Why is Downtown a Blank Slate?

[Metro Jacksonville]

Why is Downtown a Blank Slate?



You've always heard in the past that it's hard to set up shop downtown.  This is for a variety of reasons, such as parking, the homeless, etc.  Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a look at yet another reason it's difficult to set up shop downtown: Government and absentee landlords.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/471

[Jeremiah]

The more I read this column, the more I want to move back to D.C.

[Antonio]

These articles are making me lose my love living here. You're not kidding, the city does nothing to improve the city. Sad.

[JJ]

The longer I live here, the more I miss the exciting urban living of Atlanta or Orlando.  :-

Never thought I would say that.

[Broderick]

I'm originally from Montgomery Alabama, a much smaller area and much less "metropolitan", but the way the city and community has come together with forward and aggressive thought,  to revitalize the downtown puts Jacksonville to shame.

http://doverkohl.com/project_detail_pages/montgomery.html

[Johnny]

All things I already new, but put in a tight little page with pictures... It's just.... yikes!

[Michael-Lee]

This is getting beyond ridiculous. It is embarassing the way the city leaders treat our urban core. The only thing worse than the way it is treated is how 99% of people in Jacksonville don't care. That was is also sad to me is how Jacksonville has so much potential to be a great place for urban living. Unfortunately, the leaders of Jacksonville have always been short sighted and suburban minded. Look at the Times Union Center. It could have been so much better. Same with the Baseball Grounds. Same with the Adams Mark. Same with the Library. They don't care that an architecture firm destroys a historic structure to build a PARKING LOT!!!! The fine folks who run this very website have put a plan together that basically solves the problem of the courthouse and the convention center. Does City Hall care? Probably not. Would Chris Hionedes be able to pull this crap in other cities? Probably not.

I am with you guys. This city is getting unlivable.

[Lunican]

Everyone thinks that what happened in LaVilla was a mistake made long ago.

It's not.

The mistake is ongoing.

Buildings are still coming down in LaVilla. I guess this can't go on forever, there are only so many buildings left.

I guess then the Southside and St Johns Town Center will be the new downtown. Mission Accomplished.

[Richard]

Well done, dredging out these material facts about Downtown JAX ownership!  I imagine if we include the First Baptist Church holdings to the neat ownership map from the article  we would have some trouble finding lots NOT colored yellow.

An interesting question to probe after all of this is WHY all this dithering on development?

[RG]

Everyone, get ahold of yourselves.  I can understand being a little down about the old church (it was just from the 50s though) coming down and the blight that is Hionides, but to think that Atlanta or Montgomery have superior downtowns is absurd.  I have spent considerable time in both places and I can say that this is utterly ridiculous.  Downtown Atlanta is basically unsafe due to hordes of thugs and bums far worse than anything ever seen in Jax.  And Montgomery, while it does have some good points, has basically one or two things to do downtown (not counting visiting the capitol).  I dont mean to demean either city, but Jacksonville's downtown beats them both hands down.  We have a superior location and physical beauty, a lot of great remaining historic buildings which are being converted to residential or have already been converted, a growing downtown population and the interest of many out of town developers.  

I think that metrojacksonville's editors have become pessimistic themselves and are passing this nonsense on to you.  Is there room for improvement downtown?  Sure.  Is Mayor Peyton a suburban minded moronic little twerp and could the City be more proactive in saving historic structures and with downtown development?  Definitely.  But, I think it is undeniable that downtown and the surrounding historic neighborhoods are in FAR better shape than they were when I returned from school the second time in 1999 and even more so than the first time in 1994.  It is easy to be negative and talk about moving to Orlando and Atlanta (talk about suburbia!), but it is a lot harder to work hard, create things yourselves and be a part of the solution.  So, I am urging you to be a part of the solution personally rather than on your keyboard.

[Steve]

Personally, I'd rather them talk about the issue that go on downtown to bring them to light, rather than say everything is great.

[JJ]

In the year 2007:

Downtown Atlanta & Downtown Orlando > Downtown Jacksonville

[vicupstate]

The powers that be clearly do not 'get it'.  Footdragging and ridiculous ideas for the Landing, purposeless pocket parks, indecision on the courthouse, BRT, eliminating retail in the Haverty building,  and the list goes on.

Yes, the potential for something great is still there, but every day that is spent heading in the wrong direction is that much more work it is going to take to realize that potential, and Jax is already years behind Atlanta, Orlando and a whole host of other cities.  Montgomery will likely be added to the list if the trend continues.    

[thelakelander]

RG, I understand your passion for Jax, but I'm sorry to say the Downtown Atlanta you describe has passed us by, as well as a host of other cities.  Its not Boston, but it's definately not a Downtown Jax either.  The work conducted there in the last few years has been a greater success in creating urban vibrancy than you give it.  We can be the same and either better, but not under current conditions.   Jax has all the potential in the world, but it will never be reached as long as things remain the same and there's nothing to suggest that anything worthwhile will be changing soon.

As for Montgomery, I stopped through there about two years ago and it was pretty dead.  However, its amazing how fast things can turn around (ex. Charlotte, Orlando, etc.), when visionary leadership is in place and agressively running the show.

[cinch2win]

If life is so bad in Jacksonville, I am sure that some other Magic Kingdom would welcome you in with buildings made of gold and sidewalks lined with dollar bills. When you find it, let me know.

Orlando and Atlanta downtowns only thrive because of attractions down there. In Atlanta, the underground Atlanta experiment failed because they could not get enough people down there on a continual basis, freaknik, and other incidents did not help it. For the most part downtown Atlanta, downtown, not midtown or Art Center, is deserted after 5 with only tourists and conventioneers there. If the Atlanta Mart were not there, it would really only be populated with people from Georgia State. How many people hang around after 5 at FCCJ? Orlando has the same problem, but Mickey allows people to come downtown and there is an excuse. There is no such draw or attraction to our downtown, but anyone who has lived here most of their life, knows that once May Cohen's shut down in the late 80s, our downtown is much better than that time period.

While I am not entralled with spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a new convention center, perhaps that is needed to keep people downtown. Perhaps we should scrap the Shipyards and turn the property into an amusement park. I am sure that the people in St. Nicholas who voted down a proposal for more outdoor concerts at WJCT, would just love a non-stop noise maker like that in their views of downtown.

There is no easy answer, but those who want to bury their head in the dirt or parking lot, go ahead and remain the short-sighted pessimistic people you are. It takes all kinds to make the world go round.