Whats up with no skyline night lights at Downtown Jax??? (Jacksonville: foreclosure, to rent)

[BabyBoomers2]

Not all of us Jax people are frustrated with the "slow pace"......we aren't. But, then again, being in our early 60's and having lived in a "fast paced" area at one time, we like the "slowness". However, one thing that is definitely NOT slow is the traffic here! A lot of people here drive their car like it was a Lear jet.......very, very fast! But, for the young generation, the "slow pace" would definitely be frustrating!

Originally Posted by JBtwinz

If you look through most of the postings on this forum there is a little to much passion and fever concerning a better downtown Jacksonville. The problem is we have been waiting a looooong time for city hall to reverse the curse of downtown blight. It is such a slow pace that has us all frustrated.
But the city looks great at night and on national tv during the Jags night games.

[HollyinJAX]

I disagree...I think the Jax downtown skyline is beautiful at night with the blue Main Street bridge lights shining over the water. I even did a small oil painting of the downtown night skyline. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I guess!

[Dappleganger]

Originally Posted by HollyinJAX

I disagree...I think the Jax downtown skyline is beautiful at night with the blue Main Street bridge lights shining over the water. I even did a small oil painting of the downtown night skyline. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I guess!

It really is quite pretty at night but certainly more could be done to emphasize the assets we DO have.

[Dappleganger]

Originally Posted by fsu813

Your looking in the wrong place. www.metrojacksonville.com is the most popular "jacksonville" website second only to www.jacksonville.com (the newspaper's site) and caters to those who care about larger city issues and the urban core especially.

You won't find any apathy towards Downtown there, that's for sure.

That site and the posters there are far more positive about the vision for the city's growth and changes than here, that's for certain.

[fsu813]

Originally Posted by SandmanSand

Downtown Jacksonville could be a vibrant area to live, if the money was spent right to revitalize downtown. Many buildings have been torn down that could have gone to good uses. Some buildings that replaced them, just never materialized into what the developers hoped for. For a city this size, downtown just don't have much to offer. Not much going on during the day, way less at night (some for good reasons). The buildings that are worth lighting would be nice to see, if it was feasible to light them. The shipyards could make a great area to make downtown better, if the money was there, and spent right.

- There are lots of things happening/in the works, regarding DT.

- Yes, it lacks compared to it's peers. That's for certain.

- There still much to do in DT. Meanin, you could literally spend time din something different 7 days & nights a week there, if you like.

- Crime isn't a major issue in DT, as you alluded to. As JSO can confirm, or this may be helpful (click on the crime tab) Sizing up downtown Jacksonville | jacksonville.com

- DT used to have lots of money available to it, and little vision or momentum towards anything in particular. Now, it has alot of grassroots momentum and visionaries ready to invest, but there's little money.

Go figure.

If you'd like some of the cool things that are in the works, or happening now, just let me know.

[fsquid]

Don't think you can compare JAX and CLT right now. Maybe you can compare today's JAX with CLT of the mid-90s. Hugh McColl championed the downtown effort from the late 80s until now. Plus, I think their downtown (uptown) has 70k employees and 14k residents.

Only thing I miss about CLT though is the resteraunt we used to frequent and the free tickets I got to the Panthers through my Father-In-Law. I certainly don't miss those taxes or the people.

[KerryB]

I have a hunch that with the oncoming & drawn out recession (depression?), cities who arent already further along in their downtown efforts are going to become pretty stagnant in this regard. Jax would fall into that I'm afraid since we're way behind. Even when things were good, we still couldn't get anything done.

I obviously can't predict the future & hope I'm wrong, but its not outta the question.

[sgibbs2007]

Speaking of DT, I heard the homeless can pose a threat at times. This is nasty but I heard that there was this homeless guy pissing on people from atop some bldg or ledge while they walked to their bldgs. This is crazy but it would help if they found a place away from the Jacksonville Landing for them. That is gross BTW!!!

[cindyluv23]

The bridge is pretty at night.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by HollyinJAX

I disagree...I think the Jax downtown skyline is beautiful at night with the blue Main Street bridge lights shining over the water. I even did a small oil painting of the downtown night skyline. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I guess!

I agree.

And no one here has mentioned energy conservation. Shouldn't we all be trying to conserve energy? I guess you can have lots of lights and save power too if you use new technology like LED lights. But I assume it's pretty expensive retrofitting old building lighting with LEDs (I am now the proud owner of one LED lightbulb that cost $70 - don't think I'd be 100% happy with it even if it cost $7).

And LoveBoating - where on earth did you move from to think that people drive fast here? You wouldn't last for 10 minutes in Miami . Robyn