The Ruins of Jacksonville: Hogans Creek

[sheclown]

let's do it.

[Ocklawaha]

Philip II and Mary I

You mean Phillip's Highway?  LOL!

No dog walker, he means "Phi L ips", as in King Philip II of Spain. In Spanish the ll sound's more like a "Ya" as in llama. Spanish almost never uses double letters and frankly when in doubt never double Spanish letters.

Philip was one smart and educated guy, but he never learned to read English! Spain reached it's peak of power under Philip, in the 1560-70's, shifting the balance of power in the Mediterranean away from the Ottoman's in a great sea battle. Inflation also reached it's peak early in his reign bankrupting the nation, which then leaned heavily on Cuba, Colombia, Florida and the rest of the new world not only for it's mineral wealth, but an increasing amount of trade goods. He kept the faith of the Catholic Church, and that eventually would cost Spain dearly. Had his message been received in time he probably would have had the hand of Queen Mary I of England. Their joint title was: Philip and Mary, by the Grace of God King and Queen of England, Spain, France, Jerusalem, both the Sicilies and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tirol. Mary not only became Queen Consort of Spain but also "Queen of the Spanish East and West Indies and of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea.

He was responsible for stringing the detached Florida settlements to the rest of the continent with a dirt track that crossed the St. Johns River, in the Great Double Bend, at a cow ford. "...and now you know the rest of the story..."

After the death of Mary I, Philip would have probably married Elizabeth, Queen of England, but she didn't get the message in time. Meanwhile we have the mess created by Henry VIII, and Excommunication by the Catholic Church. While the Church always held that Mary Queen of Scot's was the rightful heir to the throne because Henry and crew were heretic's. Even so, king Philip, the guy who is ultimately responsible for the bloodletting against the Protestants at Ft. Caroline and Matanzas, went to bat for the British, and intervened with the Pope, on their behalf.

Likewise the German and Russian Crown's were intermarried with the United Kingdom, which is why Hitler would state in a speach, "The British are not our natural enemy's..."


OCKLAWAHA

[Ocklawaha]

BTW, SOMEBODY tell the City how to SPELL! Down by the Avenue's at Avenue's Walk, they have Philip's misspelled.
Don't worry the sign shop boy's gradegietad frum a Jaccsonnbille Hi Skol.

OCKLAWAHA

[Dog Walker]

Ock, I was making a joke about the common misspelling of Philips Highway and do habla enough to know the difference between a llama and a Tibetan priest.

Was completely thrown off once when a friend told me to look for him in a "heaprow" (Cuban accent).  He got exasperated at my incomprehension and said in English, " A f***ing red Jeep!"  Face slap time.

[Ocklawaha]

Hopefully somebody used your springboard to LEARN something about our city and it's cool history.

BTW, I've tooled about the Ande's in a bunch of "Heaps".


OCKLAWAHA

[sheclown]

let's fix the balustrades

[nvrenuf]

William Thomas is assisting Ray Beeson in shoring up the community garden retaining wall. Maybe he has some ideas.

[nvrenuf]

William Thomas is assisting Ray Beeson in shoring up the community garden retaining wall. Maybe he has some ideas.

Ray is a hard working smart guy.  Im sure he would have some insight into a solution.  Perhaps you might ask him, Nvrenuf!

Good idea.

I don't see Ray often but will ask Amanda if she can talk to him about it. I will talk to William next time I see him.

[Timkin]

Cool presentation... If you guys get around to working on this ,id love to pitch in...

[rainfrog]

Ock, I hope you don't mind too much me stepping on your toes here, as I truly don't mean any disrespect. Linguistics is a big interest of mine, and my academic background is in public history, so I just wanted to chime in. I've read that the naming of Philips Highway originated from a local judge named Henry Bethune Philips, and in that case it would not be a possessive but a surname (with no apostrophe.) Even so, regarding the king of Spain (Felipe II de España), while the single "L" and double "LL" indeed form separate phonemes in Spanish, that is not directly related to the name Philip or its alternative spelling, Phillip, which are English equivalents to the Spanish name Felipe. (Note also that the phoneme "PH" is not generally found in Spanish.)

Historically, European proper names were often translated as long as an equivalent existed, which is in contrast to present use, when we see things like an English-language Lady Gaga song about an "Alejandro" instead of an "Alexander."

Well heck, while I'm toe-stomping , I'm pretty sure Philips, Avenues, and Andes should all be without apostrophes, each for slightly different reasons.

[Timkin]

Toe-stomping happens alot 'round here

[Noone]

Paul Crawford, who used to work in the Mayor's office is the director, as far as I know, of the park system. Brad Thoburn used to be the planning director and he worked in the Mayor's office. Kerry Stewart used to work in the Mayor's office and is now head of the Jax Housing Authority, among other things....

Anyone see a pattern here....work in the mayor's office and you can then work anywhere the mayor has a need for your loyalty.

Paul was the interim director of Parks and Rec. I'll always remember that we brought in John Culbreth as the new director of Parks and Rec. At his city council confirmation I went up to him and introduced myself and mentioned that when he gets a chance I'd love to show him the Old Fuller Warren Bridge. He asked me where is it. I told him I'll show you. He said, I want to see it.

Martha Shirko set up the appt for us to meet John Culbreth. We met at the Parks and Rec at the armory. Paul was there and it was a hurried meeting and we never got to show John Culbreth the opportunity that was the Old Fuller Warren Bridge. Culbreth was out and we know what happened to the OFWB.

Kelley Borree is the head of the Parks Dept. And the parks dept. in my opinion has done a good job in maintaining them. What eveyone needs to know that the Dept is now called Parks, Recreation, Entertainment and now to include Conservation.

Brad Thoburn wore many hats. He was the Duval county representative for the St. Johns River Alliance when they met for some of their meetings. This group comprises 12 counties and as a whole the mission is to promote and celebrate our St. Johns River our American Heritage River. I was given an opportunity to give a presentation to the group about the benefit of saving and using the Old Fuller Warren Bridge for Public Access and Economic opportunity. I was hoping that the SJRA would offer a resolution of support.

So can you imagine my drop jaw astonishment when then acting chair Sue Carlson Brevard county asks Brad would you like the SJRA to offer a resolution and he responds "NO" we choose to handle it in house.

Other counties are saying to me John how can we help when your own county is opposed.

Remember the Parks Task Force Report?
The JCCI River Dance study..... Putting the River in River city?
Downtown Vision report by Chan Krieger and Associates?
Shipyards/Landmar?
Pocket Parks-Pocket Piers?
JU Marine Science Research Institute-Real potential benefit for Springfield and Hogans Creek

Hogans Creek!
McCoys Creek!
680' Promised Downtown Public Pier!

This is an election year. Ask the candidates their position. Hogans Creek can be brought back but it will take immediate legislative action.

[Noone]

Has anyone heard from councilman Gaffney?

The Public Trust has been totally crushed in this community.

If the people of Jacksonville think for one second we will be getting more access and economic opportunity to our St. Johns River our American Heritage River we are all in La La Land.

Rules committee meeting in 44 hours. Will an amendment be attached to 2010-856 that would exempt the Waterways especially when in 12 days there is a meeting of the St. Johns River Alliance and an update on the seeking of a statewide designation of a blueway paddling trail for the 310 miles of our St. Johns River our American Heritage River but we just past an ordinance that could restrict participation in Duval county with a one mile ban.

The Honorable Patricia Northey, Volusia county along with Lisa Rinamon with the administration was made aware of the situation as well as my city councilman Don Redman Dist.4 at the December Board meeting in Palatka. Hope there is an update and a resolution to this potential economic jobs killer piece of legislation.

Be concerned and keep score.

Nothing is happening in Dist.4 & 7.

[Noone]

Do put too much into the article.  There is no hidden agenda saying Metro Jacksonville wants gondolas in Hogans Creek.  However, the waterway can be what you make of it.  The setting and existing environment could offer a mix of amenties to the local community.  For example, south of the Arlington Expressway you could canoe or paddle boat, etc because all of the bridges have decent clearance.









http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-nov-paddling-up-hogans-creek

Anyway, the point of the story is not to outright copy the San Antonio model or anyone else's.  The article strictly highlights a forgotten urban core treasure that should become a higher priority for the city.  Whether we attempt to stick gondolas in there, line it with restaurants, improve the water quality or just preserve the historic architecture will ultimately be left up to the city and community.  The examples are just there to show what other cities have done with forgotten canals, waterways and streams in their urban core.

Lake nice pics. That shopping cart in the top pic is outta there. Hats off to everyone that is cleaning it up and making it happen. The earlier posts are a clear indication that many have felt this sense of frustration.

Gaffney has lollipop money right now. This is Dist.7.

Use it or lose it.

[Noone]

Miss FixIt I saw your post on Walkable neighborhoods and your inquiry about Hogans Creek and this was the link. There is a Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting in 6 1/2 hours and only 1 item on the agenda. They didn't have a Waterways meeting in July. But the one item is money from FIND (Florida Inland Navigation District) for cleanup projects.  What timing.