Vince Cavin Chosen as Hemming Park Executive Director

[Metro Jacksonville]

Vince Cavin Chosen as Hemming Park Executive Director



Friends of Hemming Park announced their new hire to manage Hemming Park today, as well as the quiet announcement that longtime Metrojacksonville poster Mike Field had joined the board of the Friends of Hemming Park.  Join us after the jump for more details!

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-sep-vince-cavin-chosen-as-hemming-park-executive-director

[KenFSU]

Congrats Vince & Mike!

Can't wait to see what's in store for HP.

Love the idea of adding more greenspace and returning Hemming Plaza to Hemming Park.

[CityLife]

Nice move for DT and Hemming. He and the board should be able to work some magic with that budget.

[Downtown Osprey]

Excellent news!

[KenFSU]

Congrats Vince & Mike!

Can't wait to see what's in store for HP.

Love the idea of adding more greenspace and returning Hemming Plaza to Hemming Park.

P.S. I think I've mentioned it in the past, but I really hope that Friends of HP use the 1983 restoration of Bryant Park in New York as inspiration for Hemming's revitalization. You couldn't ask for a better case study, and in many ways, the two parks are carbon copies of each other. Both front their respective city's main libraries, both fell from glory and became victim to blight and crime, and both sought salvation from private nonprofits. Even the financials are similar.

Bryant Park might be my favorite park in the country, and I think a similar (if scaled down) layout at Hemming Park -- with greenspace in the center, seating, kiosks, and trees on the perimeter, and a stage beneath the Skyway -- would be absolutely incredible. Wifi would of course be awesome too.

ACCORD REACHED ON RESTORATION OF BRYANT PARK
New York Times, 1983

Bryant Park is about to be restored to its former elegance as the backyard of the New York Public Library, library officials said yesterday.

Under a 35-year agreement reached by the city, the library and the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, the revitalization of the park, behind the Central Research Library on Fifth Avenue just south of 42d Street, will include the following:

- Extensive architectural restoration and the building of kiosks on the perimeter of the park.

- Construction of a grand cafe restaurant.

- Replanting and landscaping.

- Increased lighting and security.

- Expansion of cultural and community programs. State and City Approval Needed

The Bryant Park Corporation, a private, nonprofit corporation created in 1980 to coordinate efforts to renovate the park, will assume responsibility for its restoration and maintenance under the general oversight of the city's Department of Parks.

The plan, which must be approved by various city and state agencies, calls for the city to provide an initial capital budget commitment of $1 million for the repair and redesign of the park. Under the plan, the city would also provide $250,000 a year for maintenance and operating expenses.

If the approvals are granted within the next nine months, the restoration could be completed by the end of 1985, library officials said.

The redesign would be carried out by the architectural firm of Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer Associates. Negotiations have also been started with the New York Botanical Garden for landscaping of the area. There are also tentative plans for construction of a restaurant along the back wall of the library.

The Bryant Park Corporation, with the help of the police, has slowly been reclaiming the nine-acre park from the derelicts, alcoholics, card players and drug dealers who had taken it over. Businesses Helping Financially

Over the last two and a half years, chamber-music concerts, book fairs, flower shows and various cleanup activities have helped to restore the park to the lovely haunt for midtown picnic lunches that it once was.

With grants from businesses in the area and support from the privately financed Parks Council, graffiti have been removed and general amenities have been restored.

A sharp decrease in robberies and other serious crimes in the area has been reported by the police. Dr. Vartan Gregorian, president of the New York Public Library, praised the agreement. ''While the library will not benefit financially from the agreement,'' he said, ''it is in the library's long-range interest that Bryant Park be restored to serve its original public purpose.''

A number of foundations have also contributed to the restoration of the park.

Hemming Location:


Bryant Location:


Early Hemming:


Early Bryant:


Blighted Hemming:


Blighted Bryant:


Modern Bryant:

[fieldafm]

Would encourage you to visit the website: www.hemmingpark.org. Would also encourage you to 'like' and 'follow' Hemming Park on Facebook.

If you are interested in volunteering, there is a link to pass along your contact info on the website. There will be A LOT of exciting and groundbreaking events coming to Hemming, and volunteers like you will be crucial to the park's success.

[ssky]

Mayor Brown was actually in Hemming Park? I guess miracles really do happen...but it's going to take a rather extensive series of them to make this dream come true. I hate to sound like Debbie Downer, but this just seems like one more example of how we constantly focus on trying to "fix" one highly-visible and media-friendly component of a much larger problem instead of first taking on the very real, difficult, time-consuming and decidedly unglamorous work of repairing the underlying foundation. We have been doing it for decades, and with this year's inclusion of swimming pools and ginormous television screens at Everbank Stadium and the commencement of a grand Utopian vision for Hemming Park, we continue down the same merry path.

[Gamblor]

Would encourage you to visit the website: www.hemmingpark.org. Would also encourage you to 'like' and 'follow' Hemming Park on Facebook.

If you are interested in volunteering, there is a link to pass along your contact info on the website. There will be A LOT of exciting and groundbreaking events coming to Hemming, and volunteers like you will be crucial to the park's success.

Done. Looking forward to a positive future for one of Jacksonville's most iconic spots

[Dog Walker]

Wayne Wood said at the board meeting of a local non-profit last month that Bryant Park was one of the inspirations for what they are trying to do in Hemming.  The board members of FOHP had evidently visited and talked with the management of Bryant.

[ssky]

Wayne Wood said at the board meeting of a local non-profit last month that Bryant Park was one of the inspirations for what they are trying to do in Hemming.  The board members of FOHP had evidently visited and talked with the management of Bryant.

In 1980, the Jacksonville Chamber visited Baltimore's Inner Harbor which led to construction of The Jacksonville Landing. Thirty four years later The Landing still cannot touch the Inner Harbor. Think about it. Thirty four years and we are still are pondering and conjecturing about the differences between Baltimore's Inner Harbor area and our Jacksonville Landing and surrounding areas.

We have got to fix the foundation before we can layer on the accoutrements.

Or, we can just keep having press conferences, groundbreakings, events and debates until the cows come home to Cowford...

[KenFSU]

Wayne Wood said at the board meeting of a local non-profit last month that Bryant Park was one of the inspirations for what they are trying to do in Hemming.  The board members of FOHP had evidently visited and talked with the management of Bryant.

Thanks so much for passing this info along, it's really encouraging to hear. Love Bryant's central greenspace, as it provides the park so much flexibility. On any given day, it can be used for:

Recreation:


Movie Night:


Yoga:


Ice Skating:


Special Events:


Etc.

[InnerCityPressure]

Apparently black people = blighted?   

Blighted Hemming:


Blighted Bryant:

[ssky]

Ice Skating? So now Hell is freezing over, too?   

[ssky]

I was a public relations consultant for 30 years and I know how to spin with the best of them, but when the hype dies down and everything is still once again, the same issue will resurface.  Downtown Jacksonville, at its core, suffers from a huge identity crisis. We want to be like Baltimore's Inner Harbor, we want to be like Bryant Park, New York. We want to be like any number of successful urban turnarounds we have read about or experienced. And it's fine to have examples to follow, models to emulate, and enthusiasm for the cause, but our real problem is that deep down inside, we don't know who we are to begin with.

New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, Savannah, etc. all have innate characteristics and flavors that make up their unique brand. Everything that is created, developed, built and improved upon serves to enhance that brand identity and image. It's not random or scattered. It is concentrated and deliberate. And that is exactly what we need to focus on now while the energy is high.

Downtown Jacksonville, as a whole, needs to create one brand position that truly reflects our unique identity, heritage and revitalization. Let me repeat that: One Brand--not one brand for Hemming Park and one brand for The Landing and one brand for the Shipyards-- One Overarching Brand. And, that  brand needs to drive  every single effort we make down here so that it becomes a unified movement and not a bunch of individual factions working in silos to no end gain. Until that happens, there can be no real forward momentum no matter how noble the intentions.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Downtown Jacksonville, as a whole, needs to create one brand position that truly reflects our unique identity, heritage and revitalization. Let me repeat that: One Brand--not one brand for Hemming Park and one brand for The Landing and one brand for the Shipyards-- One Overarching Brand. And, that  brand needs to drive  every single effort we make down here so that it becomes a unified movement and not a bunch of individual factions working in silos to no end gain. Until that happens, there can be no real forward momentum no matter how noble the intentions.

So one can only hope that this is one of the first of many steps required to get there.  If you take everything at face value, the first step was getting the DIA going.  Now you have another non-profit that is in charge of managing the park, but still under the DIA umbrella.  Now that the groundwork is laid, the path becomes easier and clearer for the next group to step-up and find another parcel to activate.

And IMO, the key to it all will be the coordination of all of the different groups and avoiding the 'silo-ing' that was mentioned several months ago.  I believe that all of is another bonus of the DIA being in charge as opposed to everyone having to go to city hall.   There is one entity in charge of coordinating these groups with no other agenda than to keep downtown hopping.  Once these little 'isolated' parts of the city become activated, then they can start coordinating functions with one another.  You're in charge of bringing in your target group and all of a sudden they realize that there's so much more going on that they find interesting.

For example, The Wiggles have a show at the FT on Saturday afternoon.  If FoH knows this, maybe they plan something for early evening that is kid-friendly.  An open air pottery painting or something fun and interactive for the kiddos.  Now you've given people that normally would drive in and drive out a reason to stick around after the show, maybe grab a bite to eat, etc...  The parents then notice all of the 'adult' things going on, and realize that maybe DT might warrant a visit on their next date night.  Too 'Pollyanna'?  Probably.  But IMO this is how it should work.

Coordination and compatibility is key.  And I think if this is done right, we're definitely turning a corner.