Roadtrip: Miami

[Metro Jacksonville]

Roadtrip: Miami



Everyone hears about South Beach and the bust of the condo market, but what's really happening in Miami at street level?

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/694

[jaxlore]

I go down to miami every year for winter music conference. I love it. No granted I am only there on vacation but still its a fun place. I love the mix of latin american culture, art and music. Amazing food wherever you go. Traffic is a problem and parking. Dowtown has changed in the last few years since Ive been going. But downtown is still pretty quite compared to southbeach.

[thelakelander]

Well South Beach is one of the most cosmopolitan urban areas outside of Manhattan.  In the next few weeks, we'll have a tour of South Beach as well.  Imo, the seem to complement each other.  Downtown Miami has this funky vibe to it thats dominated by local culture, while South Beach is dominated by the tourism element.  I really hope they figure out a way to make the Baylink (light rail connecting downtown to South Beach) proposal a reality.

[NJ to JAX WHAT DID I DO?]

No pics of Calle Ocho??

Miami is in a different league than Jacksonville....Miami is an international city.....Jacksonville is a typical American city.....very little difference in the feel of Jacksonville from any other small-midsized US City....the result is a huge difference in mindset, planning, appeal, lifestyle, culture, etc between Miami and Jacksonville.  People from all over the world want to visit Miami at least once.....most people around the world don't even know that Jacksonville exists....is that in NC? It all boils down to the people in charge.....they can create whatever image they want for the city.....unfortunately....Jacksonville has small town leaders.

[thelakelander]

No pics of Calle Ocho??

Not this time.  I was only in town for a few hours so I had to pick and choose my spots.  I do have images of Coral Gables, Calle Ocho, the Design District and Coconut Grove from a 2004 trip, but figured those would be out-of-date.

[second_pancake]

Ahh, the hustle and bustle of downtown with the very welcoming image of a cyclist stopping for lunch   You made my day!!  Even if he is riding a Jamis

[Traveller]

I always thought Bicentenial Park would be a good place for a new Marlins Stadium.  Glad to hear it will see some real improvements in the near future.

Jacksonville will never be Miami.  As NJ to JAX points out, Jacksonville is an American city.  The American dream is still a single family home on a quarter acre lot.  Americans do not want to raise their kids in a 50 story high rise (with the possible exception of uber-rich families on New York's upper east side).  With time and more downtown activities, maybe more people aged 22-29 and 60-80 will move back into the core.  But it will be a minority, and as SJTC continues to siphon shopping, dining, and entertainment options away from the rest of the city, an uphill battle.

[thelakelander]

But it will be a minority, and as SJTC continues to siphon shopping, dining, and entertainment options away from the rest of the city, an uphill battle.

This is something that most downtowns have to deal with.  The key will be for downtown to be marketed and developed in a fashion that makes it a unique one of a kind destination.  SJTC can add all the stucco in the world to its parking lots, but it will never have the river, history, cultural amenities and architecture that downtown has.  We just have to find a better way to promote and enhance these features, which in turn will lead to an improved retail base.

[jeh1980]

Jacksonville will never be Miami.  As NJ to JAX points out, Jacksonville is an American city.
[/quote]
You're right. Jacksonville may never be like Miami. BUT, when the residential market is restored, we may get close to it .

[Jason]

This is what Jacksonville can look like....

[heights unknown]

And Jax could look like the google depiction, but as someone said, Jax has small town leaders in charge, people and men that have a narrowed, small town mindset and vision. 

You have to take your goggles off (your small town goggles), open your vision and focus to a big city (new york/miami) mentality, and imagine the possibilities of what you already have.  Jax has had this small town mindset and thinking for over 6 decades now which has resulted in no significant new construction, mediocre or austere buildings and skyscrapers, the razing and destruction of beautiful historic places and buildings, more parking lots than spaces that should be occupied by commercial or residential buildings, a huge loss of population in the urban core, and also Jax being dethroned as Florida's number one city and being reduced to an "also ran" and "who is Jax?" idiom around the nation and the world.

In order to heighten our image and build our self esteem, we cheated in 1967 with the consolidation thing; this only boosted our population in which when people did visit, they knew something wasn't quite right.  A population of 500,000 but a dead or almost non-existent downtown; and the same still holds true today.

Until we get these hoodlum, shotgun backward thinking yahoos out of office and vote in those with "big thinking and big ideas" Jax will basically remain where she was been, and where she now is with no significant progress.

Heights Unknown

[avonjax]

Heights unknown
you are so right

[reednavy]

I hope Empire World Towers is a no go. I like how they say the market will improve, he freckin llo, have you not seen the amount of available units there. It'll take 2015 for Miami to sell them all at these current conditions. Pure dumbasses, with an ugly building. Now One Bayfront, bella bella, break ground now!

[JeffreyS]

And Jax could look like the google depiction, but as someone said, Jax has small town leaders in charge, people and men that have a narrowed, small town mindset and vision. 


Until we get these hoodlum, shotgun backward thinking yahoos out of office and vote in those with "big thinking and big ideas" Jax will basically remain where she was been, and where she now is with no significant progress.

Heights Unknown

Oh things have change mostly sprawl.  More than that however and our city is being forced to grow up into a big city we won't have much left to think of as small town in 10 years.  How we manage that growth will be the key to how we function. I agree with your take on so many of our politicians but this state is going to add 10 million people in the next 15 years and Northeast Florida will have to bear a heavy portion of the load. Jax won't be able to remain where she has been.

[Jason]

I just hope that the absorbtion of that comming growth is done in a fashoin that consumes the least amount of undeveloped land through higher density development along transit corridors.  As it stands now, the leadership we have in all 5 metro counties are allowing and even promoting low density sprawl to consume every inch of developable land in the area further compounding the problems we are already facing.