Frank Denton: A new look at Hemming Plaza's 'residents'

[thelakelander]

Our problem with Hemming Plaza is not that it's dangerous or ugly.

It's just that it is  ... well, unkempt and uncomfortable to most of us — not the image we want for Jacksonville and need for downtown redevelopment and energy.

Physically, it's OK, with bricks and trees and a historic fountain, and it's surrounded by interesting buildings, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the public library, Snyder Memorial Church and City Hall, as well as the Skyway.

The problem is the people who hang out in Hemming Plaza. They are not bankers, lawyers, Jaguar cheerleaders, tourists, newspaper readers, office workers on a break or suburbanites exploring the heart of their city.

They are people who don't have a better place to hang out. They could be "homeless," as some kindly refer to them, or "transients," but from all appearances, they are poor, often clutching meager possessions, marginal manners and wholly inadequate personal hygiene. They generally behave, but they sometimes litter or commit other nuisances.

So they are a problem for all the people working on re-energizing downtown.

full editorial: http://members.jacksonville.com/reason/frank-denton/2014-04-26/story/frank-denton-new-look-hemming-plazas-residents#cxrecs_s

[Noone]

Same case can be made for the Waterways in our new super duper restricted CRA/DIA in the USA zones.

Visit Jacksonville!

[Rob68]

Im not sure who we think we are but every city in america has this issue..we act like we are delicate lotus bloosom that will shrivel at the sight of someone not of our status or hygenic standing...I can understand violent people but mostly peaceful people...so many have mental  issues and seeing that this city is the bottom of the bottom when it comes to mental health in the nation due to our city defunding programs for years so this is partly our fault as so many vote to detaxify our small society her in the steamy south....you reap what you sow.

[tyrsblade]

Here is my view as someone who works downtown and regularly takes trips to MOCA and The library.

Downtown Jacksonville  is disgusting.  It has an unprecedented amount  of vagrants, psychiatric patients and train kids. Having lived in Cleveland , Atlanta and Jacksonville, I can tell you Jacksonville has the worst problem of the three. These itinerants have left a visceral stain upon the city, from the moment you leave your vehicle there is an oily sickness in the air that smells like the concoction of human feces, sweat,and  cigarettes. Not a day goes by where I don't walk to a downtown destination where I am not accosted with a request for cash or treated to the litany of a deranged individual.

Hemming plaza could be awesome , I've seen glimmers of it. There is a group of 4 or 5 guys down there that regularly play chess , there is a couple pickup card games, and I've seen couples meeting for their lunch hour. But these sightings are few and far between. We must control the influx of undesirables and clean up our downtown before anyone will regularly return to the urban core.

[tyrsblade]

Stephen all of those fixes take money. Money that Jacksonville is either unwilling or unable to provide.

In Asheville, NC they manage to pull off the coexistence with train-kids and vagrants fairly well(it even adds to the flavor of the town). Asheville does a couple things that I think would work well here, the encourage public/private partnership in addressing homelessness and they encourage the public to donate to the initiative with donation meter looking things at each intersection. Now that I think about it they also have a very solid police presence in their core.

I'd love to see Jax develop an artsy, counter-culture vibe downtown. So much so that I've been making a point to hit some events when they happen. But if I was being totally honest, I don't believe the citizenry has it in them to care about the core.

[tyrsblade]

WTH are you talking about? gays? bathrooms? wot?

Little five-points is a great example or peachtree street. I've visited both a lot in the past 5 years. The former has a greater problem then the later.

[tyrsblade]

You can't be serious.... 

[thelakelander]

were you under house arrest in atlanta?  There are a number of people here who have also lived in atlanta, and some of us were there when the downtown was going through gentrification in preparation for the Olympics.

It was much more prevalent there.  Little five points used to have so many homeless people on the street that you couldnt tell them from the punk rock kids.

Hmm. I was in downtown Atlanta for a business meeting two months ago.  If people are scared of Hemming, there's no way they'd step anywhere near Underground Atlanta and Woodruff Park, which is the original heart of the city.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

Just something I noted after someone pointed it out... I spoke with someone from DVI during one spark and I asked her if people thought the vagrants were what people were primarily complaining about. She did say yes, but she said the most important thing to add was people. She said during one spark all of downtowns "special friends" (yes that is exactly what she called them) are still there, just with the higher volume of people around you could barely notice they were there. After she made that statement I began to examine the crowd more in depth and she was right they were all still there. They were just blended in better. I never once got "bothered or harassed" like people say they do. Only confrontation I had was a average joe making passes at a female that came down with our group. He was more annoying than any homeless man I had ever seen in downtown honestly.

[Scrub Palmetto]

Im not sure who we think we are but every city in america has this issue..we act like we are delicate lotus bloosom that will shrivel at the sight of someone not of our status or hygenic standing...I can understand violent people but mostly peaceful people...so many have mental  issues and seeing that this city is the bottom of the bottom when it comes to mental health in the nation due to our city defunding programs for years so this is partly our fault as so many vote to detaxify our small society her in the steamy south....you reap what you sow.

This reminds me of the popular phrase (I won't call it a John Steinbeck quote, as it's been shown to be an incorrect paraphrase): "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

The Socialism part aside, I like to think of the "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" part whenever I have trouble understanding a behavior of the middle class or even those who only see themselves as middle class. They love to try to imitate the standards of some imagined aristocracy. I've grown to identify more with the lower tiers of society, because it just makes more sense. I'm far fewer strata removed from the extremely poor than from the extremely wealthy, so why should I embrace the latter more? I actually have much less in common with the wealthy than with someone who has lost everything and is living on the streets. One unforeseen event could put me there much quicker than winning the lotto. It just seems absurd for me, even me, as close as I am to being one of them, to shun the poor like I'm a friggin English peer. Yeah, there's crime and mental illness and filth. There's a lot of that among the rich, too, just in prettier packaging.

[Cheshire Cat]

This convo leaves me wondering about something.  There was a big to do about Mayor Alvin Brown opening a drop in day center where homeless could go to shower, launder clothes etc.  After the big splash announcement, nothing more as to whether or not the day center is working.  Anyone have an update?

[Cheshire Cat]

The other thing that I find so upsetting is the fact we have people who are mentally ill in the streets as opposed to in treatment getting the help to heal that they need.  That is deplorable in my view and an issue that leadership in this city seems to want to ignore.  The Sheriff has been very vocal about this over the years, pointing out that the jail is currently where many with mental illness go and the only place many get help.  A jail cell should not be a place to heal those with mental illness.  I too have broached this subject with officials over the years and frankly I am tired of the excuses of funding etc in order to avoid the issue.

[AuditoreEnterprise]

This convo leaves me wondering about something.  There was a bit to do about Mayor Alvin Brown opening a drop in day center where homeless could go to shower, launder clothes etc.  After the big splash announcement, nothing more as to whether or not the day center is working.  Anyone have an update?

I have actually seen these before in California. They are typically ran by non-profits and often contain a food bank and minimal housing on site. They also give interview clothes and taxi/bus vouchers to people who provide proof of interview.

[Scrub Palmetto]

The other thing that I find so upsetting is the fact we have people who are mentally ill in the streets as opposed to in treatment getting the help to heal that they need.  That is deplorable in my view and an issue that leadership in this city seems to want to ignore.  The Sheriff has been very vocal about this over the years, pointing out that the jail is currently where many with mental illness go and the only place many get help.  A jail cell should not be a place to heal those with mental illness.  I too have broached this subject with officials over the years and frankly I am tired of the excuses of funding etc in order to avoid the issue.

I absolutely agree. However, I would say it's just as important to hold officials to the fire at state and federal levels as well. After all, it was decisions made at these levels that got us into this mess, and it remains a nationwide issue. Even if we're determined to keep the responsibility shifted to the local level, as seems to be the case since deinstitutionalization, we have to recognize how essential state and federal programs and funding are in allowing local organizations to function and in making sure cities that are most financially strapped (and are likely to also have the greatest mental health and homelessness problems) can afford to address this.

We can't let the state and federal programs and funding continue to dwindle unnoticed. Few cities can go it alone, as wealthy suburbs are willing to contribute very little to the inner city's poverty battles. That's not such an issue in Jax, with its enormous square miles, but it is a fundamental problem with leaving cities to fend for themselves on social inequality issues that have a spatial concentration. And even Jax doesn't seem able to escape financial problems. If anything, perhaps Jax's consolidation has led its populace to expect too much on the local level. The danger in that isn't so apparent for a consolidated city, but living in a metro area with 119 separate city governments in 9 counties, with 2 major 'inner cities' in 2 different states (Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas) makes me realize how absurd it can be to expect too much at the local level, and how much energy, time, and money is wasted on trying to persuade a common vision in such a Balkanized area. Heck, even when the states are at odds -- as they often are -- KC becomes a metro area at battle with itself. You can look to the federal government, or try for state cooperation, or just sit back and watch the snake swallow its own tail.

That said, it would be nice if the federal government mandated more metropolitan-level organizations through which to channel funding, like it does for transportation (MPOs). If it's important to have a shared vision at the metro level for infrastructure needs, why not also social needs?

[mtraininjax]

Stephen - How many of the empty vacant buildings around Hemming Plaza are owned by wealthy individuals with titles parked in LLCs? I know the owners of ESC own a few of the buildings around there and there are rumblings of other wealthy owners who are pushing for Wayne Wood and others to fix Hemming Plaza, so that they can see the value of their properties rise to sell them to the next "fool", who has a dream of improving the Ambassador Hotel or the old JEA building.

In other words, follow the money, should have been the editorial from Denton, because when you follow the money, you can see who is pushing for the change.....