Why don't we have rail? A Rant...
Jacksonville is the largest city in the US by land mass (840 square miles), but in the city's collective consciousness people refer to Jacksonville as a small town. You hear it all the time – little Jacksonville, small market Jacksonville, big city with a small town feel, etc.
Yes, Jacksonville is larger (land-wise) than all the noted biggies - Atlanta, LA, New York, Miami, Atlanta. If you don’t believe me break out an encyclopedia. Britannica’s online these days.
How can someone live in the largest city in the country albeit by landmass and think they live in a small town??? It’s all about perspective, I think. Some people have never traveled. Many aren’t well read. Others never leave their part of Jacksonville. Still others just don’t pay attention to the world around them. While I know that Jacksonville is a behemoth sized city due to consolidation, I think 75% of the local adult population may not have a clue, after all you have to know the history of the city. If people never leave their neighborhood, think they live in a small town, never travel, and aren’t well read then history is probably not a fancy tickler.
I also understand that Jacksonville is not as densely populated as many other large US cities, but by sheer numbers we were the thirteenth largest city in the US in 2005.
1. New York, N.Y. 8,143,197
2. Los Angeles, Calif. 3,844,829
3. Chicago, Ill. 2,842,518
4. Houston, Tex. 2,016,582
5. Philadelphia, Pa. 1,463,281
6. Phoenix, Ariz. 1,461,575
7. San Antonio, Tex. 1,256,509
8. San Diego, Calif. 1,255,540
9. Dallas, Tex. 1,213,825
10. San Jose, Calif. 912,332
11. Detroit, Mich. 886,671
12. Indianapolis, Ind. 784,118
13. Jacksonville, Fla. 782,623
14. San Francisco, Calif. 739,426
15. Columbus, Ohio 730,657
16. Austin, Tex. 690,252
17. Memphis, Tenn. 672,277
18. Baltimore, Md. 635,815
19. Fort Worth, Tex. 624,067
20. Charlotte, N.C. 610,949
In 2005, Atlanta was #35 and Miami was #45
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.htmlToday, Jacksonville is home to about 850,000 people.
We may have slipped to #14 since 2005, but Jacksonville will always be one of the most populous cities in the country because of the size of our house (land mass) we simply hold a lot of people.
What does being 13th or 14th mean? It means that our Mayor and City Council have many of the same challenges as other elected leaders in large cites – crime, transportation, education, urban blight, etc. This is not Mayberry! This is not Mayberry. This is not Mayberry.
Jacksonville, is akin to San Jose, Detroit, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, and Baltimore, based on the number of people being governed. I can hear the snarky comments now, “Jacksonville is no San Franciscoâ€. Well duh.
The god-awful challenge here is to reconcile the myth of living in a small city with the reality of living in big-ass place with a whole lot of people. Over the last 50 years, it seems that the collective population of Jacksonville went from being big city strivers to people longing for village life, but the city didn’t shrink - it got bigger - and the population didn’t falter - it kept growing.
Of course we should have a rail system to travel these 840 SQ Miles. Of course we should have a fabulous downtown. Of course there is history here that can be tooled to drive tourism – this city is 150 years old. Of course Jacksonville could be better. We need visionary leaders who believe in planning not just pipe dreams that could fatten their wallets. We need citizens who are willing to pay the fees and taxes to finance a better Jacksonville. Then we need leaders who can turn our investment into a city beautiful. When the leaders fail, let's hold them accountable...that's another rant for another day.