A Vision For The Shipyards

[TheProfessor]

The city needs to focus on the downtown core primarily at this point.

[Singejoufflue]

I like the statement "Jacksonville's front porch to the river."  MMMM. That's good branding. I'd like to get a better look at #three.

[kells904]

Pedestrian bridge that rotates up for boat access.  How long do you suppose it would take to get the pedestrians off the bridge to let a boat pass?

Demo the jail........JSO..........Maxwell House....? What's next?  Remove Doro Fixtures? Maybe the dreamers are getting carried away with it. We completed with New Jersey to keep Maxwell House and the jobs. Doro is a third generation millwork and fixture company operating out of some old buildings. In fact the shop with the main carpenter shop is a former hotel from 1910. Remove the ramps for the Hart? Best way in /out of sports area.

Ideas and dreaming out of the "box” are fine, but somewhere the practical side will come into the equation and modify or mediate them.

I thought the quick access out of the sports complex was part of the problem.  Surely there's a way to utilize the bridge without driving on top of a whole neighborhood, which has kinda been cut off from the rest of downtown?  With its destruction, wouldn't it offer the chance to avoid the inevitable multimillion-dollar rebuild (I think Lake pointed that out in a recent article...) as well as offer a chance to reconnect that near-dead space underneath it?   

[Noone]

Everyone should keep in mind that this was a college design project by a school located in another state, with two students/idea for FREE.  If I've learned anything from being apart of this site, its that Jacksonville's complexities can't be rounded up and completely understood in less than a semester.  Given that, I think the work all of these groups did is pretty impressive.

I agree Lake...

I also agree.

[CS Foltz]

I agree also! Most of the elements incorperate what is available and thinkng like this is encourages me to think, there might be hope yet! This administration has no hope in hell, but the next one can start out with something in mind and an end goal to work towards for all of our benifit!

[billy]

Does anyone have any idea where things stand regarding any possible reconfiguration
of the expressway at Union Street/ Hogans Creek ?

[tufsu1]

Does anyone have any idea where things stand regarding any possible reconfiguration
of the expressway at Union Street/ Hogans Creek ?

there are no plans....but I think it will be discussed when it comes time to rehabilitate the expressway

[Noone]

Meh.



The most glaring ommission from all of these plans is the total lack of economic energy captured from the River itself.  Because of the possibilities of trade and commerce, every square foot of the River should be utilized to either compliment or capitalize on maritime economics.  We have thousands of acres upon which to design suburban style development, and very little space on which to develop water transport compatible components to our local economy.

Bingo!

This issue needs to be in the forefront of this upcoming city council and Mayoral campaign.

Anyone going to a Vision for Jacksonville Friday?

St. Johns River Alliance meeting Monday in Palatka?

The Promised 680' Downtown Public Pier should be a part of the dialogue for all these meetings.

[Noone]

Vision for Jacksonville

Got the date wrong. Its Dec.8 Wednesday

Contact Carolyn Clark
carolynclark@uli.org
904-486-8256

[thelakelander]

I'll be there.

[coredumped]

Has anything been decided about the land here?

[thelakelander]

No.

[Noone]

There is pending legislation before the city council 2011-560 that is Shipyards/Landmar and I believe that an amendment should be attached at Rules or Finance that should seek some of the $23,500,000 that we are about to say bye, bye to. Anybody care?

Keep the Promised 680' Downtown Public Pier separate from the yet created Downtown Authority. The pier is in Dist.4 and councilman Redman can Make It Happen. FIND, the governor, our Regional Partners,  the other 66 counties in Florida are watching.

Be concerned.

[fieldafm]

Overall, I was really impressed.

The presentation started off with the comment 'When investors look at a community they look at the quality of the airport and the quality of downtown'

Integrating the 680' public pier wasnt a common theme, but that was to be expected as Im quite sure the students weren't aware of this promise given to the citizens of Jacksonville. 

Another note of interest was the common theme about tearing down the Hart Expressway overpass.  In fact one of the groups(I believe Defines the Edges) had a page in their process book that really brings it home with the quote 'If a major road is making a city less livable and vital place than it would otherwise be, in many cases everyone benefits when politicians have the vision and guts to tear it down'

Check out their absolutely correct reasoning for tearing down the expressway:




Another group(believe Redifining a City) hit on a theme repeated in some previous articles on this site, defining the Shipyards site with the maritime uses that once made the site such a bustling place of activity.


But I was particularly fascinated by one group's complete intuitive understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our urban core, and they highlighted excellent solutions in their concept.  That was the work of Amie Calisti and John Takots: Everyday Urban Experience.  Downtown Jacksonville's problems are marvelously complex in their simplicity.  As Jim Bailey once quoted on here, we need to hit more base hits.  I think that sums up the DT opportunity quite well.  The fixes are quite easy and they all revert back to the  connectivity and street level interaction of a once proud urban core.  Its fascinatingly complex that people fail to take these simple steps to create a better downtown and instead focus on swinging for the fences when the count is 3-0 and the throw is to the outside.

Their concept had specific uses for a varied level of potential users.  So, the woman who works downtown and lives in the suburbs would want to make this space a destination... as would the suburban family... as would the young urban professional, and so on.  This hits on Stephen's point quite well... ensuring it is an active space ensures it will become a destination.  My concept, the Bay Street Pier Park specifically addresses this issue... which is why as Noone branded it, the BSPP would become Jacksonvillle's front porch to the river.

The EUE concept had a public and private marina(another common theme amongst the groups) water taxi access(absolutely needed IMO), active green space, public restrooms(something incorporated in my concept), but it also integrated Hogans Creek.  Amie commented that she had spoken with a gentleman who walks the Klutho parks daily, but that in its present condition it is not attractive for people to use.  Their concept included cleaning up the green beltway that is Hogans Creek and also noted that opening up the shorelines naturally and extending the greenway would let the creek cleanse itself as a proper ecosystem should.  They had both bike rentals and kayak rentals incorporated in this concept(as we have been advocating for) so that the public can experience and connect with our American Heritage River in a deeply personal way. 

The pedestrian bridge you guys are talking about actually links the site together, and is essentially a better/wider/more thoughtful expansion of the existing Hogans Creek footbridge at the mouth of the creek.  It does not impede boat traffic on the river in any way shape or form.  Kayaks are what Hogans can sustain, not recreational power boat traffic.

Another simplisticly brilliant part of the plan was integrating the A Philip Randolph Commercial Corridor.  This is something we have discussed on this site in detail in the past.  The city has sunk money into upgrading the physcial facilities of this once proud commercial corridor, however it suffers from desolation b/c it doesnt address the issue of connectivity.  For the Landmar site to work, it has to connect and bridge the gap b/w the districts it border.

No grand $200k studies were needed, just intuitive minds that saw simple solutions to simple problems.  I hope when they graduate, both Amie and John chose to find gainful employment in the Planning Department in the City of Jacksonville.

[fieldafm]

Here is a more detailed look at their plan:

Tomorrow, you can discuss the vision of the Hogans Creek Greenway with myself and others while cleaning up this hidden urban jewel as part of the International Coastal Cleanup.  You even get a free tshirt  .  9AM to 11PM behind the Jacksonville Historical Society(directly behind the Veterans Memorial Arena).