The New Springfield

[uptowngirl]

I cannot show you what is behind the gates, as it is members only- but PM me your membership ID and I will email you picutres!

[ChriswUfGator]

Even though you're joking, you're really not far from the truth...

I can just picture the setup now, next to the "Welcome to Historic Springfield!" sign...LMFAO

[strider]

So, where do you think SPAR Council will put the gates? 

[uptowngirl]

I posted this really as a joke.... I think there are only a few (small minority) that would like to see a more suburban type atmosphere in a downtown setting... it is like Urban Outfitters opening stores in ST. Johns Town Center

[strider]

Uptowngirl: I posted this really as a joke....

As I know you did.  Unfortunately, as someone else said, it is the reality of what a few want...not real gates, but that type of exclusive community.  And even I have to say that my post was a cheap shot and one I should not have taken. Not everyone involved with SPAR Council feels that way.

One of the real issues is that even the overlay seems to move the zoning into making Springfield more like the suburbs than the urban area it should be. The urban feel Sringfield does have is from the hard work of many people rather than the strict plan of the city or an organization.

[Debbie Thompson]

Yesterday, I had to go to Mandarin, south of 295. I hadn't been down that way in years. All the beautiful old oak trees that used to line San Jose and meet over the road are gone - sacrificed to strip malls and other development. Mandarin used to be quaint and beautiful, and now it's just another suburb with houses that all look alike.  I couldn't wait to get back to Springfield. 

[uptowngirl]

Yesterday, I had to go to Mandarin, south of 295. I hadn't been down that way in years. All the beautiful old oak trees that used to line San Jose and meet over the road are gone - sacrificed to strip malls and other development. Mandarin used to be quaint and beautiful, and now it's just another suburb with houses that all look alike.  I couldn't wait to get back to Springfield. 

We were over there last weekend and noticed the same thing-sad :-(

I took my parents way down Beach Blvd yesterday (I swear they have been before, but whatever...) and they were so confused, they thought they were on Atlantic, and the stop at the Super Target, well my Mom thought that was the one over by Orange Park. Sad, they all look the same. If that is what it takes to get some name brand stores, well I will pass thanks!

[sheclown]

It isn't just around Jacksonville, it is throughout the whole country.  Hard to tell where you are, each Walmart, Outback, Starbucks, looks like the next. Each "Towne Center" looks like the one down the highway.  We have sacrificed 'unique' and 'distinctive' for 'safe' and 'measured.'

Ahhh...what a loss.

Perhaps that is why we are all so passionate about our unique and distinctive Springfield.

[mtraininjax]

Mandarin used to be quaint and beautiful, and now it's just another suburb with houses that all look alike.

Mandarin is still very quaint, but if you paint the picture that 13 is the same as Blanding, you are right. You have to get off the main road to see the real beauty. Its still there, Mandarin Road is timeless in its beauty. Get off the main road, you will find the beauty.

[Debbie Thompson]

The meeting I attended was on Mandarin Road, a half mile down the road. Maybe I had to drive further than a half mile to find a stately oak remaining on Mandarin Road. :-)   The "Patriarch Oaks" - that's what a plaque on Mandarin Road called them - on the corner of San Jose and Mandarin Road stood out to me only because they were the only stately oaks I could still find. And even they had huge wounds on the sides facing the road where it was obvious huge branches were lopped off so they wouldn't hang over the road.  :-(  I was saddened to see that, and I still am.  

But I'm off the subject, so I'll now shut up about the missing stately oaks in Mandarin. <grin>