jax, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) does a wonderful job transporting vets (VIA van) to and from their appointments or hospital stays in G-ville and Lake City. I used it a couple of times.   

[simms3]

Very interesting and extremely hard to believe.  I've always been underwhelmed by the trickle down effect of the military economy in Jax (I suppose relative to Norfolk, Seattle, San Antonio or San Diego where there are huge military hospitals

Of these four cities, only one of them has a VA Hospital, San Diego. I'm not gonna even trip on Norfolk as Hampton, VA (VA Hospital location) is only like 16 miles away. The closest VA Hospital to San Antonio is Kerrville, TX up I-10 West, about 65 miles roughly the same distance from Jacksonville to Gainesville's VA. The closest VA Hospital to Seattle is at a considerable distance, 164 miles down I-5 in Vancouver, WA (Portland, OR's metro; The other two Wash VA Hospitals are way in Walla Walla, and Spokane)

Although most heavily populated cities have VA Hospitals in the US, it's not a 'gimme'. It was all controlled by the Feds a long time ago by most accounts. So it's not like the higher ups in Jax are opposed to receiving a VA Hospital. As for hospital transit here in Jax, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) does a wonderful job transporting vets (VIA van) to and from their appointments or hospital stays in G-ville and Lake City. I used it a couple of times.   

This is getting off topic (my fauly), but you were trying so desperately to disprove me for some reason.  Mincing of words and you're so wrong it's worth noting.

Naval Medical Center is in Portsmouth, VA, less than 2 miles from Norfolk.  It has 9 area branches, thousands of beds at its primary location, robust research, etc etc.  You're right that technically the main VA hospital in the metro is in Hampton, 16 miles away.  It has 468 beds!  (Jacksonville's big new VA center is outpatient and has "50+" beds).

San Antonio is the indisputable hub of medical healthcare research and care, as well as defense contracting.  SA has Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), which is 2.1 million SF and 425 beds (basically similar in size to St. Vincent's or Baptist  or Shands).  This is the military's largest inpatient medical hospital, and it's within 5 miles of downtown.  Also within a few miles of DT is the 59th Medical Wing of the US Military, which is the Air Force's premium healthcare, medical, research, and readiness wing in the US with the DoD's only Trauma I Center in the country.  This hospital alone employs 6,000 military and civilian employees.  The VA Hospital is also IN SA, on Fort Sam Houston (1,112 beds!!!), mere miles from downtown.  So you're wrong there.  SA's big military trickle downs aren't just in healthcare, but in organizations (USAA...look it up as it's HQ'd there, huge, and in actual military and defense contracting).

Having driven I-10W out of SA, there is nothing 65 miles to the west.  Absolutely nothing.  All of the military operations are within an area that is equivalent to the beltway around Jacksonville.

Seattle has Madigan Hospital (205 beds), Naval Hospital Bremerton (72 beds), VA Puget Sound - which is not in Seattle proper but a few miles outside in metro (474 beds), and Western Regional Medical Command.  Naval Base Kitsap 13,000 military employees, 13,000 DoD employees, and 10,000 civilian employees.  From what I can find, Mayport has 14,000 military employees and 1,200 civilian employees.

I won't even bring up San Diego's military medical facilities...aside from VA they also have official medical hospitals and research centers with programs tied to UCSD, a top-rated university in this country.

It's not entirely about "VA Hospitals" (in which case you're way wrong in your infor...), but the fact that these other military cities and still others not mentioned have huge supporting industries that aren't found in Jax.

[I-10east]

^^^My bad, I got owned, what can I say LOL. The VA's site had 'VA Health Care System' listed for many of those large city VA Hospitals, but for whatever reason, they weren't listed under 'VA Medical Center' (where I was getting my 'info' from) Weirdly G-ville had 'North FL South GA Veterans Heath System' under 'VA Health Care system' fair enough, but ALSO the G-ville VA Hospital was listed under 'VA Medical Center' unlike those other cities which confused the hell outta me.

That VA Hospital in Kerrville, TX is 65 miles NW of San Antonio (after SA, I-10 goes up NW). Jax definitely could use more significant supporting  infrastructure. I'll own up to being wrong. It's been a very crappy start of the week for me anyway, and that misinformation post is only fitting.

[I-10east]

^^^Oh, Stephen, because surely you have never done that before. Are you right all of the time? If not, when was the last time that you owned up to YOUR mistakes? *crickets*

[I-10east]

you came on pretty strong only to find out you were mistaken.

No sh*t Stephen. I thought that I already said that I was wrong (something you will never say). Only you Stephen had to rub it in unnecessarily, no one else only you, way to go!!!!

[simms3]

Oh folks...no need to bicker, I was totally trashed when I wrote my response anyway and have no recollection of it!  I think the bottom line is that the OP article states Jacksonville's military presence as one of the features that keeps 25-34 unemployment low, and that may be, but the city's status as a "military town" is a bit overblown in my opinion when the bases keep shrinking and there are no major supporting industries to note that I can find as I can for other so-called military towns.

Having a large military hospital presence - lots of 25-34 year old nurses for instance.  We have a shitty VA center that's an outpatient center that is ugly and replaced a block full of historic buildings that could have been rehabbed.  Even relative to Jacksonville's size, the VA center is small, let alone the fact that Jacksonville supposedly has one of the largest vet populations in the country and is a military city.  It's just odd, that's all.

The military presence in the Bay Area gifted the area with its tech industry, which is *the* quintessential 20-34 employer for instance.

[John P]

What are the largest employers for professionals of this age? Financial services and healthcare?

[Tacachale]

^I believe it goes military & attached jobs, despite Simms' perceptions, then financial services, then health services. I'll have to check. That basically tracks with all age groups; young people may just be comparatively over-represented in those fields.