City tried to find new park to clear way for Shad Khan's Shipyards proposal

[thelakelander]

We really need our leaders to not make unilateral decisions without an ounce of public involvement. They are historically bad at this. This is Robert Moses era type planning and a systemic example of what ultimately harms disenfranchised communities. Even though general intentions may be well, at times, we can be too clueless to even see the flaws in this type of wheeling and dealing and decision making. In short,  urban recreational space should remain in the urban core.

City tried to find new park to clear way for Shad Khan's Shipyards development at Metropolitan Park

Jacksonville City Hall began working last year to clear a regulatory hurdle that would allow Jaguars owner Shad Khan to move forward with plans to build his proposed Shipyards development on parts of Metropolitan Park, which he owns exclusive development rights for even though he cannot currently do anything with the land.


The city agreed in the 1980s to maintain the land as a public park in return for receiving a $1.7 million federal grant. The city could allow private development on the land if it finds another public park to replace it, and emails obtained by the Times-Union show city attorneys were working on doing so as recently as September.


The emails show city attorneys identified a property on Black Hammock Island, located in Duval County's rural, marshy northeast corner, and a 30-acre park that's part of the proposed District development in downtown's Southbank as replacements. Other potential replacements included properties near Arlington's Reddie Point and Fort Caroline's Greenfield.

Full article: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200626/city-tried-to-find-new-park-to-clear-way-for-shad-khanrsquos-shipyards-development-at-metropolitan-park

[vicupstate]

Completely agree Lake. That said, it sounds like this project has been put on the back burner and the heat isn't even on.

[bl8jaxnative]

No offense but that sounds like something written about something else copy and pasted about Metropolitan Park.  I'd be willing to wager a slab of ribs from Jenkins that more people from Ponte Verde use Metropolitan park in a month than people from the eastside all year.  That park may be located in the Urban Core but that ain't who use it.

[tufsu1]

No offense but that sounds like something written about something else copy and pasted about Metropolitan Park.  I'd be willing to wager a slab of ribs from Jenkins that more people from Ponte Verde use Metropolitan park in a month than people from the eastside all year.  That park may be located in the Urban Core but that ain't who use it.

Met Park was never meant to be a neighborhood park - it is for the whole city. Also, where exactly is Ponte Verde?

[fieldafm]

No offense but that sounds like something written about something else copy and pasted about Metropolitan Park.  I'd be willing to wager a slab of ribs from Jenkins that more people from Ponte Verde use Metropolitan park in a month than people from the eastside all year.  That park may be located in the Urban Core but that ain't who use it.

Right now, park reservations are basically at a standstill.. but its clear you have not been to MetPark during a non-event day.  The pavilions are routinely used on weekends for birthday parties... and generally by families from the Eastside/Northwest Jacksonville neighborhoods.

Non special-events use has been declining ever since Kids Kampus has been torn down, but you are making an ignorant assertion as a whole.


BTW, in 2019 the Mayor's office shifted around $2mm to repay the National Park Service for the closure of MetPark. City Council has yet to appropriate the money due to the ongoing and open-ended attempts to resolve the contractual obligations with the NPS.

Lake's comments about making unilateral decisions with only consulting Shad Khan, Peter Rummel and Michael Munz and the rest of the public be damned.. are 100% true.

[thelakelander]

No offense but that sounds like something written about something else copy and pasted about Metropolitan Park.  I'd be willing to wager a slab of ribs from Jenkins that more people from Ponte Verde use Metropolitan park in a month than people from the eastside all year.  That park may be located in the Urban Core but that ain't who use it.

When Kids Kampus was there, I'd bet three slabs of Jenkins ribs that more people from the Eastside used it. I'd bet you a slab of ribs right now that more Eastside people are using it right now. If anyone is really interested in it, this site is a great example of local systemic racisim with longstanding local policies.

[Florida Power And Light]

The City can at times display poor negotiation and contract " skills"

[avonjax]

I have never been against Khan's plan. But I've always been against dismantling Metro Park until construction is signed, sealed and delivered. Again Curry is awful and has allowed this. What's going to happen if the shipyards doesn't happen. The Hart Bridge ramps will be gone and cost a ton with no development in sight. And the city LIED about why they were being removed. I know, I know I'm cynical. I am. Just look at all the waste and destruction in the last few years. At least Metro Park was used. NOW nothing.

From the Jacksonville.com article: "However, the Landing was not on the list of the potential properties the city identified as a replacement for Metropolitan Park when City Hall informed state and federal officials it intended to do so." Now correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to say that the demolition of the Landing was done as a replacement for Metro Park. But that just seemed to be another lie from the city. Was the demo just for show? Now look what we have.

Sadly Jax doesn't need more parks anyway. We do an appalling job maintaining what we have. And most of our parks are so blah you may as well stay in your backyard.

Maybe someday this city will stop failing but it will require people with real vision not like the clueless ones we have now.

[fieldafm]

At least Metro Park was used. NOW nothing.

Agree in spirit with your post, albeit not with some of the details (Landing demo was never about MetroPark... its actually a smaller site comparatively; and the City didn't really lie about the ramp removal- it was always being done for stadium development)

Just wanted to add, that despite the only amenities being left at Metro Park are the marina, the riverfront bulkhead (both the marina and the bulkhead have been repaired in the past year) and tables/grills along the riverfront... when I was at MetPark Monday and Tuesday of this week, about a dozen people were in the park fishing and having lunch along the riverfront area.  I think that is a bigger product of banning fishing along the Northbank and Southbank Riverwalks a few years ago, more so than the current attractiveness of what's left of Metro Park.

I spoke with a few of the older gentleman fishing on Tuesday.  They were not from Ponte Verde.

[thelakelander]

Metropolitan Park and the space being WJCT is really interesting when tied to the history of the Eastside and the Gullah Geechee. Access to the waterfront and living off the land and water has always been apart of the Gullah and working class culture of our region....even predating the actual city of Jacksonville. Call me a cynic but I really do believe that the banning of fishing along the riverwalks in the heart of downtown is a local example of a systemic discriminatory public policy partially intended to limit a certain element of the local population from having access to the river. Lifting that ban is one of the easy and affordable ways to help naturally activate the downtown riverfront, embrace and build upon Jax's authentic identity, history and culture, IMO.

[jaxjaguar]

In fairness, I'd rather not catch a hook while riding a bike down the Riverwalk

[thelakelander]

I'm not even sure you're legally supposed to riding a bike on the riverwalk. It certainly doesn't meet the design criteria requirements for what would be considered a shared use path.

[MusicMan]

Pretty easy to set aside some areas for fishing, dont'ya think!? 

[jaxjaguar]

Woah, weird. I typed up a pretty long comment, but only the first sentence posted. I don't feel like typing the whole thing again, but in short I think that it would be great to create "fishing zones". The current can make fishing tough, but a good starter would be where the parking deck was taken out. Turn it into an estuary of sorts and it could become a gathering spot for fishing, people watching, recreation, etc.

[fieldafm]

In fairness, I'd rather not catch a hook while riding a bike down the Riverwalk

My take on banning fishing from the Riverwalk is a little more nuanced than Lakelander's take. I recognize that fishing is banned in some of the tributaries within many working class neighborhoods, due to pollution issues. That's a conversation in and of itself. I would also welcome public fishing back Downtown, but in a way that is respectful to all users of the Riverwalk.

I think in order to bring back public fishing Downtown, there needs to be a designated area to do so that has the necessary cleaning tables, places to discard fishing line.. and one that is maintained on an ongoing basis (multiple times a day). A finger pier (like the many at the old Shipyards site) would likely be the best site for such activities.

It wasn't uncommon to see fishing line and discarded fish and shrimp carcasses lining the former wooden structure Southbank Riverwalk... and runners and cyclists near the exercise area at Corkscrew Park are routinely ducking fishing poles from the few that still try to bottom fish along the Acosta Bridge rock formations near the CSX building (whenever an Ambassador isn't staffed at Corkscrew).  When the Southbank Riverwalk was reconstructed and became much more narrow as a result... its now hard to accommodate multiple users (no way you can have people throwing shrimping nets when the shrimp run in the summer, while runners and hotel guests are trying to also use the walkway).

I see both sides of the coin, and feel there is certainly a way to accommodate multiple goals at once.  From 10,000 feet up, there are a variety of public access issues for the Riverwalk that need to be addressed in a holistic manner.  For instance:
-In the past 10 years, there are now 4 places where kayak/SUP/canoes can be launched (one is also ADA compliant)... before there were two (and those two were not ADA compliant). 
-Also in the past 10 years, boaters are no longer able to tie up to docking facilities- either by design (Southbank) or neglect (Northbank).  -The River Taxi has expanded to include a dock at RAM (however that stop is only open during the Riverside Arts Market operating hours). A new River Taxi stop will be added in Riverside along Post Street (adjacent to the Cummer Musuem and the Garden Club).  However, a River Taxi stop in San Marco was halted due to opposition from area residents.

There are others, the point is that there is a bigger picture to access that goes beyond wanting to limit economically challenged fishermen.