Mayor to Announce Greenscape Vision for Downtown

[JaxInvestor]

MAYOR TO ANNOUNCE GREENSCAPE PLAN TO FURTHER

VISION FOR DOWNTOWN


JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 1, 2006 -- Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton will hold a press conference on Tuesday, May 2, 2006, at 11 a.m. to announce a series of projects designed to enhance the downtown landscape and further the vision of a vibrant and pedestrian-friendly urban core.


When: 11 a.m., Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Where: Hemming Plaza

Who: Mayor John Peyton
Councilwoman Suzanne Jenkins
Members of Mayor Peyton’s Greening Initiative Committee


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Susan Pelter
Director of Written Communications
Office of the Mayor
City of Jacksonville
117 W. Duval Street, Suite 400
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Phone: (904) 630-4747
Fax: (904) 630-2391
**Please note that under Florida's very broad public records law, communications to and from city officials are subject to public disclosure**

[thelakelander]

let me bust some of the bubble.....

The "Greening of Downtown" will involve the city, working with FDOT, to enhance landscaping along Main Street from Forsyth to State Streets and fund the creation of a new pocket park in the city owned surface lot, directly across the street from the new library. The Phoenix Palm will be one of the trees used and this project should kick off around Fall 2006. It will cost around $1.8 million. Future greening projects will focus on Broad, Jefferson, Ocean and Forest Streets. Eventually, State and Union will be redone, as well.

[TheITSteve]

They just finished State And Union, why are they redoing it?

[thelakelander]

Didn't get the whole story, but they never implied it would be done tomorrow, but sometime in the future it would be addressed. Btw, all I thought they did was redo the sidewalks and add historic lighting.

[vicupstate]

Shade trees please, not Palms.

[TheITSteve]

Originally Posted by thelakelander

Didn't get the whole story, but they never implied it would be done tomorrow, but sometime in the future it would be addressed. Btw, all I thought they did was redo the sidewalks and add historic lighting.

Well they did, but what else is the DOt planning

[thelakelander]

Originally Posted by vicupstate

Shade trees please, not Palms.

Its supposed to be a mix, but they mentioned shade trees could potentially scratch buses.

[thelakelander]

Originally Posted by TheITSteve

Well they did, but what else is the DOt planning

I guess they just want to put some trees along those streets. They really didn't go too much into it. The presentation really focused on Main.

[DapperDan]

Just got back from the news conference. I missed most of it, because of work, but I did catch the tail end and looked at the concept art. From what I could tell, this was mainly focusing right now on Main street all the way up to the bridge, going back past church street. The concept drawing showed a 5' buffer on both sides of the sidewalks for planting. I saw Date Palm and some type of Holly tree alternating on both sides. The drawing didn't look half bad.
The pocket park across from the library looked fairly big as it encompassed about half of that block next to the daycare. There was room for a sculpture and the lawn was angled toward the street. Just don't know how you would keep the homeless from taking over, like every park. In fact, as I was looking at these pictures in Hemming Park, a homeless man asked me for a hotdog. I bought him one since he didn't ask for money. Anyways, maybe someone else caught the beginning.

[Captain Zissou]

Hmmmm, sounds pretty shady if you ask me. I think scratching buses is a horrible argument for not having shade trees. It's not like our buses are that pretty anyway, and I'll trim the trees myself if they put them in. Either way, I'd rather have shade trees and scratchy buses than palms downtown.

[pearlstone]

Originally Posted by DapperDan

I bought him one since he didn't ask for money.

That was a wonderful thing to do DapperDan.

[thelakelander]

There's various forms of shady trees that can be used, that would shade the sidewalk and not the street. However, I can't really be for or against it, since I haven't seen the renderings.

However my major concern is the park. Unless, there's a plan that hasn't been announced to address the adjacent surface parking lots and homeless shelters, I don't seeing it being any more than a homeless refuge. I just don't see the point of another park being located only a block away from Hemming. That spot was perfect for a vertical mixed-use workforce housing project RFP incorporating a building structure and limited parkspace (all paid for by the developer).

A couple of weeks ago, Vicupstate had an idea that placed the park on the block where the Supervisor of Elections buildings now sit. That park could have been potentially framed by urban infill and would have been better spaced away from Hemming and in closer proximity to the Cathedral district. It would have really been a "Big Idea".

[TheITSteve]

Originally Posted by Downtownparks

Be careful when you move downtown kathleen. It may seem like a nice thing, but they will see you as a mark, and you will get hit up so often that it will start to bother you.

I have no patience for pan-handlers, with the possible exception of something like what Dan did. On many an occasion I have offered to buy someone food in lieu of money, and gotten turned down almost every time.

I was thinking the same thing - I can't believe he actually took the food!

[thelakelander]

They get food for free, which means they will most likely spend that money on liquor, cigarettes and drugs. You should NEVER give a panhandler money. If so, you only enable them to continue living in a situation that will probably end up killing them.

[Joe]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-onlin...met_park.shtml

I'm happy to see that these long-awaited improvements are finally underway. My initial reaction was: "hey, the Mayor just had a press conference to announce a pocket park that has been planned since the Delaney administration!"

But in all fairness, the streetscaping improvements are new and look nice, so I guess it warranted some PR time.

[JaxInvestor]

Originally Posted by DapperDan

In fact, as I was looking at these pictures in Hemming Park, a homeless man asked me for a hotdog. I bought him one since he didn't ask for money.

Hey...I asked a guy for a hotdog today in Hemming Plaza!! Didn't know I was talking to a fellow board guy!! Nice to meet you.

[thelakelander]

I'm even more skeptical of the park. Imo, its typically poor practice to design (and show that design) in an urban area without even addressing how it interacts with the properties across the street.



Btw, I can't help but notice, how better the park would be with a building in it to square it off, as well as give people a reason to go there on a regular basis.

[thelakelander]

A great example of what I'm talking about is Au Bon Pain's park cafe, in Detroit's new Campus Martius Park, which was recently named one of the best public squares in the country. If affordable housing can't be used, you could at least drop this exact same cafe footprint in that park, which would at least give people to go there on a regular basis (which would help keep the homeless away), until some point years down the road, when property owners finally sell off the shelters and surface lots for infill development.




www.campusmartiuspark.org/amen_cafe.htm

[pearlstone]

Originally Posted by JaxInvestor

Hey...I asked a guy for a hotdog today in Hemming Plaza!! Didn't know I was talking to a fellow board guy!! Nice to meet you.

ha ha ha You must have had on that dirty white undershirt again JaxInvestor! ha ha

[HEIGHTS UNKNOWN]

Originally Posted by vicupstate

Shade trees please, not Palms.

Thank you. Yes, please, shade trees. Palm trees does nothing but make you look tropical or like South Florida.