Shipyards Postponed! Biscayne Building Stillborn! Boom Over! Get ready for the whole downtown to die... Here comes JTA and the downtown Bus Freeway System. Another pocket park? How about the Main Street Park Corridor? Dead Skyway? and the beat goes on...
Sorry to throw ice water in the face of a pity party, but y'all better put on your hard hats and hold on for lift-off. These dead ducks are about to explode at the seams... They'll either be built or far exceeded. Why? Have you REALLY READ Tim Gibbons Story on our port? OMG! THINK JACKSONVILLE! Damn! We will be the 4Th largest Port in the USA by the end of 2011. Consider who the other 3 are. Do you see Mayberry anywhere on that list? How about Cowford? NOT! The smart money will be riding on us within a couple of years. I don't think I'm going out on any limb when I tell you that by 2011 our downtown will be a sea of foundations, glass and steel. There is a whole new Jacksonville, and it is right on our door. Wake up Jacksonville, tomorrow is here...
Ocklawaha
To assume that no other port in the country is expanding or has any plans to, is the only way we'll become the 4th largest (I assume in containers, since Tampa's is exporting phosphoric rock making it the state's top in tonnage) port anytime soon.
Other than that, Jax is in a great position and will grow regardless of leadership. However, it will take vision and strong leadership to ensure that our quality of life improves with this growth. It will be up to us to decide if we want a pedestrian friendly neighborhood oriented community or if we want to become an Atlanta, without MARTA.
Given the "relations" our mayor is making with the boys, you can count on Jacksonville become a seaport Atlanta without MARTA since, um, we have ties to oil. Why would we (aka the boys) want fuel effecient mass transit duh.
Norfolk has big expansion plans as well.
QuotePort Expansion - by 2010, a 300-acre expansion of Norfolk International Terminal will be completed making it the largest inter-model center in the US.
I don't think the 4th largest port rank will become a reality. It's like saying I can win the marathon if everyone else would just stop running.
Still good news though.
Savannah, Charelston, and Brunswick are expanding too.
savannah and charleston can only have a distant number to jax is king economicly ............so let thoses loser play catch up cuz we have that number 1 spot
Quote from: Ocklawaha on October 18, 2007, 10:38:52 AM
Shipyards Postponed! Biscayne Building Stillborn! Boom Over! Get ready for the whole downtown to die... Here comes JTA and the downtown Bus Freeway System. Another pocket park? How about the Main Street Park Corridor? Dead Skyway? and the beat goes on...
Sorry to throw ice water in the face of a pity party, but y'all better put on your hard hats and hold on for lift-off. These dead ducks are about to explode at the seams... They'll either be built or far exceeded. Why? Have you REALLY READ Tim Gibbons Story on our port? OMG! THINK JACKSONVILLE! Damn! We will be the 4Th largest Port in the USA by the end of 2011. Consider who the other 3 are. Do you see Mayberry anywhere on that list? How about Cowford? NOT! The smart money will be riding on us within a couple of years. I don't think I'm going out on any limb when I tell you that by 2011 our downtown will be a sea of foundations, glass and steel. There is a whole new Jacksonville, and it is right on our door. Wake up Jacksonville, tomorrow is here...
Ocklawaha
I hear you. But we all due respect..., JACKSONVILLE WON'T DIE! Don't think about the negative. New downtown buildings will rise. I don't believe the Shipyards will EVER be postponed. Just the tower. But we do need to get out of that smart town mindset. I believe we can change.
On the physical front, we have good bones. Mentally, we're not there yet. How we grow in the future (remember there's both good and bad growth) will weigh heavily on how grow on the mental side of things.