Shad Khan: City of Jacksonville needs to evolve!

[downtownbrown]

What I believe that he is trying to communicate is that we need to look deeply within ourselves to figure out why we are the way we are?

How can a city with as much to offer as Jacksonville does yet we don't seem to be doing much with what we have?

How are we "The River City" when the vast majority of the people who live here have never actually been on the river or any other inland waterway other than to drive over it on a bridge?

How is it that downtown Jax has a wealth of 1920s Jazz Age era hotels & office buildings that for the most part are either abandoned or very forlorn?

How is that that we have such a large amount of younger people yet those younger people don't seem to be very entrepreneurial?  Aren't the young usually the risk takers?

How is it that we have many historic neighborhoods of Riverside/Avondale, Murray Hill, Springfield, Lakeshore, Ortega, San Marco & St Nicholas yet other than using the institutional sounding "urban core", we have not come up with a term that gives excitement and a pride of place to our connecting historic neighborhoods?  As in, "let's go to XYZ and have some fun tonight?" or, "you live outside of XYZ? Could you be any less interesting??"

Why do our younger people often rather go to some generic Southside Blvd bar for happy hour or to listen to music? What kind of dull young people rather go to a bar and grille in a strip mall than an edgy neighborhood?

Why is it that UNF, Jacksonville University and Jones College don't seem to inspire much intellectual curiosity in their students?  Are they teaching back office drones?  Shouldn't they be teaching the innovative leaders of tomorrow?

So far, nobody really understands why.  Worse part, hardly nobody seems to care. Because of this, Jacksonville is more Hacksonville than Actionville.

you ought to copyright "Actionville".  Damned good marketing handle, that.

[downtownbrown]

Totally agree.  I just wish Khan would move forward on the Shipyards instead of just teasing it.

He is actually in talks with a developer right now about a plan for the site... I guess we will hear something soon.

I doubt I'm the only one who would like to hear a little more about that statement.  Word is he has some renderings, but that's a far cry from an actual developer.  Cmon, tell.

[Cheshire Cat]

  Poll by Jacksonville Business Journal. 

[Cheshire Cat]

^got to love the "Whats mojo" question and the fact that 19 percentage of respondents have no idea what it means. Right up there with folks who cannot digest and understand logic and facts but rather are baffled by them. People still wonder why we have some problems "evolving" in Jacksonville.  lol

[edjax]

What I believe that he is trying to communicate is that we need to look deeply within ourselves to figure out why we are the way we are?

How can a city with as much to offer as Jacksonville does yet we don't seem to be doing much with what we have?

How are we "The River City" when the vast majority of the people who live here have never actually been on the river or any other inland waterway other than to drive over it on a bridge?

How is it that downtown Jax has a wealth of 1920s Jazz Age era hotels & office buildings that for the most part are either abandoned or very forlorn?

How is that that we have such a large amount of younger people yet those younger people don't seem to be very entrepreneurial?  Aren't the young usually the risk takers?

How is it that we have many historic neighborhoods of Riverside/Avondale, Murray Hill, Springfield, Lakeshore, Ortega, San Marco & St Nicholas yet other than using the institutional sounding "urban core", we have not come up with a term that gives excitement and a pride of place to our connecting historic neighborhoods?  As in, "let's go to XYZ and have some fun tonight?" or, "you live outside of XYZ? Could you be any less interesting??"

Why do our younger people often rather go to some generic Southside Blvd bar for happy hour or to listen to music? What kind of dull young people rather go to a bar and grille in a strip mall than an edgy neighborhood?

Why is it that UNF, Jacksonville University and Jones College don't seem to inspire much intellectual curiosity in their students?  Are they teaching back office drones?  Shouldn't they be teaching the innovative leaders of tomorrow?

So far, nobody really understands why.  Worse part, hardly nobody seems to care. Because of this, Jacksonville is more Hacksonville than Actionville.

you ought to copyright "Actionville".  Damned good marketing handle, that.

Hmm. So see on the new 2025 thread they use the Welcome to Actionville. 

[CityLife]

I've heard Jacksonville referred to as "Actionville" for at least 15 years.

[goldy21]

[/quote]

Wait, Diane, seriously?  Khan isn't motivated by money or politics and Rummell is?  (not that there is something necessarily wrong with that)

Your statements continue to baffle the mind.
[/quote]

Well said.  Diane's anti-Rummell agenda has box seats at the theater of the absurd. 

[Cheshire Cat]

author=goldy21 link=topic=21399.msg374388#msg374388 date=1398719224]
Well said.  Diane's anti-Rummell agenda has box seats at the theater of the absurd. 

What's absurd is that even with a continued dialog that explains the reasons behind the statements it still flies right over some peoples heads. In fact it is both absurd and disheartening.  Here it is for the last time.  If some still don't understand after reading, I will just add that to the list of reasons why Jacksonville continues to dance in circles like a mindless whirly gig.   Here we go...basic stuff...

Our city continues to be led by individuals in both the public and private sector that are mired in our long standing conservative GOB past where money and influence has been the driving factor in both public and private arena's.  What Khan so correctly pointed out is that these "leaders" (millionaires) do not have even a little of what it takes to get Jacksonville out of its slump and have it evolve.  It is this GOB leadership at both levels that lack both the insight and foresight to help us evolve. 

Khan hit the nail on the head with his remark about the millionaires in Jacksonville having no mojo.  He was right.  Mojo means the ability to move things forward, think creatively and understand how to run and grow a city.  Not surprisingly those who don't get it or my comments also do not understand how power works in this city and who controls it.  For years a good many of the folks who have led or not led the way in our city were found in what was termed the "nifty fifty". A group of people whom Jacksonville has looked to for guidance in business and investment for decades.  A group whose membership has included and still includes old money players who have knowingly and readily used their money and influence to manipulate politics and who gets elected in our town.  Many of the members, not all, are the embodiment of a mindset and way of doing business that has left this city floundering for decades.  While some have used that influence to grow their own wealth at the cost of smaller city business, contractors, the taxpayers etc., their ideas for progress and growth have failed and continue to fail to make any real and lasting impact on Jacksonville.  Many citizens and voters have not and some apparently do not want to put the dots together in the big puzzle of Jacksonville.  Peter Rummell as it were is the man who created the "Civic Council" as an update to the "Nifty Fifty", which embodies all the old business models, politics and thinking that has held us back. He symbolizes the past in business and politics.  There is a sizable list of others just like him in this city.  He is simply one example.

Khan is a business man pure and simple.  He is not a part of our political fabric beyond his donations to a candidate for mayor.  He isn't trying to buy an office but he is showing support for a guy who helped get him what he wanted in the Everbank field thing. For him it's a business decision not political.  He may well fund another candidate a Republican perhaps in order to keep a balance in the eyes of local politicians, that is if he even cares about how things are perceived by them.

Khan is not a part of the old guard.  He is not strangled by progressive thinking or worried about whether others like him or not.  He is a flat out business man and business is his priority.  Fortunately his business is one that when grown, also grows Jacksonville.  His ideas are clearly workable as he has amassed a fortune by following his gut and by using his business prowess.  He is "today" not "yesterday". He is clearly not of the mold of just another guy.  He is unlike any other individual who has made a splash in Jacksonville from the purchase of the team to his way of getting business done.  We don't need to embrace the past and keep defending old models of business and government that have not taken us forward in the decades they have held influence.  It is a fools game.

I am not anti Rummell or any one individual.  I am simply against following the old stale and worn out models of leadership that have failed us in the past and left unchecked will smother our future.  If some don't understand even now, well thats too bad. Jacksonville will just have to march on without you.   If some don't get that it is not about one thing but a combination of things that is just sad, but explains why we as a city continue to flounder. I think what is making some people uncomfortable is that they really cannot deal with the reality that we have put all of our eggs into a bottomless basket for years and years now. They don't want to admit to the waste.  Rather than find a new way to gather our assets we want to keep throwing them into a broken and bottomless basket. Wasting time and wasting further progress.
Repeating the past in all things is a losers game. That's the point.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

that poll was pretty funny not gonna lie... What's mojo?

[downtownbrown]

"I've heard Jacksonville referred to as "Actionville" for at least 15 years."

I guess I missed it, and I doubt anyone over the last 15 years could say it in public with a straight face.

[CityLife]

"I've heard Jacksonville referred to as "Actionville" for at least 15 years."

I guess I missed it, and I doubt anyone over the last 15 years could say it in public with a straight face.

It is usually used sarcastically, but sometimes in reference to nightlife. Commonly known by college students around the state or indie/hipster kids like Stephen said. "I'm going back to Actionville this weekend" or "So what is going on in Actionville this weekend"?. It is so widely known at FSU and UF that you are as likely to hear it from someone from Orlando/Tampa/South Florida as you are someone from Jax.

There is even a local limo/party bus service names "Actionville Limo"

[downtownbrown]

Sounds like a need the tee shirt. 

[Ben Warner]

Re: Actionville -- we felt like it was time to reclaim the name in a non-ironic fashion. When you look at the activity and results we're experiencing in the community, it seems like the right time to get beyond the "nothing to do here" or "nothing ever changes" mentality and recognize that there's a sea change happening -- and it's measurable, which is one thing JCCI does really well.

You'll see more on May 7 -- one more teaser for Hemming Plaza at 6:30 for the unveil -- but this is demonstrably, undeniably a different city than it was even a year ago, and the pace of change is accelerating.

[downtownbrown]

Yes, it's buzzing.  I'm a huge downtown advocate since I own some property in the Core, but I have concerns.  Nobody in Jax leadership or, importantly, media, talks about the obvious things that make a difference.  Berkman 2 is a homeless hotel.  The Liberty Street hole has been there for 2 years and nobody, I mean NOBODY, talks about it.  These are failures of leadership with the Administration, and they are ignored by the media.  VERY bad combination.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

Berkman 2 was tied up in a lawsuit that got drug out for a long time. So did a few other properties like the Bostwick. There is so many hoops to go through these days that I don't think it's fair to blame an entire administration. I mean I can only imagine that there are a great deal of bad apples there, but none the less we create so many code's, laws, and guidelines, that we only make things a hundred times harder to do every year.