Metro Jacksonville

The DIA, City Council, and Mayor's office should hear the People on this subject. Otherwise the decision will be made based on their own preferences and prejudices.  Someone should ask Brown and Curry what they think.

If they can leave the old courthouse vacant, why can't they leave the parking lot in the same condition? There are no plans for the site anyway.

I would like to see the deck removed and make it a really nice waterfront area. That could include a marina or new section of riverwalk but I don't think it matters a whole lot as long as they open up river access. And add public art. I'm really not smart on this kind of thing though so interpret that as a best guess, lol.

Close it off and then call it Mayor Alvin Brown's wasteland. After all, he put his name on the Jazz Festival, why not this debacle.

If the old Courthouse was still open, this would've been beyond disastrous. The main thing that the collapse effected was the Berkman homes, with the electricity that's now fixed. South Liberty never been a high passage thoroughfare. With the FDOT being in charge of bridges, it seems like nothing will be expedited anytime soon. The poll answers number 1, 2, and 3 sound too dramatic, costly, and hurried IMO so I picked number four, the request for proposal; In other words being very methodical with this, and keeping the site roped off for the time being.

How long has the RFP process been for the Landing? Shipyards? Healthy Town? RFPs take forever in this town. The RFP will still be growing the paper from the trees it is printed on when an unsuspecting drunk fool from the Florida Georgia game uses the opening for a dare and ends up being a story of local fodder. Or worse, we get stuck having to post a JSO officer there to guard a hole in the ground. Fix it, remove it, do something with it, other than leaving it. We are already doing a nice job of leaving stuff around downtown. Berkman, abandoned buildings, dreams....

^ The Landing design RFP was due on February 26th and 3 firms were shortlisted on Wednesday.  Interviews will be held next week and a selection made shortly thereafter.

That's a pretty quick turnaround for any city!

The points about process are well taken.  I was thinking that for the purposes of this poll, we should think about it with a Magic Wand involved. Process is about guessing what will actually happen.  I'm wondering what people really want.

IMO the old Duval Courthouse doesn't get talked about enough as a 'WTF?' past decision choice. I'm aware that Jax was denser back in the day; Was it SO dense that they had to build a riverfront courthouse at the bulkhead with a large parking lot built atop the St Johns? The decision choice for that building with no terrestrial parking is beyond baffling.

Here's some of the common WTF they was thinking in Jax's past on MJ; All of these controversies, you don't have to agree with it, but you can atleast see where they was coming from unlike the old Courthouse.

The Jail: They wanted it to be close to the police headquarters which is more efficient with detainee transport etc. No significant NIMBY issues.

The Maxwell House: Simply that area was much more industrial back then with the Shipyards, so it's not out of place for a factory to be in an once industrial/maritime area.

The Hart Bridge Ramp: The idea the build an express ramp the doesn't interfere with urban ground traffic. This old school method was nothing uncommon at it's time (in cities like Seattle, New Orleans, New York etc).

Demolish the courthouse and parking lot.  Encourage FDOT to accelerate replacement of the streets they are responsible for.  After demo and rehab of the courthouse land and shoreline, RFP it.

Mayor Lenny Curry's first meeting with City Council touched on many of the new administration's priorities — and one of them might have come as a surprise: That fixes be made to "that damned Liberty Street."

Lordy Lordy, I hope they don't just fix the holes.  This is an opportunity to really change the core, and it sounds like Curry (or rather Mousa) wants business as usual.