Downtown Texas vs. Downtown Jacksonville - Part 2: San Antonio
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/images/san_antonio/Riverwalk-Night.jpg)
The riverwalk is the crown jewel of downtown San Antonio. What Jacksonville can learn from San Antonio, Texas?
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/205
San Antonio has a great downtown and the riverwalk is awesome. However, San Antonio has the large, ill-conceived, hideous Alamodome. What a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Hi,
I am not from Jacksonville but I have been here for a few years and have enjoyed reading your comments about the city. I use to live in San Antonio a long time ago while in basic training in the Air Force. I had a chance to visit the areas show here. I am not sure of the name of the park that sits on your left as you head towards downtown on Main street but I think that it would make a great riverwalk development for Jacksonville.
Just visited last weekend. The riverwalk was overflowing with people. There were re-enactments at the alamo, a new batch of recruits just graduated and it was Mardi Gras weekend - people were everywhere. I stayed with some family, so I wasn't in the middle of it all the time, but the one thing that I noticed is that while DT was really vibrant (at least for Saturday), it seemed that there was more sprawl there than here. We hit a few of the touristy areas, The Quarry sticks out, but the remainder entailed a lot of strip malls, apartment complexes and the general blight that we have here - and it seemed just as spread out.
This is barely related, but one of the points above made me think about it. While I was in New Orleans last weekend, one thing that was very helpful was the signage on parking garages. Even some lots that were hidden behind buildings and had tiny entrances still boasted a large sign. Granted, all of these lots and garages were full, but it made checking each option much easier.
The Shoppes at Canal Place garage is huge. 8 stories with a big deck. We ended up parking there and then just left the car for 24 hours. I measured it and we walked about 3 miles around downtown, the French Quarter, and Marigney. That would be absolutely impossible in Jax unless you walked at least 5 laps.