Deliberate Hemming Park Neglect and DeAmenitization

[thelakelander]

What was discussed about Hemming Plaza at the meeting you attended?

[Noone]

To tell you the truth after listening to the Enforcement parking code update and how parking fine notices are going to be sent out along with the penalties then rolling fines I just don't seem to recall any substance given when Hemming Plaza came up. Terry Lorrince with DVI was there. A lot of this going forward in my opinion will be done behind the scenes then snippets of positive or negative announcements without any information for the Public.

There were a lot of other people there and maybe they can add an observation.

[peestandingup]

They couldn't be bothered with at least replacing the holes with bricks so it doesn't look like complete crap?? Fucking savages.

[IrvAdams]

I like seeing people in the park; talking, playing board games, relaxing, preaching - whatever. It's a park. A gathering place. A place to meet, not pass through.

[thelakelander]

Unfortunately, there are those in influential positions who don't like the park's economic and racial balance.

[ronchamblin]

Hemming Park conveys truths about our society, and therefore it conveys beauty.  It conveys realities ..  the needs of the community, the need for jobs, and need for concern for those less able, as a consequence of our destroyed economy, to survive within it.   

Although I understand the efforts by some to cleans it, to replace truth and beauty with a false and unreal perfection -- we should consider the value of the truths portrayed -- as the truth can be a force for fundamental change -- a much needed gain for those less favored by the circumstances of our failed economy.

[Keith-N-Jax]

When the economy was booming there still was those less favored. You can create as many jobs as you like,, homeless people will still be there. Some not all don't want to work.

[peestandingup]

When the economy was booming there still was those less favored. You can create as many jobs as you like,, homeless people will still be there. Some not all don't want to work.

You do realize a large chunk of the homeless population have some sort of mental illness, right?

[Keith-N-Jax]

You did read the part where I said some right?

[ChriswUfGator]

When the economy was booming there still was those less favored. You can create as many jobs as you like,, homeless people will still be there. Some not all don't want to work.

You do realize a large chunk of the homeless population have some sort of mental illness, right?

That plus the simple fact that there are no longer enough low and mid-level jobs for the size of the workforce in this country. Offshoring has had real consequences, and the surge in the homeless population nationwide is a visible reminder. Most of these people got where they are because they can't find jobs. Nobody "chooses" to live under a bridge and eat at the soup kitchen, I'm surprised when I read comments to that effect, like the one you responded to. What do people expect? There is a structural problem, we've reduced unskilled employment opportunities without substantially shrinking that segment of the workforce. The people don't just disappear once they no longer have a job. They move into cars, friends' houses, and ultimately when all of those resources are exhausted, where do people think they're going to go?

[thelakelander]

Add to that, most people in Hemming aren't homeless.

[peestandingup]

When the economy was booming there still was those less favored. You can create as many jobs as you like,, homeless people will still be there. Some not all don't want to work.

You do realize a large chunk of the homeless population have some sort of mental illness, right?

That plus the simple fact that there are no longer enough low and mid-level jobs for the size of the workforce in this country. Offshoring has had real consequences, and the surge in the homeless population nationwide is a visible reminder. Most of these people got where they are because they can't find jobs. Nobody "chooses" to live under a bridge and eat at the soup kitchen, I'm surprised when I read comments to that effect, like the one you responded to. What do people expect? There is a structural problem, we've reduced unskilled employment opportunities without substantially shrinking that segment of the workforce. The people don't just disappear once they no longer have a job. They move into cars, friends' houses, and ultimately when all of those resources are exhausted, where do people think they're going to go?

I honestly don't know the answer. At least not without drastically changing our system as a whole. The middle class, and really the country as we know it today, was pretty much built on plentiful jobs from the industrial revolution onwards. Since corporations have shifted that towards taking advantage of offshore labor for pennies on the dollar, we've kind of been meandering around for the last couple decades propping ourselves up with a debt-based economy. Pretending, basically. Although I'm not sure how well it would have worked out anyway since many of those positions will become automated as we go along. From factory lines, right down to a McDonalds drive through.

To your point about how some of these people view the homeless, I think to admit some of the reasons as to why they're in that situation is as admission of failure in the system we've all been indoctrinated with since birth & fought entire wars over. That type of iron clad stubborn way of thinking we hear from some will only lead to further despair. Its like someone with cancer not wanting to accept it, so they delay treatment & only get sicker.

[ronchamblin]

One can be homeless or jobless for many reasons.  Whether one is mentally deficient to the extreme, or only to the degree preventing one from working, the fact is that they are unemployable.  The other reason for the homeless or unemployed is simply that the economy is dysfunctional to the degree that there are not enough jobs for those wanting to work   Our economy has worsened as a consequence of offshoring and increased efficiencies in manufacturing and other areas of the economy.

Due to weak presidential leadership and bought congressional leaders, our federal government has allowed legislation, pressured by corporate lobbyists, to destroy the manufacturing base, and to offshore many jobs .. all to maximize profits for shareholders, and to accommodate the greed culture on wall street. 

Increasingly, as the economy sinks further into dysfunction and stagnation, only the deluded will continue to say that people do not want to work.  We will finally realize that unemployment is a consequence of a failed system, and not a consequence of too many people not wanting to work.

[strider]

The bottom line is that the City at the request of a few seems intent on making Hemming Park unusable to all simply to spite the few they do not like from exercising a public right to sit on a bench. 

Someday, some when, maybe, just maybe, we can be proud of Jacksonville once again.  Just not today.

[Dog Walker]

Unfortunately, there are those in influential positions who don't like the park's economic and racial balance.

Ennis, you are a gentleman and a diplomat!  How gently and kindly you have exposed a truth without inflaming the issue.  Tip of the hat!