Mellow Mushroom: Working with the Avondale community

[wsansewjs]

Wow- I can't believe RAP prefers plans that looks like something from a strip mall on southside as opposed to something unique, interesting and historic.

MAYBE some of the members of that organizations are actually property owners of strip malls, so they are so darn familiar with it. It's like snuggling and hugging their teddy bears.

-Josh

[peestandingup]

We Love Avondale + RAP = SPAR...Part 2! The Revenge! Bigger, noisier, even more out of touch, and a hell of a lot dumber.

Coming this fall to a dead urban core near you.

P.S. Abundant parking!

[ChriswUfGator]

They're running the neighborhood like an outlaw biker gang these days.

I do believe this could be a new thread......

Avondale lost and that they chose to follow a few idiots instead of using their own common sense.

Avondale did not lose, John compromised and we both won. We get one of the best pizza places, I have ever been to, and I grew up around them in Atlanta, so I am very happy, we are getting a fine restaurant and great local business partner. 

You can't always get what you want, but you "do" get what you need, in our case, we got our MM here in Avondale!

Hogwash.

Mellow Mushroom was coming regardless, all this managed to do was screw the neighborhood out of a nice adaptive reuse and into a demolition & replacement with a suburban-style box, all in exchange for 4 parking spaces. Frankly, I'm appalled.

[John P]

There was internal conflict inside Rap about this. That is why We Love Avondale popped up out of nowhere. Rap and spar in previous years get too much flak from the squakers that dont have all the information. The design does look like a strip mall though but hopefully they can use brick and other period sensative materials.

[wsansewjs]

They're running the neighborhood like an outlaw biker gang these days.

I do believe this could be a new thread......

Avondale lost and that they chose to follow a few idiots instead of using their own common sense.

Avondale did not lose, John compromised and we both won. We get one of the best pizza places, I have ever been to, and I grew up around them in Atlanta, so I am very happy, we are getting a fine restaurant and great local business partner. 

You can't always get what you want, but you "do" get what you need, in our case, we got our MM here in Avondale!

Hogwash.

Mellow Mushroom was coming regardless, all this managed to do was screw the neighborhood out of a nice adaptive reuse and into a demolition & replacement with a suburban-style box, all in exchange for 4 parking spaces. Frankly, I'm appalled.

So wait, Mr. Chris...

You do support Mellow Mushroom and their original plans, but not their revised plans after the WLA (We Love Avondale) and RAP ransacked it?

-Josh

[Tacachale]

God forbid a place to get pizza late at night! What parking hating monsters.

[Captain Zissou]

God forbid a place to get pizza late at night! What parking hating monsters.

"That's what Hungry Howie's is for.  YOU DON'T NEED MORE THAN ONE LATE NIGHT PIZZA PLACE. WE'RE NOT NEW YORK CITY"
-RAP

[iluvolives]

Perhaps we need to create a group called WeLoveTheOldGasStation and hire an attorney to fight it being torn down and replaced by a stripmall.

[JeffreyS]

If the compromise isn't going to make RAP and the NIMBYs happy just go with the better original design.

[simms3]

I am forwarding this to a few people I know who work in the Shoppes.  I'm probably on the extreme side, but I'd rather have the abandoned gas station/grass lot than the revised proposal.  Every city has power hungry people, but very few cities have as many total idiots running the show across all aspects of the city as Jacksonville has.  Jacksonville's most progressive urban neighborhood is hardly being progressive right now.

Between Jim Love, Robin Lumb, RAP, We Love Avondale, LLC, and other groups including residents and business owners who are all worked up about parking for no reason, I see little hope in Jacksonville having any truly urban and progressive districts.  It's really really quite embarassing.

[Tacachale]

How many of us have read Wood's book bemoaning existing buildings being demolished and replaced with empty lots? I sure have.

[ChriswUfGator]

They're running the neighborhood like an outlaw biker gang these days.

I do believe this could be a new thread......

Avondale lost and that they chose to follow a few idiots instead of using their own common sense.

Avondale did not lose, John compromised and we both won. We get one of the best pizza places, I have ever been to, and I grew up around them in Atlanta, so I am very happy, we are getting a fine restaurant and great local business partner. 

You can't always get what you want, but you "do" get what you need, in our case, we got our MM here in Avondale!

Hogwash.

Mellow Mushroom was coming regardless, all this managed to do was screw the neighborhood out of a nice adaptive reuse and into a demolition & replacement with a suburban-style box, all in exchange for 4 parking spaces. Frankly, I'm appalled.

So wait, Mr. Chris...

You do support Mellow Mushroom and their original plans, but not their revised plans after the WLA (We Love Avondale) and RAP ransacked it?

-Josh

It's not that I support/don't support it, I just saw the old design and noted it was one of the better and more well-integrated examples of adaptive reuse that I've seen in this city. Then I looked at the new design, which calls for demolition and replacement with a suburban box, and am having a hard time understanding how or why we traded one for the other, in exchange for 4 parking spaces. Somebody overplayed their hand on this one, and really screwed the neighborhood.

[JHAT76]

So I can't put a new window in my house, but I can tear down a whole building in the name of parking?  Houses in the area in disrepair or the house 2 down from me that is basically abandoned is OK?

Please tell me Mellow Mushroom is going to put up signs on the new spaces as MM parking only and aggressively tow.  No TV after 9?  So no one can go to MM to watch a Jags game outdoors, but go ahead to West Inn and watch it on a busted old tube TV?

Very frustrated that this group is trying to limit the natural growth of the area.  Why make the area as a go to destination when we can protect the sleepy, overpriced clothing stores and real estate office parking.

We are a busy family.  Can't keep up and attend all the meetings that seem to take place right when everyone is at work or school.  However if anyone knows whom to contact to voice my opinion / frustration that will get heard let me know.  Proud to say I didn't vote for Jim Love.

[wsansewjs]

They're running the neighborhood like an outlaw biker gang these days.

I do believe this could be a new thread......

Avondale lost and that they chose to follow a few idiots instead of using their own common sense.

Avondale did not lose, John compromised and we both won. We get one of the best pizza places, I have ever been to, and I grew up around them in Atlanta, so I am very happy, we are getting a fine restaurant and great local business partner. 

You can't always get what you want, but you "do" get what you need, in our case, we got our MM here in Avondale!

Hogwash.

Mellow Mushroom was coming regardless, all this managed to do was screw the neighborhood out of a nice adaptive reuse and into a demolition & replacement with a suburban-style box, all in exchange for 4 parking spaces. Frankly, I'm appalled.

So wait, Mr. Chris...

You do support Mellow Mushroom and their original plans, but not their revised plans after the WLA (We Love Avondale) and RAP ransacked it?

-Josh

It's not that I support/don't support it, I just saw the old design and noted it was one of the better and more well-integrated examples of adaptive reuse that I've seen in this city. Then I looked at the new design, which calls for demolition and replacement with a suburban box, and am having a hard time understanding how or why we traded one for the other, in exchange for 4 parking spaces. Somebody overplayed their hand on this one, and really screwed the neighborhood.

We need to find the master of this hand who overplayed hardcore on this issue, and hold him/her accountable.

-Josh

[Intuition Ale Works]

Adam Hollingsworth.

BOOM!