Elements of Urbanism: Waycross

[RMHoward]

I think HU's comment brings up a valid issue about understanding what urban really means.  The assignment of "urban" as a euphemism for African-American culture has seen the word become synonymous with ghettos, crime, poverty, drugs, and homelessness. 

Well, i guess im not alone in saying:  Huh??
Nice vocabulary but what the heck are you really trying to say?

[heights unknown]

O.K. Lake; your explanation of why compare Waycross to Jax was elucidated and I somewhat understand; but to me a city slightly smaller, same size or larger would seem to make more sense...but then again, what do I know?

"HU"

[thelakelander]

We do those too. In the past, we've also highlighted NYC and Chicago.  To be honest, Waycross is probably closer in scale to Jax than either of those places.

[Singejoufflue]

To clarify: My concern is there is a lack of consensus on "urban." HU's comment was about the relationship of size to "urban"-ness (here, size doesn't matter). I pointed out that "urban" has become synonymous with "inner city/ghetto/black" etc. 

I think the COJ has a lot of work to do in promoting and defining what it will mean to be "urban" in Jacksonville.  Is there even a documented vision of this?  As it stands, it has homeless, the jail and a courthouse (perception).  How do we get suburbanites on board with caring about DT if a mayoral candidate that purports to be in favor of DT revitalization has her campaign headquarters off Emerson?

[Overstreet]

naw........my cousins live within rock throwing distance of downtown........OK maybe a little farther.

They don't think of it being city people much but more so country people. Urban meaning to them city. Downtown isn't much of a factor anymore either.  Most of the city activity is out towards the mall.  My cousin cleans his deer in the shop out back and has a 1 acre garden next to the house. Not a lot of urban at their place.

[rainfrog]

We do those too. In the past, we've also highlighted NYC and Chicago.  To be honest, Waycross is probably closer in scale to Jax than either of those places.

I think it's also valid to highlight what's going on in the small cities of this immediate region. And Waycross is definitely that. It would be less understandable to highlight, say, Dodge, Kansas. Jacksonville's a very regional place. You can pick any city more than a 4 hour drive and someone somewhere in Jax, or even a city leader, might wonder why they should care about something so far away.