Each year, Downtown vision conducts a survey of downtown business and property owners of things that can be improved in our center city.  Consistently, parking ranks as one of the top concerns of stakeholders.  Despite the fact that DVI has been in existence for eight years, nothing has been done to improve the situation.

Here are the Top Ten Reasons to Delay Mass Transit in Jacksonville.  

Some believe additional parking may be the answer to the Jacksonville Landing's woes, but history suggests that the center's ability to draw in national tenants will not be completely solved by a parking garage.  Here are several things that, if implemented, may improve the Landing's viability.

Some say, "Jacksonville is a diamond that wants to remain coal". What would it be like if Jacksonville were a city that didn’t hate itself... led by people who acknowledged its achievements?

With the economic slowdown and Florida's Property Tax Amendments, Jacksonville is in a bit of a budget crunch.  The city owns a lot of property downtown that is not contributing the the revitalization effortor the tax rolls  Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a look at five city-owned properties that should be sold to the provate sector as soon as possible.

City Council members Jack Webb and Glorious Johnson should be commended for their efforts to try to find a way to somehow slow down the rising number of foreclosures here in Jacksonville.  In 2007 there were more than 15,000 foreclosure filings on 9,540 properties in Duval County (many properties had second mortgages on them).  That is a 39% jump from the 2006 numbers.

What a shocking statistic to have learned recently while New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in town as part of his national convention on curbing violent crime and reducing illegal guns. Here it is:  Jacksonville has only 10% of the population of NYC, yet experiences 25% of their murders!  Wow.  It's no wonder that Sheriff John Rutherford recently indicated the city was teetering on the brink of lawlessness, stating "If we don't turn this thing around, we could be the next Detroit."

How Folio's Man of the Year, Craig Van Horn Became Springfield's Greatest Liability

(and conned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his failing real estate empire)

“There is probable cause that some Jacksonville elected officials violated state law by failing to report as gifts taxpayer-financed outings to football games, concerts and other events BUT THEY SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED.” (emphasis added).

Have we been sold a bill of goods by the city?  Is the renaissance of downtown over before it even began?  Apparently some downtown business owners think so.