Recent posts

#21

Downtown / Re: Its time for the Laura Str...

Last post by acme54321 - February 09, 2026, 12:51:30 PM

Shocker.

#22

Downtown / Re: Its time for the Laura Str...

Last post by Joey Mackey - February 09, 2026, 12:20:50 PM

Listening to the City Council committee meeting going on right now, Mike Weinstein just said that the purchase agreement for the Trio fell through. Steve Atkins still owns the building. It sounds like they are working on another deal. It's Groundhog Day I guess.

#23

Downtown / Re: Council Meeting Set for Mo...

Last post by Ken_FSU - February 09, 2026, 11:18:25 AM

Sorry if this comes off as a rant, but it was a long day, and I am tired.

I cannot remember which article I read this in, but Tarbert stated that the incentives in the core would be given higher priority when presented to the council. Not sure if this is something he brought from working in Baltimore, but it seems like it would need to be part of a broader master plan. This does make sense. Honestly, I am not sure why a master plan with such a strategy was not his first objective. Otherwise, we are running blind. I agree that offering blanket incentives to every project on this over-bloated downtown map is not a good idea. This is why things like Intuition did not work out, and Dora can't find tenants. Again, this has been discussed here repeatedly since I moved here in 2010. Same with the masterplan idea. I love Intuition, but I never went to their new location because I never had a reason to go to that area. When they were in Riverside, I went all the time, and I could walk home.

As for the council, I don't usually understand most of the new Republican logic. Sorry to you Republicans out there, but since DeSantis and Trump, I am at a loss. Cutting the city's millage rate was f**cking stupid, and so is following the advice of DeSantis. But then saying we don't have the money after a move like this makes me question their motives. Also, a healthy downtown generates significant revenue for the rest of the city. Having significant sites clustered helps them all win. If I go to the Zoo, I will drive there and then go home. I do it all the time. Again, I heard Tarbert say this, but it may need to be reinforced. Given Lahnen compared incentive asks to parts of town such as Riverside, Towncenter, and Mayo to downtown, he does not believe downtown is any different than any other part of town. This is just not true. This is why our best cities have such incredible downtowns.

If the council cuts off incentives now, especially with all that is happening in Gateway, I have no hope for the future. It will be a matter of months before Tarbert leaves, and the DIA is abolished, and we are wondering why our DT still sucks. Personally, I would love to make all council members sit down and read every article in both MJ and The Jaxon before we have to listen to another bone-headed idea from them.

PREACH.

Anyone know if today's meeting is streaming?

I do hope the irony of the title sponsor of our downtown NFL stadium actively looking to exit the urban core isn't lost on the City Council as they discuss sunsetting downtown incentives because "we've reached critical mass with momentum."

#24

Science and Technology / Re: Wordle?

Last post by Charles Hunter - February 09, 2026, 10:53:09 AM

Double Duty again

Wordle 1,695 - 3/6
Wordle 1,696 - 3/6

Connections 973 - Busted
Y-G-x-x-x-x - never did separate Purple and Blue
Connection 974 - no errors, Purple 2nd, Blue last, but I saw the link

Strands - no hints, Spangram 4th

Pips
Easy 2/8 - 0:59
Easy 2/9 - 0:33
Medium 2/8 - 1:54
Medium 2/9 - 1:43

#25

Transportation, Mass Transit & Infrastructure / Re: Is U2C serious? Help me ma...

Last post by Lostwave - February 09, 2026, 09:41:47 AM

The blue ford vans in downtown Jacksonville use human drivers.

#26

History / Re: New book explores Jacksonv...

Last post by Ken_FSU - February 09, 2026, 08:58:28 AM

Congrats Ennis (+ Adrienne)!

Looking forward to check it out!

#27

Science and Technology / Re: Wordle?

Last post by jaxlongtimer - February 08, 2026, 11:49:24 PM

Wordle 1,695 4/6

Connections - solved with two mistakes, purple on #3, backed into blue.

Strands - solved with no hints, Spangram on #3.

Pips #175 Easy
0:20
Pips #175 Medium
1:19
Pips #175 Hard
11:35

Daily Quordle 1476 - Total = 25
8️⃣7️⃣
6️⃣4️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle/

#28

Downtown / Re: Rebuilding RISE Doro

Last post by Tacachale - February 08, 2026, 11:23:22 PM

n summary, I think Jax's full effort should be focused on bringing more employment downtown and making sure the UF project is fully realized.

It would be challenging to administer, but I do wish their was some "incentive" mechanism we could leverage to protect existing business within the CBD while we wait for all of this new development to come online. 2028 seems to be around the time that a lot of things are going to finish. In the interim, it would be great to offer small retention grants to businesses considering relocation, and forgivable stopgap loans for businesses like Intuition and Bellwether that are just barely getting by.

I had the exact thought when Intuition announced their closure and love it in concept. It's such a slippery slope though where the DIA and/or City Council are forced to pick winners and losers. If you give the grant to Intuition and Bellwether and don't offer one to Dos Gatos or Cowford Chophouse, do they get angry and threaten to close too?

I don't have any inside info, but from reading Ben's closure email, my takeaway was that the decision reflected a lack of long term confidence more than short term cash flow. I think it ultimately comes down to the leaders of Downtown Jax demonstrating that there is light at the end of the tunnel for businesses currently struggling.

Apparently, the city might be considering exactly that to keep EverBank from following Citizens to the suburbs.

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/sources-city-offering-everbank-nearly-10m-stay-downtown-amid-safety-concerns/TPGHZHEL3ZHTTA7EZYFUSQZNX4/#j1byb0gy0abmgfha36t91kxi56cpn07s

Spend that $10 million to MAKE DT safe instead of cutting a check to Citizens.

The Council Members complaining that subsidies and incentives are still necessary in the CBD are the same Council Members who stripped homeless services and affordable housing out of the mayor's budget. Leading to truly insane, self-defeating situations like this. The DIA and city need to concentrate their full, undivided efforts on cleaning up and building out a vibrant CBD, hospitable to office workers, residents, and private developers. Everything else - Southbank and Brooklyn in particular - can wait. As Walter White famously said, half measures don't work. Get it right once, instead of another fifty years of start and stop. Broken record after all these years, but I'd take that $8 million in cash that we earmarked for a hospital's remote boutique hotel on the Southbank and invest it into JWJP and the surrounding blocks. And work outward from there.

This. 50% of the problem is lack of followthrough on the good projects and good decisions. Even when we aren't doing something as egregious as, say, demolishing the Landing, we're not continuing to invest in the things that work. Makes it tough to ever get out of the hole even when things are on an upswing like they are now.

#29

History / Re: New book explores Jacksonv...

Last post by thelakelander - February 08, 2026, 09:52:58 PM

Yes, dates have not been set but I'm sure there will be some book signing opportunities in the future.

#30

History / Re: New book explores Jacksonv...

Last post by Charles Hunter - February 08, 2026, 09:47:31 PM

Glad to see it will be available in local bookstores. Any possibility of an author-signing event at one - say, Resistance or San Marco?