Salvaging the Main Street Pocket Park

[Metro Jacksonville]

Salvaging the Main Street Pocket Park



The destiny of the Main Street pocket park was predicted by urbanites long ago and now the prophecy has come true. Today Metro Jacksonville suggests some ways to turn a lemon into lemonade.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/673

[jeh1980]

Good article. I'm not really fond of parks in downtown...except for Friendship Fountain and Hemming Plaza. It would have been better for that place to have a skyscraper than a park:. I'm not dislikng Mayor Peyton, he's OK, but his pocket park idea would not make this great city a destination. I don't know about you, I would rather see more skyscrapers .

[zoo]

City should have done the right thing for this space in the first place, instead of this poorly planned and executed temporary use -- RFP it to developers! 2 great results? Likely more retail and residential, and it's on the tax rolls!!!

While COJ is RFP'ing this space, how about adding a bunch of other downtown, city-owned property to the list?!?!

[second_pancake]

Good article. I'm not really fond of parks in downtown...except for Friendship Fountain and Hemming Plaza. It would have been better for that place to have a skyscraper than a park:. I'm not dislikng Mayor Peyton, he's OK, but his pocket park idea would not make this great city a destination. I don't know about you, I would rather see more skyscrapers .

Great idea.  We should just keep building and building...more concrete and steel and lots and lots of glass to reflect all the sunlight we have her in Florida.  Screw plants.  All they do is make this world livable afterall

I agree with 'zoo' in that the right thing should have been done in the first place.  But, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.  We all know by now that no city or federal entity has the bigger picture in mind and it's all about immediate gratification for the here and now.  Do it now, worry about the effects later...when they come back and hit us over the head.

Being a nature-lover, I'm all for the parks.  The more grass and shade (provided by living trees) in an urban area, the better, in my opinion.  But they're useless if it's hard to get to, there's nothing to do when I'm there, and I'm so worried about the homeless dude next to me that the smell of my fear overpowers the diesel fumes.

Incidently, you gotta love the way that they put the fence around the side with the Salvation Army, cause you know, THAT will keep those vagrants out, lol.  What genius came up with that one??

[jbm32206]

Well said Stephen....however, I feel that even if they were hauled in front of the council, it wouldn't make much difference...they're kind of one of the same these days.

[downtownparks]

Pancake, you are correct, hindsight is 20/20. In this instance, no hindsight was needed.

Here is our discussion about it in June of 2006.

http://www.metjax.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2428

An RFP could have been issues for workforce style housing, with green elements as a required part of the request. Lakelander, on other threads on Metjax, even went so far as to find examples of buildings with green spaces built in. And as we also know, roof top terraces with live greenery are quickly becoming popular.

[downtownparks]

Here is more discussion about it a year Ago

http://www.metjax.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3756

[Lunican]

Here is our official stance on the issue from December 2006:

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/280/115/

[second_pancake]

Ok.  So everyone had all of this information and all of these ideas and when when was a vote instituted?  I'm not being sarcastic, I'm serious.  How was the decision made? And was all of this information presented?  Was it brought to the attention of other Jax citizens?  Honestly, and maybe this is because I'm now displaced from my natural element and surviving in Bay-Ghettos at the moment, but I heard nothing about this...not even anything promoting it, and you know the city is all about promoting their ideas regardless of how idiotic they may be.  I'm more than a little concerned that there seem to be so many people against city council's decisions and yet I don't see a single protestor on the street, no opposition being reported on the news, and nothing in the papers (again, not even anything that would support these decisions).  What's going on here?  It seems to me that with all of these great ideas that MetJax members have/had (and those were great, btw), someone would pick up on it...someone with political clout if we're lucky, and just run with it.  If nothing else at least it would be publicized.  If I hadn't found this site, I would be in the dark on all of this...still.

[Ocklawaha]

If I hadn't found this site, I'd be in the dark on all of this...still.

Welcome to the CAST Second Pancake... All of us around here are "in the dark"
Rocky Horror: Creature of the night

Brad Majors: Creature of the night?

Dr. Frank-N-Furter: Creature of the night

Magenta: Creature of the night

Riff Raff: Creature of the night

Columbia: Creature of the night

Rocky Horror: Creature of the night

Janet Weiss: Creature of the night!

Ocklawaha

[second_pancake]

Ok...not really sure what to make of that.  I'm going to assume there was some little clever emoticon or something that was supposed to be diplayed after your name and respond with a,  .

Btw, too funny...I just noticed in the first pic the truck behind the homeless reads, "Focused on Excellence."  ROFLMAO.  Very nice.  Much like a pic I took on the streets of Salt Lake City, UT in which a homeless man was sleeping in alcove at the entrance to a business and the sign on the door above him read, "Advertising."

Second_Pancake:  Creature of the Day...in bed by 9pm ;-)

[JeffreyS]

The pocket parks Downtown present opportunities to evolve into more of a walkable urban core.  This park was ill conceived but maybe the diverse retail and restaurants need the squares first.

Park filled with Vagrants
Metro Jacksonville speaks out
What will happen now

[avonjax]

JeffreyS
What will happen now?
Probably what has been happening all along.
The city will have their heads up their personal places of darkness.
And the rest of the citizens of Jax will be in the same boat as second_pancake, IN THE DARK.
And for casual observer driving by the pocket park on main,  how could they notice a park that doesn't even look like a park. Maybe a surface lot with trees?
The media in Jax never covers issues like this.
But from all the disturbance at JTA it appears the powers that be actually read what is written at sites like this.
If only more people would tune in they may learn something about these crazy projects before they begin.

[Ocklawaha]

"Creature of the Night," is a feature song and funny piece from The infamous:

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Something that more and more, I feel fits our City Hall, better then Riff Raff's Tux.

Ocklawaha

[Ocklawaha]

Hey, I know, let's have a spelling bee! Here's a thought, why not fill the new parklette with art, modern art, something that speaks to our TOTALLY MODERN City. The "NEW" world, not a scrap of history... Let's do it big. Here are just a few of my ideas for park statues in downtown.


Mayor Jake, maybe place the Skyway over his head?

Park benches featuring our infamous leaders?

Moreover, what to do with this "park". I was up by the library the other day and thought since I had parked to the East, I'd cut through the new park. NOT! There is no way to do that, no angled walks, no steps over the walls. So how to fix the mess that has been made?


Some of the Parks fair residents, as if they were working in stone?

Maybe a statue to proclaim to the World that this park is a piece of... S%*T?

Maybe a couple of Springfield JTA bus shelter size kiosks that the City can lease to vendors? How about adding some walks that angle toward the Library entry or the park center? Maybe a nice seating wall, something to look at, like maybe a marker showing the various buildings they have torn down? Up at the top level a nice cascade of water coming down a series of mini falls, a real fake stream. A micro-plaza with interactive fountains that squirt water, bud or Southern comfort. Better yet, start the stream at the East end, and a giant statue of JAKE GODBOLD dressed as "Boss Hogg" pointing to the Skyway with one hand and hosing the stream with the other. I always did like those fountains with a little pissing kid.


Statue of Jacksonvilles concerned citizens?

In honor of all Jacksonville leadership?

Ocklawaha