Downtown Disappearing Act | Metro Jacksonville Forum

Then there are the not so obvious things we could have done... SHOULD HAVE DONE. There was the classic old Acosta Bridge that was promised to be placed in a park after it came down. The center span and towers would have made a classic industrial-historical sculpture over some pond or creek for urbanity. Where did it go? BTW Seminole and Volusia Counties saved the center span of the classic old swing bridge over the St. Johns at Sanford and today, it is the center piece of a nice little river park. Over on the Suwanne, they did the same thing near the Metropolis of Chiefland.

The entire Jacksonville Traction Company, and "The Most Beautiful Streetcar Line In The World", and we couldn't even save ONE ROUTE? Don't think it could have been done? Well your a daisy if you do!

Don't miss those car barns, once called the bus garages in Brooklyn. You know at the site of the Skyway maintenance facility. It was all an honest JTA mistake, they HAD to come down (hell they had tracks in the floor and we couldn't allow that!) because the ramps for the new Acosta bridge were going "Right Through Them!" Oops, guess not, well golly Goober, guess well just have to use that old Trolley space for our Save-All Skyway!

Fairfield, like LaVilla, GONE... Why, well we all need (and I agree) a Sports and entertainment district. Trouble is, Fairfield was the only large historic district that was spared by the fire of 1901. So do you suppose we moved all those old homes out to a newer reconstruction district? Nope! Jacksonville LOVES fireworks, and down they came.

Dixieland, Storybook Land, Oriental Gardens, The Beach Midway, Ostrich Farm and many smaller nationally known parks are now fond photos in a dusty album. The Hail storm of 1907 pretty much took out Dixieland Trolley Park, aka: "Disney world #1". But we never rebuilt, the place was probably rodent infested anyway, so the "City of South Jacksonville," (yes it once WAS a City) decided to put up a ball park instead. All the Mice fled to Orlando.

We have such a "Bold New" collective group of leaders. We will create "City" and make it in "our image". Well folks that's pretty damned funny. We ran to Boston and Baltimore to make a copy of what they had in "The Jacksonville Landing." Then built it too small, backwards and without parking and frankly after 20 years it looked pretty beat up. We ran to New Orleans and Washington to cop that statue of General Jackson to place at the landing... oh yes, it is a copy from the SAME mold! Don't forget Godbold's Aquarium, we sent people to Chattanooga and St. Petersburg and God knows where else to copy that too...but it never happened. That darn unfinished Skyway? Copy of Morgantown, West Virginia, then when it fell apart, we remade it as a modern monorail. When we put all the City buildings and parking on the Waterfront downtown, we dug up an old steamship. You didn't hear about it? Shucks y'all, you know a pile driver can whoop them buggers right through those old rotten timbers. Sure is a good thing Orville and Wilbur died, because we might have gotten an airport with a completely different look... hummm? Wonder if THEY left any old plans laying around? Xerox City Anyone?

Okay, I'm finally done. If this wasn't MY CITY and a place I love I would NEVER have said these things. I have never figured out how we can manage to be the "Worlds Most Beautiful Downtown" and the nation's dumbest City in one moment in time. Now that my BP is up to about 600/400, I think I'll spend the lunch hour listening to "Foamy" rant... If you can handle a joke with a few (okay alot) of foul words, join me at Foamy's place. "Tech Support IV" is a scream!
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Ocklawaha