I know more than a few people, these days, who think that Jacksonville has finally turned the corner and is steadily becoming one of those lauded cities where business, arts and culture are developing in ways that drive civic pride and genuine socio-economic success. The signs of this, apparently, are all around us. I have to say, I have a great deal of sympathy with this view and things do seem to be changing for the better. I know I only see a tiny fraction of what is happening in our city, so I am interested in hearing from MJ-ers about what they think the main indicators of progress and positive change are. Small or big, what are you seeing?
From my perch I see the Chamber of Commerce digging in to continue the GOB anti-progressive agenda. The City Council just blew off hundreds of people that told them we wanted the mobility plan implemented full force, we were called 'noise.' JTA completed it's first streetcar study which pointed out complete feasibility then tossed it into a deep dark locker. And while our transit agency has a new director but as of this moment is still planning BRT under the Skyway and down the unwanted Philips Highway route. JTA is also going into engineering on a Bus station that has been sold to the public as the 'intercity motor coach' aspect of the disastrous JRTC plan, when in reality it is a isolated, ill conceived, and unshared Greyhound Station. Our port just lost out on the second biggest deal in recent history as the plug was pulled for a new container terminal, meanwhile they are seriously looking at a dedicated 'truckway' to the westside. Just another day in paradise.
Thanks Ock. You say it so much better than me.... because you know more than me about these things.
I sense that Simonsays is noticing some positive trends which occur in spite of the entrenched and comfortable GOB fellows who seem to accept the status quo, who seem to be comfortable with a relatively stagnate core.
I see some positives.... some life toward growth, but its not in the core. It seems that the growth and building activity is starting at Five Points, and is moving toward the core. Maybe that's the way it will be.
If we are lucky, the recent purchase (I suppose it happened) of the Barnett/Trio will get off the ground, and begin a momentum in the core to sort of meet the growth coming in from the southwest (Five Points) direction. What happened to the plans for the Barnett/Trio? I've seen the start/abandon scenario with these buildings about three times since I've been in the core. Is it another abort?
I don't believe you can successfully turn a corner without implementation. There is a lot of positive talk and optimism. However, our decades long challenge we've yet to overcome is turning talk into reality.
I saw similar things and had the same feeling about Jacksonville "finally turning a corner" years ago, when my wife and I decided to stay and buy a house. (She never lets me live that down.)
Hope all the positive talk turns into action this time.
When I came to town, there was "turning the corner" optimism as well. The Super Bowl was on its way and there was a lot of hype about several luxury towers being built along the downtown riverfront. All the talk boiled down to a couple of lighted bridges, a few extra palm trees, a few street repavings and One Shipyards Place's abandoned foundation. Talk is nothing more than hot air if it doesn't pan out into realistic results.
I do think Ock has a very good point. While public sentiment may have shifted to recognize downtown as important and worth investing in, the old guard is still very much in power and they are still delusional. We need to start putting smart people in office to put these forward thinking ideas into practice.
So, to answer your question; No, but we're starting to gain some ground in one of the many uphill battles we've been fighting for years.
Was driving around downtown/Lavilla today. You could shoot a zombie movie in and around the courthouse. The lonely building directly in front of the courthouse with a "for sale" sign on it in an otherwise empty block just feels so sad.
Aside from Indochine or the JSO (maybe Chamblin's books, I hear great things but haven't been yet), there isn't anything on my must-see/eat/do list downtown. I hope it has turned the corner (not sure how bad it may have been) but I won't be throwing my lot in within the next 2-3 years.
Having asked the question elsewhere, I am hearing a lot of Captain Z's point: No we haven't turned the corner, but we are gaining some ground (albeit in uphill battles)
What people I have spoken to have been holding up as signs of progress are all over the map - from events like Art Walk, RAM, and the new Community First Saturdays; One Spark of course, and the election of Mayor Brown; new cycle lanes; DIA, which is easy to dismiss as a 'groundhog day' deal, but for some seems to be a serious effort to do it right. The development of Brooklyn, the extraordinary success of Riverside and Avondale, the flourishing arts community etc.
All these are signs of confidence. Is that confidence misplaced? Are these signs trivial compared with the problems we face?
What you have is optimism. There was just as much optimism leading up to the super bowl. If we don't quickly take advantage of the optimism by implementing permanent change on key issues (all your examples are event-based programming as opposed to physical permanent change), that optimism will quickly disappear.
I'd say it depends on what you mean by "Jacksonville" and "turning the corner". There are big differences between the Jacksonville as a whole, Downtown Jacksonville, the greater urban core, and metropolitan Jacksonville.
The greater city and the metro are doing many things right. The Southside and Beaches areas and St. Johns County are booming; the Town Center sector continues to expand and St. Johns has the top-performing school district in the state. There are a lot of great things happening in the wider urban core as well, with the Brooklyn projects, the King Street district, the various San Marco projects, and many small-scale additions making big impacts in a small amount of time.
However, Downtown and other urban core areas still struggle as they have for a long time. There are a number of reasons to be optimistic in spite of this; I'd count the increased number of small business owners investing in downtown without incentives, a major attitude shift in the business community towards favorable views towards downtown, the fact that we have leaders who now at least speak positively about downtown, and the success of a number of individual events and developments which reveal support from all over the community.