Competition

[Kerry]

Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity. - Nancy Pearcey


Urbanist Since Birth

I've have been an urbanist since I was about 4 years old and learned my hometown of Chico, CA had a downtown,  In 2008 I found and embraced the New Urbanism movement.  As a Christian and a Conservative the whole idea of walkable urbanism just made inherent sense to me.  Part of my frustration with Jacksonville is why other Christians conservatives, something Jax claims to be chalk full of, don't embrace walkable urbanism.  In some sort of bizzaro world twist, they embrace deficit funded subdivision and strip shopping centers, aka sprawl.  Maybe they prefer the high marginal tax rates sprawl requires and don't even know it.

For the last few years my frustration with Jacksonville's inability to restore/expand walkable urbanism has grown exponentially and that frustration was compounded by the fact that I couldn't pinpoint exactly why Jax struggles with this simple concept.  Meanwhile, city after city after city around the country, and even around the world, seems to be able to figure it out, including the ones high in Christianity and Conservatism – OKC, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Wichita, most Texas cities, etc...

The Answer

I have been asking myself for years why Jax can't seem to get its act together, and I finally found an answer.  Jacksonville doesn't have any competition.  We don't have competition at the regional level, we don't have competition at the City level, and we don't have competition at the neighborhood level.  Without competition there is no motivation to improve and we are mired in mediocrity.

For Comparison

As many of you know, I spent a fair amount of time in Oklahoma City and travel all over the US living at least part time in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Louisiana, Tampa, and San Francisco.  Since I can only speak from my experience I often refer to Oklahoma City, which seems very applicable to Jax because of how similar in demographics the cities are - same population, same income, same geographic size.  However, I am sure you can take any city you are familiar with and the same thing applies.

Regional Competition

At the regional level (Southern Plains and Gulf Coast) Oklahoma City shares a common oil industry with Dallas, Houston, Tulsa, Ft Worth, New Orleans, and Denver and competes with St Louis, Seattle, Long Beach, Salt Lake City, and Wichita for aerospace.  Metro Oklahoma City has to compete with these cities for companies, jobs, and employees.  It is a constant battle and some OKC wins, and many it loses.  Jax isn't in competition with anyone.  We don't complete with South Florida, Central Florida, Florida Panhandle, Tampa Bay, or Atlanta for any industry.  We don't even compete with the Port of Savannah for freight or Tampa, Miami, Canaveral, or Ft Lauderdale for cruise passengers.  Maybe we do need a giant convention center to try and at least compete at something.  Anything is preferable to the municipal equivalent of just sitting on the couch getting fat.

City Competition

At the City level Oklahoma City has 50 suburbs that are their own legal entity.  If Oklahoma City doesn't build walkable urbanism to attract local companies, restaurants, housing, museums, hotels, etc...  Norman, Edmond, or one of the other 50 suburbs will (and they do).  Oklahoma City is also implementing regional commuter rail to make working and playing in downtown OKC even easier for those choosing to live in the urbanizing suburbs.  Jacksonville doesn't have any suburbs.  There isn't a downtown Mandarin, downtown Town Center, downtown Orange Park, or downtown anywhere else.  I don't know if consolidation caused that or not, but the lack of them is hurting the urbanization of downtown Jax.

Neighborhood Competition

At the walkable neighborhood level Jax only has San Marco, Riverside/Avondale, and Springfield.  That is it.  If you bring up any other place you are only kidding yourself.  To make matter worse, these three places are in a suspended state of urban evolution because of the local preservation groups.  Riverside can't densify because everyone raises bloody hell at the mere mention of it, see the Center State Bank debacle.  Ask yourself, what is the Riverside Avondale Preservation Group preserving Riverside from?

Springfield can't get out of its own way evidenced by rejuvenation now taking the better part of 20 years, and still not rejuvenated.  San Marco?  Tell me again when East San Marco is going to be built.  Who would have thought skid row along north Phillips Highway would have a new apartment building before San Marco?

The only way to introduce neighborhood competition in Jax would be to break up the DDRB and spinoff all the downtown districts into their own entities, but that won't happen.  Jacksonville NEEDS competition, we just aren't built for it.  That doesn't bode well for a sprawling city trying to survive in a rapidly urbanizing world.  We have no suburban downtowns to urbanize.  We can't complete with Central Florida for tourist attractions.  We can't compete with South Florida or Atlanta on any level.  Tampa Bay has a 3,000,000 person head start, and even the panhandle out does us with tourism.

Moving Out

After living downtown for the last 3 years the changes are just coming too slowly.  I need a bigger home and as much as I hate it, I have to buy a suburban house because Jax just doesn't provide housing options for urban families – no townhomes, no 3 bedroom apartments, no row houses, limited condos, and not even high-density single family homes.  Eight years of national growth and urbanization has mostly skipped Jacksonville – again.  Anyhow, that is my rant for 2019.

[downtownbrown]

I keep wondering why the Riverwalk Townhomes (formerly Berkman Townhomes) aren't more attractive to people like you.  Townhomes are almost non-existent downtown, as you point out.  But resales for these are still below original sales price.  Seems to me those things should be worth a fortune.  On the river and in the heart.  Where else in urban America can you find this type of housing at these prices in the middle of a downtown of our size?  My guess is their value will begin to reflect reality once the courthouse and parking lot are done, and cranes are in the air on Berkman 2.

[thelakelander]

Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity. - Nancy Pearcey


Urbanist Since Birth

I've have been an urbanist since I was about 4 years old and learned my hometown of Chico, CA had a downtown,  In 2008 I found and embraced the New Urbanism movement.  As a Christian and a Conservative the whole idea of walkable urbanism just made inherent sense to me.  Part of my frustration with Jacksonville is why other Christians conservatives, something Jax claims to be chalk full of, don't embrace walkable urbanism.  In some sort of bizzaro world twist, they embrace deficit funded subdivision and strip shopping centers, aka sprawl.  Maybe they prefer the high marginal tax rates sprawl requires and don't even know it.

For the last few years my frustration with Jacksonville's inability to restore/expand walkable urbanism has grown exponentially and that frustration was compounded by the fact that I couldn't pinpoint exactly why Jax struggles with this simple concept.  Meanwhile, city after city after city around the country, and even around the world, seems to be able to figure it out, including the ones high in Christianity and Conservatism – OKC, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, Wichita, most Texas cities, etc...

The Answer

I have been asking myself for years why Jax can't seem to get its act together, and I finally found an answer.  Jacksonville doesn't have any competition.  We don't have competition at the regional level, we don't have competition at the City level, and we don't have competition at the neighborhood level.  Without competition there is no motivation to improve and we are mired in mediocrity.

I grew up in the inner city of a smaller city but within 30 minutes of both Tampa and Orlando. Growing up, my travels were largely to comparable inner city neighborhoods of various scales of cities across the country. Although I was very familiar with the Northside growing up, I didn't visit Riverside, San Marco, the Southside, Beaches, etc. until I moved here (after a good 20 years of visiting the city). So I've always loved the urban lifestyle, setting, people, etc. from a black inner city perspective. New Urbanism comes across as fake to me because my experience has been the real thing that chamber types are afraid to promote or go down the street and into buildings to explore. So obviously, my perspective will be different because my cultural background, upbringing, etc. is totally different. With that in mind, I believe Jax's quality-of-life aspects may suffer a bit due to limited comparables within the region but overall the city does have to compete for a wide variety of business, industry, etc.

For Comparison

As many of you know, I spent a fair amount of time in Oklahoma City and travel all over the US living at least part time in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Louisiana, Tampa, and San Francisco.  Since I can only speak from my experience I often refer to Oklahoma City, which seems very applicable to Jax because of how similar in demographics the cities are - same population, same income, same geographic size.  However, I am sure you can take any city you are familiar with and the same thing applies.

Regional Competition

At the regional level (Southern Plains and Gulf Coast) Oklahoma City shares a common oil industry with Dallas, Houston, Tulsa, Ft Worth, New Orleans, and Denver and competes with St Louis, Seattle, Long Beach, Salt Lake City, and Wichita for aerospace.  Metro Oklahoma City has to compete with these cities for companies, jobs, and employees.  It is a constant battle and some OKC wins, and many it loses.  Jax isn't in competition with anyone.  We don't complete with South Florida, Central Florida, Florida Panhandle, Tampa Bay, or Atlanta for any industry.  We don't even compete with the Port of Savannah for freight or Tampa, Miami, Canaveral, or Ft Lauderdale for cruise passengers.  Maybe we do need a giant convention center to try and at least compete at something.  Anything is preferable to the municipal equivalent of just sitting on the couch getting fat.

Regionally, Jax competes with Savannah and Charleston for port related business, logistics and industry. Makes sense, since it's the Low Country's largest and most urban city. A major difference I see in these other places is that they've rallied around their history and culture....which is largely black...successfully turning themselves into major tourism destinations since the 1980s. Jax on the other hand, has been too embarrassed to do the same. In fact, I remember it having a pretty bad inferiority complex in comparison with the rest of Florida's cities (which are completely different animals economically, culturally and logistically). Anyway, it also competes for business with places all across the region and country. Many companies are global now.

City Competition

At the City level Oklahoma City has 50 suburbs that are their own legal entity.  If Oklahoma City doesn't build walkable urbanism to attract local companies, restaurants, housing, museums, hotels, etc...  Norman, Edmond, or one of the other 50 suburbs will (and they do).  Oklahoma City is also implementing regional commuter rail to make working and playing in downtown OKC even easier for those choosing to live in the urbanizing suburbs.  Jacksonville doesn't have any suburbs.  There isn't a downtown Mandarin, downtown Town Center, downtown Orange Park, or downtown anywhere else.  I don't know if consolidation caused that or not, but the lack of them is hurting the urbanization of downtown Jax.

Jax has suburbs. Half of them just happen to be in city limits now due to consolidation. There's also some great walkable places within the region. The Beaches, Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine, etc. are all treasures this region should not be ashamed of or ignored.  I grew up in a county with 17 cities. Neighboring Hillsborough and Orange have a slew as well. There's pros and cons on both sides but I don't believe not having a lot of walkable suburbs is the problem. One major issue has been this one-size fits all type of zoning we have. It's an obstacle to build upon unique neighborhood characteristics when policy promotes and makes it easier to become a sprawling monotonous monster. This is one of the reasons I always stress the importance of modifying public policy.

Neighborhood Competition

At the walkable neighborhood level Jax only has San Marco, Riverside/Avondale, and Springfield.  That is it.  If you bring up any other place you are only kidding yourself.  To make matter worse, these three places are in a suspended state of urban evolution because of the local preservation groups.  Riverside can't densify because everyone raises bloody hell at the mere mention of it, see the Center State Bank debacle.  Ask yourself, what is the Riverside Avondale Preservation Group preserving Riverside from?

I guess, I'm kidding myself. I like Murray Hill, Durkeeville, Northshore, Jax Beach, Atlantic Beach, etc. I find them all just as walkable as the places millennials are attracted to now. Durkeeville is more dense and authentic to Jax's true identity as any other place in town. Northshore is a beautiful neighborhood. However, instead of going to a craft brewery or artisan coffeehouse, the local spot may be a soul food venue, garlic crab shop or legacy deli. IMO, instead of attempting to change places that don't want to be changed, promote infill and opportunity in places surrounding them.

Springfield can't get out of its own way evidenced by rejuvenation now taking the better part of 20 years, and still not rejuvenated.

Springfield is coming along fine now.

San Marco?  Tell me again when East San Marco is going to be built.  Who would have thought skid row along north Phillips Highway would have a new apartment building before San Marco?

I wouldn't hedge a neighborhood's progress or lack of progress on a private development's status. Also glad to see Philips coming along now. That area was once like San Marco Square.  Times Square (where Bono's BBQ was first established) was razed for the construction of I-95. Now that the new interchange is complete and the area is an opportunity zone, watch it take off!

The only way to introduce neighborhood competition in Jax would be to break up the DDRB and spinoff all the downtown districts into their own entities, but that won't happen.  Jacksonville NEEDS competition, we just aren't built for it.  That doesn't bode well for a sprawling city trying to survive in a rapidly urbanizing world.  We have no suburban downtowns to urbanize.  We can't complete with Central Florida for tourist attractions.  We can't compete with South Florida or Atlanta on any level.  Tampa Bay has a 3,000,000 person head start, and even the panhandle out does us with tourism.

The DDRB is just a design review board. Nothing changes, whether it's around or not. If we really want to change things, we can start to acknowledge, promote and build upon our true history, even if most of it isn't white and makes some feel uncomfortable. Ultimately, when I look at places with identities, that identity is built upon its history and promotion of its unique assets. Jax will struggle with a lot of things from a quality-of-life perspective until it realizes it's special in its own way and starts to take advantage of the assets it does have.

Moving Out

After living downtown for the last 3 years the changes are just coming too slowly.  I need a bigger home and as much as I hate it, I have to buy a suburban house because Jax just doesn't provide housing options for urban families – no townhomes, no 3 bedroom apartments, no row houses, limited condos, and not even high-density single family homes.  Eight years of national growth and urbanization has mostly skipped Jacksonville – again.  Anyhow, that is my rant for 2019.

Housing options could be improved. I can't argue that things are limited in comparison to peer communities for those seeking anything other than suburban living. I believe local public policy and direction are major reasons for this. Get that together and the rest will naturally and incrementally take care of itself.

[downtownbrown]

^ [golf clap....]

[thelakelander]

I keep wondering why the Riverwalk Townhomes (formerly Berkman Townhomes) aren't more attractive to people like you.  Townhomes are almost non-existent downtown, as you point out.  But resales for these are still below original sales price.  Seems to me those things should be worth a fortune.  On the river and in the heart.  Where else in urban America can you find this type of housing at these prices in the middle of a downtown of our size?  My guess is their value will begin to reflect reality once the courthouse and parking lot are done, and cranes are in the air on Berkman 2.

I don't know Kerry's situation, but I can tell you about my experience. When I moved to town, I wanted a rowhouse/townhouse.  That's still my preferred urban housing option. However, I didn't think anything in the area was worth the price because the urban environment around it was dead and living in the area would essentially result in needing a car to do reverse commutes to access things that I felt should have been within walking distance or connected with reliable fixed mass transit. The public schools also sucked. In the end, I accepted Jax for what it is and that change would be incremental and come with time. However, it will never have the density or active urban street environment that I seek...at least within my lifetime (this basically goes for most American cities btw). So when I get a longing to be in places with +20,000 people per mile, I travel.

[downtownbrown]

^ Yes, it's a very quiet downtown most of the time.  But those townhouses should be sitting pretty in 5 years.  Like you, I'd love to see 10 or more different ethnicities represented in the Core food scene.  And you are right, there ought to be a world class southern eatery included.  Kenny whats his name from Fernandina was going to open one.  Wonder what happened to that...

[downtownbrown]

why isn't a homegrown version of this in the Core?  https://www.hogsfly.com/

[thelakelander]

The decor and location may not be up to everyone's liking but wouldn't Jenkins qualify as a hometown version?

http://www.jenkinsqualitybarbecue.com/

[downtownbrown]

It would if it were in a historic brick building in the Core. Put it where Levels was going to go and people would line up for miles...

[thelakelander]

Would they? They seem to be pretty busy now and they're on the most traveled street in the downtown area. On the other hand, Olio is on that block and they close at 3pm, likely because of a lack of consistent foot and vehicular traffic. That entire strip would be better off if an anchor (like a convention center) were located adjacent to it to pull in traffic that doesn't flow into that area naturally.

Without something like that, part of the challenge in downtown revitalization is the need to create and cluster activities around high traffic corridors that are used by those traveling through as well as downtown residents and employees (ex. Broad, Main/Ocean, State/Union, etc.). That gives small business owners an extra boost of survival (one that Jenkins enjoys now), regardless of whatever development strategies pop up or don't within the heart of the core. That stretch of Bay is not one currently, although things could change with the demo of the Hart Bridge Expressway.

After saying all of this, I do believe a place like local longtime eatery like Jenkins would do well in a renovated Landing or restored LaVilla cluster.

[downtownbrown]

I just hope that when J Lot, the Core, or any other development happens, places like Jenkins will be highlighted instead of national chains.  I'm sure Ben Groshell could format a great place on the river (Marker 32, North Beach Fish Camp, South Beach Fish Camp, Safe Harbor, etc) and Matthew Medure (M Shack, Medures etc.).  It would be great to have original homegrown options.  And I agree, Jenkins would do well in a refurbished Landing.

[thelakelander]

I doubt it, if it's Cordish. A look at the tenant mix in their other developments will give you a pretty good idea of what you'll get.

http://cordish.com/businesses/entertainment-districts

Local mom and pops normally can't afford the lease rates at places like that. This is why not demolishing existing building stock should be a priority. It allows for a larger segment of the population and business community to participate in revitalization. Rip everything down, and you're limited to dreams of millionaires needing massive subsidies for things that may not align with what the community really is.

[Kerry]

I keep wondering why the Riverwalk Townhomes (formerly Berkman Townhomes) aren't more attractive to people like you.  Townhomes are almost non-existent downtown, as you point out.  But resales for these are still below original sales price.  Seems to me those things should be worth a fortune.  On the river and in the heart.  Where else in urban America can you find this type of housing at these prices in the middle of a downtown of our size?  My guess is their value will begin to reflect reality once the courthouse and parking lot are done, and cranes are in the air on Berkman 2.

I can't buy what isn't for sale - and they don't have any for sale.  Plus, they are all 1 and 2 bedroom.  I need at a very minimum 3 bedrooms.

[Steve]

Neighborhood Competition

At the walkable neighborhood level Jax only has San Marco, Riverside/Avondale, and Springfield.  That is it.  If you bring up any other place you are only kidding yourself.  To make matter worse, these three places are in a suspended state of urban evolution because of the local preservation groups.  Riverside can't densify because everyone raises bloody hell at the mere mention of it, see the Center State Bank debacle.  Ask yourself, what is the Riverside Avondale Preservation Group preserving Riverside from?

Springfield can't get out of its own way evidenced by rejuvenation now taking the better part of 20 years, and still not rejuvenated.  San Marco?  Tell me again when East San Marco is going to be built.  Who would have thought skid row along north Phillips Highway would have a new apartment building before San Marco?

While I agree that competition makes all involved better, I'm not sure that this part makes sense:

- What does the density of Riverside have to do with the quality of a neighborhood? Are we saying because the neighborhood doesn't want to densify that it isn't a nice neighborhood? I offered my thoughts on the CenterState development in that thread, but because one development isn't happening that's your takeaway? The goal of RAP is to advocate for the neighborhood and preserve the historic fabric but I'm guessing you know that. Riverside and Avondale are very well functioning neighborhoods. Outside of better public transit, I'm not sure what is really missing for an urban neighborhood (sure, if you want to push you can say something like Big Box shopping, a 24 hour sports bar, or come up with something else but it's pretty awesome). This is probably why the APA ranked it as one of 10 great neighborhoods a few years back.

- Are you really judging San Marco because of one private developer, who incidentally hasn't asked the city for a dime, and hasn't been stopped by any sort of neighborhood group?

- Springfield has moved more in the last 5 years than in quite a while actually.

I think lakelander's quote here is key: "IMO, instead of attempting to change places that don't want to be changed, promote infill and opportunity in places surrounding them."

[Kerry]

RAP and similar preservation groups stop urban incrementalism.  While that might be great for homeowners trying to lock in their current quality of life for the rest of their life, it prevents the city from urbanizing naturally.  All that is left is silver bullet massive projects like the Jags, Lot J, The District, etc...that never work.  Look at all the projects RAP has effectively and succefully canceled, scaled back, or delayed over the past 10 years.  Then we wonder why Jax isn't urbanizing?  Well there is your answer.

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/6/12/the-power-of-growing-incrementally?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI35ba9rDS3wIVi7rACh3sDQCtEAAYASAAEgJjyPD_BwE