If you were to describe where you live, how would you do it?
Would you say "Southside" or "Arlington" or would you go more specific with Floral Bluff, Lake Lucina, Arlington Hills, or University Club?
If a news report were to happen on your Street, what would you want them to say, and how specific do you expect the newspaper, or TV stations to be?
For instance, Ch 4 opens their news cast with 'From Ortega to Oceanway', but when it comes to actually reporting something in those areas, they say 'Westside' or 'Northside'
Would love to hear your thoughts.
I want it to be specific, especially when it comes to the news. TV news here is subpar for a top 50 DMA.
Give the exact neighborhood, but also name the overall part of town it is in, that way we all know.
I don't think I could say "westside" without it invoking a whole other area that I don't live in or anywhere near. I tell everybody either "Wesconnett" or "over by NAS Jax". ;)
So, for instance 'here on the westside, from the neighborhood of Murray Hill'?
What about the Urban Core communities? What would you call Main and 40th?
How about Moncrief and 14th?
Would you call Empire Point, St Nicolas, or would you stick with Empire Point?
How about Mirimar? Or would that be San Marco, or Lakewood?
Where does San Marco end?
Sorry to throw a barrage at you, but I'm just curious HOW specific people want the news to be, or if others who don't care about specifics, is it more important to them to know what part of town is, Southside, Westside, Northside, Beaches, Mandarin and Arlington.
Its bad enough that businesses name themselves after areas they are not in.
Most of the car dealerships on Blanding on the westside name themselves Orange Park Toyota, or whatever.
This causes many new residents to the area to associate that name with an area. I knew a few people who lived near Townsend/Blanding and considered themselves to live in Orange Park.
I live in Ortega...I only refer to living on the "westside" when I'm joking with friends about being a redneck. While the river might be the actual boarder, I've decided that it's the train tracks that parallel Hwy 17...so in that regard, I don't live on the westside. =D
So what do you call Blanding, between 103rd St, and Orange Park?
Yeah, I consider the Westside to be anything west of the CSX tracks south of FCCJ (excluding Ortega Forest), and anything west of Hamilton St. north of FCCJ (which would exclude Murray Hill). Ortega can sometimes refer to anything on the island, or just east of Roosevelt, or just north of Verona. How specific I am depends on how familiar the listener is with the area.
I had a boss who lived in Point La Vista who was adamant that he did not live in San Marco but rather lived in Miramar Terrace. San Marco in his opinion ended at River Oaks Park, so that's the boundary I use. I also don't consider anything north of 95 to be San Marco, even though realtors use the name for marketing purposes. Heading south on Hendricks/San Jose, once you reach Oaklawn Cemetery, you're in Lakewood. Cross Christopher Creek, you're in San Jose; cross Goodby's Creek, you're in Beauclerc; and cross 295, you're in Mandarin.
Blanding betwen 103rd & 295 really doesn't have enough of an identity to warrant a name.
Quote from: Traveller on July 14, 2009, 06:02:38 PM
Yeah, I consider the Westside to be anything west of the CSX tracks south of FCCJ (excluding Ortega Forest), and anything west of Hamilton St. north of FCCJ (which would exclude Murray Hill). Ortega can sometimes refer to anything on the island, or just east of Roosevelt, or just north of Verona. How specific I am depends on how familiar the listener is with the area.
I had a boss who lived in Point La Vista who was adamant that he did not live in San Marco but rather lived in Miramar Terrace. San Marco in his opinion ended at River Oaks Park, so that's the boundary I use. I also don't consider anything north of 95 to be San Marco, even though realtors use the name for marketing purposes. Heading south on Hendricks/San Jose, once you reach Oaklawn Cemetery, you're in Lakewood. Cross Christopher Creek, you're in San Jose; cross Goodby's Creek, you're in Beauclerc; and cross 295, you're in Mandarin.
Blanding betwen 103rd & 295 really doesn't have enough of an identity to warrant a name.
Considering I grew up on the westside, I consider the westside to be everything south of I10 and west of the river. My parents lived on Pennant Ct when I was born. That was the westside. Even though we were right across the Ortega River from Ortega.
I've lived off of Morse Ave, considered it the westside. Lived off of 103rd, westside. Lived off of Collins Rd, westside. Lived in Marietta, part of the westside.
I think the negative stigma the westside gets causes many people to claim they "live" elsewhere. Many an Argyle resident would claim they lived in OP before Argyle stood on it's own.
Like Traveller states, the area south of 103rd warrants no special name, so its just the westside.
There are many areas within the term westside. Normandy, 103rd, Wesconnett, etc...
To get back to the question. What do you expect to see/hear when someone else describes where you live? Do you want general 'Westside' or do you want as specific as possible?
I'd say as specific as possible. Almost every point in Duval County has a specific neighborhood designation that should be used.
At the very least, the nearest street intersection should be used.
See the "What part of town do you hail" thread to get a pretty comprehensive list of the mojor neighborhood designations. And while you're there tell where you live.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,3357.0.html
My suggestion would be to use the name of the actual neighborhoods. Walkscore has them named with a map to show where they are. The area of Blanding between 103rd and I-295 includes the neighborhoods of Duclay, Duclay Forest, Wesconnett and Oak Hill.
http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/Jacksonville
I would do it the way Metro Jacksonville does.
Something happened in Fairfield? Call it Fairfield and show it on a map. There is no reason to be afraid of broadcasting something slightly educational.
Anyone know where Lackawanna is?
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/461031235_zeGki-600x1000.jpg)
It doesn't even need to be a neighborhood. Here is FCCJ.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/464005068_qDXsY-M.jpg)
Before consolidation, the neighborhood names WERE towns I believe. When you sent mail, you sent it to Wesconnett, FL or Mandarin, FL, etc. And many community agencies such as churches or athletic leagues use the neighborhood moniker to identify the area they operate in.
They have some significance either in history or to the residents themselves. Just like Riverside or Avondale. Does anybody who lives in Riverside NOT claim that?
I would like the news to be as specific as possible. I am also surprised that such a large market is referred to in such broad geographic terms. If we were a town of 10,000, then referring to an area as the westside would have more meaning. A lot of people I have met since I moved here also refer to parts of town in less specific terms. I don't know if they are reflecting what they've heard from informational sources or if the news is just reflecting the general pop. At any rate, it's another sign of the small town thinking of people in JAX. When people ask where I live, the broadest description I give is Springfield, when I'm more narrow in a conversation, I'll say Historic Springfield or downtown Springfield.
Lake, I love that map. I hadnt seen it before.
Thanks!
I don't really care either way. I mean I know all the titles for the area I live in so if someone dials it down to specifics I know they are talking about me.
As for the news, I think the major terms of Northside, Westside...etc work fine. Jacksonville has a lot of new residents and a strong military presence so they might not know about the specifics of Murry Hill vs Ortega etc.
Could the local news partner with Google, Mapquest, etc. and show the location on a full city map and then slowly zoom in? Or would that be too clear and understandable?