My personal experience is, apparently, much different than Mr Cox's. I have lived in the San Souci area since 1983. At the time that I purchased my house the price of a gallon of gas was about $1.10 a gallon. Over the years, I have regretted my decision to purchase this house, not because of neighbors or inconvenience, but because there are few amenities. There is nothing within walking distance of my home other than houses. I'm about 6 1/2 miles from downtown and approximately 3 miles to the nearest grocery store or restaurant. It is a totally auto-centric area with mile after mile of residential streets, many without sidewalks. As Mr Cox states, my main reason for purchasing this location was not transportation costs, it was real estate costs, but I miss the walkability afforded in areas like Riverside or San Marco. I grew up in a small midwestern town where just about everything was within walking distance. I could walk to the movies and all the shops on Main St. I feel sorry for the neighborhood kids who can't have that kind of experience. Understandably, the real estate in more walkable areas is at a higher premium, but the quality of life that it affords is the payoff.
I have witnessed, first hand, the actuality of urban sprawl in Jacksonville. As the Better Jacksonville Plan funded new roads like Hodges Blvd, retail and services followed out to the shiny new strip malls and left areas west of Southside Blvd to struggle, leaving virtual wastelands along University Blvd, Beach Blvd between St Nicholas and Southside and to a lesser extent Atlantic Blvd. Most retail and service providers are now further away than they were when I moved to the area.
I don't know if Smart Growth initiatives are the solution, but we should not continue to destroy our natural areas and leave the crumbling infrastructure that characterizes wide swaths of Duval County. We need solutions that would allow our older areas to be revitalized with walkability and non-automotive transportation in mind.
I worked downtown for close to 30 years. For about 10 years I rode an express bus. I would have continued to ride the bus, but that route was cancelled. At the time, I attempted to find a new bus route, but I could find no route that took less than 1 1/2 hours to get within a mile of my house. Again, I only live 6 1/2 miles from downtown. At that point I began driving everyday. I could have driven to the King St parking garage and taken the Skyway to work, but it was too unreliable and my employer was unsympathetic to late employees even if they could see the Skyway vehicles stuck on the track. I hope it has become more reliable since I retired 3 years ago.
Mr Cox makes some valid points, but he does not take into account many of the factors that would make our city more livable and give all of our citizens a better quality of life.
