The District sets timeline for infrastructure construction

[Transman]

The City really doesn't have that much money for infrastructure.  Most large cities like Jacksonville have the same issue, pensions.  I think of COJ as a wholly own subsidiary of the police and fire departments and their pension funds.  The past administrations sold the taxpayers out for their political gain.  We (the taxpayers) were never at the table for these deals and you can see the results.

The developers of the District and Lot J are not spending their money, the city is spending the upfront money, which is crazy.  I don't think the COJ has land development in its charter.  The development will come, as it has elsewhere when the developers can make money here.  The City should just stay out of the development business, they are terrible at it.  They are picking winners based on political advancement or personal gain not good.

[Kerry]

Best way to eliminate police and fire expenses - reduce the footprint you have to cover with police and fire protection.

[bl8jaxnative]

There can't another city of significant size that has more vacant riverfront land in its core than Jacksonville right now.

It's not about city size. Most cities never have these sort of port locations and shipyards to start with.   It's about having an old ship / port industry that's moved on to newer locations.  Cities that moved their ports are also rare.  It's also rare that cities that had the sort of large size of port locations that Jacksonville had moved their their port operations. 

Cities where ports moved are San Francisco ( IIRC moved to Oakland when containization kicked in during the 1960s ) and New York City and......... that's it.

[bl8jaxnative]

Sorry if I missed this.  What is going on at the east end of the Southbank Riverwalk.  Is this to repair it or is this is an extension in anticipation of The District or some other sort of development on that site?

[Kerry]

Sorry if I missed this.  What is going on at the east end of the Southbank Riverwalk.  Is this to repair it or is this is an extension in anticipation of The District or some other sort of development on that site?

I think someone said earlier it was a kayak launch, but maybe they were being sarcastic.  It is difficult to tell sometimes

[acme54321]

It's a kayak launch

[FlaBoy]

There can't another city of significant size that has more vacant riverfront land in its core than Jacksonville right now.

It's not about city size. Most cities never have these sort of port locations and shipyards to start with.   It's about having an old ship / port industry that's moved on to newer locations.  Cities that moved their ports are also rare.  It's also rare that cities that had the sort of large size of port locations that Jacksonville had moved their their port operations. 

Cities where ports moved are San Francisco ( IIRC moved to Oakland when containization kicked in during the 1960s ) and New York City and......... that's it.

Channelside in Tampa is all former port land that was moved south. The Navy Yards in DC is a former working port that is no longer. Those, just off the top of my head, were former ports so I imagine you can find them as the land became more valuable than the port.

[Kerry]

There are so many cities that moved their original ports and repurposed the land you couldn't possibly name them all.  Even Springfield from The Simpson's had the Squid Docs.

The Seattle waterfront is all restaurants and tourist attractions now.

https://www.minerslanding.com/

[thelakelander]

Yeah. Literally every major Great Lakes, Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coast city had old port facilities that were either rebuilt or relocated with containerization. Jax literally has no excuses outside of putting its own feet in its mouth when it comes to the activity level of the downtown waterfront.

[I-10east]

^You should hear the horror stories of people who have attempted to open or invest in DT, only to give up and do their projects elsewhere in the city. To a degree, Five Points, CORK, Rail Yard District, 8th & Main, Edgewood Avenue, etc. have all benefited from the difficulty of trying to open a business or make an investment in downtown.

What are some of the reasons that Jax is business unfriendly in downtown? 

[thelakelander]

Some comments I've heard from various business owners include moving goal posts when it comes to getting projects off the ground, not having much to select from for certain types of businesses/spaces due to over demolition of properties, extra layers of tape to get through compared with other areas outside of downtown, being undercut on leasing rates (property owners who put their own money into the game vs publicly subsidized competing projects), winners and losers tied to politics, etc. In general, things that should be easy fixes if there is a goal to actually resolve them.

[fieldafm]

Sorry if I missed this.  What is going on at the east end of the Southbank Riverwalk.  Is this to repair it or is this is an extension in anticipation of The District or some other sort of development on that site?

It is an ADA-accessible, floating kayak launch... as described here:
https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/riverwalk-exercise-park-now-open-downtown/

[Kerry]

Yeah. Literally every major Great Lakes, Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coast city had old port facilities that were either rebuilt or relocated with containerization. Jax literally has no excuses outside of putting its own feet in its mouth when it comes to the activity level of the downtown waterfront.

Even river ports are included.  New Orleans built an aquarium on their old waterfront, Memphis built housing and parks, Vicksburg and Shreveport put in casinos and riverwalks, and Chattanooga did parks and riverwalks.  Sacramento has Old Towne .

[thelakelander]

You're right. There's a ton of river cities that have had to deal with the same issue.

[heights unknown]

Yeah. Literally every major Great Lakes, Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coast city had old port facilities that were either rebuilt or relocated with containerization. Jax literally has no excuses outside of putting its own feet in its mouth when it comes to the activity level of the downtown waterfront.

Even river ports are included.  New Orleans built an aquarium on their old waterfront, Memphis built housing and parks, Vicksburg and Shreveport put in casinos and riverwalks, and Chattanooga did parks and riverwalks.  Sacramento has Old Towne .

And Jax put in empty lots!