1) I doubt there is anything in Jacksonville's history that is far better than Balboa Park. We're talking a park that is basically unparalleled in natural beauty as well as manmade beauty. We're talking about a park much larger than Dixieland ever was. We're talking about a park with beautiful monuments, churches, museums, and the SD Zoo within its bounds. We're talking about an old old park with history. We're talking about a park that's more accessible than by ferry (i.e. Dixieland).
2) We can all agree that some on this list deserve to be on this list and some are put in there by people smoking rocks. Of the great parks on this list, virtually all are surrounded by high density residential (not single family residential). Audubon Park is surrounded by SFR that's way more compact and mixed in with mid-rises as opposed to most parks in Jacksonville. I still don't think Audubon Park is a top 10 park anyway.
3) The great parks in Atlanta each cater to their respective areas.
-Piedmont Park is the Central Park of Atlanta and carries on as so, with beautiful landscapes and buildings, residential highrises surrounding about 1/3 of the park and medium density residential on the other sides, and festivals and events all the time.
-Chastain Park is a semi-urban park in North Buckhead surrounded by million dollar homes. It features a golf course, more abundant parking, an equestrian/horse riding and jumping place (whatever the hell they're called), and a space for outdoor concerts for big names like DMB, U2, etc. It's pretty close to the Buckhead CBD and offers good skyline views, too, an there are jogging trails around the periphery for the local residents.
-Grant Park is a "city park" like City Park and Audubon Park in New Orleans. It has the Atlanta Zoo and a Civil War memorial which blows any memorials in Florida out of the water (it's like a cross between the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials in DC)
-Candler Park is in a liberal but wealthy area of East Atlanta, and plays host to that area with a golf course and beer festivals.
-Centennial Olympic Park is a touristy/downtown type park, and it presents itself perfectly as such. It's connected to the Aquarium, the World of Coke, the CNN Center, the Atlanta Merchandise/Gift Marts, the big hotels, and Phillips Arena/Georgia Dome/Georgia World Congress Center. There are fountains, LEDs at night, and "monumental" iconic features, as well as space for concerts (I have seen Ludacris, LL Cool J, Chevelle, and someone else there that I can't remember).
Captain Zissou is right about the events. The thing is, I'm not sure what comes first: successful events or a successful/beautiful park space. I know that in the last year or so, both Paul McCartney and the Eagles have played to crowds of 100,000 in Piedmont Park, but Piedmont Park is almost world famous. Equally big acts go to Chastain Park, and literally all of the nice intown Atlanta parks (and Stone Mountain park) play host to events, festivals, and concerts. The Dogwood Festival is coming up in Piedmont Park. Sweetwater 420 Festival is coming up in Candler Park. There is Spring on the Green, a weekly movie showing in Piedmont Park. There is MovieNights every Wednesday night when the weather is nice on the 5th St bridge over the Connector Interstate, and that brings thousands of area residents and of course Tech Students.
Jacksonville probably needs to fix up its parks at least a little before attracting large festivals/concerts, etc, and then when the parks become more popular more money can be poured into them. I still contend that the COJ needs to take the first step and quit calling its park system the biggest in the country until they actually have something to boast about in the form of a couple parks that can be presentable to visitors.
