Riverwalk removing more than benches

[thelakelander]

The only problem is benches in places like the riverwalk are a public amenity.  There has to be a better way to deal with this problem than implementing a solution punishing the general public.  Downtown is already hostile.  Making it less user friendly won't improve things considering benches or no benches, the homeless aren't going any where.  They'll just lay down on the sidewalks.

[Jerry Moran]

They'll just lay down on the sidewalks.

And when they do, they'll be in violation of the Downtown Camping Ordinance and subject to arrest.

Keep in mind that by bedtime, most all of Jacksonville's genuinely homeless people are in one of our many shelters. Only the mentally ill, criminal vagrants, and deliberate outdoormen remain on the street.

[thelakelander]

They violate panhandling laws now.  We just don't have the police power downtown to enforce the rules.  If we enforced what we already have in place, most the the problems we want to make new rules for today would be reduced.

[vicupstate]

I think a simple pair of cops on bikes constantly patrolling from one end of the riverwalk to the other end, plus the reconfigurment of all the benches to have the arm rest in the middle would do the trick.

Great suggestions.  That does should like an effective way of dealing with the situation.

Charleston does this, with great success.

[obie1]

Removing benches just ruins downtown for everyone. Goodbye to people being able to sit and enjoy lunch outside and encouraging anyone from venturing out for very long...keep moving, keep moving.

[reednavy]

Knowing what sleeps there, I wouldn't sit there. Something has to be done though, the homeless thing downtown is not outta hand, but it is a sizeable problem.

[Ocklawaha]

i recall a case where people were sticking chewing gum under the edge of bus seats, thank God these fools at City hall wern't in charge. Instead of a no gum rule on buses, they would have pulled out all of the seats so everyone could ride the straps... M R 2 Dum

Ocklawaha

[obie1]

yeah it's a problem. The weather being too nice is as big an issue as free food in making this a homeless destination. Anything they can do about that? Where my wife is from in Hartford CT at least the weather keeps the numbers down. Hartford has had a lot of the same problems with its downtown issues and it's coming around  I hear. More crime there too though. 

[thelakelander]

Removing benches isn't the answer on transients

By RON LITTLEPAGE
The Times-Union

You may recall the saga a few weeks ago of the disappearing park benches along the Northbank Riverwalk.

It's no secret that Toney Sleiman, who owns The Jacksonville Landing, had the benches removed from a gazebo near the Landing.

Sleiman's view was that the transients and homeless who congregated there were scaring customers.

Although no one is publicly taking credit, the idea spread to the benches in the large landscaped area under the Acosta Bridge.

The removal was brief. City Councilman Bill Bishop complained and the benches were returned.

Sleiman called recently and told me he was thinking about removing the benches again. And, in Sleiman fashion, he said if the city wanted to throw him in jail, so be it.

"Toney," I said, "there has to be a better way."

full article: www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032808/opl_262353937.shtml.

[Ocklawaha]

For a nation and a secton of this country to change it's ways, some form of soul searching "conversion" experience is needed. We cashiered the racism of the past, the days when German POW's from the bases could get passes to the theater, but the local "colored" couldn't enter them. There were wars fought to keep the free flow of Opium on the streets 200 years ago. Today we fight wars to get the opium off the streets... Meanwhile, in between those era's we rounded up all of those who had Japanese ancestry and tossed them into camps... Wonder if any of those Germans riding to the theater, ever saw a paddy wagon full of Japanese citizens being loaded up? What THEY must have thought of us?

Today, we have a new elite, and a new definition of the untouchables. Those lower then thou, dirty, smelly, and disfunctional people that sometimes wander into our paths. They certainly are the ones we should have been after all along. The economic challenged. You know they are criminal just by their looks. They spread every sort of vice, crime and yes even murder. As a group we could purify Jacksonville with sweeping changes. Force these no-accounts to register with the State. Perhaps we could have them wear large Rat shaped badges on their clothing so we could spot them in a crowd. We could round them up in the mornings as a nearly free labour force. Toss them out of bed and into vans and buses and make them work for us. Issue free abortions to all of those who fail to qualify as parenting material. Violatoins of the new rules could be counted in Crystal Shards... JACKSONVILLE pure, JACKSONVILLE true, JACKSONVILLE homeless frei...Heimatlos frei...
Glatte Neigung

Ocklawaha

[David]

What if we copied Savannah and placed a few old fashion wooden benches along the riverwalk? It'd attract a different vibe i'm sure

[fsujax]

Do we know if the general Downtown office worker or Downtown resident actually sits on the benches under the Acosta Bridge??? Anytime I have been there, I havent seen the typical Downtown office worker or established Downtown resident using them, it reminds me of the Main St Park, same type of people using the benches.

[teresangel]

I'm only one person, and certainly a walking anomoly in my own right, but I work downtown and use the benches.  In fact, oftentimes when I'd like to sit in one of the benches to eat my lunch, it's difficult to find one empty, between office types on their own lunch and the tourists drawn to the Landing.

[David]

.

[fsujax]

I am specifically talking about the benches located under the Acosta Bridge. I have seen many people using the benches along the Riverwalk near the Hyatt and the Landing.