Two Centuries of Jacksonville: Green Spaces

[thelakelander]

Here's a good opportunity to get an update on any public park space in town, including a pretty cool video of future plans for Hogans Creek and the Springfield park system.

On December 8, 2022, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Ennis Davis of The Jaxson present Two Centuries of Jacksonville: The Evolution of Green Spaces

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/two-centuries-of-jacksonville-green-spaces/

[Captain Zissou]

I'll be attending!  I hope to hear how the parks dept is going to get the funding to maintain all of this new riverfront park space.  I love our parks and would love to expand them, but we just don't have the budget or labor force to maintain what we already have. 

[acme54321]

I'll be attending!  I hope to hear how the parks dept is going to get the funding to maintain all of this new riverfront park space.  I love our parks and would love to expand them, but we just don't have the budget or labor force to maintain what we already have.

x100000

[thelakelander]

That's a great question! I'm interested to hear the answer myself. We're going to learn real quick with the opening of the Emerald Trail's model mile project and Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park in LaVilla.

[vicupstate]

I'll be attending!  I hope to hear how the parks dept is going to get the funding to maintain all of this new riverfront park space.  I love our parks and would love to expand them, but we just don't have the budget or labor force to maintain what we already have. 

The pocket park on Main Street across from the library.   It that still a thing?  I fear the maintenance level of that is what awaits the areas you referenced.   

[thelakelander]

It's there. I haven't paid attention to it in a while, so I'm not sure of how it is being maintained today.

[fsu813]

I'll be attending!  I hope to hear how the parks dept is going to get the funding to maintain all of this new riverfront park space.  I love our parks and would love to expand them, but we just don't have the budget or labor force to maintain what we already have. 

The pocket park on Main Street across from the library.   It that still a thing?  I fear the maintenance level of that is what awaits the areas you referenced.   

Perhaps I'm wrong, but it's actually maintained relatively well these days, from what I can see. I believe we'll see some placemaking activities/events there in 2023.

[fsu813]

I'll be attending!  I hope to hear how the parks dept is going to get the funding to maintain all of this new riverfront park space.  I love our parks and would love to expand them, but we just don't have the budget or labor force to maintain what we already have. 

I'd wager there'll be an appetite for increasing the parks budget/staff in the coming years.

Regarding the Downtown riverfront parks specifically, a Riverfront Parks Conservancy will humbly debut to the public in 2023. Park conservancies are a relatively common way to help local governments maintain higher profile parks across the US, but novel in Jacksonville.

[thelakelander]

Today's learning objectives:

•   The vast, complex system of parks and public spaces that Jacksonville is fortunate to have
•   How public spaces are conceptualized, funded, built and maintained
•   The status of key public space projects, especially the Emerald Trail
•   How Jaxsons can get involved in supporting public spaces Downtown and across the city