Stopping Urban Growth - Why?

[cityimrov]

From LaVilla to the Car Wash to Downtown, why is it every time someone wants to improve something, make something better, there is always someone out there willing to completely stop the project for some reason.  There's aren't like "Good Old Boy" reasons or economic reasons but reasons I can't even understand.  It's like they are completely against any type of GROWTH or IMPROVEMENT whatsoever in the city.

If I said, "I'm going to build a ten billion dollar residential-club-office-shopping complex in downtown", I can almost guarantee some group will be there trying to stop me.  Not for zoning, economic, technical, or rational reason but because I'm building a "a ten billion dollar residential-club-office-shopping complex in downtown".  

Who are these people?  What do they want?  Why in the world are they doing everything in their power to halt any type of successful, urban development?  

[Jerry Moran]

I've always attributed it to Original Sin, but then, I don't believe in that crap either.

The little chimps have marked their territory with their own excrement, and are happy to wallow in it. They're not budging.

It's not just Downtown, it's Everywhere.

[tufsu1]

Call them C.A.V.E. people - Citizens Againt Virtually Everything

[kellypope]

The human race is a cancer of the planet, that's why.

[Jumpinjack]

I'm sure this applies to people who yell about tearing down old buildings in downtown.

[Joe]

There isn't a single large-scale development/plan/rezoning that doesn't have some form of opposition if it's required to get city approval first.

This is why it's so important to have a clear, fair system of rules for real estate development (that's as market-friendly as possible, by the way) to prevent politics from rearing its ugly head. There is always someone who stands to benefit from a development NOT happening.

Keep in mind the cosmic irony that sprawl itself is nothing more than "anti-growth" legislation. People got afraid of high-density development and traffic, so municipalities around the country passed zoning codes with single-use and low-density requirements. The result is what we call sprawl.

[Timkin]

I'm sure this applies to people who yell about tearing down old buildings in downtown.

I'm sure.   But many of the older buildings HAVE been torn down anyway, and what do we have to show for them in their place?  ANYTHING at all that promotes Urban growth and revitilization?  All I see are Parking Garages/ Surface Parking and Glass/Concrete Towers .

[TheProfessor]

It's called a democracy

[GayLA]

.It's called Jacksonville still mesmerized and culturally unstable since The Great Fire! St. Augustine will have more modern buildings and transit accommodations before Jacksonville!. I've lived in the Fleming Island/Green Cove Springs area all my life and I have seen more growth in this area than I have ever seen in the entire Duval County. The city made a mockery of the Super Bowl, lost the ACC Championship to Tampa, was in jeopardy of loosing it's NFL franchise, lost the Lizard Kings, can't even muster the power to at least add a Day's Inn to the Convention Center and has an airport that's one million miles away from the urban core near the most unattractive parts of Duval County (northside). It's sad when a city with so much land has so little culture. No organized district for the heterosexually challenged, except for Five Points and my old high school is larger than that. Jacksonville is simply not FLORIDA but the southern most point of the state of Georgia!! How the heck do you have an international airport with NO international flights, a downtown with no buildings, more land than any other city in the states (besides Alaska) with no reasonable public transit, and 2 colleges, 2 universities with nothing to entertain the students with?! If I were the St. Johns River I would dry out like the lakes in Keystone Heights and flow elsewhere. Sorry Angelfire but the Duval Ditty is nothing but an embarrassment gone public!!!!!!

P.S.
Rename the city Cowford..there's more cows here than people.
(if this was even the city's name to began with).

[Jumpinjack]

My goodness. Isn't a good thing for all that you don't live here.

[floridaforester]

GayLA-  After reading that diatribe, my very first thought was how would someone from Fleming Island recognize culture anyway.  I guess I would be a pretty frustrated individual if I were closeted in Clay county too.  Get out and explore somewhere other than the local Walmart and you just might find something worthwhile.

[tufsu1]

The city made a mockery of the Super Bowl, lost the ACC Championship to Tampa, was in jeopardy of loosing it's NFL franchise, lost the Lizard Kings

well the ACC title game di worse in Tampa (and that's with $25 tickets), so now its off to Charlotte for 2 years...and we nop have a new AFL team in the Sharks.

[GayLA]

The city made a mockery of the Super Bowl, lost the ACC Championship to Tampa, was in jeopardy of loosing it's NFL franchise, lost the Lizard Kings

well the ACC title game di worse in Tampa (and that's with $25 tickets), so now its off to Charlotte for 2 years...and we nop have a new AFL team in the Sharks.

..Fleming Island has everything (excluding the beach and airport) that the entire City Of Jacksonville has except for we have a well established community that recognizes that things cannot remain forest and vacant forever, so we actually make strides to build a community where not only we have everything we need for our residents but we have people relocate from Jacksonville to Fleming Island/Green Cove Springs because it's more vibrant and well the growth is evident. 30 years from now the biggest improvement that the City Of Jacksonville will have made will be adding a "B" Concourse to it's (Inter)national airport that already has an "A" and "C"??!?!.

I love Jacksonville and the potential it has is amazing. Having graduated from The University Of Florida living in Gainesville for 4 years, then moving to Tampa for 6 months. I know that every city will have a barrier that it has to defeat before it can grow. However Jacksonville has everything it needs, a beautiful river, all the land it needs, a beach, the Florida weather, and nature. But what does it matter if the people calling it home can't even agree on one simple thing as adding advertisements to a bus stop??...I'm just saying!