The best way to cross the river

Posted on December 23, 2010 by newzgrrl

Jacksonville, the River City, has in the St. Johns a blessing and a curse. The north-flowing river is a beautiful natural asset that ambles through the city and county, creating postcard-perfect views of Downtown and keeping the hot summer days at bay with an occasional breeze. But, the river also cuts the city in two and requires the building of bridges — five alone connecting the greater Downtown to other neighborhoods.

The need to cross the river, coupled with Jacksonville’s vast 850-square-mile size, would make it seem that auto ownership is mandatory. Thank goodness for options.

Jacksonville Transportation Authority has a city-wide bus system, and a trolley system Downtown and Riverside (and the Beaches on the weekend). My preferred method of getting into Downtown from Saint Nicholas, though, is the Skyway Express.

In its 20-year history, the Skyway has become a bit of a joke. Variously called the Homeless People Mover and Skyway to Nowhere, the elevated trains arrive every six minutes during off-peak hours at one of eight stops on the system.

I take the Skyway a few times each week and have discovered so much of it that is worthy of appreciation. When the train crosses Main Street on the Southbank, you have a great view of the skyline; starting from Kings Avenue Station, it’s the visitor’s first real sighting of the skyline and it’s breathtaking. For shutter bugs, the Skyway allows for safer photography while crossing the Acosta bridge — another great skyline view but from a different angle.

There’s something really cool about the way the Skyway line dips almost to ground level at the northern base of the Acosta before elevating again to make the run down Bay Street. It’s almost like riding a roller coaster. Small children understand this inherently, and can be counted on to raise their hands over their heads and cheer.

After Central Station, the line turns north onto Hogan and you’re in a valley of tall buildings while still elevated above the street. Tall buildings and skylines are so much a part of big cities, so riding through the “valley” reminds you that Jacksonville is a big city, just with a small-town heart.

The Valley of Forsyth Street

Riding the Skyway reminds me of the light rail that carries passengers to the outskirts of Buenos Aires, or the bus from LaGuardia Airport to Spanish Harlem in New York City. What makes these trips memorable? Because you can see the landscape and cityscape. When you don’t have to drive, you can look out the window and take in the beauty of an area. You see things in a new way. You see things you otherwise miss, like the owl atop the Adams building.

Usually my trip ends at Hemming Plaza Station. There are times, more often than not, that I see shadows of Manhattan around Hemming Park. Leaving the Skyway station reminds me of Union Square, where I spent a bit of time in May. When you slow down and enjoy your walk, you can experience the monuments in a personal way. Walking South on Laura Street does it for me, too. There’s a spot, between The Magnificat and Chamblin’s Uptown, where the view of the Greenleaf & Crosby and Barnett Bank buildings catches the light and, my goodness, we are in a big city. The buildings are regal and stately and at times, it’s so beautiful I want to cry.

This view gets me every time

If you haven’t taken the Skyway in some time (or ever), I recommend. It’s 50 cents per ride and you pay at street level — so transfers, or even multiple rides across the river, require just one fare. Take a moment to enjoy crossing the river and surrender to the beauty of a sunset (or sunrise, if you’re an early bird).

Better yet, ride with a child. Children are fascinated by the Skyway. See the magic through their eyes.

Portrait of the writer as a transit user

Posted in Downtown as Sanctuary, Make it better, Revitalizing Downtown, Take a look around | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Surface lot blues

Posted on December 9, 2010 by newzgrrl

A few nights ago I decided to add some spice to the evening and started reading the Downtown Zoning Code on the JEDC page of the City website. (Oh, the exciting life of a Downtown blogger!) Here’s what I found interesting.

From the Downtown Zoning Overlay:

(i)  Parking garages shall incorporate active uses on the ground floor in order to engage pedestrians and surface parking lots shall be discouraged unless landscaping and architectural treatments are incorporated to soften their appearance;

(How delightful it would be if this were actually enforced!)

There’s a story in today’s Daily Record that looks like folks at JEDC reviewed the same code and had similar thoughts. Groovy. Score one for making Downtown a little less blighted.

I wonder, though, what the legislation says. Rather than restating the need to make parking facilities look nice (and thus making Downtown look less desolate), will it have a method of enforcement?

Hmmm, this post goes against my policy of not getting involved in planning/transportation/politics. But that’s the cool side of being my own publisher: breaking the rules.

UPDATE:
The proposal would require a business permit to operate a parking lot, to combat the many “lots” that are more or less foundations of demolished buildings on which drivers can park for as little as $1 per day.

According to Ron Barton, executive director of the JEDC, 47 percent of Downtown is used for parking; vacant land (16 percent), surface parking lots (25 percent) and parking garages (6 percent). (Rights of Way and the Sports District — which he called “a different beast” — are excluded from these numbers.) Other cities have as much as 30 to 40 percent of their Downtown areas covered by parking, but the problem in Jacksonville, Barton said, is allowing land owners to sit on their properties for 20 years without improvement. By not addressing the problem, he said, Jacksonville encourages land owners to knock down buildings, because an unimproved property generates a smaller tax bill than a property with a structure.

Barton said the foundation-lots, particularly those near the new courthouse, “are not business operations.” One commissioner asked about liability, and Barton speculated the owners of derelict lots do not have insurance coverage.

Barton’s proposal is to amend the Downtown Overlay to include a three-year licensing process (year one, get permit; years two and three, bring into compliance). The purpose is not to generate revenue, nor be outright punitive, but act as a management tool. Barton said businesses cannot operate in other parts of the city without a license, and that is what he seeks to do with this legislation.

For those foundation-lots, property owners would be required to bring the lots up to the proposed new code: remove the slabs, grade the site, plant grass, maintain the property.

Cost was one major point for commissioners. In this economy, for many individuals and companies, the bottom line is all that matters. If cost is the deciding factor, people will choose $1-a-day parking on a grassy, uneven building foundation over $10-a-day covered, smooth parking, commissioners said. Barton argued that enabling the $1-a-day parking by the new courthouse ensures a continued subsidy (at great cost) of the city-owned parking structure.

Enforcement was the other major point. Barton’s argument was that owners will respond to enforcement officers with badges more than they will respond to JEDC staff. One commissioner, a Springfield resident, said code enforcement often will not respond to repeated requests for health and safety notices in that neighborhood (which has been rebounding for a few years) — how will code enforcement be compelled to regulate matters of business licensing?

Commissioners spoke of offering incentives, rather than another license that would be seen as a tax or fee. Barton said he did not consider it fair to reward negligent property owners with incentives to keep doing what they have (not) been doing for decades.

The legislation was to have been proposed after the New Year.

Someone commented that we have an ugly Downtown. While I will agree that areas of Downtown are blighted and less than charming (our dearly departed LaVilla, for example), I would disagree that Downtown as a whole is lacking. We have lost much, yes, but much remains. Two examples that come to mind immediately are City Hall at St. James and the Florida Theater. Certainly an empty lot will not compare with a restored or new structure, but let’s not lose sight of the greater Downtown neighborhood.

Posted in Make it better, Revitalizing Downtown | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer

Posted on November 29, 2010 by newzgrrl

It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Do you know where your Christmas decorations are?

Downtown ushered in the Christmas season two nights in a row after Thanksgiving. First, The Landing lit up its 56-foot Christmas tree with music by Phil Stacey and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. A small (by Downtown standards) fireworks display followed. There was a great big crowd filling up the courtyard, the stairs, the upper patio of the food court, and people inside restaurants ventured onto more patios to see the festivities.

Afterward, we walked up Laura Street to check out some of the holiday windows. Those at City Hall were a neat look at gifts and toys from decades past, although the 90s and 2000s were grouped together. The only part that bugged me was the “window” behind the tree: why was each one showing a snow-covered yard?

Saturday night, the City hosted its annual Light Parade. Lots of decorated boats took part in the parade that made two loops from Metropolitan Park to the Fuller Warren Bridge. There was one snag, though; the Main Street Bridge wasn’t able to lift, so masted boats did four loops.  It was pretty cold, and awfully windy, so we caught the COJ fireworks (three barges and lots of color) from inside another restaurant. What can I say — both nights I was with a guy who is always hungry and eats enough for a Navy.

The unfortunate thing is that we took few photos. So, here are some from this year and holidays past.

After reviewing some old photos, I find that I prefer the older trees better. They weren’t perfect — and that made them beautiful.

More holiday goodness to expect: December Art Walk (Dec. 1), Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes (Dec. 2-12), The Downtown Historic Church Tour (Dec. 4), Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performing Handel’s Messiah (you know, the Hallelujah chorus; Dec. 4), Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Dec. 9), First Coast Nutcracker with Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (Dec. 17-19) … phew! And remember to watch the Independent Life tower; the sign will change from GO JAGUARS to MERRY XMAS, another great Downtown tradition.

For the record, I never decorate before Dec. 1, and my decorations are in the office closet. Next weekend, the mini tree will return from hiding.

Posted in Festive neighborhood, So much to do!, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Eight Days a Week

Posted on November 18, 2010 by newzgrrl

I often say that any day Downtown is a good day. In recent weeks, I’ve spent multiple days per week Downtown — so the days have been spectacular. They’re so spectacular, in fact, that I have little time to write! My apologies.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s kept me away, in no particular order:
>My first JEDC meeting, during which Executive Director Ron Barton gave a three-year assessment of progress on the Downtown Action Plan.
>Participating in the JCCI Recession, Recovery and Beyond study with attendance at the regional meetings. Regionalism interests me because I grew up an hour away; of course, Bradford is not part of the Cornerstone region, but that’s OK.
>My first Jacksonville Veterans Day parade. The empty caisson and riderless horse nearly did me in. (Plenty of photos — five rolls! — to come after I get the slide film developed.)
>Fantastic concerts by the talented and amazing Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, including Frederica’s Farewell.
>Election Day!
>My first Historic Preservation Commission meeting, which was just under two hours long. I heard that was a record (early) finish.
>Downtown Vision‘s annual meeting.
>Riding the Skyway as much as possible. It is a joke to many, but I think it’s the best way to cross the river. Also, it limits the number of parking tickets I receive.
>Logistical work for a JCCI Forward event, that I am pleased to say will include a trip on the Skyway.
>Conversations with various parties interested in Downtown, some going back 20 or more years. The question I pose is how one can get involved in Downtown when one does not own property or a business.
>Quick trips out of Downtown to St. Augustine and Gainesville. By living in Melbourne, I learned that I appreciate Jacksonville even more when I go away.

>That amazing Jaguars win Sunday against the Texans, in which David Garrard threw a Hail Mary pass that was deflected into the hands of Mike Thomas.

Phew! That’s a lot, and not everything I’ve done in the last 17 days. The plan is to write about most of those events. Thanks for your patience and for checking in!

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