Elements of Urbanism: Gainesville

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Gainesville



A brief tour around the downtown of Gator Country.After many years of little progress, revitalization of the city's core has picked up, and many parking lots and underutilized buildings are being replaced with infill development and near-campus housing which blend in with existing historic structures.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/933

[TD*]

Pretty cool, does this mean the Tallahassee Elements of Urbanism piece will be posted soon?

[thelakelander]

Yes.  The Tallahassee piece will run next week.

[copperfiend]

Great shots. I always love the urban atmosphere of college towns. And I have to say that there are some smoking hot girls in these photos too.

[riverside planner]

It looks like the student ghetto of my undergraduate years is but a distant memory...

[Abhishek]

The RTS service is pretty amazing. I lived there from Aug 2004 through Dec 2005 and did not own a car. I was a student and could not afford  a car. RTS made it possible for me to do that.

[heights unknown]

Looking at the population, Gainesville is really bigger in population than Jacksonville, that is, if we shrink back to the old City limits, not adding any possible annexations, Jax's population would be hard pressed to reach 100,000 people.  Didn't know that Gainesville was mean to the homeless and had severe restrictions on social agencies that help those in need.  This turns me off to Gainesville being that I head a social service agency.  Anyhoo, nice pics, but wouldn't want to live in this mean city.

Heights Unknown

[thelakelander]

The old city limits of Jacksonville had 112,753 residents in the 2000 census.  However, the old city was only 30 square miles.

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/914/115/

114,375 is the latest census estimate for Gainesville.  However, Gainesville has 49.10 miles of land area.  So even today, after a loss of over 91,000 residents, Jacksonville's urban core is larger than present day Gainesville when compared by population per square mile.

[civil42806]

Hey no pictures of the "french fries from hell " on  campus!!

[Jason]

Great shots. I always love the urban atmosphere of college towns. And I have to say that there are some smoking hot girls in these photos too.

Ennis has an eye for shots like that. 


Can't wait for the Tally series next week.  There have been some big changes in our state's capitol over the last few years.

[vicupstate]

Looking at the population, Gainesville is really bigger in population than Jacksonville, that is, if we shrink back to the old City limits, not adding any possible annexations, Jax's population would be hard pressed to reach 100,000 people.  Didn't know that Gainesville was mean to the homeless and had severe restrictions on social agencies that help those in need.  This turns me off to Gainesville being that I head a social service agency.  Anyhoo, nice pics, but wouldn't want to live in this mean city.

Heights Unknown

I'd like to know more about how they deal with the homeless.  That is a big issue with many cities and many have trouble with it.  Iwould like to know what the organization that rated Gainesville as 'mean', used as criteria.  I have compassion for my fellow man, but sometimes some 'tough love' is better than 'mindless compassion'.     

[Joe]

I think Gainesville is an example of when social service agencies are clearly more of a problem than a helping hand.

Because of the city's demographics, you have a very high concentration of social activists, bleeding hearts, and college kids that are guilty about their relative wealth. That's not my attempt at bashing anyone, it's just an honest description of the population. As a result, you have lots of groups that dole out "help" very indiscriminately. You get the feeling that some people have specifically come to Gainesville from other towns, just so they can take advantage of the free stuff.

Regardless of whatever ordinances there are, I know for a fact that there's a lot of panhandling and a lot of free meals in public places. At least as of a couple years ago, it basically turned one of downtown's public squares into a giant homeless festival that was like Heming Park times 10.

Gainesville also really shatters the old myth about most homeless being working-class people who are down on their luck. A huge number of the homeless in Gainesville are simply drifters. They are young and able-bodied. They're clearly in town for the booze, drugs, and youth culture. (Then again, you could probably make a good living in Gville just hanging around all day and buying booze for freshmen ... they certainly find enough cash to pay for cigarettes and tattoos.)

[thelakelander]

I didn't see many homeless during this visit a few weeks ago, but this park was littered with them.

[DemocraticNole]

Great shots. I always love the urban atmosphere of college towns. And I have to say that there are some smoking hot girls in these photos too.

Ennis has an eye for shots like that. 


Can't wait for the Tally series next week.  There have been some big changes in our state's capitol over the last few years.

As an FSU grad and someone who grew up in Tally, the changes have been massive, especially over the last 5 years or so. Now that I live in Tampa, going back for football games allows me to see lots of new changes.

I will say that downtown Gainesville has more going on than downtown Tally does right now. There are more restaurants and bars in downtown Gainesville than downtown Tally. The city has done a good job of revitalizing though and when work begins on the Gaines St. revitalization, that will be a big step in the right direction.

[Joe]

I didn't see many homeless during this visit a few weeks ago, but this park was littered with them.

Yup! That's the park I was talking about.

Maybe some of these "mean" anti-homeless regulations have been passed since I lived there ... because a few years ago, there was literally 1 vagrant per square meter in that park. From a distance, you would always think that some sort of street festival was going on. But once you got closer, you finally noticed that it was just hoards of drifters hanging around waiting for free food.