Ten Principles for Creating A Successful Hemming Plaza

[Metro Jacksonville]

Ten Principles for Creating A Successful Hemming Plaza



In 2005, Metro Jacksonville pointed out to the JEDC and Peyton Administration why the Main Street Pocket Park would struggle to succeed if built.  We were ignored and $800,000 later, the chickens eventually came home to roost as our warnings became reality.  Now that we're destined to repeat the same mistakes with Hemming Plaza, we'd like to take a step back and examine ten principles needed for a successful urban public space, according to Project for Public Spaces. If the council's committee can embrace and plan from this set of principles, Hemming Plaza will be the centerplace of activity once again.


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-apr-ten-principles-for-creating-a-successful-hemming-plaza

[Garden guy]

Seems to me that we as a city have been run by it council. We have had a mostly conservative republican council. Republicans are against everything public..except tax breaks for people who don't need them. It seems like an attack on public spaces is on the list...I'm not surprised and i expect more and more dismantling.

[mtraininjax]

Republicans are against everything public.

Yeah, well the Republicans did not stop Pat Lockett Felder from erecting a bust of herself in a park on A. Phillip Randolph as a self-serving way of letting her public know she existed. For this our city is certainly much better off.

[Jason]

Very informative article!  I sure hope the city is reading this and absorbing everything it says.

Losing any of the trees unneccesarily would be a travesty.  IMO, the park really needs very little investment other than cosmetic stuff and better maintenance (pressure washing, paint, cleanup).  The major drawback is the lacking interaction between the surrounding development and the park.  Oh, and BATHROOMS!!!  Maintained Bathrooms!!!

[Wacca Pilatka]

Those two pictures on page 8 are terrific.  I've never seen either one before.

[Kaiser Soze]

Very good article.  Its missing one thing: nothing happens in Hemming unless and until the City moves the homeless population out of downtown.  Its the 800 lb gorilla that nobody wants to directly address.

[Jason]

Its not the problem its perceived to be.  I was in Savannah about a month ago and Forsyth Park was teaming with what appeard to be "Urban outdoorsman", however, the park was alive and very very very active.

Hemming could easily be the same if the surrounding areas had more connections with residential infill development.  Once there are more people living around the park and the activity naturally increases, the perception of the homeless will change.  There are a few bad apples giving the rest of the homeless a bad name.

[kells904]

Homeless people go wherever "regular" people don't.  If people actually used Hemming, the homeless would either be outnumbered, or gather elsewhere entirely.

[fieldafm]

Its missing one thing: nothing happens in Hemming unless and until the City moves the homeless population out of downtown.  Its the 800 lb gorilla that nobody wants to directly address.

The article mentions Union Square.  Homeless spend time there too, however so does everyone else b/c the area is attractive to more than just homeless people. 

It's the same reason that people congregate to Hemming during Art Walk and Jazz Fest.  Homeless people are in Hemming during those times too, but does anyone notice?

THAT's the 800lb guerilla in the room.

The fact that the Ad Hoc Committee on Hemming uses Bryant Park as an example, while failing to acknowledge the complete reconstruction of the park(it was elevated above the street), the constant programming of Bryant, the cafes in the park, the ice skating rink, the free wifi offered in the park, the presence of pop-up shops during the holidays, and on and on(I could write 8 paragraphs on the amenities the park offers)... underscores that same big guerilla.

Removable tables at Bryant shouldn't be viewed in a vacuum, b/c that really was one of the minor moves undertaken to revitilize that area.  By that logic, the Main Street Pocket Park in Jacksonville which has no trees, shade or benches should be teaming with activity... yet, it is only populated by the homeless. 

See a pattern?

[JFman00]

I don't understand why the homelessness thing is such a motivating factor here. The worst it's been when I've gone downtown is someone asking me for money. Tip: that happens EVERYWHERE. If you can't handle there being poor people, stay in the suburbs where you don't have to see poverty (even though it's there). Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, Pensacola, France, Spain, Germany, Panama, the Philippines. There are poor people, homeless and drunks everywhere, I don't understand why this city is so surprised they exist and congregate in the same places pedestrians are.

[Kaiser Soze]

The worst it's been when I've gone downtown is someone asking me for money. Tip: that happens EVERYWHERE.

Then I don't think you spend much time down there.  I do.  I've been yelled and cursed at.  Seen male on female violence.  All sorts of stuff.  I have not experienced that in other major cities. 

stay in the suburbs where you don't have to see poverty (even though it's there).

I thought the point was to encourage people to visit downtown???

[JFman00]

The worst it's been when I've gone downtown is someone asking me for money. Tip: that happens EVERYWHERE.

Then I don't think you spend much time down there.  I do.  I've been yelled and cursed at.  Seen male on female violence.  All sorts of stuff.  I have not experienced that in other major cities. 

That's a police problem to me, not a homeless problem.

stay in the suburbs where you don't have to see poverty (even though it's there).

I thought the point was to encourage people to visit downtown???
[/quote]

My point is that there are going to be homeless people in a downtown and the cost:benefit of trying to displace them isn't worth the effort.

[tufsu1]

great article Ennis! 

Much of this informatuion presented here will be part of a position paper TransForm Jax will be issuing later today.  It will be dsitributed to members of City Council, the Ad Hoc Committee, and the Mayor's Office.

[bill]

The worst it's been when I've gone downtown is someone asking me for money. Tip: that happens EVERYWHERE.

Then I don't think you spend much time down there.  I do.  I've been yelled and cursed at.  Seen male on female violence.  All sorts of stuff.  I have not experienced that in other major cities. 

That's a police problem to me, not a homeless problem.

stay in the suburbs where you don't have to see poverty (even though it's there).

I thought the point was to encourage people to visit downtown???

My point is that there are going to be homeless people in a downtown and the cost:benefit of trying to displace them isn't worth the effort.
[/quote]

It is not difficult. This is the largest factor in the revitalization of St Pete.

http://www.stpete.org/socialservices/homelessness/ordinanceslaws.asp

[fieldafm]

The worst it's been when I've gone downtown is someone asking me for money. Tip: that happens EVERYWHERE.

Then I don't think you spend much time down there.  I do.  I've been yelled and cursed at.  Seen male on female violence.  All sorts of stuff.  I have not experienced that in other major cities. 

That's a police problem to me, not a homeless problem.

stay in the suburbs where you don't have to see poverty (even though it's there).

I thought the point was to encourage people to visit downtown???

My point is that there are going to be homeless people in a downtown and the cost:benefit of trying to displace them isn't worth the effort.

It is not difficult. This is the largest factor in the revitalization of St Pete.

http://www.stpete.org/socialservices/homelessness/ordinanceslaws.asp
[/quote]

All of those same things are already illegal in downtown Jacksonville.