Whats with all the Springfield bashing

[Karl_Pilkington]

^yep sucks fo sho!

so all you dummies out there in internet land reading this thinking about moving to this place, now you know the truth.  Don't believe the lies perpetrated by the man, this place is effing awful.  Unless you get a free house from Obama then whatever you do stay away, seriously.  Ever seen night of the living dead? it was actually a documentary about you guessed it Springfield.  Those zombies are real, they are realeased everyday from shands. 

So save your $$$, make a better investment in a place that does not suck, have complete assholes (like me) who live there and you'll thank your lucky stars you did not fall for the BS that "springfield is really a great place to live" or that springfield has "turned a corner" it hasn't its horrific, litterally a horror show, we are actually all lucky to even be alive with all the crime that is rampant.  You know, don't risk your life by even looking over here, yes its that bad!

[cindi]

i hear that the show "The Wire" based hampsterdam on parts of Springfield. 

[Karl_Pilkington]

^they only said it was Baltimore so people would watch.  It was actually based upon Jacksonville with Springfield being Hampsterdam, but they knew that if they said it was actually Jacksonville people would just shrug and say 'yeah, tell me something I don't know'.

[cindi]

the character of bubbles was actually based on my neighbor - i am pretty sure of it.

[samiam]

Wow!!! I have not seen all the horrible things mentioned above. Especially the zombies, I hate zombies, the smell really gets to me.
When I first started working on my house in 2005 yes there was drug dealers and hookers everywhere but as time went on there was less and less of them. there was hookers on the corner next to my house but I personally ran them off. I could not walk down the street without being asked if I was straight.( I'm not talking about sexual orientation) You walk by a person wearing all black or a white wife beater and would be asked (you straight ) that no longer happens. I have seen the change and it is all positive. I have the privilege to be a stewart to a vital piece of history that due to my efforts should last another 100 years. I love this place. It is my neighborhood and my home. I have put Blood, sweat and tears into Springfield with no regrets!

about the only place I still see a few hookers doing there thing is along 8Th street and with a little more work on our part and the COJ maybe they will stop as well.

The greenest house is a house already built

[cindi]

Samian, sad thing is the above comments are comments posted on various forums (to include this one) by people that "know" springfield but most likely can't tell you where Springfield starts or ends and most likely have truly never been here, or others that live in cookie cutter crap holes ruled by an HOA and have hood envy. What was the saying on a t-shirt, 32206-the hip zip. 

[samiam]

cindi
I really cant understand all the negativity toward people trying to make a difference. Myself as well as many others have taken a very proactive approach to improving Springfield. I just wish I had the funds, time and energy to make improvements faster. Yes Springfield was a Sh-t h-le but I have seen the place improve by leaps and bounds in the past 5 years. When I saw the article in southern living magazine I thought to myself YES I WAS RIGHT!!! and it made all the work worth it. and then FTU printed there article and I thought WTF. Nationally Springfield is recognized for the work we have done but locally we are chastised. The local attitude is completely inconceivable to me


The greenest house is a house already built

[chris farley]

Dan  I do not know who has access tothe figures, but Springfield has gone from being an "expense" to the city to being a golden egg layer. My own taxes increased by 400 percent since the house was derelict, I have seen other restored houses going from being non tax to over $6000 per year.  We do not have to apologise for anything and Karl you sound like you care something about Springfield, the opposite of love is not hate, that shows emotional involvement, it is indifference,  and you are surely not indifferent! (Then again maybe all that you are saying is tongue in cheek, but I am not bright enough to recognize it.)

I love Springfield and Thomas Hardy sums it up for me

We two kept house, the Past and I,
The Past and I;
I tended while it hovered nigh,
Leaving me never alone.
It was a spectral housekeeping
Where fell no jarring tone,
As strange, as still a housekeeping
As ever has been known.

As daily I went up the stair,
And down the stair,
I did not mind the Bygone there --
The Present once to me;
Its moving meek companionship
I wished might ever be,
There was in that companionship
Something of ecstasy.

On the issue of tax money for Main Street, there was originally 4,000,000 allocated for the entire job.   When they did the first four blocks they found such a hideous mess of neglected infrastructure, it took the entire 4 mil.   That is why we fought and waited to get the other 8 blocks done, BUT also Main is a Federal Highway and a large percentage of the costs were naturally Federal,  it was the City claiming this money to which it was entitled, that held up the work on the 8 blocks for all of these years.

With the Better Jacksonvillet plan, people in Springfield paid the extra sales tax, but the only part of Springfield that benefitted  was part of 8th Street,   whereas all other streets in Jax were repaved by this plan.  I watched streets in Arlington being repaved that firstly did not need it and secondly only had about 19 cars a day on them.  We owe nothing.  The reason given for Springfields streets not being repaved - was that the infrastructure was so bad and needed to be taken care of first.

I know in Hardy's poem that the past had been  the same person's present, but I love the words.  I am sure someone would point that out to me.

[samiam]

Chris
Isn't it great to live a house that has a story to tell. I have had several people come by and tell me stories about my house. One lady came by and told me she lived in my house in the early 50's She pointed to a small scar on her cheek and then she pointed to the stair case and said that is were I got this fighting with my sister. she saw the claw foot tub and said the man that lived upstears use to make booze in it and it would stink up the whole house As she was leaving she sat on the stoop and said she use to sit there looking at the store across the road thinking about candy. Another visitor I had was a man that use to date a young lady that lived I my house in the late 60's or early 70's apparently there was a concert being played at hemmin plaza and one of the bands was practicing at my house prior to the concert. He said a bunch of hippie chicks lived here.

[uptowngirl]

I ahve had several people stop by both houses, a couple who grew up across the street from eachother, went to the elementary school on 8th st, shopped at an old corner store for candy on Pearl and 10th, and ended up growing up and marrying eachother. Another couple stopped by on Ionia and asked to look at the house, she was born IN the house! In fact I have people driving by just looking at the houses and parks all the time, they love to stop and talk about the hisotry of the neighbporhood, the houses, and ask for a peek. It is awesome. Samiam you hit it, I feel like a like a steward too.

[chris farley]

Samian that is lovely.  This is what the SHEC project "Find yourself in Springfield"  is about. Once the houses are in the sytem, with as much history as possible it is hoped that people will send in stuff to add to the stories.  The reseach in the SPAR files takes you to about 1930, but we hope to fill in as much as possible.

[Karl_Pilkington]

I'm sorry but you all can't be serious. I recognize tongue in cheek when I see it and you're depictions of this place you call Springfield must be the fictional story that is going around in pamphlet form right now.  The reality as we all know is misery, its all around us and it is  us..miserable human beings.  I feel like Neo in the Matrix when he swallowed the red pill.  I've finally opened my eyes and see what everyone else sees and its horrible.  Why anyone, and I mean anyone, would open a business in this place, live here or even stay the night here is incomprehensible to me now.   I have finally seen what all the commenters on the TU site and all the regulars on this site see, a neighborhood that is complete crap. 

I'm actually in the process to dispute my property taxes as I type this as there is no way in HELL that my home is worth anywhere near what the city says it does, for christs sake its in the worstest neighborhood in the entire United States and damnit I wants my money back! 

[cindi]

but karl, the bbq, you love the bbq.  that has got to make it all worth it. 

[Karl_Pilkington]

cindi it was part of the lies, the BBQ is terrible, I've got a red pill if you'd like to see.

[CS Foltz]

uptowngirl...........you have incorrect information! The new Atlantic High School  is just great, 1st new High School built in the last 20 year,unfortunately Catchment 1,7 and 103 were excluded with the gerrymandering that took place under the guise maintaining flow and balance! Link Side is in Catchment 7 which means no children who live in this area are slated to attend.........so like I said your information is incorrect!