Urban Jacksonville

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Intro

Coffee Sponsor: Bold Bean Coffee Roasters

Special Guest: George Akel of Mesh Magazine

Joey’s infected, crushed and stabbed

Mesh Magazine

online publication
since 2004
UNF photography degree
cover arts scene
“the real deal”
less commercial than Arbus
focus on local, independent artists
create a personal portfolio and expose artists
meshmag.com
Why Mesh? mesh=fusion art, music, dining

Isn’t Print Dead?
kind of, but more in-between
online advertising is a hard sell
TU still does 85% from print

Kickstarter
Donate to Mesh Magazine
minimum donation $2
goal = $1800 for 1000 copies

Coming Soon
new Jags beat writer, Jimmy Sal (former editor of Vibe/Spin), Tom Essex (Skinny Records), Jay (Bold Bean)

Recommendations
Jack: Pet Walk @ Art Walk
Jonathan: dilbert.com/blog
George: Famous Sandwiches, Pulp Juice Bar (San Marco)
Joey: Krung Fu – graphic design battle (Intuition Ale in the place, free cup!) $10 for non-AIGA members
Tony: RAM – free ice cream!

I grabbed a few pics of the new JTA bus shelter being unveiled today. What are your thoughts? I’m reserving judgment for a bit. If you want to see them, get down to Bay and Main in Downtown Jacksonville. There’s also a media event this morning at 10am.

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• Unveiling of JTA’s first new downtown bus shelters
• Wednesday, July 28 at 10 a.m. JTA representatives will be onsite until 11
  a.m. to answer questions.
• Northeast corner of Bay and Main streets

In partnership with the Downtown Development Review Board, the new shelters were designed to reflect the character of the Downtown area and to support JTA’s green initiatives. Special features of the shelters include solar lighting, mesh walls for better air circulation, new trash receptacles, bike racks and maps of the entire JTA system.

The paint used on the shelters consists of low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which minimizes the negative effects paint can have on air quality. Some of the shelters also incorporate panels that can accommodate advertising.

This is the first of 24 new shelters to be installed downtown with 50 additional shelters coming online throughout the JTA service area.

Another phase of the Downtown shelter project will be the placement of 30 shelters for bus rapid transit along the BRT alignment in Downtown scheduled for completion in late 2012.

In this year’s election, three of the seven seats on the Duval County School Board will be up for election. None of the current board members are running for re-election, so the election can be a sea change for public education in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund is hosting three public forums for school board candidates to help the community learn more about the candidates. WJXT Channel 4 Reporter Ayesha Faines will moderate the event, asking a handful of questions selected by JPEF and then opening the floor to questions from those attending the event.

The forums will all be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the following dates:

• District 2 — July 27 — Twin Lakes Academy, 8050 Point Meadows Dr, Jacksonville 32256
• District 4 — August 9 — Ribault High School, 3701 Winton Dr., Jacksonville 32208
• District 6 — July 29 — Ed White High School, 1700 Old Middleburg Rd. Jacksonville 32210

Download Urban Jacksonville Mixtape #15

Patrick Carter from Patrick Carter Design hooked up the cover art for this edition of the mixtape. He is available for work if you need design help.

Patrick Carter Design is a graphic design studio in Jacksonville, FL specializing in brand development and web design with an emphasis on typography and illustration. With a background of advertising agency art direction and years of experience in the Jacksonville marketplace, an attention to detail and a fanatical passion for design are always maintained.

1. All Summer – Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend
2. Dancing On My Own (Fred Falke Edit) – Robyn
3. Dirty Little Girl (Lakeshore Driving Remix) – Shwayze
4. Feels Like Forever – Holy Hail
5. GET U HOME – (Bloody Beetroots Italo Disco Rmx) - Shwayze
6. Heart To Tell – The Love Language
7. Hold Yuh (Major Lazer Remix) – Gyptian
8. Right On (feat. Joanna Newsom & STS) – The Roots
9. Rubadub Shakedown (Feat. Rod Azlan) – Rusko
10. Shutterbug – Big Boi
11. Trizzy Turnt Up – A-Trak
12. Two Doors Down (Pilooski Remix) – Mystery Jets
13. Two Weeks Of Hip Hop (The Hood Internet) – Dead Prez vs Grizzly Bear
14. We Are The People (Shazam Remix) – Empire Of The Sun
15. XXXO (Remix) (Feat. Jay-Z) – M.I.A.

I didn’t mix or create any of these tracks myself, they haveall been downloaded from various MP3 blogs. Thanks to all the MP3 blogs and artists who mixed these tracks*.

MP3 Blogs
The Hood Internet
Hype Machine
Palms Out Sounds
Fluo Kids
Discobelle
IHEARTCOMIX
Gorilla vs. Bear
Mad Decent blog
Ruckus Roboticus
White Folks Get Crunk
versus-3.blogspot.com and more….

*If you want me to take down a track, just let me know. In case you missed it: Download Urban Jacksonville Mixtape #15

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Pajama Monsters

We were able to keep these handmade cuties from destroying the podcast studio, but I think one of them did poop under Jonathan’s chair. Enjoy the show!

Pajama Monsters website | Facebook | blog and Twitter

Revised RIverside trolley route pushes into Avondale, extends hours to weekends.

In the middle of yesterday’s push to build support for the Riverside Trolley once funding ends in September, I began hearing the trolley will be extended and not sent to the corner with our other tried transit ideas.

Metro Jacksonville is saying the trolley will now push into Avondale and service will be extended to weekends, they have an article scheduled to run tomorrow with all the updated information.

We still need to push for support so I encourage everyone to come out to the public meetings this Friday at JTA offices downtown to show love for our little fixed rail gateway drug, the Riverside Trolley.

I’ve set up a Facebook event to Get Jacksonville Back on Tracks which has all the details of Friday’s public meeting. If you can’t make it you can always show your love for the trolley online with a few choice comments.

Friday · 11:00am – 1:00pm
JTA Offices Downtown
100 N Myrtle Avenue
Jacksonville, FL

Friday July 23rd from 11am to 1pm the Jacksonville Transit Authority will host a public hearing to present proposed changes to the transit system (including Riverside Trolley) that go into effect September 6, 2010. Support for the proposed Riverside Trolley service is critical to its continued success.

This weekend I noticed the bronze statue of Andrew Jackson had moved from his previous home in front of The Landing to his new home, err in front of The Landing. He now sits about 1 block to the east, right in the middle of the new Laura Street roundabout. While it’s silly to “review” the placement of a statue, I do have some thoughts on it.

I think the move is an great idea and it will receive a lot of praise. Visually, it looks pretty impressive. I approached from West Water Street so I haven’t seen it approaching from Laura Street, but I plan on checking that view out on my ride to work this morning.

The new statue placement reminds me of being in a more urban, dense city and I Iike it. I’ve never been to Philadelphia, but I feel like it’s a statue placement you might see in that city or maybe Washington D.C.

I love the fact that the city moved it from a grassy knoll that was set off the street, a very suburban minded placement, to be featured in the middle of the street. You get a sense of arriving at a place of note.

Driving in the roundabout

It took just over 8 hours to dislodge the statue from it’s old pedestal. It might take you half that many hours just to make it around the statue. The cobblestones are so rough and bumpy, you really have to slow down once you’re in there.

This was no doubt a design feature and one I and many pedestrians will come to appreciate as traffic slows to less than 5 mph at the end of Laura Street, really increasing the walkability of the area.

I don’t see this causing traffic issues. The only issue I do see is Laura Street is only one way. The roundabout might lead some drivers to think they can exit the roundabout onto Laura Street into one way traffic. This is something that will be changing. But for now some signage should help with any confusion.

More about Roundabouts

A roundabout is a type of circular junction in which road traffic must travel in one direction around a central island. Signs usually direct traffic entering the circle to slow down and give the right of way to drivers already in the circle.

Statistically, roundabouts are safer for drivers and pedestrians than both traffic circles and traditional intersections.[4] Because low speeds are required for traffic entering roundabouts they are not designed for high-speed motorways (expressways).