Finally joined the forum

Wacca Pilatka · June 02, 2009, 07:30:07 PM

First, thank you all for this website and for all of your fantastic work. I've been reading Metro Jacksonville since early '06 and finally decided to join the forum. Reading this site is one of my favorite things to do each day, even if the topic of the lead story isn't a happy one. I'm amazed at how much I've learned about urban planning and the history of my favorite city, and the spectacular photography always makes me feel almost like I'm there (and gives me ideas for photos that always prove to be poor copies of the ones on the site).

I live in southeast Virginia (Newport News/Williamsburg area) but have been in love with Jacksonville since I was in elementary school...my family used to drive to New Smyrna in Volusia County for summer vacation, and early on I decided Jacksonville was the greatest place I've ever seen. I cajoled for years to get my family to stop in the city, and then discovered Old Hickory's Town and Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage, and fell in love even further. Even though I've become more aware of the city's urban planning and preservation mistakes et al. over the years, especially from this site, they don't make me love it any less. As Ocklawaha once wrote, this city moves me like no other.

I'm not sure if I can be of much help or insight remotely to Metro Jacksonville's various studies and campaigns in the area, but I would be glad to be part of anything that promotes or elevates Jacksonville. I try to be a remote one-man chamber of commerce, for whatever that's worth. For now I visit a couple of times per year, encourage those around me to do the same, and am a Historical Society member. I also am firmly convinced of the Jaguars' importance to the city's prestige and community bonding, so I am a season ticket holder who donates tickets to the USO, Historical Society, and other organizations and hope to do whatever I can to encourage ticket sales (hopefully not to the point of irritation).

Thank you all once again, and I hope I can make some useful contributions to the forum and the city.

JeffreyS · June 02, 2009, 07:44:04 PM

Glad you have emerged from the shadows hve fun.

reednavy · June 02, 2009, 07:55:31 PM

Welcome to the debauchery.

vicupstate · June 02, 2009, 08:32:19 PM

Welcome.

As a suggestion, maybe you could take pictures of Newport News and they could be used for a comparison article.

BridgeTroll · June 03, 2009, 08:27:38 AM

Welcome Wacca!! Looking forward to your input!

Wacca Pilatka · June 03, 2009, 08:44:41 AM

Thanks for the welcome.

I'd be glad to contribute some pictures of Newport News. It's an odd case study in that it's one city in a metro area with several mid-sized cities vying for position. Lakelander wrote a great article about this re: Norfolk and how it has to compete with Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, etc.

Newport News has done something with its urban planning that I really haven't seen in other cities. It has pretty much abandoned its traditional downtown and built a new "City Center" several miles north. (If I remember right, Lakelander's picture of Newport News in the Norfolk article was of the new City Center.) NN is about 25 miles long and 3 miles wide after a consolidation with Warwick County in the late 50s. The traditional downtown area is at the far southern end of the city, and it is essentially boxed in by the enormous shipyard to the north, coal shipping piers to the south, and a troubled neighborhood to the east. Also, when I-64 came through the area, it ran through downtown Hampton instead of downtown Newport News.

Lacking highway access and with suburban growth spreading rapidly to the north, especially after consolidation, downtown was essentially abandoned by the end of the 70s. The major downtown department stores closed in rapid succession in the mid-70s as two suburban malls opened. Also, Newport News entered into a pattern of destroying landmark buildings that dwarfed even what Jacksonville has done. The moonscape of empty lots in the traditional downtown is incredible, and most of the buildings that remain are borderline Soviet-looking 60s and early 70s structures. There are a handful of historic treasures left, but these are largely ignored. A historic hotel as well as high-rise apartment buildings that were built to attract middle- to upper-income residents are now used as subsidized housing.

Hopes were built on a large empty quarter of demolished in the heart of downtown known as the Superblock. Several plans emerged in the 80s to build a hotel, housing, offices and an enclosed mall on the Superblock site, which was to coincide with an interstate spur coming through downtown. But the spur didn't arrive until the early 90s, and it really wasn't a good plan to begin with--yet another sad example of mass demolition and hopes for a major development to drop in the empty space. (Nearby Norfolk, incidentally, is one of the few places that has done a downtown mall "right" where it interacts with the street and has contributed to a development boom.)

Finally, NN embarked on the City Center development about 8 miles north of the old downtown, and more or less openly refers to that area as downtown now. It is central to the interstate and the main commercial strips of the city and features a pedestrian-friendly setup with shopping, restaurants, housing, a Marriott, and several mid-rise office buildings, centering on a large and impressive fountain (which inevitably reminds me of the recent debacles with Friendship).

One of the former downtown NN high schools has a website with the shocking before and after photos of downtown demolition--just went searching for it now but couldn't locate it. I'll be sure to post the link when I can find it.

Ocklawaha · June 03, 2009, 09:58:57 AM

Welcome and thanks for the kind words.

Your question about location and if you could be of help from that distance is a big YES. In fact you are sitting just across then bridge from the Norfolk Light Rail Project. If your interested, perhaps try and photograph the Norfolk train station (think the old terminal is buried and the newer 1970's era Amtrak station might survive). Would love to have someone doing a photo coverage of that area. In fact I'm wanting to get the Amtrak folks to have a summit meeting here, and restoration of the old "Tidewater" between Norfolk and Jacksonville, would be primo!

OCKLAWAHA

Shwaz · June 03, 2009, 10:10:41 AM

QuoteI also am firmly convinced of the Jaguars' importance to the city's prestige and community bonding, so I am a season ticket holder who donates tickets to the USO, Historical Society, and other organizations and hope to do whatever I can to encourage ticket sales (hopefully not to the point of irritation).

You sir are a true fan and a gentleman. I tip my hat to you.

Jason · June 03, 2009, 10:26:44 AM

Welcome Wacca!

Just curious, what inspired your screen name? Any ties to Palatka by chance?

Wacca Pilatka · June 03, 2009, 12:19:48 PM

The inspiration is that a pre-Cowford name for the downtown site was Wacca Pilatka, literally the place where the cows cross the river, which was anglicized into Cowford. I've never actually visited Palatka.

Ock, I'd be glad to take you up on the search for the train station in Norfolk. I'll see what I can find out. I know NN still has a fragment of its turn of the century train station, as it's operating as a restaurant now. NN and Williamsburg also have operating Amtrak stations if you're interested in seeing those.