What do we stand for?
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/images/downtown_frankenstein/street_scenes/lane%20drugs.jpg)
Follow and endorse these principles, then watch urban Jacksonville bloom.
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http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/381
The thing I hate about new urbanism the most is that is has whole heartedly contributed to the continuation of the ex-urban subdivision. Developers merely need to add a "town center" with space for a few retail shops and planning commissions are happy to rubber stamp the development. New urbanism is a great idea but it can only flourish if zero-growth or halted-growth policies are enacted.
Granted a new urbanist development is better than say the gated golf course communities that sprouted all over Florida in the 80s and early 90s.
Bring JAX Beer Back!!!!
Love that Jax beer sign!!!
Ditto, Amanda, re: "town centers". I am so sick of these, and the unending use of the phrase by the same old suburban developers re-packaging their product. This is not true "new urbanism", but at least its better than the stucco-yucco damage they've been doing to Florida's real estate market for decades.
The real problem is with city departments that keep approving them. if it looks like a suburban tract development, is laid out like a suburban tract development (albeit with a central "town" instead of the 4-corner big box nightmare nearby), it is still a suburban tract development!
The disconnect between the photographs of old Jacksonville (which I remember it looking like, although I am not so "old") and the comments, here, point out how generational differences affect discussions like this one.
Our city went from a comfortable 150,000 to 350,000-750,000 to over 1,000,000 within the last 50-60 years. It spread out from the city limits which ended in the middle of the Main Street Bridge(!), to accomodate growth in population. Urbanization, with an emphasis on the centeredness of a city changed its complextion, and the center died, except for certain traditional institutions, such as city government and courts, which remained.
Transportation choices reflected lack of imagination in projecting a wholistic approach to the idea of a city: the center and the outlying areas, operating as a interactive, organic entity. Jacksonville lost out because of its shortsightedness, smallmindedness, or, lack of futuristic imagination in regard to mass transit, light rail, green islands, etc. Now, we pay the price, and the price is going up in energy costs, congestion and pollution. Older sections of town, close to town, have found their own "centers," working efficiently to serve the neighborhoods in the way the old city center once did.
The only way to get the old center revived (centered around Hemming Park) is to increase housing for all economic levels with services that are needed by this "center" neighborhood. In other words, Jacksonville City Center should be seen as another neighborhood, instead of an all-purpose center for the entire city. That model doesn't work any more for a place as large as Jacksonville.
Oh, and do I miss the old Jacksonville? Yes, in many ways.
Truth, Justice and the American Way.....
New Urbanism could definitely improve the quality of life on the First Coast. I would rather see more urban infill first, but real estate costs and buyer preferences make more suburban development inevitable. Communities with new urbanism features are certainly a great improvement over the typical sprawl developments.
http://jacksonvillechristiannews.blogspot.com/2007/06/new-urbanism-can-help-to-create-family.html
faux town centers built by this days developer are pure evil!
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4. Within neighborhoods, a broad range of housing types and price levels can bring people of diverse ages, races, and incomes into daily interaction, strengthening the personal and civic bonds essential to an authentic community.
Amen!
What is the tilted structure on the roof of the Betty Maid building?
The town I believe reflects a step in the right direction. They are stil products of sprawl but it is the recognition that the suburban cul-de-sac is not the end all. They lack true urban connectivity and still rely on cars but they do acknowledge the problem. Town centers do not offer the true answer but admitting you have a problem is the first step.
I truly don't know the answer, and I think many people around the country who look at their downtown core in a similar manner have many opinions as well but I will give it a shot anyway...
I've had several discussions with different people here in town about the difficulty in attracting the larger corporations back towards a downtown and have heard 1,000 different reasons going from a false perception of high crime, to there not being sufficient parking for commuters (free), to high renovation costs to existing structures. You name it, and they've said it.
But there really is an opportunity within the core and it comes from something that I have seen discussed here in this forum on several occasions and that is the demolition that has taken place. Due to the high amounts of demo, there is now what appears to be quite a great deal of land for new construction that could take place in a mixed use type of environment.
I speak for myself when I drive past downtown to go to one of the industrial parks that everyone seems relegated into, I look over at downtown and think of all the Fortune 500 companies that exist here in NE Florida that could be sitting downtown right now....A pipe dream I know, but putting together a way for the city to market itself to those companies that show them what being downtown would mean for them and their employees.
My wife and I have looked across from RAM and often said, it would be nice to see buildings with the names of those companies on them and what people would think as they drive by on I95. Rather than just looking over and saying, "eh" it would be great to see J&J, Medtronic, Merrill Lynch, Web.com, Biomet, Citi, USAA, etc and know that as a result, more and more people were looking at Jacksonville in a more positive way.
A rambling, incoherent post and you have my apologies. I just find it sad when I travel to other cities and they just seem to be working on a different plan.
Here we go again.... another thread about downtown revitalization. Why, after several years of discussion, are no significant positives being achieved toward downtown revitalization? We talk the same issues over and over, and basically nothing happens. Are we missing the important issues or dynamics which, if discussed, might illuminate the road forward?
Usually, when there is a persistent failure of attempts to solve a problem, there are one or two hidden causes of the failure, something lying below the obvious, but something, or some things, fundamental in the dynamics apparently causing the problem, which in our case is city core stagnation.
In most cases, to accurately describe a problem, is to solve it. Why does it seem that we are all missing some apparently very important aspects affecting the problem of achieving downtown vibrancy? Surely there are some dynamics we've missed.
Must we admit, finally, that downtown revitalization, of the classic type, the one of our dreams, is impossible? Perhaps it is time to admit it, and slowly return all the parking lots and empty buildings into parks and forests. Then there would be no center city of a type to which we've become accustomed.... but a sort of mild blend of suburb, right through the old center.
Quote from: ronchamblin on July 23, 2013, 01:50:18 AM
Here we go again.... another thread about downtown revitalization. Why, after several years of discussion, are no significant positives being achieved toward downtown revitalization? We talk the same issues over and over, and basically nothing happens. Are we missing the important issues or dynamics which, if discussed, might illuminate the road forward?
What's missing is the leadership of the city does not recognize the solution or does not have the will to implement it.
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Usually, when there is a persistent failure of attempts to solve a problem, there are one or two hidden causes of the failure, something lying below the obvious, but something, or some things, fundamental in the dynamics apparently causing the problem, which in our case is city core stagnation.
In most cases, to accurately describe a problem, is to solve it. Why does it seem that we are all missing some apparently very important aspects affecting the problem of achieving downtown vibrancy? Surely there are some dynamics we've missed.
See my comment above. What Jacksonville needs to do, is cease doing what it has been doing for the last 15 years and start doing the opposite.
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Must we admit, finally, that downtown revitalization, of the classic type, the one of our dreams, is impossible? Perhaps it is time to admit it, and slowly return all the parking lots and empty buildings into parks and forests. Then there would be no center city of a type to which we've become accustomed.... but a sort of mild blend of suburb, right through the old center.
It not impossible by any means, the POTENTIAL is ENORMOUS, but a leader and a visionary will have to be found to lead the effort. At this point, only a grassroots constiuency is behind this idea.
Good balanced points vicup. I agree that a visionary leader, one not focused excessively on his own career, and one who has the sense to perceive the essence of our problem, and thus the solution to it, is what the city needs.
An office holder must of course focus on a career and a livelihood. However, I suspect that "politicking" is the disease afflicting most politicians; and this, to such a degree that the most afflicted have little energy or focus left to achieve the right actions for their city or their citizens.
Of course, if we were fortunate enough to have a highly competent and perceptive.... visionary leader, the mayor in this case, able to bring effective action to the problem of core stagnation, then all would be good. An effective politician must not only lead, but must lead with the ability to perceive and solve difficult problems. I have not seen any penetration into the fundamental problem of stagnation in our city core.
Yes, I agree Stephen .... about the focus of the thread. I just can't help but focus on the core. It's a problem I have, for which I'm getting counseling. And although some progress has been made during recent years, I don't see what I would call tremendous strides. I might be missing something however.
After 5 years in and around the downtown- I agree with the leadership issues- but I think if we distill this down a little farther it ends up being "self-interest" at the cost of the "public interest". This extends into the private sector as well.
Quote from: ronchamblin on July 23, 2013, 01:50:18 AM
Here we go again.... another thread about downtown revitalization. Why, after several years of discussion, are no significant positives being achieved toward downtown revitalization?
not sure I agree....here's a few positives
1. OneSpark Festival
2. The Elbow
3. new jobs/companies moving downtown - including CoWork
4. Food Trucks
5. and yes, the courthouse is finally complete
Quote from: tufsu1 on July 23, 2013, 04:08:07 PM
Quote from: ronchamblin on July 23, 2013, 01:50:18 AM
Here we go again.... another thread about downtown revitalization. Why, after several years of discussion, are no significant positives being achieved toward downtown revitalization?
not sure I agree....here's a few positives
1. OneSpark Festival
2. The Elbow
3. new jobs/companies moving downtown - including CoWork
4. Food Trucks
5. and yes, the courthouse is finally complete
1) One of the steps.
2) I don't know what the Elbow is.
3) There've been some jobs/companies, but seems not near enough to be considered significant. (lost some too)
4) Food trucks.... one of the steps.
5) Courthouse..... a step... but ..
Some progress, but the fact of the obvious lack of infill and emptiness.,...... lack of "people" outside of special events, allows me to say that we are failing for the most part to progress fast enough toward vibrancy and revitalization of the downtown core. We need to move faster. Hell, I have only about twenty or thirty years to live. I would like to see it done.