Living Downtown as a Millennial

[jaxjaguar]

It's been about 1.5 years now since I move downtown, so I figured I'd share my experience. Hopefully some others can chip in with their experience and we can do something to make downtown a better experience for our generation...

Let me start off by saying I didn't grow up near downtown and had very little contact with it aside from Jags / Suns games growing up. Most of my views/ignorance came from those who I grew up with near the beaches. I never really had a reason to go downtown so up until recently my opinion of it was pretty poor.

What I always heard / believed:

Vagrants, Hobo's, Homeless people - what ever you want to call them are everywhere. Be with someone else at all times and have a cell phone handy just in case you come across these people. Expect to be hassled at least once.

Ghetto, murders and crime - Growing up in an area with very little crime, constant new development and very few homeless people downtown, Avondale, Brooklyn, etc were always terrifying. From my point of view and the stories I had always been told these areas were all full of crack houses, crime and based on the news reports constant murder.

Parking - This was always a reason my friends and family avoided downtown. At the beaches there were no places that required you to pay to park, you very rarely had to park in the street and all of the lots were very well maintained / lit.

Nothing to do - Why go downtown when there's no events going on? You're just going to wander around aimlessly with no shops or restaurants to visit. You're much better off / safer going to St. George Street where you don't have to pay to park on the street and there are actually things to do / see.

What I've learned / Hope will change

Vagrants While there are a lot of them, it's not as bad as a lot of other cities. As long as you avoid eye contact and stay away from Hemming Plaza / The riverwalk under the Acosta you probably won't see too many. The majority of them keep to themselves and aren't dangerous. It's annoying seeing them and I can understand how people are deterred by this, but without moving the shelters or having better loitering enforcement this will always be an issue.

Ghetto / Crime It's slightly worse than the beaches in Riverside / Avondale / Springfield / etc. I've heard of break ins and seen some vandalism, but I've never felt unsafe or like my life was in danger. Most of what I and those I grew up thinking was ghetto is just historic neighborhoods. The street parking is a little out of control in some areas, but it's what comes with the territory I suppose. It would be nice to see a parking garage near King Street and post or at least the night trolley to run more frequently...

Parking - This is one of my biggest issues living downtown. I know there have been countless studies saying there's plenty of parking, but I disagree. Most of the garages are in terrible locations or closed after a certain hour so having someone park there over night or for a late day trip is out of the question. Having visitors from out of town is a pain, because they're limited to waking up at the crack of dawn in hopes of finding an all day meter or parking in a garage that's 3 blocks down the road only to have to move out of the garage before night fall. I can't tell you how many quarters I've lost to dead meters and subsequently been fined for. The hours are terrible for those who live downtown and work normal hours as well. Typically the meters aren't monitored before 8:45 and after 5:30, but every now and then you walk out to go to work and BAM parking ticket 8:01 am on a side street no one EVER parks on. The lot prices are ridiculous for residents who are already paying a premium to live downtown so it's better for me to get $15-30 in parking tickets every other month than to pay $40 every month for a lot I only need to use 45 minutes a day. I am 110% behind removing all of the meters and having street parking first come first served. This would not only encourage people to stay downtown longer, but it would also benefit those who live downtown while taking money out of the pockets of the soul sucking parking lot owners.

Nothing to do - While there isn't much to do in the core it's still got a few quirky bars / restaurants which are fun and usually surprise my friends / family with their quality and customer base. Chomp-chomp, Volstead, Underbelly, Indochine, and Dos Gatos to name a few. My second biggest issue with downtown is that while the nightlife is passable, there is literally nothing to do during the day that is fun for my generation. The top to bottom tour was alright, roaming the streets is meh and the Landing is well the Landing.... What else am I supposed to do within walking distance? There needs to be a rock wall, 24 hour gym, that new go-kart place would've been nice in the core, a team building facility for young professionals, some daily events at Hemming Plaza that catered to younger people would be cool (for instance putt-putt with beer, up and coming bands / comedians performing, movie nights). Literally anything. I just want a couple of inexpensive things I can walk my friends over to from my place to be able to say, "See?? It's not so bad. There are some fun things to do here everyday! Not just 1 Wednesday or Sunday a month."

I know this was a lot of word vomit, but I needed to get it out, because honestly I feel like there is soooo much untapped potential for our urban core. Visiting other cities I can see that we're only a few steps away from attracting more people my age and younger. People who don't have families yet, but are willing to spend a little money to have fun. People who enjoy having several places within walking distance of there residence to hang out, be active or have fun.


Stephen Dare, as much as we get on each others nerves I feel like you had some good points in your "12 ways to fix downtown" thread. We really need to get some people active though to make something happen. I'm sick of seeing thread after thread of "hopefully 'x' happens" and "rumor- 'x' is looking to move downtown". Let's get some people together, get some signatures, raise some money and make some changes! What ever it takes to flip this city 180 from the, "Let's do some studies first" attitude to the, "Let's take a chance and try something new" attitude.

[IrvAdams]

^^^Very good summary.

Couldn't agree more to remove the damn parking meters, how could this income be so critical to the City? They get money so many other ways...

Let people freely visit the Core!!! Entertainment and nightlife (and daylife) will follow!

[David]

Sounds like my tenure at 11E.  Only had the London Bridge back then but we made it pretty fun. Parking was always a pain, if I had a visitor over it was like you mentioned, they had to get up early or i'd have to give up my parking spot in the garage. 

With what Riverside has grown into today, i'd prefer to live there or even San Marco over downtown now.

There handful of nightlife options is a notable improvement over 10 years ago, when it was just 2 venues. At least there's near a dozen or so now. And the 7/11s are a nice upgrade over that one convenience store on Adams (not even sure if it's there anymore)

I'd be curious what the average tenure of a downtown Jax resident is. Since I've lived there I've had about a half dozen friends cycle in and out of 11E after a year or two. You don't get that sense of long established community that you do in other neighborhoods.  We still need way more residential options in the immediate downtown area, but it seems like the market is geared towards Brooklyn/Riverside lately.

[marty904]

Very good insight @jaxjaguar! I'm working on a project that will address some of the "nothing to do" points you made. I hope to be able to make an announcement about it very soon.  Great insight though, it needed to be "put out there" by someone living downtown!

[urbanlibertarian]

 Living Downtown as a Baby Boomer

I bought a townhouse in the Cathedral District 11 years ago.
Parking is rarely a problem but yeah, sometimes.
When panhandled, I've found that direct eye contact and a firm "No" to be the best approach.
Living this close to work is AWSOME.
Bar and restaurant options just keep improving slowly but steadily.
I don't really travel farther than most suburbanites for grocery, pharmacy, etc.
Really convenient for Jags, Suns, concerts.
The only real crime I've experienced is 1 attempted car break-in.

[Juker777]

Here's what you can do in Indianapolis during the daytime for instance...

http://www.indydt.com/freeactivities.cfm

[jaxjaguar]

I've seen these and other similar games in several other cities and they always seem to be popular... Friendship fountain next to MOSH would be perfect for 2 or 3 games like this,  another 1 in Hemming Plaza and 1 in the park on the other side of Main street across from the library would be great for the kids in the area /  be in visible areas where people frequently drive or walk by. It would also encourage people to walk around a little, take pictures and explore areas they normally wouldn't go to.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LJuTDdEqGx8/Ubf8FTX0JcI/AAAAAAAAGYk/AP9YVYyq8yo/s1600/DSC_0061.JPG

[downtownbrown]

As another baby boomer, I'm pretty psyched to read jaguar's summary.  And I'm happy to see the steady increase in the number of night spots.  But I agree that there are some fundamentals missing.  Why do I have to drive to get groceries? Why do I have to cross the river to find a Sunday morning breakfast joint?  Why is downtown "closed" during the weekends?  Where is the retail?  Why do I have to drive to Regency to get simple home repair junk?

I really hope Berkman 2 gets turned into apartments.  Imagine what a few hundred more millenials could do to downtown.  We're counting on Jaguar and his buddies to fix it.  That's where the real power is.

[jaxjaguar]

I agree about the grocery store thing. Winn Dixie is relatively close (though I will literally never go here unless I plan on getting mugged) as is the new Fresh Market, but there should be something immediately downtown or at least have the SkyWay extended over to the Fresh Market... Ultimately I would love to see the Farmers Market moved to the core or at least part of it as I stated in my old thread... http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=21169.0

[ProjectMaximus]

Thanks for the post and thoughts, JJ! Great to see someone with fresh ideas and excitement.

Winn Dixie downtown isn't that bad is it? I don't go at night, but I've been maybe a dozen times before. There are always police (they have a substation on site) and it feels ok to me...from a safety standpoint.

Yes, I too hope the skyway is extended into Brooklyn by 2017.

[downtownbrown]

WD isn't a bad store, and there is always police presence.  But it's not a place I would walk to from Bay Street.  It's clearly on the sketchy side of downtown.  You WILL get panhandled in the parking lot, in case that bothers you.

[tufsu1]

I agree about the grocery store thing. Winn Dixie is relatively close (though I will literally never go here unless I plan on getting mugged)

This is stupid.  I live 2 blocks from the store, have been there over 100 times in the 8+ years I've lived in Jax, and never once have I even felt threatened.

[downtownbrown]

very friendly people, and a quality store.  But it does have a sketchy vibe because of the police presence, the occasional panhandler, and the random guy getting cuffed by the PoPo.  Still, I'd like to see a good bodega closer to the river with fresh meat and produce.

[jaxjaguar]

Maybe "literally never go" was a little extreme, but I definitely don't feel as safe their as I do in riverside. I try to stay away from that side of town due to the panhandlers and police presence. It just gives me bad vibes. When my friends are in town they feel much more at home (as do I) at the Riverside Publix. It's a little on the small side, but other than the Asian lady that's always on that corner, I feel like it's a much better area to try to win over people new to the area.

[urbanlibertarian]

When I'm feeling Publix, I prefer the Atlantic/University location.  It's about the same distance as R-side and a  newer full size store.  I'm also fine with Winn Dixie but usually just for incidentals.