So what's your vision of what Jacksonville could be?

[jcjohnpaint]

Yeah sorry I did not mean to say that Philly (5 times bigger than Jax) is exactly the same.  For Jacksonville's size, the city is not too bad.  I think that cities in the northeast (where I am from) are more compact and vibrant in their core/ generally speaking, but I do feel that we stack up quite well if not better than cites in our population range.  I do want the core to be more vibrant, so I will fight for and support that.  It will happen.  As for saying I lived in all these great cities and this place sucks.. than leave! 

[Ocklawaha]

blandman, you've struck at the heart of the "problem." Its not that Jacksonville is similar or dissimilar Philadelphia, any more then it is to Medellin, Bogota, San Francisco or Rough-and-Ready California. The problem is far too many Jaxson's want Jacksonville, to 'be' Philadelphia, Medellin, Bogota etc... Now here's the rub, Philadelphia ISN'T like San Francisco, and Bogota ISN'T Rough-and-Ready and Jacksonville nor any of these other places will ever 'be like' someplace else. In the decades between 1890 and 1930, Jaxson's had a love affair with our city, they called it 'The Queen of the Winter Resorts', and 'The City Beautiful.' We were progressive and likely the most liberal city in the American south, a African-American Sheriff, an abundance of early movie stars and a movement to disallow segregation on our streetcars proves it. Some of us ARE in love with Jacksonville, either for what it was, is or could be, but it will NEVER be 'Rough-and-Ready Jacksonville is more then that, IT'S JACKSONVILLE!'.

Just a question - when did people from Jacksonville start being referred to as "Jaxsons?" I've seen that a bit on this forum and personally hate it. But I'd never heard it in the 28 years I lived in Jacksonville. Just curious..

"Jaxons" is a term for folks from Jacksonville used by the late, great Times-Union writer Bill Foley. Insult his memory at your peril.

My apologies to the late Bill Foley, but Jaxson's goes well back into the 1890's and perhaps farther. When the NFL did its research for their mascot, 'Jaxson' wasn't a mistake. I suspect this is also the origin of the city ID JAX.

[blizz01]

I find it hard to be bored in this city - & I've never been considered a simpleton.  You really aren't trying hard enough if you feel that there's nothing to do.  I can spend a day in ANY quadrant of North Florida & get into something.  There are certainly pockets (& events) in Jacksonville that wouldn't go unnoticed in other major cities - we tend to take them for granted.  There's been no shortage of concerts or festivals YTD - I swear every week there seems to be something happening at one or more venues (including Ponte Vedra & St. Aug amphitheatre).  I contend that you could drop all of (charming) Avondale into another metro area & it would/could be just as - if not more, of a destination.  I really believe that Mr. Khan is going to bring a strong influence beyond football ownership as already evidenced in his statements & immediate involvement (albeit limited) downtown.  I would also like to see a marketing push to ram the Jags down everyone's throats - whether in the airport, or down I-95.  I have always felt that we don't advertise the obvious enough when & where necessary.  Everyone knows that Disney is down in Orlando, but they still show up on our billboards.  Sensationalize a road trip from downtown to Fernandina - a beautiful drive including the Mayport Ferry (for years to come, let's hope).  Leverage St. Augustine - it's a top 5 (or 3 in some lists) tourist destination in Florida - hard to get there without passing through JAX for most - they're watching our broadcasts on network television down there too!  Get the Amtrak routes in order; offer more (any)international flights out of JIA (especially to the Car ribbean); extend the Skyway - at least one more time to the Sports Complex; put a big neon arrow on the Fuller Warren advertising RAM; pound your chest about the local breweries/tours offered (including A/B); offer river taxi service or a riverboat cruise from downtown to our "above average" zoo; get excited about our beaches & the cool vibe that Jax Beach has to offer;  embrace (not shun) the multitude of shopping/dining options @ SJTC; put a historical marker on every remaining building of significance downtown reflecting on any & all notable details; keep the momentum going with downtown nightlife....Oh yeah, bring football to UNF.                     

[Anti redneck]

I know I'm different but I still find it amazing to come across people who have lived here for more than a decade and still haven't made the effort to familiarize themselves with the entire town.

+1

So fieldy, what's your vision of Jacksonville?

[Anti redneck]

Random, but always thought Jax should advertise its merits more on billboards on 95. Driving south into Florida, you'd hardly even know Jax existed until you hit downtown. We should advertise our historic districts and riverfront more. Furthermore, I wonder how many road trippers know how cool the 5 Points exit is...I mean, jeez, it's right off 95! You'd never know its there because there's NO signage.

Yes, that needs to change.

[Anti redneck]

Responding to the post above, I've never been to Philadelphia or any of those cities named. I just want to see Jacksonville a little more creative in what it's doing. Read my post on the first page and see if that sounds like any other city. I just see what this city could become. I have heard those few say "Oh, we are a city. We don't need any of this." I have also heard those try to compare Jacksonville with other cities and that tells me they don't have much to offer. I don't believe we should compare Jacksonville to other cities.  I believe we can compete, however.

[blizz01]

I think it's all relative, really.  People get bored in Philly as well I'm sure - and subsequently compare themselves to )insert city(.

[Anti redneck]

blandman, you've struck at the heart of the "problem." Its not that Jacksonville is similar or dissimilar Philadelphia, any more then it is to Medellin, Bogota, San Francisco or Rough-and-Ready California. The problem is far too many Jaxson's want Jacksonville, to 'be' Philadelphia, Medellin, Bogota etc... Now here's the rub, Philadelphia ISN'T like San Francisco, and Bogota ISN'T Rough-and-Ready and Jacksonville nor any of these other places will ever 'be like' someplace else. In the decades between 1890 and 1930, Jaxson's had a love affair with our city, they called it 'The Queen of the Winter Resorts', and 'The City Beautiful.' We were progressive and likely the most liberal city in the American south, a African-American Sheriff, an abundance of early movie stars and a movement to disallow segregation on our streetcars proves it. Some of us ARE in love with Jacksonville, either for what it was, is, or could be, but it will NEVER be 'Rough-and-Ready, Jacksonville is more then that, IT'S JACKSONVILLE!'.

You know, I totally agree with that sentiment, by the way. I've had this discussion with a number of friends of mine who are artists or whatever who always lament how Jacksonville isn't how they want it to be, etc. I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to improve the city; I'm just saying that we should understand that the city is what it is and maybe the 'vision' a small, vocal segment of the city have for its future might not jibe with what most, ahem...'Jaxsons', desire.

Jacksonville is a good city to live in if you like going to church. And that's not a put-down. That's a fact. And it IS politically conservative. You can try to fight against those sorts of things all day long, but it's just going to wear you out.

I really think the thing that would help the city the most would be to figure out some way (tax breaks or something, anything) to attract businesses downtown. I know BoA has a massive campus on the Southside (I used to work there) and maybe they'll never move. But it would be amazing we could get them downtown. Citibank moved from Baymeadows to Bayard or something. How did we ever let that happen? And the First Coast School of Law shouldn't be in the old Citibank building, it should be right downtown.

Once enough people work downtown, it will make public transport more viable: people will see a benefit to taking the bus over paying for parking. And with dedicated bus lanes, there could be a time savings as well.

I used to live outside Hartford, CT and thought it reminded me of Jax (aside from the insurance thing) in that the downtown would be dead after 5 and on the weekends. The big difference, however, was that it was really busy during office hours. I'd settle for a downtown like that over what Jax has now.

It's not beyond the realm of possibility. The southside grew, in part, because the city offered incentives for businesses to move there. It can be reversed.

You know, I never really could understand why anyone would offer businesses incentives to move from downtown into suburbia.

[Noone]

Hmm.... I might. What did you have in mind? I'll admit I do have a fright of meeting people from the internet.
[/quote]

Anti redneck,

We could meet At Jacksonville's Tradeport Pier. Bay St. Pier Park. Its across from the jail and next to the skeleton of Berkman II. Plenty of surveilance cameras around.

I was thinking of bringing my golf clubs and we can hit a few. Are you game? I'm serious. Don't bring your fishing pole or we will definately get cited for that.

[blizz01]

I know BoA has a massive campus on the Southside (I used to work there) and maybe they'll never move. But it would be amazing we could get them downtown. Citibank moved from Baymeadows to Bayard or something. How did we ever let that happen? And the First Coast School of Law shouldn't be in the old Citibank building, it should be right downtown.

I agree 100% on college campuses downtown - but I'm not sure that Florida Coastal or the Art Institute for that matter, would transition as they seem to be commuter schools without much "student/campus life" (imo).  Maybe that's how SCAD started?  Seems like UNF or JU could offer better extensions.

Regarding BOA, keep in mind that while they don't occupy all floors, they maintain a 43 story iconic presence downtown.  BOA's (and Citi, BCBS, Chase, Convergys, etc.) "suburban" campuses are operations/call centers typically built with wide open & expansive production floors/ work spaces - not conducive to high-rise structures.  This isn't limited to Jacksonville, rather more of an industry standard in any major city.  Citi simply outgrew their building when the mortgage industry went bust & shifted more into collections - I'm sure that it was a lucrative deal to get them to bite on the land "in the middle of nowhere".   It's not uncommon for call centers to relocate - even within the same region in an effort to tap into additional demographics (i.e. military/college towns; suburbia) - Convergys is king when it comes to this.  Back in the early '80's, when Convergys was still AT&T American Transtech - the story goes that the architect was tasked with "building a skyscraper on its side" for telemarketing & customer service efforts- the purple monster on Baymeadows Way was born (3 stories x 5 "floors"). 

[nomeus]

Nomeus, A homeless person participated in the March 17 cleanup of Hogans Creek and we kayaked together. His story was fascinating. He wasn't one of the slackers. Field took some pics.

My vision is that everyone has an opportunity to follow their dream and if the powers that be put in legislative obstacles that only benefit a few especially as it relates to Public Access and Economic opportunity to our St. Johns River our American Heritage River a Federal Initiative then they are also part of the problem.

How would you like to kayak under the TU? See for yourself the rookery of McCoys Creek? The Hyatt parking lot? Under the Plaza at Berkman? 

Lets reclaim access and fun.

none of what you said has anything to do with what i said. kayaking isnt a priority here...... solutions to jacksonvilles homeless epidemic should be a priority. i saw a guy taking a dump 2 feet from the seminole club which is like 30 feet from city hall. its a huge problem. start with getting these folks off the streets and into jobs and then we can talk about kayaking or whatever.

[thelakelander]

Florida Coastal did try and move to downtown before ultimately deciding to move to Baymeadows.  Parking was billed as the issue for the suburban location.  This was a failed opportunity but now that ship has passed, at least for the next decade:

Among the school's first changes likely will be a move to downtown Jacksonville. Wippman said the school should have a new location by fall 2005. The school's current home is an 85,000-square-foot office park on Beach Boulevard, but Wippman wants a facility with double that size. He also wants to increase the student body from 685 to 1,000 students.

"We've been encouraged by the city's leaders about moving downtown," he said. "The city is at a point in its evolution where it's ready to take a big leap, just like the school is ready to take a big leap."

He said the school would seek incentives from the city to move downtown.

Kirk Wendland, head of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said he has discussed possible downtown locations with school representatives but not recently. Factors such as whether the school would construct a new or existing building and location would influence a decision on incentives, he said.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012004/met_14585570.shtml

It looks like downtown Jacksonville will not be the new home for the Florida Coastal School of Law.

Florida Coastal Dean Peter Goplerud says the private law school has abandoned plans to relocate downtown and will be purchasing and moving into a building in the Southside.

“A variety of considerations went into planing and we assessed the various things that we would have either on site or adjacent to the law school, and it just wasn’t going to happen downtown,” Goplerud said.

Goplerud couldn’t give many exact details about the school’s new location because they are in due diligence regarding the purchase of the new building. He said the new Southside location is roughly twice the size of the current building and “everything will be under one roof.”

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=42835

Although Goplerud was mum on the school’s location, he did expand on the decision not to come downtown. The school and City worked for years on a deal that would have brought Florida Coastal downtown, near the County and Federal courthouses as well as a majority of the City’s law offices.

In the end, it was parking, not money or space, that drove Florida Coastal’s decision to move to the Southside, said Goplerud.

“Downtown would have been a nice location obviously and we worked hard with the JEDC and the mayor’s office to try to make it work,” he said. “It was somewhat an issue of economics, but really it was the parking issues that couldn’t be addressed.

“One thing I made clear to the mayor, though, was that we want to be as much a part of the community here as possible.”

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=43292

Florida Coastal School of Law    has sold its land and building to a New York investment firm for $27 million in a sales-leaseback transaction, according to public records.

FCSL sold the building to Angelo, Gordon & Co. Inc and has signed a 20-year lease for the 225,000 square feet at 8787 Baypine Road, said Brooks Terry, marketing and communications director for the law school, who confirmed that the sale-leaseback ends the possibility of the school moving to Downtown Jacksonville.

“We are not moving. We’re here for at least 20 years as part of the agreement,” Terry said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2011/02/17/jax-law-school-not-moving-downtown.html

[Noone]

Nomeus, A homeless person participated in the March 17 cleanup of Hogans Creek and we kayaked together. His story was fascinating. He wasn't one of the slackers. Field took some pics.

My vision is that everyone has an opportunity to follow their dream and if the powers that be put in legislative obstacles that only benefit a few especially as it relates to Public Access and Economic opportunity to our St. Johns River our American Heritage River a Federal Initiative then they are also part of the problem.

How would you like to kayak under the TU? See for yourself the rookery of McCoys Creek? The Hyatt parking lot? Under the Plaza at Berkman? 

Lets reclaim access and fun.

none of what you said has anything to do with what i said. kayaking isnt a priority here...... solutions to jacksonvilles homeless epidemic should be a priority. i saw a guy taking a dump 2 feet from the seminole club which is like 30 feet from city hall. its a huge problem. start with getting these folks off the streets and into jobs and then we can talk about kayaking or whatever.

Potty training 101. I agree its a problem.

So what is a solution for Hemming Plaza. On another thread were Public toilet options. Build one.

I was at a meeting of Downtown Vision where Sheriff Rutherford in a presentation to the Board and using the example of the seminole club dumper pick him up and drive him to the county boarder. Drop him off and let him walk back to Downtown. Will this ultimately result in a positive change of toilet behavior? I'd say yes.

As for jobs. Tonight 2012-202 Taxpayer subsidized parking for Jacksonville city council members will be introduced. Lets just expand this taxpayer subsidy to include valet service and a car wash in front of the St. James Building. Why not?   

[thelakelander]

If Jacksonville solves its homeless problem it will be the first major city in the country to do so.  As far as downtown is concerned, invest in a day center outside of the heart of downtown.  At this point, whether one believes an investment in a day center is necessary or not, the main public library and Hemming are currently serving those roles.

[Adam W]

Florida Coastal did try and move to downtown before ultimately deciding to move to Baymeadows.  Parking was billed as the issue for the suburban location.  This was a failed opportunity but now that ship has passed, at least for the next decade:

Among the school's first changes likely will be a move to downtown Jacksonville. Wippman said the school should have a new location by fall 2005. The school's current home is an 85,000-square-foot office park on Beach Boulevard, but Wippman wants a facility with double that size. He also wants to increase the student body from 685 to 1,000 students.

"We've been encouraged by the city's leaders about moving downtown," he said. "The city is at a point in its evolution where it's ready to take a big leap, just like the school is ready to take a big leap."

He said the school would seek incentives from the city to move downtown.

Kirk Wendland, head of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said he has discussed possible downtown locations with school representatives but not recently. Factors such as whether the school would construct a new or existing building and location would influence a decision on incentives, he said.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012004/met_14585570.shtml

It looks like downtown Jacksonville will not be the new home for the Florida Coastal School of Law.

Florida Coastal Dean Peter Goplerud says the private law school has abandoned plans to relocate downtown and will be purchasing and moving into a building in the Southside.

“A variety of considerations went into planing and we assessed the various things that we would have either on site or adjacent to the law school, and it just wasn’t going to happen downtown,” Goplerud said.

Goplerud couldn’t give many exact details about the school’s new location because they are in due diligence regarding the purchase of the new building. He said the new Southside location is roughly twice the size of the current building and “everything will be under one roof.”

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=42835

Although Goplerud was mum on the school’s location, he did expand on the decision not to come downtown. The school and City worked for years on a deal that would have brought Florida Coastal downtown, near the County and Federal courthouses as well as a majority of the City’s law offices.

In the end, it was parking, not money or space, that drove Florida Coastal’s decision to move to the Southside, said Goplerud.

“Downtown would have been a nice location obviously and we worked hard with the JEDC and the mayor’s office to try to make it work,” he said. “It was somewhat an issue of economics, but really it was the parking issues that couldn’t be addressed.

“One thing I made clear to the mayor, though, was that we want to be as much a part of the community here as possible.”

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=43292

Florida Coastal School of Law    has sold its land and building to a New York investment firm for $27 million in a sales-leaseback transaction, according to public records.

FCSL sold the building to Angelo, Gordon & Co. Inc and has signed a 20-year lease for the 225,000 square feet at 8787 Baypine Road, said Brooks Terry, marketing and communications director for the law school, who confirmed that the sale-leaseback ends the possibility of the school moving to Downtown Jacksonville.

“We are not moving. We’re here for at least 20 years as part of the agreement,” Terry said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2011/02/17/jax-law-school-not-moving-downtown.html

Thanks for that, Lakelander. I'm glad someone at least tried, though it makes me a little sad to see it didn't work. I appreciate that the parking thing is a major issue. But that's something the city will need to work out with prospective tenants until there are enough businesses/schools/residents downtown to make mass transit a feasible option.

In response to an earlier comment, I think downtown is ideal for a commuter school, in that it is centrally-located. Of course, a lot of people work on the southside.