Top 10 Things to Make DOWN-town a BOOM-town

[Cricket]

I'll add another proposal to the list: a casino.

Benefits:
New vibrancy to DT;
Nightly live entertainment;
New funding source with specific earmarks like e.g. education
   thru contractual taxation on earnings;
Major attraction not only for locals but out-of-town tourists;
Jobs, jobs, jobs.
Increase in hotel bookings;
Relatively short schedule to get a casino off the ground

OK, I know ... I can just hear all the naysayers:
Gambling is sinful and will inevitably lead to more debauchery.
To that I say we already have it.
Look at all the casinos that are going out of business.
I say, look at the ones that are doing fine.

We need to start thinking out of the box!

[billy]

Would there ever be a reasonable chance to have a casino in Jacksonville?

[ac]

^I think getting the Poker Room to open a location downtown would be a start.

[Johnny]

Let's see...

Increase the music scene downtown including a museum to celebrate the musical history
History tours, including churches and what is left of our downtown
* Add a bicycle tour in there with bike lanes
Get creative, things we don't see elsewhere b/c most people don't give a rats ass about our core


I agree about the casino too, that would improve the city overnight as restaurants and shopping would follow.

[samiam]

What would it take to legalize gambling in Jacksonville

IMO casinos should have be connected to a hotel, in urban areas and be waterfront.
Just think of the jobs they would create.

[fsujax]

What about the Southern Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! I know we have talked about that before Stephen.

[samiam]

LMAO! Stephen Does FBC have the power to cause the rapture

[stjr]

What would it take to legalize gambling in Jacksonville

IMO casinos should have be connected to a hotel, in urban areas and be waterfront.
Just think of the jobs they would create.

The Rapture.

Stephen is right.  Could you see a casino across the street from FBC?  

Casinos have never carried in several state-wide ballots and ground zero is right here in Jax.  The irony is most everyone here gets on a plane at least once a year and flies to Mississippi, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, the Bahamas, etc. or runs out on the day-trip casino cruises.  Add the lottery and sports betting and gambling is just as prevalent here as anywhere else.  Talk about carpetbaggers cleaning out the town!  

Doesn't matter, we have our "principles" and gambling beyond what we have now is not feasible.

[sandyshoes]

I am uninitiated as other than the occasional lotto card I don't really gamble - I've always heard organized crime was heavily involved with casinos.  Is it truth or urban myth?  (And yes, if FBC can't conjure up a mighty fine Rapture around here, who can??) 

[Overstreet]

What would it take to legalize gambling in Jacksonville

IMO casinos should have be connected to a hotel, in urban areas and be waterfront.
Just think of the jobs they would create.

You know that there were three dog tracks. The one "down town" closed. The other two still operate and have horse betting and poker rooms.

[David]

I was about to start a new topic but figured this rant would fit fine right here:


Subject: Can we get a real comedy club?

One that's not attached to a Ramada Inn?

I know it's silly to post things on MJ such as this when the poster lacks any ability to make it happen, such as the "we need more skyscrapers downtown" comments that you’ll see occasionally on this site (which I totally agree with) but it seems like Jacksonville is ready for something larger that has more character than the comedy zone yet smaller and more casual than the Florida theater. and of course it'd be nice if it were located downtown.

I know there's been several attempts to start up alternatives before but it seems like it's hard to cut into the comedy zone's hold on all things funny in this town. This town could use more laughs That's all i'm saying!

[ac]

+1 For the comedy club idea.  Stand-up comedy, stephen; but someplace for the improv/sketch folks would be good too.

[tufsu1]

And reed.  seriously  no one is downtown at night.  It can take you up to 25 minutes to travel 8 block of downtown with no other traffic.

Bull crap....I drive downtown at night all the time....most of the lights are still synchronized at night....and even if they weren't, the entire cycle is only about 1 minute.

Downtown signals are actually at their worst on Sunday...and it has nothing to do with NFL!

[Ocklawaha]

Well its not just FBC.

My pentecostal and charismatic family would be more to worry about on gambling.

If it didn't happen within an hour after Obama won the election, spontaneous rapturing brought on by local church outrage is off my list of things to worry about.

Sell the Southbank JEA property to the Miccosukee Tribe, and NOBODY could stop them or the boom. Theme? Hells Bells, look at OUR history + Theirs+Spain+England+France+Confederacy+Mexico+Green Cross...etc...
Toss in The Southern Fried Music Hall of Fame, A. Phillip Randolph Museum, Negro League Hall of Fame and Museum.

BUILD STREETCAR + Complete some parts of the Skyway.

Jump Back and watch us reach for the stars, there would be no stopping us. Certainly the talk about the CUBS moving to town wouldn't hurt anything either.

As for your 25 minute 8 block drives? You were kidding were you not? Downtown? Jacksonville? Hell I can drive across downtown LA faster then that. In Jacksonville, you could do it on the sidewalks in 5!

TUSFU1, "I'll see your BULL CRAP and raise you two BULL SHITS!"

OCKLAWAHA

[billy]

I thought tribes already had to own the land, that it had to be historically tribal land for a casino
to operate.
I do think there are a lot of people currently traveling from south Georgia and the east coast of Florida to Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Mississippi and beyond to gamble.