Shooting at Regency Mall

[thelakelander]

In the big picture, the evolution of our regional shopping centers is tied to the race issue.  Remember Gateway Mall when it first opened?  Look at Gateway today.  Retail follows what is usually called 'white flight.'

I dont think it can be compared to gateway. Gateway rose and fell into the depths of hell rather quickly.I grew up not to far away from gateway and it was always the "ghetto" from my memory. ( I am 30 years old). Only my mom and dad could tell me about the decade when it was nice. The they say by the late 80's and everyone was getting robbed and getting shopping bags snatched on a regular basis. Regency has been around 50 years and is still not anywhere near that condition and was much more sucessful IMO. I think Regency has held on greatly. The demographics of the Gateway and Arlington are completely different. The Arlington area is extremely diverse, where as the Gateway area is majority minority. 

It actually compares with Gateway quite well.  Gateway is one of the sites highlighted in the book Metro Jacksonville is publishing soon.  It dates back to 1959 and was the largest shopping center in Jacksonville until Regency's expansion in the early 1980s.  It's fall was abrupt because just about all of it's anchors closed within a 2-3 year stretch of each other, primarily through department store mergers and bankruptcies. It was the first suburban location for many retailers that had previously been located in downtown Jacksonville.

[Tacachale]

The saddest, funniest image has popped into my head. I see an unhappy, bilious man crouching in a den lit only by the glow of his ancient desktop moniter, nearly giving himself an aneurism while willfully withholding from his natural pattern of typing in all caps and inserting extraneous punctuation.

IF JUST STOP TYPING IN CAPS!!!!! THEN THEY WILL PAY ATTENTION TO MY CRYPTO-RACIST HOGWASH!!!!

[Nightman_Cometh]

Whats even scarier is that theyre opening a massive, national poker room right across the street from Regency.  It will be hosting televised poker tournaments and will be the largest poker room in Florida.  Kind of a bad idea in my opinion....

[thelakelander]

Do large poker rooms across the country have high crime rates? It would be interesting to see some statistical documentation on this.

[urbanlibertarian]

Massive, national poker room = jobs.

[copperfiend]

Too bad this happen. Regency already takes enough heat. When kidnapping and robberies happen at the Avenues and Town Center, people over look it. As soon as something happens at Regency, everybody pounces on them. My philospy is, no where is safe these days. No where. Im glad no one was seriously injuried though.

Michael Moore explained the way the news media treats stories like this in Bowling for Columbine. It's the fear of the angry black man.

What is the world supposed to think when such a high percent of violence and theft are caused by mad black boys?...Are we to ignore this fact?

What is "this fact" you speak of?

[peestandingup]

Too bad this happen. Regency already takes enough heat. When kidnapping and robberies happen at the Avenues and Town Center, people over look it. As soon as something happens at Regency, everybody pounces on them. My philospy is, no where is safe these days. No where. Im glad no one was seriously injuried though.

Michael Moore explained the way the news media treats stories like this in Bowling for Columbine. It's the fear of the angry black man.

What is the world supposed to think when such a high percent of violence and theft are caused by mad black boys?...Are we to ignore this fact?

What is "this fact" you speak of?

Nothing racist about statistics.

[Jaxson]

In the big picture, the evolution of our regional shopping centers is tied to the race issue.  Remember Gateway Mall when it first opened?  Look at Gateway today.  Retail follows what is usually called 'white flight.'

I dont think it can be compared to gateway. Gateway rose and fell into the depths of hell rather quickly.I grew up not to far away from gateway and it was always the "ghetto" from my memory. ( I am 30 years old). Only my mom and dad could tell me about the decade when it was nice. The they say by the late 80's and everyone was getting robbed and getting shopping bags snatched on a regular basis. Regency has been around 50 years and is still not anywhere near that condition and was much more sucessful IMO. I think Regency has held on greatly. The demographics of the Gateway and Arlington are completely different. The Arlington area is extremely diverse, where as the Gateway area is majority minority. 

Gateway Mall did not always serve an almost exclusively black clientele.  As a matter of fact, many whites lived in areas that are now associated with the black 'Northside.'  I even remember in the 1980s when Gateway still boasted over 100 stores.  When you consider that it opened at a time when the relatively new expressway gave shoppers easy access to it, it was a premier shopping center much like the Roosevelt Mall was on the Westside as well as others that were in this first generation of shopping malls.  Regency opened in 1967 and was the next big thing for local retail.  As my previous comment points out, however, the evolution of retail tends to always be creating the next new sensation for local shoppers as they continue moving deeper into suburbia.  With easy access to St. Johns Town Center via the I-295 Beltway and Southside Boulevard, it is natural that Arlington shoppers would also follow the shopper exodus to the new place.

[coredumped]

Really?  You blame Regency Mall for some black thugs nearly killing someone for no other apparent reason than their own enjoyment?  Amazing. One problem with this country is that we have a lot more of these animals among us than political correctness will allow us to acknowledge.

No, I blame Regency for allowing itself to slip in to decay.

They've done nothing to face lift the place or make it more inviting. It's time for a remodel, the 70s look is too dated. They could put some skylights or something in there. Perhaps back when real estate was booming they could have secured a loan.

Don't get me wrong, I live in the area and shop at Regency, but they have to adapt with the times.

As someone else said, Arlington is very diverse, we have million dollar homes to section 8 housing and everything in between. A mall the size of regency should not be struggling to find tenants or customers.

[duvaldude08]

Really?  You blame Regency Mall for some black thugs nearly killing someone for no other apparent reason than their own enjoyment?  Amazing. One problem with this country is that we have a lot more of these animals among us than political correctness will allow us to acknowledge.

No, I blame Regency for allowing itself to slip in to decay.

They've done nothing to face lift the place or make it more inviting. It's time for a remodel, the 70s look is too dated. They could put some skylights or something in there. Perhaps back when real estate was booming they could have secured a loan.

Don't get me wrong, I live in the area and shop at Regency, but they have to adapt with the times.

As someone else said, Arlington is very diverse, we have million dollar homes to section 8 housing and everything in between. A mall the size of regency should not be struggling to find tenants or customers.

Regency has been renovated in the past twenty years or so (in the 90's) so how does it have a 70's look? That I cant agree with. Now Gateway's Mall has a 70's look for sure. But Regency by far has a 70's look.

[Timkin]

Actually, I think Gateway was refurbished at some point 15 + years ago.   I remember going there as a kid.

Malls are going away.... "Town Center" developments are the trend.   

When I lived in Winter Park , I saw the Winter Park Mall become a Gateway...and get redeveloped as a town center type layout known as Winter Park Village.    I think eventually Gateway will come back if it goes through a similar change.. So too will Regency. 

[thelakelander]

Gateway's last major renovation took place in 1985.  I believe Regency's last major renovation took place in the 1990s.  Typically a mall probably needs to make major renovations every decade to maintain its market share.

[I-10east]

Malls are going away.... "Town Center" developments are the trend.   
I think eventually Gateway will come back if it goes through a similar change.. So too will Regency. 

I doubt if Reg and Gateway will change into 'SJTC style' lifestyle center type places, they are pretty much WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). There are like enclaves situated in the middle of long existing road infastructure, residential housing, surrounding businesses etc. More times than often, Lifestyle Centers are built deep in the suburbs on virgin land, so they can build as they please without red tape. IMO an old school style indoor mall still has it's place, as long as it's updated; Contrary to popular belief, the existing ones aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

[I-10east]

Regarding the whole race issue, all I can say is 'wow' concerning some of these posts. Some of yall might as well have said, "See, I told you we shouldn't have lifted them perfectly fine Jim Crow laws back in the days!"

Are there major problems in the black community? Yes.

Do blacks take part in a large part of the crime rate, esp considering that we're minorities? Yes.

I'm I embarrassed sometimes with my race when scum like the 'Reg 3' shoot up the mall, and further give credibility to 'the typical stereotypes'  Yes.

Did Bill Cosby 'tell it like it is' concerning problems with most of the black community? IMO Yes.

Are all of us violent senseless animals that shoot it out with each other with no regard for human life, and all we think about is weed, guns, revenge on rivals, potential jail sentences, multiple baby mamas, etc? HELL NO!!!

Some of us are actually productive US citizens; Please don't lump all of us with them a-holes at Regency.

[RMHoward]

Regarding the whole race issue, all I can say is 'wow' concerning some of these posts. Some of yall might as well have said, "See, I told you we shouldn't have lifted them perfectly fine Jim Crow laws back in the days!"

Are there major problems in the black community? Yes.

Do blacks take part in a large part of the crime rate, esp considering that we're minorities? Yes.

I'm I embarrassed sometimes with my race when scum like the 'Reg 3' shoot up the mall, and further give credibility to 'the typical stereotypes'  Yes

Did Bill Cosby 'tell it like it is' concerning problems with most of the black community? IMO Yes.

Are all of us violent senseless animals that shoot it out with each other with no regard for human life, and all we think about is weed, guns, revenge on rivals, potential jail sentences, multiple baby mamas, etc? HELL NO!!!

Some of us are actually productive US citizens; Please don't lump all of us with them a-holes at Regency.

Thanks for being a productive US citizen I-10.  There are many like you, i know.  Forgive me for saying but i think one of the problems is that you and other productive black US citizens will aim your energyand displeasure at those of us pointing out the black problem (hence your above post) rather than aiming energy and displeasure at fixing the problems in your own community.  Where are the black leaders coming to the podium of an audience and demanding that these actions stop? Instead, we get  the brothers Sharpton and Jackson pointing the finger away from the real problem.  The problems in the black community always seem to be someone else's fault. I feel nothing will change in the future.  Thats the way i see it.