QuoteHas Jacksonville arrived? In some ways that's a silly question, but it's one that comes up in light of Wednesday's announcement that Swedish-meatball-and-furniture purveyor Ikea will open a 294,000-square-foot store here.
We're not trying to read too much into that decision, but the thought crosses our mind: Perhaps it's time for the First Coast to shrug off its self-image as Podunkville and embrace the idea that we can become a higher class city.
Ask anyone who has lived here for any length of time about the city, and you'll get a litany of the issues it has. Many of them are valid: Efforts to transform Downtown haven't yet paid off, the crime rate is a problem, the educational failings that send families to St. Johns County must be dealt with, a solution must be found for the city's pension money pit ... the list goes on.
And yet ... The city's startup culture is growing. New voices and new energy are being poured into issues like education and city government. In spite of the problems we're facing, the business community in particular seems to be focused on finding solutions, not just bemoaning the situation.
And that brings us back to Wednesday's announcement.
Additional shopping options won't make Jacksonville a great city — but what they might do is change the way we view ourselves.
We have Nordstrom.
We have Trader Joe's.
We'll soon have Ikea.
Desirable retailers like us; they really like us.
The stamp of approval granted by such businesses could be the catalyst Jacksonville needs to shrug off the biggest thing holding it back — the belief that we can't aim higher, that we can't do better.
Earlier this week, social media went a bit nuts over a Huffington Post article that dubbed Jacksonville a "secretly cool city" — albeit one that was deemed to be "an hour-and-a-half from civilization."
Ending up on such a list is a nice thing, a testimony to the work that has gone into making Jacksonville a better place.
But maybe it's time we stop rejoicing over backhanded compliments and instead move forward with a sense of confidence.
Ikea stocks a lot of things.
Just maybe, stuck in between the lingonberry jam and the Billy bookshelf, Jacksonville can find a new self image.
http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2015/10/09/editorial-can-we-say-jacksonville-has-arrived.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_jacksonville+%28Jacksonville+Business+Journal%29 (http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2015/10/09/editorial-can-we-say-jacksonville-has-arrived.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_jacksonville+%28Jacksonville+Business+Journal%29)
If we ever want to get rid of the local inferiority complex, one thing we can stop doing is asking "if we've arrived" because some chain store opens up a new location in the area. It's not a matter of arriving. It's a matter of a chain store figuring they can get a decent return of investment by opening a store in the region. Invest in your quality-of-life and you can "arrive" regardless of who opens up shop locally.
The Berkman II is the perfect symbol for our city. In pretty much every conceivable way. Since 2007.
Can you imagine being a visitor from Atlanta who comes down for the Florida-Georgia game? Every year for 8 straight years you have come here and seen that POS sitting there in the heart of downtown Jax. Wondering what kind of City would let that POS just sit there. No plan, no nothing for finishing it or knocking it down. WE HAVE NOT ARRIVED. The Shipyards are contaminated, no start date set for cleaning it up. WE HAVE NOT ARRIVED. No plan in place for developing it when it's clean.WE HAVE NOT ARRIVED. Have you visited The Jacksonville Landing lately? WE HAVE NOT ARRIVED.
The Laura Street Trio plus Barnett Bank, the most important street in downtown, the most important corner, and those 4 buildings sitting empty,gutted, with no plan in place for their re-development, no start date in sight. WE HAVE NOT ARRIVED. Our fair city is like your redneck cousin who never went to the dentist, missing most of his front teeth. Would you say he had ARRIVED?
You want to see a City that has arrived, go to little ole Greenville SC. That is a city that has arrived. Go to Austin TX. Portland OR.
But Jacksonville? NOPE. Not saying it can't be done, but it's a long road ahead.
Quote from: thelakelander on October 12, 2015, 04:48:48 PM
If we ever want to get rid of the local inferiority complex, one thing we can stop doing is asking "if we've arrived" because some chain store opens up a new location in the area. It's not a matter of arriving. It's a matter of a chain store figuring they can get a decent return of investment by opening a store in the region. Invest in your quality-of-life and you can "arrive" regardless of who opens up shop locally.
I agree with the inferiority thing. We keep acting like 'Golleee, somebody noticed little ol' Jacksonville.' We are a pretty big city. We've had an NFL team for 20 years now. There's 16 Trader Joe's in the state, do we really think we're in elite company? IKEA had stores in Tampa, Orlando and two in South Florida. If it was going to open another in the state, is it really surprising it opened here? We beat out Pensacola?
Quote... the business community in particular seems to be focused on finding solutions...
Can anyone cite any examples of this?
Rummell's Healthy Town, Khan's shipyards proposal and Hallmark's continued investment in Brooklyn are decent examples of those in the local business community working to change the narrative. Also the Civic Council has lobbied for a lot of change, since it was established. Here's one good example:
QuoteBy Karen Brune Mathis, Managing Editor
As Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace was asked Thursday about the potential for a private funding source to spark progress, a buzz erupted.
It culminated with a succinct pronouncement from one of the mayoral transition subcommittee members.
"It exists," said Steve Crosby, president of CSX Real Property and the executive working to make such a fund a reality.
Crosby said after the meeting the fund should be formed by the end of summer and will model those in Cincinnati and Detroit.
It will then be "going about the business of both raising investment funds and finding the right kinds of projects to invest in," he said.
He said there was no target amount of money to be raised and that more details would be shared later.
Crosby has been on loan since last fall to the private Jacksonville Civic Council and JAX Chamber to design the fund. He also is a member of Downtown Vision Inc.'s board of directors.
"Bringing patient private capital is what it's all about," Crosby said after the meeting.
"The whole reason for doing this is to help projects happen that otherwise might not," he said, and to provide capital that is more flexible than what the market would provide.
Such capital is privately raised and invested for the long term with no expectation of turning a quick profit. In this case, it would be directed at first toward Downtown development.
Full article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=545701
QuoteAsk anyone who has lived here for any length of time about the city, and you'll get a litany of the issues it has. Many of them are valid: Efforts to transform Downtown haven't yet paid off, the crime rate is a problem, the educational failings that send families to St. Johns County must be dealt with, a solution must be found for the city's pension money pit ... the list goes on.
And yet ... The city's startup culture is growing. New voices and new energy are being poured into issues like education and city government. In spite of the problems we're facing, the business community in particular seems to be focused on finding solutions, not just bemoaning the situation.
Healhty Town and Khan's never-to-be-built Shipyards Project are examples of finding solutions to the crime, educational failings, and the city's pension issues? I'm not seeing it.
Quote from: finehoe on October 13, 2015, 10:13:28 AM
QuoteAsk anyone who has lived here for any length of time about the city, and you'll get a litany of the issues it has. Many of them are valid: Efforts to transform Downtown haven't yet paid off, the crime rate is a problem, the educational failings that send families to St. Johns County must be dealt with, a solution must be found for the city's pension money pit ... the list goes on.
And yet ... The city's startup culture is growing. New voices and new energy are being poured into issues like education and city government. In spite of the problems we're facing, the business community in particular seems to be focused on finding solutions, not just bemoaning the situation.
Healhty Town and Khan's never-to-be-built Shipyards Project are examples of finding solutions to the crime, educational failings, and the city's pension issues? I'm not seeing it.
They're solutions to other issues that are named. To your point, the Civic Council was founded to help lobby on education issues. They've also lobbied extensively on solving the pension crisis and we may finally see some resolution to that soon.
of course, the more we can funnel profit into the hands of a few developers while giving them as many taxpayer dollars as possible, the more social ills will be mitigated.