New city councilman

[SunnyDaze]

We in North Jacksonville, not really Northside, have a new city councilman, Ray Holt, District 11.  We're anxious to see how he does and how he helps us get some new things accomplished.  He seems to be open to suggestions and comments.

[JUSTDAVE]

I interviewed Ray back early in the campaign he is the control growth guy that the Northside needs

[urbanlibertarian]

I'm sorry but I just don't get the prevailing sentiment of many northside residents who don't want others to be able to move into new houses in that area the way they themselves did.

[SunnyDaze]

It's not exactly moving into new houses the way the current residents did.  Most of the current residents moved into a rural area with dairies nearby or large lots with homes, (5-10 acres or more).  Then there's the road/traffic problems, single lanes, no traffic lights, with no improvement and no place for new schools because the developers use it all for houses.  Very poor planning.  No problem if people move into homes, but give the intrastructure to go along with increased density.

[urbanlibertarian]

I know Sunny but I hear people asking for a halt to development much more often than asking for more infrastructure.

[spidey]

I think most of the folks on the northside are local families born and raised for generations on the Northside, who watched what happened to Mandarin, and don't want to see their neighborhoods lose their character.  A plan for growth has to be in place (i.e., the comp plan) that specifies what the area should look like....and more importantly, the plan has to be followed, not amended every time some Tom, Dick or Harry decides he wants to build 300-400 cookie cutter homes in an area.  Then, you have to have the infrastructure in place to support the development that the plan calls for.  It's alot cheaper to install the infrastructure first, rather than coming back time and time again and tearing up roads, and laying new asphalt.  Once the infrastructure is in place, then you build.  Not the other way around - as that is what has gotten us into the mess we call Jacksonville now.