The Past Speaks. The Future They Foresaw is Now.

[Metro Jacksonville]

The Past Speaks.  The Future They Foresaw is Now.



The first in an ongoing series reexamining the arguments and public opinions that captured the public imagination or swayed the conventional wisdom about how the city would develop in the future.

The decisions of the past affect us all in the present, and understanding why things were done or what the prevailing opinion was at the time can guide us in making the decisions about the future.

This is a summary of the public perception of downtown development from my own Magazine, Dare Tabloid in 1990, about 19 years ago.

Its hard to believe that nearly twenty years has passed since I wrote the following feature articles.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jun-the-past-speaks-the-future-they-foresaw-is-now

[BridgeTroll]

Thanks for the old article Stephen!

[BridgeTroll]

  Great stuff... While Nero fiddled... Jacksonville burned...

[jbroadglide]

MetroJax
Having been friends with Dana Fernety, not Fernetti, for more than 20 years, I found your definition of him to be totally without merit and basically offensive. In all my dealings with Dana, as a former member of the media, I never found him to be obstructive, abusive or rude. Quite the contrary, he often went out of his way to be accomodating. Perhaps, I suspect maybe it was your attack style method of reporting that he found offensive.
I am really disappointed that you decided to post your "interview" more than 20 years later to mark an aniversary. Maybe you could have found something a little more positive to write about.

[BridgeTroll]

^Please remember that this was NOT an article by MetroJax but a totally separate entity long before MetroJax.  Twenty years ago is a long time.  People and attitudes change.  That is basically the nature of this thread.  It is looking at past attitudes, decisions, and articles to show progress or lack of progress.

[jbroadglide]

My apologies to MetroJax. I should have read more carefully. I just got a little hot under the collar at some accusations thrown at a personal friend. Please accept my apologies.

[JaxNative68]

this city has a way of doing that to people.  sometimes the truth hurts a little.

[BridgeTroll]

There is no need to apolologize JB.  Your observations and interactions with Mr Fernety are completely valid.  Clearly others may have had a different perception.  Times change and so do people...

[Wacca Pilatka]

Stephen, could you answer a question for me?

In this article and some other writings you have done in the past, you've mentioned that Hemming Plaza was extensively reconstructed during the mid-1980s, coinciding with the closure of lots of downtown retail space, with the closure of May Cohen's following soon after in '87.  In other sources I had read that it was converted from a park to a plaza in 1978.  I was just curious as to what type of reconstruction/conversion work was done in 1978 and what type of (different?) work was done several years later.

Thanks for the historical insight!

[Wacca Pilatka]

Thanks Stephen.  I have been a devoted fan of Jacksonville since I was 8 years old but have probably learned more from this website than from any book.

[Dog Walker]

Stephen:  After reading the article I have to comment that your writing style has matured.

[TheCat]

Bump.