What To Do With The Shipyards?

[Ocklawaha]

lake.....even the newer stuff is nothing to write home about!

When were the piers built? My guess would be WWII wartime emergency construction which would explain a lot.
Just a shame that nobody could think far enough ahead to have saved one of those old triangular buildings with the ship ways on top of them. I toured them once and they were built like the freaking castle in St. Augustine.

OCKLAWAHA 

[thelakelander]

Where did you put in?
Amazing how calm, or not, river can be.
Certainly looked flat calm....I know tidal flow would be critical.

The boat was put in at River City Brewing on the Southbank.  We basically hugged the river's north edge through downtown all the way up to the Ford Plant.

[Noone]

Great Pics Lake. It was a pleasure to share the day with you. We used a 13' gheenoe with a 6hp Johnson. We caught the high tide and the river couldn't be more calm.

I had some problems with my fuel line and fortunately it gave out after Exchange Island. We weren't able to finish the south edge of the river back to RCB.

Anybody wanting to go kayaking Downtown?

What to do with the Shipyards?

Today at 9:30 There is a ribbon cutting ceremony at Metropolitan Park Marina. The reason is the recognition of being a Clean Marina. Congratulations for that designation. Mayor Peyton, councilman Gaffney Dist.7 and Glorious Johnson are expected to be there. I plan on going especially after attending the recent River Summit and hope to ask councilman Gaffney about the 680' Promised Downtown Public Pier and if he intends to keep it separate when it comes back to the people of Jacksonville. Its in his district and if the legislation isn't immediately introduced then the issue should escalate to a citywide city council and Mayoral campaign issue. Council woman Johnson who is running for Mayor has said that she supports having the 680' Pier separate from the 44 acres that was Shipyards/Landmar.

[north miami]

Where did you put in?
Amazing how calm, or not, river can be.
Certainly looked flat calm....I know tidal flow would be critical.

The boat was put in at River City Brewing on the Southbank.  We basically hugged the river's north edge through downtown all the way up to the Ford Plant.

I recall the trailer boat launch ramp at River City.Is it still open to the public/trailer boats?If not,is the ramp still there??
A perfect "Hand Launch" facility.Floating dock hand launch facility could be applied to the Pier too.

I run DT River & environs in a small aluminum Gruman "Guide Boat" with 6 HP four stroke outboard."MyYacht".
Kayak too.
I am in the area boat business. Yachts.Can't beat small vessel enjoyment.

[Noone]

Today at the ribbon cutting ceremony Mayor Peyton informed the crowd that the city should have clear title to the Shipyards/Landmar property in about two weeks. Ron Barton confirmed the news.

Had a chance to speak with councilman Gaffney and he agreed that the 680' will make for an interesting campaign issue if he chooses not to introduce legislation to keep the pier separate. I asked him if he was familiar with Metrojacksonville.com and he wasn't. So I'm sending him an email.
For the record the Pier is in councilman Gaffney's district and it would be wonderful if he takes the ball and runs with it to keep the Promised Downtown Public Pier separate from the other 44 acres that is Shipyards/Landmar.

Mayor Peyton in his remarks said that this improvement today will give us more control over the space.

Councilwoman Johnson wasn't there. I did see and spoke with Mike Mesiano he is the Duval representative for FIND Florida Inland Navigation District. He said he saw me speaking at the city council meeting and was surprised that I still didn't have a city council sponsor for a pocket pier two years later. I told him that I just attended the River Summit and the pocket pier issue is exploding outside of Duval county. He presented a check for $450,000 for the city match that went toward the improvements of the city marina.

[CS Foltz]

Noone..........I hope he got a receipt for the $450K? The way John Boy has a habit of flinging money we don't have at things that interest him makes me wonder if we (The COJ) will actually see that money being used for what it is intended? As to Dr Johnny Gaffney, forget it...........he has had ample time to get up to speed and still has done nothing for his District! Springfield is in his district also and he has not been much help on much of anything .....from lights in alleys to historical home saving! Maybe you know of something he has done, but I don't!

[fieldafm]

For the record the Pier is in councilman Gaffney's district and it would be wonderful if he takes the ball and runs with it to keep the Promised Downtown Public Pier separate from the other 44 acres that is Shipyards/Landmar

Agreed, and it would be nice if he responded to emails about this issue too 

[Noone]

Councilman Gaffney has had numerous opportunities to do something and hasn't done one thing in my opinion to this point.

Ultimately every city council member will have to vote on this issue. So if any candidate running for election in the spring elections doesn't have a position on the Promised Downtown Public Pier then I wouldn't vote for them.

The same goes for the Mayor's race.

Keep score.

[billy]

check out http://www.brooklynbridgeparknyc.org/

Shipyards Park + Hogans Creek Greenway+ Northbank Riverwalk Extension

[CS Foltz]

I am watching Noone! I am keeping score also and have yet to see or hear any candidate say much of anything!

[Ocklawaha]

I recall the trailer boat launch ramp at River City.Is it still open to the public/trailer boats?If not,is the ramp still there??
A perfect "Hand Launch" facility.Floating dock hand launch facility could be applied to the Pier too.

I run DT River & environs in a small aluminum Gruman "Guide Boat" with 6 HP four stroke outboard."MyYacht".
Kayak too.
I am in the area boat business. Yachts.Can't beat small vessel enjoyment.

I'd love to see a paddle boat ramp developed unlike anything found in any city USA. Perhaps next to a boat ramp a similar sloped sandbox, perhaps even with a 2' wall around it to preserve the sand. Obviously the river end of the box slopes well below the 2' wall, while the upper end would give some protection to sand retention during flood stages.  Add in a nice boat wash rack with wood or rubberized rails and a good fairly high pressure hose. A gear bench and some shade and we'd have a killer facility for national paddle events.

OCKLAWAHA

[Noone]

In 4 1/2 hours there will be a presentation in the St. James building (City Hall) on designs for this site. Open to the Public.

[Keith-N-Jax]

I hope someone here will be or can attend and provide info. Most of us are at work.

[billy]

Was this announced? Who did the design work? City funded?

[tufsu1]

Was this announced? Who did the design work? City funded?

well I saw an announceent late last week....it was pro bono work...a SCAD graduate architecture studio project