Riot In Riverside! July 4th 2008! riot brings mayhem.

[thebrokenforum]

22:03:51 - calling adv large group poss 100-200 people going to start a sig 40, 16
22:03:52 - adv in all of 5 points

40 - civil disorder/riot/crowd
16 - traffic obstruction/hazard

[BridgeTroll]

in fact, this particular footage makes the street look like a lively fun place (with the exception of the cops running to take control of the fight (referenced in the log) over in the Wendy's parking lot. (very early in the event)

Yes, the video does make it seem like that area is a lively place.  I would love to see a district in urban Jacksonville that could attract crowds like that on a regular basis.  That's reminiscent of the crowds Ybor used to attract every weekend during the late 1990s.

Imagine THAT scene on A. Philip Randolph... the no cars allowed waterfront Tallyrand Party district!!

[RiversideGator]

That looks like a big riot in that Ybor City photo.   

[thelakelander]

Gwynedd has a pretty good head on her shoulders.  I wonder how long it will be before she moves on.

[Eazy E]

I broke radio silence with Folio to speak with her regarding the incident, and I guess Ill see soon whether or not grown up relations have resumed betwixt myself and the southside publication. 

But Gwynedd is a pretty intelligent writer who is interestingly networked into the mix of things, and in our discussion it sounded as though she might go further than simply the story of how A riot came to Riverside Gators front yard, only to be magically dispersed when our esteemed poster walked outside in a pair of ruby red slippers, clicking them together, softly saying:  "there was no president like Reagan.. There was no president like Reagan.

Um, not to be disrespectful-- as many here, including myself sometimes have been towards you and others-- but why would Folio talk to you, Stephen? You weren't there and have no more knowledge on this than anyone who reads all 19 pages of this forum.

Also, I should have said this a while back when you posted it, but as to your quote* of "Businesses worry that the First Fridays promotion has been set back years". I have to say that I am saddened** by this statement as it seems either unbelievably inflated and exaggerated, or an outright fabrication.
I happen to know most of the store owners on the block quite well and: 1) no one has said anything at all like that to me, and they are probably more likely to tell me than you, because i am not a reporter (or whatever) to this site, and 2) "set it back years", huh? well, since it started in October of 2007, that's not too many years to set it back to.  Honestly, I cannot explain how angry that quote made me when I thought about it, seeing as it is so exaggerated (and probably untrue) and just chock-full of unsubstantiated gossiping and sniping.

* Not direct quote, but close.
** as i sually enjoy what you have to say

[RiversideGator]

Eazy:  Even though he has no first hand knowledge of the event or connection to Riverside, Stephen just has a knack for injecting himself into things in a dramatic fashion.   

[RiversideGator]

And river, really stop talking your vintage nonsense.  you don't know anything about me or what friendships I have.  You are the least qualified person to comment on what connections I have to the community.

Im not going to get into a pissing match with you,

If you dont want to "get into a pissing match" then dont bring me up as you did in this quote:

But Gwynedd is a pretty intelligent writer who is interestingly networked into the mix of things, and in our discussion it sounded as though she might go further than simply the story of how A riot came to Riverside Gators front yard, only to be magically dispersed when our esteemed poster walked outside in a pair of ruby red slippers, clicking them together, softly saying:  "there was no president like Reagan.. There was no president like Reagan.

but your service trying to limit the number of bohemians and minorities allowed to walk around in Riverside unmonitored, while noteworthy, doesnt really match family residing there since before the days of Ms. Cummer, a history of businesses in the area and connections which you probably don't fathom.

This would be libel actually as I have never done any such thing. 

My family has also lived here a very long time.  And, I still live in the area.

BTW, I am not the one trying to transform a small concert and 4th of July celebration by some black kids into a latter day race riot to advance my own agenda.  That would be you.

[thelakelander]

Cut it out before you two end up getting another thread closed.  Lets stick to the topic.

[avonjax]

I broke radio silence with Folio to speak with her regarding the incident, and I guess Ill see soon whether or not grown up relations have resumed betwixt myself and the southside publication. 

But Gwynedd is a pretty intelligent writer who is interestingly networked into the mix of things, and in our discussion it sounded as though she might go further than simply the story of how A riot came to Riverside Gators front yard, only to be magically dispersed when our esteemed poster walked outside in a pair of ruby red slippers, clicking them together, softly saying:  "there was no president like Reagan.. There was no president like Reagan.

Um, not to be disrespectful-- as many here, including myself sometimes have been towards you and others-- but why would Folio talk to you, Stephen? You weren't there and have no more knowledge on this than anyone who reads all 19 pages of this forum.

Also, I should have said this a while back when you posted it, but as to your quote* of "Businesses worry that the First Fridays promotion has been set back years". I have to say that I am saddened** by this statement as it seems either unbelievably inflated and exaggerated, or an outright fabrication.
I happen to know most of the store owners on the block quite well and: 1) no one has said anything at all like that to me, and they are probably more likely to tell me than you, because i am not a reporter (or whatever) to this site, and 2) "set it back years", huh? well, since it started in October of 2007, that's not too many years to set it back to.  Honestly, I cannot explain how angry that quote made me when I thought about it, seeing as it is so exaggerated (and probably untrue) and just chock-full of unsubstantiated gossiping and sniping.

* Not direct quote, but close.
** as i sually enjoy what you have to say

I drove by the scene that night, and sadly if I were a stranger to the area I would definately avoid coming back out of fear. The hateful "perception is reality," cliche held very true that night.....
It looked very scary driving by the scene with police everywhere and lots and lots of youth, so it doesn't matter what really happened.
Considering there was never a real report on the event in or on any of the local media that I know of, the hundreds of cars that passed from the fireworks downtown assumed something pretty bad had happened....

[jacksonvilleconfidential]

I love seeing myself in print!

[Linwood Thorpe]

I know its nearly two weeks later, but the Folio Weekly mentioned this site so I figured I would jump in, albeit late.  I was there, drinking at Starlite that night, and I have a few thoughts/observations:

1.  I got there just after the end of the fireworks, and I was blown away at how much traffic (cars and people) were in 5 points.  It was like being in an actual urban entertainment core again (I've lived in Philly, Toronto and Pittsburgh...and yes, Pittsburgh has places like that ).

2.  I settled in along the rail at Starlite with a New Castle to people watch.  Lots of high school aged kids milling around, dressed in all sorts of loud and colorful outfits.

3.  Some of the groups of kids began shouting at each other, and a few scuffles broke out, scuffles that looked much worse than they really were, because of the crowds of observers.  There was shoving or slapping, but if punches were thrown, it wasn't a beat-down.


4.  Some "pops" came from down the street towards the 5 points light/Wendy's area, and thats when 5 or so cops started running down the street in that direction.  A kid at starlite declared that he knew it was gunfire and not firecrackers.  People started paying more attention then.

5.  The crowd began moving toward Post, and the cops decided shortly to close off the street from the 5 Points light to Post.

6.  A few more scuffles were going on over the next few minutes, and yes, I did see a police officer spray pepper spray in the air around him to disperse some kids.

7.  All the while, there were kids running around doing what kids do: Yelling, acting like asses, but I didn't get the sense that any of them were a threat to me...

8.  Then the concert let out, and about 400-500 kids came spilling out into the street, obviously happy and delirious from the show.  Lots  of chatter, laughing, some yelling but nothing bad.

9.  A few more scuffles happened over time, but nothing major in my opinion.  One that I could see happened in front of Raglands, but it really wasn't much of anything.

10.  The helicopters were buzzing around for a while, creating more tension in my opinion.

11.  During most of the action, I was walking around in the street drinking my beer, observing...watching the way the cops  were acting, listening to the crowd.  I am an attorney, so I just wanted to see how things were going down.  I let a couple of kids bum a smoke that asked (poor taste, I know), BS'ed with a few more, and generally hung out.  I spent most of my time up on the corner of Post and Park, returning to Starlite just to refill my beer, which i did several times for over an hour.

My opinion as to what this "riot" was?  Not a riot.  No way.  It wasn't much different than the Super Bowl celebration in Pittsburgh a few years ago, except replace drunk (mostly) white kids with sober (mostly) black kids, and in this case, ZERO cars got flipped, ZERO couches caught on fire and ZERO property damage was done (unlike Pittsburgh).  The police presence probably had something to do with that, but I think we are selling the teenagers there waaay too short.  They were wild, geeky pubescent teens, but they certainly didn't rise to the level of street-hardened "thugs" that some have called them.  In talking to them, I discovered that most were just dorks.

There were cars lined up on both sides of the street, and nobody was jacking up cars.  The business windows didn't get smashed.  Hell, the most violent thing I saw all night was the bouncer at Starlite physically toss a girl and her friends out of the bar (she was asking for water).  There were a lot of people on the streets, but I have seen plenty of kids on the street after a punk show at Fuel.  Locking the doors at Raglands was way over the top, as was the guy at Starlite that demanded everbody get inside.

My opinion?  It was a large group of black teenagers acting like teenagers.  They were loud, mouthy, obviously horny, and out to raise a little hell as teenagers do.  Most of the kids were disappointed that the night turned out to be a copfest, and many that I spoke to told me that the cops had to break stuff up because of the little fights that broke out.

The cops did what they had to do, but I think towards the end of the night they were acting a bit over the top.  The kids had mostly moved on, but many were stuck waiting for rides...the police yelled and one even told the kids to walk home.  I didn't agree with that.  Another thing I didn't agree with was the assertion by one individual at Starlite that exclaimed "That's why the cops racially profile." 

[02roadking]

Thanks Linwood. Good assessment in my opinion.

[Jason]

Welcome aboard Linwood

[Eazy E]

Can we please let this non-story die already?

[RiversideGator]

Thanks for the very informative post, Linwood, and thanks for confirming that there was no riot in Riverside.  It was just some kids having a little fun on the 4th of July.