Changes to Luminaries

[Ocklawaha]

Ingleside was designed as the original 'grand entrance' to the village. Mr. Ingle was the president of the Jacksonville Traction Company (streetcars) which had a stop at Ingleside and Herschel. If you could imagine that landscaped road reconstructed to the way it would have appeared in our own 'City Beautiful' days it would jack up the image of the whole neighborhood.

Just a footnote to those 'streetcars MUST run in the streets' believers, south of Ingleside all the way to Fishweir Creek, the JTCO ran on railroad track alone, there was no pavement in that stretch.

I think San Marco with it's M/L recent remake is far more pedestrian friendly then Avondale, Fairfax or the 5-Points areas, but cutting off the traffic won't help any of them. All were developed along the streetcar routes and all are dependent on transportation to this day. A San Marco Square-like treatment of each of these would work wonders.

[mtraininjax]

Speed limit should be dropped. There's no reason for the stoplight at the ingleside intersection (and it has a funky offset) although I doubt it would ever be removed. I think it would be better to have a ped signal there.

When Avondale was "beautified" the city thought about closing Ingleside or eliminating the light, but someone in the City decided to keep the lights, offset as they are.

If you raise the cross walks, again, the ambulance lobby, Eddie and Chuck Farah will be hard to beat.

Speed limit is 25 mph, from Dancy to Talbot, although most race down it to see if they can hit a car backing out or worse, a pedestrian. Its nuts!

[Know Growth]

We shut 'er down for Christmas in Avondale

Mr. Spinks Luminary, Fast Forward

[Know Growth]

Well, biggest change for me was Tom Whicher,now deceased,no longer graced the St Johns Ave. Bold City Open House. Long discussed.Finally, "Mad Manatee" appeared.

Some bitched about the new St Johns venue, or reduction thereof. Dang,life so challenging here within RAP. Just two years ago many,some likely certifiably anti gun,where shooting marshmallows from multiple PVC contraptions from this very St Johns Ave site. Now greatly diminished,amidst total hard candy projectile ban.The roadside sign monitors flash again and again.....

Personally,I missed the open carriages,trailers. Shucks,I used to ride in the back of a pickup truck (quite illegally,apparently) back and forth from Miami to Sebring.

The COJ Sherriff Office road sign on St Johns Ave , flashing........flashing.............five or six 'Directives' that were in fact nothing other than long established rule.

And a curious visit with Village Idiot in front of a Shoppes establishment; Idiot as if on guard,conversation was far too easily lead to assumed conclusion. All perfectly recorded.

This year seemed certifiably less "Frantic" than recent past years. Even less Luminary on my street.

Next biggest change from last year for me was the discovery that my bicycle handle bars are greatly adjustable, considerable tilt "UP".Finally,even better fit.

[acme54321]

We rode our bikes over from San Marco and had a good time.  I saw lots of complaints on fb of "the residents" ruining  luminaria with the new rules
  Shockingly it all appeared to be from people that don't live anywhere near avondale

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/avondale-riverside/2015/12/21/residents-not-happy-with-luminaria-parade-changes/77682922/

[JeffreyS]

I don't think it is shocking people from out of the neighborhood are upset. The decorated trailer "hayride" is a great way to enjoy Jacksonville's best historic area once a year. The residents, RAP and the JSO over corrected with the rules crackdown. Perhaps it will soften to just getting rid of the litter and candy throwing in the future.

[CG7]

I had a great time last night. It was more like the event that I remember going to 10 or more years ago. There were decorated cars, bikes and people all over the place, and no one was taking target practice at us with various candies and other objects.
The problem with the candy throwing for most people, including me, is that the candy would land in the street, and little children would dart out into traffic (albeit slow moving) to get the candy off the street.
The people in trailer that were being cool were not being harassed by police, but I saw some people doing the wave in the back of a pick up truck that a cop pulled over.
I hope the powers that be keep the Luminaria exactly like it was last night, there was more neighbor participation than in the past 3-4 years or more.

[mtraininjax]

The residents, RAP and the JSO over corrected with the rules crackdown

And yet the neighborhood survived, wow, amazing how a little enforcement regarding public safety (you mean I can't use a compressed shotgun to blow projectiles off the heads of unsuspecting people) leads to a case of the crazies.......and yes, most of the FB implosion took place by people who were kicking and screaming because they could not throw candy on St. Johns Avenue, yet a block over it was not an issue.

Oh well, there is always next year that they can try and vote out the councilman and get the JSO to change the Florida State Statutes. The Marshmallow lobby is a powerful one, as some lobbyists on this board can attest!

[ChriswUfGator]

We rode our bikes over from San Marco and had a good time.  I saw lots of complaints on fb of "the residents" ruining  luminaria with the new rules
  Shockingly it all appeared to be from people that don't live anywhere near avondale

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/avondale-riverside/2015/12/21/residents-not-happy-with-luminaria-parade-changes/77682922/

LOL the guy they interviewed in that article is a prime example of what the problem was, he's griping that he can't use his potato gun with a smaller tube glued on the end to shoot 90-mph marshmallows at people. Halfway through his comments he catches himself and backpedals from "it was me..." to "it was some guys...". He knows what he was doing was a prick move.

Happy with the changes here. It was like how it used to be 5 years ago before it became target practice.

[Steve]

We rode our bikes over from San Marco and had a good time.  I saw lots of complaints on fb of "the residents" ruining  luminaria with the new rules
  Shockingly it all appeared to be from people that don't live anywhere near avondale

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/avondale-riverside/2015/12/21/residents-not-happy-with-luminaria-parade-changes/77682922/

I personally thought this was some of the worst reporting I've seen out of FCN in a while....even with the unreal low bar that I measure them with. Of the three people that didn't like it was the guy that Chrisw mentioned above, and a 9 year old and 12 year old.....with no mention of whether or not they actually live in the neighborhood. Solid reporting....it was as if FCN was trying to make it a bigger story than it was, then couldn't find anyone credible to talk to so they went with what they had.

[Adam White]

We rode our bikes over from San Marco and had a good time.  I saw lots of complaints on fb of "the residents" ruining  luminaria with the new rules
  Shockingly it all appeared to be from people that don't live anywhere near avondale

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/local/avondale-riverside/2015/12/21/residents-not-happy-with-luminaria-parade-changes/77682922/

I personally thought this was some of the worst reporting I've seen out of FCN in a while....even with the unreal low bar that I measure them with. Of the three people that didn't like it was the guy that Chrisw mentioned above, and a 9 year old and 12 year old.....with no mention of whether or not they actually live in the neighborhood. Solid reporting....it was as if FCN was trying to make it a bigger story than it was, then couldn't find anyone credible to talk to so they went with what they had.

I got the impression that the guy - the marshmallow guy - lives in Riverside or Avondale. He mentioned something about how it "means the wordl to bring everyone there in the community together" or something. He seems drunk to me.

Also - apparently Luminaria is Riverside's version of "Moddy Grah".

[Josh]

I personally thought this was some of the worst reporting I've seen out of FCN in a while....even with the unreal low bar that I measure them with. Of the three people that didn't like it was the guy that Chrisw mentioned above, and a 9 year old and 12 year old.....with no mention of whether or not they actually live in the neighborhood. Solid reporting....it was as if FCN was trying to make it a bigger story than it was, then couldn't find anyone credible to talk to so they went with what they had.

It's right there in the title of the article; they think luminaria is a parade. Whoops.

[acme54321]

That one kid was great "Luminaria is all about riding around in trailers and shooting people with marshmallows."  Pretty obviously him and everyone that was with him has no idea what luminaria is about.  Riding around the backstreets was much more enjoyable than the shit show on St. Johns.

[JeffreyS]

MTrain I know asking a troll to speak about what has actually been said as opposed to screaming is a lot to ask but I will try.

Clearly the police realized the published rules were an over correction and didn't crack down on every trailer and truck ferrying people. No one said the over correction even if it happened would have been a disaster.

Rachel I hear your less congested comment and understand your keeping less outsiders from enjoying the event meaning.

[JeffreyS]

No one has argued that the candy throwing /litter should not have been stopped. I guess however that point has to keep being made in order to rationalize restricting the "hayrides".

The trailers are a blast I am glad the police were smart enough to know the new rules were overkill.