Urban Parks: Water Street Garage Pocket Park
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/455068886_F9gGW-M.jpg)
Located on the corner of Bay and Broad Streets, the Water Street garage pocket park may be the most overlooked public space in Downtown Jacksonville.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/966
That's a nice looking pocket park. I didn't know there was a park there. And it would be a great idea to put a few retail shops on the ground level. Wouldn't that be a site! :D 8)
Pretty enough, but like all the rest it seems devoid of life...maybe just the rainy day? How's it doing on a nice spring like lunch hour?
I still miss the COLOMBIAN PARKS and their tiny garden shed size, matching brick mini-shops. Micro Mickey D's (yeah the REAL thing), Dunkin, BK all the rest too. Wonder how this would do in the states?
Lakelander, do we have a better detail drawing or view of this layout?
OCKLAWAHA
Sorry, I don't have a detailed drawing for this space. Like most of downtown, it is devoid of life. Its off the beaten path and there is no reason for most downtown pedestrians to even be in the area.
It looks like an area they would find a body
It seems well suited for the homeless, lots of places to lay down, it's obscure, it's shaded.
lifeless.
Lifeless, secluded, lots of rails and curbs. This place should be swarming with skaters.
^ Which would imply that there would be enough people living downtown for skaters to be a subset. Since there are so few people living in the core, there are very few cultural subsets of which to be a part. ;)
I think that looks like a potentially awesome space for lunch goers/ the public in general. I agree about the skaters, that would be a dream. If the staircases weren't so broken up it would be more appealing.
Personally, I like the idea of convertin that portion of the garage for retail, like sidewalk cafe's, etc. However, there are plenty of other places to fix first. In 300 years, when we fix the rest, we can look at this.
Reminds me of prison.
I mean what I've seen on TV of course. ;D
Quote from: Bewler on January 27, 2009, 10:47:20 AM
Lifeless, secluded, lots of rails and curbs. This place should be swarming with skaters.
I used to skate that park back in the day, although its not a great spot because of all of the brick. The only thing that drew us to it were the steps and rails. Even then, it still seemed kind of undiscovered.
How long had Google Earth had the 3D images now? Looks great!
There is a group of young skaters that hang out around the southbank on weekends and warm evenings. Interesting to see in such a sterile non-neighborhood. Also interesting is that it is a very racially mixed crowd and it that it appears to be largely devoid of skating talent. ;D
Quote from: Jason on January 27, 2009, 01:39:18 PM
How long had Google Earth had the 3D images now? Looks great!
Its been at least a few months.
Quote from: jaxtrader on January 27, 2009, 01:52:46 PM
There is a group of young skaters that hang out around the southbank on weekends and warm evenings. Interesting to see in such a sterile non-neighborhood. Also interesting is that it is a very racially mixed crowd and it that it appears to be largely devoid of skating talent. ;D
HA! Oh well, there's always Kona.
Actually is that place still open? It would make an interesting front page article for metrojax, if it hasn't already been covered.
Jaxtrader - I've also seen moderately-sized skate groups on weekends in and around Friendship Fountain and other Southbank locales. But wouldn't they come from the San marco neighborhood/area, typically? This random 'pocket park' isn't anywhere near a neighborhood (since LaVilla exists in memory only, practically), nor any residential building or area.
My comment was more to the fact that no one lives in that immediate area, so no one's going to use the space.
http://www.konaskatepark.com/kona/index.html
Still the oldest continuously run skatepark in the world. (started 1977)
Its still a big hit in the skating world. There's really no modern park like it.
This park looks like uuuuh.....a landscaped entrance to a parking garage? I would think that's the most that can be said about it. This is a big stretch. No wonder it's not recognized. Why not call a park every landscaped lawn and median in an office park? Is MJ running out of ideas to dwell on this? How about some features on our state and federal parks and monuments in or about Jacksonville? Few new residents probably know about these real treasures.
I have to laugh at a lot of what the city calls parks. Many are just drainage, utility, or traffic easements. The real keeper was when years ago park signs went up on school playgrounds. Now that's a great way to double count our assets. Let's put Bernie Madoff in charge of park acreage accounting.
As to Kona skate park, it's internationally famous in the skate board world and is featured in the best selling video game from world skater icon, Tony Hawk. See this article on it's 30th anniversary: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/070607/lif_182014443.shtml
Quote from: stjr on January 27, 2009, 11:33:54 PM
Is MJ running out of ideas to dwell on this? How about some features on our state and federal parks and monuments in or about Jacksonville? Few new residents probably know about these real treasures.
As we've done in the past, we'll hit those too. Feel free to explore the links at the top of the page to view many of our older articles. There are three years worth of daily content to explore. Excluding historic buildings and Friendship Fountain, this site, most parks, and what the city has to offer will not be going anywhere. What is not shown, will eventually be covered. So just stay tuned and enjoy the ride.
Quote from: stjr on January 27, 2009, 11:33:54 PM
This park looks like uuuuh.....a landscaped entrance to a parking garage? I would think that's the most that can be said about it. This is a big stretch. No wonder it's not recognized. Why not call a park every landscaped lawn and median in an office park? Is MJ running out of ideas to dwell on this? How about some features on our state and federal parks and monuments in or about Jacksonville? Few new residents probably know about these real treasures.
I have to laugh at a lot of what the city calls parks. Many are just drainage, utility, or traffic easements. The real keeper was when years ago park signs went up on school playgrounds. Now that's a great way to double count our assets. Let's put Bernie Madoff in charge of park acreage accounting.
As to Kona skate park, it's internationally famous in the skate board world and is featured in the best selling video game from world skater icon, Tony Hawk. See this article on it's 30th anniversary: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/070607/lif_182014443.shtml
Agreed - this is a "nothing" public space set in a "nothing" context
Its basically what every other "pocket park" in downtown is. A landscaped left over piece of public property that was not properly designed to integrate with its surroundings.
I never knew that existed, wow.
my friends and i used to meet up and skate this park back in high school - it was just as lifeless then so we knew no one would kick us out
Hey guy's sorry I haven't been on in a while hope the meetings are going well' I just wanted to put my input on this subject , Well I think the spot has great Potential It Could use some flowers, and maybe convert the middle into a fountain with flowers around it and off to the side put a Hot Dog cart or something in that nature to bring the people down there and make it a great spot
(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f127/RyanOReilly/Family/Friends%20From%20Internet/Computer%20Art/HotdogStand.jpg)
DUMB ASS
Hey man, looks like the kind of hot dog cart that would get my business... One sells SOCO the other REBEL YELL!
FAT ASS
Don't sweat the nicknames folks, it's a private joke...
remember I'm sasquatch/dumbass ;D