Robert Moses and Haydon Burns - Part 2

[Metro Jacksonville]

Robert Moses and Haydon Burns - Part 2



 By the luck of the draw, exactly as the era of Robert Moses was at its greatest power and influence, the city of Jacksonville found itself in the hands of an odd and ambitious Good Old Boy Network of politicians and powerbrokers led by the development and growth minded Haydon Burns. The irrascible mayor was not only an admirer of the great reformer from New York City but one of the most infamous good old boy politicos in the city's history.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/549

[Jason]

Extremely well done!  Talk about a history lesson.

[greggory]

I've got to say that is some very interesting information. Being that I've only lived here a few years, I've always thought that we have one of the most wasted opportunites of a downtown city I have ever seen. Now with reading this, I'm not at all surprised. I can't help but think how different this place would be if not for all the changes back then. Hopefully in the future, we will see less of this god awful "planning".

[thelakelander]

This type of information helps illustrate how important a role planning plays in our everyday lives and city's development patterns.  Combined with city hall's hiring practices, it also helps show why we struggle on certain issues that have been easily solved in other communities.

[thelakelander]

Just spent a good amount of time this weekend exploring New Springfield.  This neighborhood's historic building fabric is just as compact and architecturally significant as those in Springfield, Riverside and Avondale.  Unfortunately, it has been cut off from the rest of the city on all four sides and left to rot.  It's new borders are defined by the 20th Street Expressway (north), I-95/JTA BRT (West), Norfolk Southern Railroad (South) and Swisher International (East).  It's a poster child example of what has been described in this article.  However, it can be bought back if the S-line is used for mass transit because it has all the ingredients in place for revitalization to take effect.  Look for an in-depth photo tour of this neighborhood later this week.

[downtownparks]

Its exactly what happened with Springfield and the Union/State speedway, and the one-waying of most downtown streets. You cant easily get north of Union because Main is one-way, and Ocean ends into a park in a "scary" part of town surounded by empty buildings and homeless people. I know I am making it sound worse than it is one one level (its not that bad) but then I know the area quite well, and seeing the occasional homeless person doesn't scare me the way it does someone from the burbs.

Considering also, that giving directions to my house is far harder than is should be considering I can see Main St from my back window.

New Springfield does have some gems, and it would benefit from the S-line, but it needs far more help than that.

[thelakelander]

Yes, Springfield was also cut off pretty well from downtown during this era as well.  While planners may have thought they were doing a good thing by cutting off the core from it's rapidly growing minority dominated border neighborhoods, these moves only led to a swifter decline of the downtown core.

As for New Springfield, it suffers from a lot of things, but the ultimate issue is it's isolation, which led to vast abandonment and neglect, which then led to out of control crime.   However, positives include the building fabric, gridded streets, location and low property values, all of which are seeds for a revitalization effort that could convert it from what it is today into one of the inner city's most sought after locations.  A central part of turning a district like that around ultimately revolves around connectivity, which is where the S-Line can come into play.  Offering existing and potential residents enhanced connectivity, along with a coordinated revitalization plan that includes a crack down on crime and affordable housing opportunities is what can save this area.  The great thing is, this has been done before with neighborhoods in worse condition.  One that immediately comes to mind is Washington DC's Columbia Heights.  This inner city neighborhood did a complete 180 degree turn around in less than five years after the opening of a metro station and associated transit oriented development in the heart of the community.



the 1990s


today


despite the new infill construction, it still has a mix of restored historic structures


more info on Columbia Heights: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/340/116/

[thelakelander]

More info on Columbia Heights swift turn around.

Significant demographic changes began in the late 1940s when African American residents began to occupy homes previously owned by white students. The neighborhood remained a middle-class African American enclave in Washington, along with the nearby Shaw and Cardozo neighborhoods and Howard University through the mid-1960s.

In 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., riots ravaged Columbia Heights along with many other Washington neighborhoods. Many homes and shops remained vacant for decades.

In 1999, however, the city announced a revitalization initiative for the neighborhood focused around the Columbia Heights Metro station that opened that year. The opening of the Metro station served as a catalyst for the return of economic development and residents. Within five years, it had gentrified considerably, with a number of businesses (including a Giant Food supermarket and Tivoli Square, a commercial and entertainment complex) and middle-class residents settling in the neighborhood. However, unlike some gentrified neighborhoods in the city, it had not become homogeneous: as of 2006, Columbia Heights is arguably Washington's most ethnically and economically diverse neighborhood, composed of high-priced condominiums and townhouses as well as public and middle-income housing.

In October 2004, the Target Corporation announced a deal to purchase property beside the Columbia Heights metro station to build their first retail store in Washington, D.C. It is expected to open in 2007; the complex will include Staples, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Washington Sports Club. Other retail outlets scheduled or rumored to be coming to the neighborhood include Best Buy, Harris Teeter, Office Max, and an unspecified large movie-theater chain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Heights,_Washington,_D.C.

another site worth checking out: http://innercity.org/columbiaheights/

--------------------------------------

From a planning perspective, what needs to be done is not difficult.  The most difficult part of any revitalization plan is political will.  As proven in the past, time and time again, we can push out as many studies, neighborhood action and master plans as the next guy, but we're a no show when it comes to implementation.

[thelakelander]

Its easier to simply build around it, where possible.  Other wise it would take over 100 years and billions of dollars to undo what's been done.  Can you seriously imagine this city ever having the money to simply remove the Hart Bridge Ramps, MLK Expressway, I-95 or even reconnect the street grid between Springfield and Downtown?  Sorry, but all of that won't be happening in our lifetimes.

[thelakelander]

Dropping a ramp is much easier said then done.  Its quite expensive to demolish a mile long elevated expressway, then redevelop Bay to handle the traffic flow and construct a new entrance to the Hart Bridge.  In the event that the money was available for this...then what?  The Shipyards development is already planned and Metropolitan Park, Alltel, Maxwell House and the North Florida Shipyards aren't going anywhere.  That really leaves only the St. Johns Pointe site as a redevelopment location.  Is it worth spending millions in an area that's already been evaporated from reality (East Jax, south of the Matthews Bridge ramps doesn't exist anymore)?  With a limited budget, that money, if available, would be better used in areas of town where buildings still exist and people live.

As for returning the streets to two-way, I believe that's already in the works to some degree.  However, other than Main Street (which probably won't be happening anytime soon because of FDOT), it still doesn't help connect Springfield to the downtown because most of the streets were completely removed (ex. FCCJ's campus).

[thelakelander]

main is one way as a result of a local demand, not fdot

It's still an FDOT road designed to handle a certain traffic flow.  COJ does not have the jurisdiction to do whatever it wants to do to Main without FDOT permission.  Case in point, would be the old Big Idea concept of taking a lane off the Main Street Bridge for a wider sidewalk.  That idea (reducing traffic lanes) died pretty quick.

i agree that the monies would be better spent initially in redeveloping the west end of downtown though.

but east jacksonville is totally overlooked and the land is pretty inexpensive now.  especially in that underdeveloped corridor from catherine to talleyrand.

i think there is enormous good to be achieved from dropping the overpass.

If only because it takes the sphere of developable land into an expanded area not under the direct control of the clowns who have piece meal managed to shrink downtown to the controllable area of their own ownership

The best redevelopment potential in East Jax, lies north of the Matthews Bridge ramps and south of 8th Street.  I'd focus on cleaning and enhancing the existing areas where businesses and residents are, before tackling such an expensive issue like removing the Hart Bridge ramps.

[thelakelander]

If you use the old Maxwell House rail ROW, as Ock suggests as a part of a potential streetcar route, tying into to the S-line at the Springfield Warehouse District, it does.  Such a move would connect Springfield, the Eastside, Old City Cemetary, Union Terminal Warehouse, Hogans Creek, the Sports District and the Shipyards, if the same streetcar route ran down Bay to reconnect with the skyway and Transportation Center.

[jeh1980]

the 'planning' is what caused the total collapse of the downtown.

the final monkey wrench was the establishment of the dda.

wait till you hear what those guys did.

it doesnt solve the basic problem of the lack of connectivity however which is what killed the city in the first place.

I would STRONGLY disagree. We do have some connectivity in downtown right now. I don't believe that Haydon Burns did anything to " kill the city." Please forgive me, we all due respect, but how we think about them "killing the city" is a outrageous!
A shame in and of itself. I mean, where else would the city or the FDOT put the highway system on if we somehow don't want it in a particular area?   I don't get it.

[jeh1980]

Its not the highway system per se, jeh1980, it was the way that the highway system was purposefully used to destroy the micro economics of the city center and divide the races.

Also the gamble that he took in replacing the trade brought by the wharves and the East side of Jacksonville with Insurance Company resettlement.  It seemed like a good couple of birds in the bush, but he let go of the one he had in hand.

He destroyed the engine of money and the organic nature of the city economics and left nothing permanent in place to replace them.

I can understand...I think. We all due respect, but I just got to know, how can we REALLY prove that Haydon Burns destroy everything he touched with the Highway system. How could it possible destroy any economic value? And what did it had to do with dividing the races? I think that the real problem we have is that we all had focused too much on the negative side of things of what he may had done and not focused on at least some of the parts he may have done that are positive. No offense, but I have nothing to complain against Haydon Burns just because I think he had every good intentions. He only wanted to make Jacksonville a "modern city", not a city of what we all think it reach the eve of destruction. Though, I do see that what's done is already done. But I don't see why Haydon would ever want this city destroyed in any way, shape, or form.

[Charles Hunter]

I have a book around somewhere that talks about how expressways, including the Interstate system, were routed, during the 1950s and 60s, to serve as barriers between the black neighborhoods ("slums" as they were known then) and white neighborhoods.