Quote(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/-1/Tampa-July-2020/i-BzcPVSR/0/3c839627/L/20200718_095501-L.jpg)
Completed in 2016, the Tampa Riverwalk is a two-mile pedestrian and bike path along the Hillsborough River and Garrison Channel. Popular since day one, it is the tie that connects the majority of major development projects underway within Tampa's Central Business District.
Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/sights-scenes-the-tampa-riverwalk/
Jax has a lot of individual components but doesn't tie it all together the way this does. I wonder if we could?
We could very easily but we need to look at things holistically. In the past, we've worked with downtown sites in silos. The Landing and City Hall Annex sites are two recent examples.
Quote from: MusicMan on July 24, 2020, 09:57:00 AM
Jax has a lot of individual components but doesn't tie it all together the way this does. I wonder if we could?
No. I mean... it's
Jacksonville.
This photo tour is a bitter reminder of how awful Jacksonville has become. Shoppes at Harbour Island should make us sick. We could have done something similar with the Landing. We have been left in the dust behind Orlando and Tampa. This city has become a total failure to me. With the slow down due to Covid-19 and a monumentally bad mayor we are 20 years behind. Where is Lot J? When will construction begin after the Hart project is finished? I give up on the shipyards. The city hall annex site and the old courthouse site will be another debacle. The Landing site will be empty for years and even the idea of a "front yard" is a waste. People in the suburbs will NOT go downtown for a park. I promise you. Bishopsgate and the project by the Southbank Riverwalk at the Acosta Bridge, (can't recall the name) have been so scaled back they are disappointing. The District, I predict, may never happen. The Kartouche building will be history soon for a gas station. In 68 years I've watched Jacksonville vanish with the promise of greater things and pie-in-the-sky projects. I was a cheerleader to everyone I know about the potential of downtown. I'm completely defeated now.
Quote from: MusicMan on July 24, 2020, 09:57:00 AM
Jax has a lot of individual components but doesn't tie it all together the way this does. I wonder if we could?
Tampa has a dedicated nonprofit organization that works with the City's public works department. The nonprofit handles fundraising, daily cleaning, wayfaring, event management, placemaking, etc... while the City handles the engineering/construction side, works with developers of riverfront real estate to include Riverwalk extensions fronting their development, dedicates a portion of the capital improvement plan to Riverwalk construction, administers FIND grant awards and applies for things like Federal TIGER grants There is also a uniform design standard for Tampa's Riverwalk.
Jacksonville has sort of that structure, but not really. A City employee from the Parks Department and two employees from Public Works (I think that's how those two are classified now) are responsible for the administration of the Duval County Maritime Management Plan- which encompasses all waterways throughout Duval County, not specific to the Riverwalk. The Duval County Maritime Management Plan is administered by the Jacksonville Waterways Commission and was the result of then Councilwoman Lori Boyer's Downtown River & Waterfront Activation Task Force. The mayor's office is in charge of setting the CIP, so whether or not Riverwalk improvements or maintenance projects get funding, depends on the desires of the Mayor's office in any given budget year (recently, the Mayor's office has dedicated some significant monies to Riverwalk improvements and maintenance). The City's Special Events department is the only entity that is really tasked with producing events.. and they really haven't been budgeted to do anything beyond FL/GA, World of Nations, Sea and Sky Spectacular, fireworks and the light boat parade. The Parks Department allocated some money to provide private security along the Riverwalk, however I think that program may have ended- haven't seen private security for awhile. Parks Department is supposed to pick up trash, but their manpower and budgeting for that service is limited- therefore that aspect isn't managed as well as similar waterfront linear parks in Tampa, Louisville, Chattanooga, West Palm Beach, etc. DVI has ambassadors staffed at Corkscrew Park and also making rounds walking up and down the Riverwalk... but the Ambassadors are really stretching throughout the Southbank/Northbank now, so again limited resources. The Downtown Dwellers, a small group of Downtown residents, have raised some money for a mural and the restoration of the public restroom on the Southbank. Neither DVI nor the Dwellers do programming along the Riverwalk (although the Dwellers have hosted a few informal meetups on the Riverwalk). The Jacksonville Landing was the ONLY venue providing event programming along the riverfront, however that has been torn down. Many many years ago, the Sheraton hotel hosted Friday parties called the River Rally, which were successful for some time- but that hotel has changed hands many times over since then, and the River Rallies ended maybe right before the turn of the Millenium. There is another group spurred by Scenic Jacksonville that is pushing for some type of riverfront park master plan to be undertaken... but again, no money. DIA works with developers to include Riverwalk extensions when riverfront development is undertaken (recent example is the apartments going up next to the old AETNA building on the Southbank, which will feature a Riverwalk segment when completed). Another example which predates DIA, was the original Fidelity campus in Brooklyn- whereas the campus construction included an extension of the Northbank Riverwalk down to the Acosta, and Fidelity also contributed some matching funds to FDOT for the construction of the Northbank Riverside Artists Park (the site for the Riverside Arts Market). The St Joe (now Raymond James), Dupont, YMCA and Haskell buildings all contributed in some way to the Northbank Riverwalk extension that was originally started in the Delaney administration and finished in time for the Super Bowl during the Peyton administration.
Possibly my biggest annoyance- there is no uniform design standard, so the two linear parks that make up the Southbank and Northbank Riverwalks look different depending on what side of the river you are on... and in the case of the Northbank, even what section you are on.
Most successful urban waterfronts (West Palm Beach, Detroit, Tampa, Chattanooga, Louisville, etc) have a similar governance structure to Tampa, with an independent 501c3 that works alongside and in partnership with the City.
The Riverwalk is better in a lot of ways than it was 15 years ago, and in some ways worse or at least stuck in a perpetual cycle of unrealized 'potential'. The opportunities and solutions are easily identifiable. That Jacksonville still has these disjointed efforts that are largely driven by the whims and politics of different entities, is why the potential hasn't yet fully materialized.
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Most successful urban waterfronts (West Palm Beach, Detroit, Tampa, Chattanooga, Louisville, etc) have a similar governance structure to Tampa, with an independent 501c3 that works alongside and in partnership with the City.
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Well, except for Milwaukee, St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Chicago, et al.
Quote from: bl8jaxnative on July 29, 2020, 10:54:05 AM
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Most successful urban waterfronts (West Palm Beach, Detroit, Tampa, Chattanooga, Louisville, etc) have a similar governance structure to Tampa, with an independent 501c3 that works alongside and in partnership with the City.
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Well, except for Milwaukee, St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Chicago, et al.
Every post of yours on this forum, is to not agree with something.... and 9 times out of 10, your hot takes are uninformed.
Milwaukee has a department housed in the City government that handles their Riverwalk, and has institutional funding and dedicated BIDs for riverfront development. Pittsburgh has the Friends of the Riverfront (which works on the broader three river basin) and Riverlife (focusing on the downtown riverfront). Baltimore has the Waterfront Partnership. Chicago has the Community Trust, Great Rivers of Chicago (an offshoot of the Community Trust) and not to mention a budget dedicated within the Parks department devoted specifically to the Riverfront that is larger in itself than the entire COJ Parks Dept budget.
Your curmudgeoning is old, boomer.
I remember spending time in Tampa in the 1970's. At the time, its downtown looked like a "twin" to Jacksonville with lots of average 1920's to 1960's era buildings dotting the skyline and surroundings. Kind of "sleepy" looking as we were (and still are mostly).
Thus, the "tale of two cities' today is even more stark given their somewhat common baseline. As noted on another thread, it really comes down to leadership.
Tampa started separating itself from Jacksonville when it built its airport at around the same time as ours. Typical of Jacksonville, we built a "cheap" airport at the time and Tampa went "all in" with a world class one. Tampa has never really looked back while we continue to muddle along with little to compare.
Telling of our disparate futures, soon after the airport, Tampa joined the NFL via a Jacksonville owner who couldn't get a franchise here but could for Tampa. While we think having an NFL franchise is transformative to a City, now that we have one, it appears that the real catalyst for advancement is leadership, not an NFL franchise, based on comparing Tampa to Jacksonville. I would suggest the flip side, without more visionary and vibrant leadership, we are destined to lose an NFL franchise. Khan even implied such when he noted Jacksonville was sleepy early on. Not much has changed.