Jacksonville (Miami, Orlando, Plantation: HOA fees, mover, crime)

[jlfinchum]

My husband and I live in the Bay Area in California and are going to be re locating to Jacksonville, FL. Can anyone give me some ideas about the nicer neighborhoods and anything else you think might be helpful? My husband grew up in Panama City Beach, but I've never spent more than a week in FL at a time.

Thanks so much -

[Jim Jimbo Jimmerson]

Theres a nice subdivision called Brekinridge that is very close to a large lake. Its a little ways from the city and is a nice place to live.

Havent been in a while so i probably misspelled it.

[Floridian]

I have lived here in Jacksonville for over 7 years now. We migrated from Toronto, CANADA. We loved it here. When finding a house, locate areas at Ponte Vedra, Mandarin, Southside blvd.,Julington Creek , Bartram Park & St John's county area. There are new house constructions in the Bartram area. I lived in Mandarin and it only takes me 15 min to take I-95 to reach downtown (work). The side streets are accomodating too. We have the new St johns town center (1.1 mil square feet of shopping & dining) - take the new Interstate 9A. Developments along Southside Blvd, Butler area, & I9A are very nice.. but they can be expensive. We saw how Jacksonville has grown so much for the past 7 years.

[daedalo]

Im gonna tell it lke it is. Jacksonville is a product of "white flight" in the 60's thru the 1990's. The culture of the city and its urban neighborhoods were brutally erased by racially motivated "urban renewal" and devaluation by the city fathers who owned a ton of cheap land in outlying areas. After devaluation of the city core, the first Baptist Church took advantage of the removed neighborhoods and associated commercial structures and bought up many blocks. With this they constructed a fortress of multistorey parking structures to feed their insatiable growth (biggest church in Florida) and which to this day forms a kind of rampart-barrier of concrete between the current struggling adjacent area of Springfield to the north and the central business district to the south. Recently there has been an attempt to recover some of the denuded culture in the downtown Lavilla neighborhood where a fragment of the old theatre has been restored. During this transformation there was a county commission and a city council, and you guessed it, the percentage of black voters within the city limits threatened the balance or shall we say imbalance of power. So around 1965, the entire county which is about 65% white voted to dissolve the city government and extend the boundaries of the city of Jacksonville to encompass the entireity of Duval county. Now the only reason whites had for a long time after this strangulation of the city to come downtown was to go to a football game. Even the people mover and "Jacksonville Landing" were designed with these old prejudices in mind, so that white patrons could park on the south-bank (white San Marco area) and ride the monorail peoplemover to the landing without (barely) finding themselves on a downtown sidewalk- god forbid...The landing, designed by Ben Thompson who also did similar structures in Boston, Miami, and Baltimore had a unique concept- horeshoe shaped structure to limit access to the waterfront from the streets of the city. Defensible space, or shall we say fortress america is therefore alive an well in Jacksonville. You will find here an abundance of boring suburban stucco boxes carved out of swampy pineland surrounded by moats, and artificial lakes with overstated decorative fountains , walls and security gates. Jacksonville made a good postcard for the superbowl crowd but in reality it is now dead urban space populated only by office workers during the day.

[jlfinchum]

Thank you for being so honest with your reply. My husband and I have been here for 3 months now, and we are not happy. Aside from the culture shock of leaving California, the people that promised my husband a great job laid him off last week. One example of how there are many two faced liars here who make a lot of money starting businesses and then purposely running them into the ground to write them off for tax purposes.
So, to recap, we left 2 wonderful jobs in northern CA to relocate 3000 miles away only to find an intolerant, prejudice little town that has nothing much to offer besides a halfway decent beach.
Luckily, I was able to stay with my company coming out here, and they are understanding enough to work with me to try and get home. We will be moving back to California, Southern CA, in September and we couldn't be more excited.

I enjoyed my first week here in JAX, but honestly, visiting places like Orlando and PCB from very far away is much more appealling than living in this state.

[bobcat07]

What about areas in Clay County? Are there any nice areas that are within a reasonable commute to the city?

[jlfinchum]

I am actually living in Clay County right now and I commute to JAX. Orange Park is quite nice, very quite, and if you're willing to drive it's worth it (if you like Fl) We are currently allllllll the way down Argyle in Oakleaf, the beginning of a completely new development that i think may become it's own little town one day. Argyle is one lane for a lot of the way, and it's not widening fast enough for the growth.

Blanding is my only way out of Orange Park, and it is honestly the most congested road I've ever seen. Keep in mind that I'm from the Bay Area.

The morning and evening communtes are a nightmare from Orange Park, but all in all, it's nice, quiet, and as crime free as a place can be I suppose.

After Argyle, Blanding, and 295 to cross the Buckman Bridge, my commute each way is about an hour - an hour 1/2.

[pmichaelmd]

I too live in Argyle, in the subdivision right next to Oakleaf (Watermill). The second phase of the Better Jacksonville Project has started and Argyle Forest Blvd. is undergoing another widening. I drive across the bridge every morning and every evening to get to the intersection of JTB and 95. It is 24 miles for me door-to-door. With the new "improved" road widenings, my commute is 25 minutes in the morning and about 40 minutes in the afternoon. I will add the caveat that my morning commute is at 530am so that explains the lack of traffic.

The entire Argyle area is blowing up and will be exceptionally large once the new mall is constructed. There is also a nice new golf course community associated with Oakleaf Plantation called Eagle Landing. Quite pricey (homes start @ about $300k and go to $1.3 million +) and the HOA fees, mandatory golf club social membership, and CDD fees add somewhat to a mortgage (a friend just built a beautiful 3600 sq ft home and said that the extra fees added about $300/month to his mortgage), but the amenities are incredible...several huge water parks, clay tennis courts, the golf course, several clubhouses, an indoor gym that is still in the construction phase. If you can stand having a somewhat large house on very little land (avg 3000 sq ft on .25 acres) then this might be "it" for you.

Good luck!

PMMD

[jwolfer]

Originally Posted by jlfinchum

Thank you for being so honest with your reply. My husband and I have been here for 3 months now, and we are not happy. Aside from the culture shock of leaving California, the people that promised my husband a great job laid him off last week. One example of how there are many two faced liars here who make a lot of money starting businesses and then purposely running them into the ground to write them off for tax purposes.
So, to recap, we left 2 wonderful jobs in northern CA to relocate 3000 miles away only to find an intolerant, prejudice little town that has nothing much to offer besides a halfway decent beach.
Luckily, I was able to stay with my company coming out here, and they are understanding enough to work with me to try and get home. We will be moving back to California, Southern CA, in September and we couldn't be more excited. I enjoyed my first week here in JAX, but honestly, visiting places like Orlando and PCB from very far away is much more appealling than living in this state.

I think your bad experience with your job situation unfairly colored your opinion. If you look for racism and prejudice you will find it. My mother-in-law is from Palo Alto and her some family are very racist and intolerant. If i let let that me my view of the bay area I would have not liked it as much. If know if you had given Jax more of a chance you would have find it more to your liking

[agreatlife]

Quite honestly, I'm perplexed when people move to an area without knowing much about it, or rely on a bulletin board and strangers to tell them what to do. As for the "two faced liars", well they aren't limited to Jacksonville, you will find employers in every part of the country who are concerned with one thing and one thing only - their profit. I know folks who moved to California to reap their fortune, only to have their companies declare bankruptcy.

Having said that, I am sorry to hear about your husband's job suddenly ending, and I am happy for you that you are going to get back the your Bay Area where I'm sure you'll be much happier.

I do wish you well.