Hemming Park Homeless Numbers Swelling.

[Jerry Moran]

Was down there myself around noon and walked through the park a couple of times to feed the !@#$ parking meter.

Don't feed the parking meter.  If you exceed the specified time on the meter, you will still get a ticket even if the meter is paid up.  For instance, if the meter says "One Hour Limit", that means you can only park there for one hour, no matter how much time is left on the meter.

[undergroundgourmet]

I was at the farmers market in Hemming Plaza just last October (2009) and went to feed the meter and was informed by the meter enforcement that I could not continue to do that. I would need to move my car and start on another meter. Nice.

[ChriswUfGator]

Since when have the cops around here followed the laws? LOL

[Jerry Moran]

this is untrue.  The meters can be fed for up to three hours.  This was part of the change in the ordinance that the mayor signed into law in my lobby at boomtown.

Stephen,  Been to parking enforcement court recently?  I have.  A woman showed up with a lawyer and still got burned for overtime parking.  She is an agent for the Guardian ad Litem program  She parked for a while, went inside, punched the time clock, punched out before the meter was up, and left to do some case work and have lunch.  When she returned, she somehow got the same parking space, and put more money in the meter.  Parking Enforcement ticketed her.  She presented her time clock data, but the judge stated that the clock may not be accurate.  Parking Enforcement presented photos.  The car had obviously moved between the first and second photo, but that was attributed to an optical illusion  The offender was an older black lady, and the lawyer, who obviously worked with her, stated that she was completely honest.  Just reporting what In court.

[Jerry Moran]

It's possible the period of time between her first instance of parking, and her subsequent return and issue of the citation, was longer than 3 hours.

[Jerry Moran]

There was reasonable doubt that the woman had broken the ordinance

I was shocked by the outcome.  Every person in that courtroom was found guilty.  The audible grumble throughout the room every time "guilty" was affirmed was "I'm not going back downtown again unless I have to!

[Dog Walker]

Is there any evidence of a reduced number of loafers in the park since the Jazz Festival?

[Ethylene]

I was shocked by the outcome.  Every person in that courtroom was found guilty.  The audible grumble throughout the room every time "guilty" was affirmed was "I'm not going back downtown again unless I have to!
[/quote]

And Jerry, what violation were you found guilty of that day? I know we are all curious.

[Dog Walker]

Somehow I suddenly have a vision of Jerry with a pipe cutter taking the tops off all the parking meters on Laura Street  and the judge saying to him, "What we have here is a failure to communicate."

Go Jerry!

[GoldenEst82]

And I mean ^^that in terms of an impoverished spirit, not epidermal melanin content.

"Our homeless become even more apparent because there is so little street life, they really don't blend in..."mayor John Peyton responding to a caller on First Coast Connect WJCT 89.9

LMAO! I was that "caller", and I thought his response a mealy mouthed non-answer.
That crap is what I abhor about politicians.

An acceptable answer for me would have been, "We have decided instead of making wrought-iron arches over Laura street, and a round-about in front of the Landing; we will fund programs like the culinary school at Clara White (ect) to effectively deal with the problem."

But I had a snowball's chance in hell of getting that answer anyway )).

[BigGuy219]

I was there today. I got asked for change, as usual. Saw a lot of police and a lot of vagrants. Felt safe. Just glad my pockets weren't jingling or I'd be a gonner.

[vicupstate]

"Our homeless become even more apparent because there is so little street life, they really don't blend in..."mayor John Peyton responding to a caller on First Coast Connect WJCT 89.9

Actually, this is the gospel truth, IMO.  Washington DC has a ton of homeless but they are outnumbered such that they do not seem to be the majority of people there.  As such, the 'threat' they pose, be it perception or reality , is much less.

[Jaxson]

I agree with vicupstate.  When I visited San Diego last year, I noticed quite a few homeless people.  They did not stand out as much because the public places were well traveled by tourists, conventioneers and others.  Downtown Jacksonville lacks the density in its public places, giving more prominence to our homeless.  This creates a vicious cycle because suburbanites don't want to go downtown if they are only going to encounter homeless people.
The real question for Mayor Peyton would be, "What is your vision for downtown?"

[GoldenEst82]

I think that if more money and energy were put in to fighting suburban sprawl and special interests, instead of hopping into bed with developers and putting lipstick on the pig, there would BE more people downtown.

Example:
This is the only large city in which the Louis Vuitton is not in the downtown, nor any of the other "luxury brand" stores.
Instead they BUILT an entire destination for those who can afford these labels, to blow their pocket contents in a pre-engineered environment.

LAME.
But back to topic.

Had they used the available retail space downtown (and I know WHY they didn't, and I know whose fault that is, so I'm not tying to go THERE) we would have our "Downtown Vision" already.
We would not be using taxpayer dollars to widen sidewalks, wreath the streets with wrought iron, and campaign to get people to come to stare at our empty storefronts.

As I said previously, a good answer would have been proactive, instead of passive and mediocre.
I fear we have become accustomed to "mediocre", especially where city leadership/use of resources are concerned.

Maybe we only notice the homeless because they are many and we are few; but that doesn't mean we just ignore them until we can't see them anymore.

[ChriswUfGator]

I think that if more money and energy were put in to fighting suburban sprawl and special interests, instead of hopping into bed with developers and putting lipstick on the pig, there would BE more people downtown.

Example:
This is the only large city in which the Louis Vuitton is not in the downtown, nor any of the other "luxury brand" stores.
Instead they BUILT an entire destination for those who can afford these labels, to blow their pocket contents in a pre-engineered environment.

LAME.
But back to topic.

Had they used the available retail space downtown (and I know WHY they didn't, and I know whose fault that is, so I'm not tying to go THERE) we would have our "Downtown Vision" already.
We would not be using taxpayer dollars to widen sidewalks, wreath the streets with wrought iron, and campaign to get people to come to stare at our empty storefronts.

As I said previously, a good answer would have been proactive, instead of passive and mediocre.
I fear we have become accustomed to "mediocre", especially where city leadership/use of resources are concerned.

Maybe we only notice the homeless because they are many and we are few; but that doesn't mean we just ignore them until we can't see them anymore.

Many people don't mind paying $400 for a wallet. Or at least enough to make it profitable for LV.

However, most people mind (significantly) being hassled, nickel & dimed, and forced to contribute to a government monopoly under a structure that is engineered to ensure they have no right to challenge it. Parking meters suck, and are a hassle. They will continue creating more and more of an impediment towards downtown development as the US continues its march towards being a cashless society.

JAX needs to get with the ballgame, this ship has already sailed. Virtually every other comparable (note I said "comparable" so no need to debate NYC and SF, tufsu!) downtown redevelopment effort has come to include the at least partial elimination of paid parking. In several instances, there had been a series of failed initiatives before paid parking was eliminated, after which nature took its course. In Savannah, the only way they finally got Broughton to come back to life was by eliminating paid parking.

And in the cities that choose not to eliminate it entirely, successful redevelopment efforts usually include updated electronic meters that can process credit cards. The simple fact is that many people no longer carry cash at all, let alone dimes and quarters.