Six buildings Jacksonville should have saved

[thelakelander]

It can be argued that Jacksonville is a city that has lost much of its historical identity over the years. Here are six culturally significant downtown buildings that should have never been allowed to be demolished. Take a look and let us know if you agree or if there are others you would suggest.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/six-buildings-jacksonville-should-have-saved/

[Ken_FSU]

Great stuff.

Love all of the lost buildings in this article as well:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/a-history-of-the-florida-times-union/

[Ken_FSU]

Pipe dream, but is there any precedent for a city destroying its most interesting historical building stock, regretting it decades later, and ultimately rebuilding (modernized) replicas? The discussion around Penn Station/Madison Square Garden is what comes immediately to mind. With so much lost and so many cookie cutter developments springing up in the urban core, it'd be cool to see a new multi-family development, for example, modeled after the Hotel George Washington with some added incentives from the historic preservation fund.

[Captain Zissou]

The Customs House was gorgeous.  What a shame!

[jaxlongtimer]

I hereby dedicate this article to our demolition derby mayor, Lenny Curry.  How proud he must be to have made his own contributions to this destruction of history.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Since the site of the new JEA building was where the George Washington was, was there any consideration of acknowledging the famous hotel in their new building? Would be so nice to have a place to commemorate some really important moments in Jacksonville history.

[jaxlongtimer]

Since the site of the new JEA building was where the George Washington was, was there any consideration of acknowledging the famous hotel in their new building? Would be so nice to have a place to commemorate some really important moments in Jacksonville history.

Putting up such markers honoring past history is common in some other cities.  Given how much we have lost here, this is the least we could do to try and preserve some of our past and educate our young, newest residents and visitors.  Downtown Vision should partner with the Jacksonville Historical Society, Visit Jacksonville and the City to get this done.  Would help to make walking the City a lot more interesting and maybe increase tourism.

[Charles Hunter]

I think it is a great idea, we need to know about our history.

But ... what if Mayoral Candidate Al Ferraro's referendum gets on the ballot and passes? What is the future of these types of markers? Here is the language for the referendum question in the current version of the bill:

Section 4. Official Ballot. The Council hereby directs that the following referendum question, in substantially the form set forth below, be placed on the ballot at the election to be held on
November 8, 2022, the 2022 General Election:
"Shall the City of Jacksonville remove historic monuments and markers, defined as fixed assets
that are identifiable because of particular historic, national, local, or symbolic significance, on City-owned property?"
(_____) YES.
(_____) NO.

Ordinance 2022=265 by Al Ferraro

Despite the local media's headlines, this bill is not just about removing Confederate monuments. It would remove ALL historical markers.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ That's insane.  The right wing in this country complains about "free speech" issues when privately held Twitter (which is not subject to the Constitution's free speech doctrine) blocks an outrageously false and inciteful post but is happy to have government (which is subject to the free speech doctrine) censor reasoned discussion about issues the right would like to just forget about in our schools, universities, work places, doctor's offices, etc.  Oh, the hypocrisy!

The right will be happy when kids grow up "thinking" racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination don't and never existed in the history of the world and that disagreeing with one's governor, president or other elected official, provided they  are from a party of the right, is totally unacceptable and will be deemed an egregious affront to society subject to retribution or worse (see DeSantis today going after Disney*).  Bridgetroll doesn't like comparisons to Putin's Russia but the parallels are apparent to many of us.  It is only a matter of degree at the moment.

* DeSantis disapproves of a corporation taking on a political issue but it was his party's Supreme Court that ruled, overruling long standing precedent, that corporations are "persons" in Citizens United leading to companies playing a major role in this Country's politics.  Be careful what you ask for.

[fieldafm]

^ That's insane.  The right wing in this country complains about "free speech" issues when privately held Twitter (which is not subject to the Constitution's free speech doctrine) blocks an outrageously false and inciteful post but is happy to have government (which is subject to the free speech doctrine) censor reasoned discussion about issues the right would like to just forget about in our schools, universities, work places, doctor's offices, etc.  Oh, the hypocrisy!

The right will be happy when kids grow up "thinking" racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination don't and never existed in the history of the world and that disagreeing with one's governor, president or other elected official, provided they  are from a party of the right, is totally unacceptable and will be deemed an egregious affront to society subject to retribution or worse (see DeSantis today going after Disney*).  Bridgetroll doesn't like comparisons to Putin's Russia but the parallels are apparent to many of us.  It is only a matter of degree at the moment.

* DeSantis disapproves of a corporation taking on a political issue but it was his party's Supreme Court that ruled, overruling long standing precedent, that corporations are "persons" in Citizens United leading to companies playing a major role in this Country's politics.  Be careful what you ask for.

You had room for at least a couple of more left wing grievances in your post.  If you are going to conflate a bunch of issues together, might as well go full monty. 

[jaxlongtimer]

^ That's insane.  The right wing in this country complains about "free speech" issues when privately held Twitter (which is not subject to the Constitution's free speech doctrine) blocks an outrageously false and inciteful post but is happy to have government (which is subject to the free speech doctrine) censor reasoned discussion about issues the right would like to just forget about in our schools, universities, work places, doctor's offices, etc.  Oh, the hypocrisy!

The right will be happy when kids grow up "thinking" racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination don't and never existed in the history of the world and that disagreeing with one's governor, president or other elected official, provided they  are from a party of the right, is totally unacceptable and will be deemed an egregious affront to society subject to retribution or worse (see DeSantis today going after Disney*).  Bridgetroll doesn't like comparisons to Putin's Russia but the parallels are apparent to many of us.  It is only a matter of degree at the moment.

* DeSantis disapproves of a corporation taking on a political issue but it was his party's Supreme Court that ruled, overruling long standing precedent, that corporations are "persons" in Citizens United leading to companies playing a major role in this Country's politics.  Be careful what you ask for.

You had room for at least a couple of more left wing grievances in your post.  If you are going to conflate a bunch of issues together, might as well go full monty. 

I consider myself a moderate but am happy to admit I would lean a little to the left on social issues and a little to the right on fiscal responsibility.  That said, I will call out extremes, left or right, where I see them because I consider them dangerous to the future of our society. 

More than not, the politicos leaning right in this country are ever more leaning far right - if not extreme, pushing the limits of such.  Trump, DeSantos and most of their minions are exhibit A.  My post was essentially factual but you are welcome to tell me the errors of my ways if you can find them.  My basic point here is that the right has a desire to sanitize the discussion of elements of our history that the right deems "unpleasant" to, or questioning of, their personal take on our history.  More threatening, they are willing to take vengeful actions, bordering on the absurd or worse, to penalize or suppress those who dare to resist their efforts.  This is where they cross the line, in my book, into the realm of authoritarianism and deserve the comparisons to such practitioners.

P.S. DeSantis and his legislative lapdogs freely admit that the Disney "bill" was passed solely because Disney opposed the "Don't Say Gay" bill.    These same people would not have blinked an eye if Disney came out in support of it.  I have no issue with re-examing the Reedy Creek District, but not in this context.  Interestingly, it may backfire as RCD owes over a billion in bonds that other governmental entities, and ultimately the State, if that fails, will be responsible for if RCD goes away.  [There apparently are covenants in the bonds that the State is a party to that guarantee that RCD would not be reconfigured while the bonds are outstanding so there may be some legal wrangling still to come.]  I am beginning to wonder if Disney won't be happy to get out from under this arrangement.  After all, they have 55 years of development under their belt already likely giving them much of whatever benefits the RCD arrangement probably could afford them.

[fieldafm]

This is a thread about buildings torn down in Jacksonville (all of which were torn down during eras when Democrats were in charge of the executive and legislative branch of Jacksonville... which has absolutely nothing to do with the price of tea in China).  You apparently want to argue about 'facts' regarding your opinions on how other people think about issues such as parents rights bills, Disney, racism, sexism, homophobia, Citizens United, Desantis, Putin and even a Donald Trump reference.

I mean, seriously...