QoL is ostensibly the greatest of urban myths.
QoL would/should/could be incumbent upon individuals and not a community, power(s), or any larger entity.

Inversely, there is individual responsibility. That works.

Collect a circle of individuals – grow that circle concentrically. Sumpin' might happen!

That said, I don't think Jacksonville is geographically capable of building a critical mass of human energy — it's too sprawling to allow for any sort of consolidated force. The answer is not more football, more 30-ft berths between storefronts and walkways, more strip malls or St Johns Town Centers. The answer is simple, compact neighborhoods that force families and individuals to interact with each other. It's about LESS space, more pedestrian access to commerce, and cheap public transportation.

Give my best to TSI, Chamblin's and all the cool Indian restaurants…

For one great read inre: urban planning(s) and economic development of various sorts, I vote for “Devil in the White City.”

One plot line chronicles Burnham's leadership for the Columbian Exposition. By comparison, Jacksonville's crack at the Super Bowl doesn't count on a dram scale . . . well, at least not yet.

Regardless and relative to urban planning, the process, and viable results, one can note another dimension of Burnham's work:

This year marks the centennial of one of his urban plans, adopted in 1909 (Chicago). Plenty of challenges contemporary to the landscape, econoscape, and politiscape of that time so not necessarily different than Anywhere, USA 2009 or Anywhere, USA Ever.

100 years later – the hope of the people, and the goal of the current administration – this plan may be completed in 2009. Maybe not.

The general theme is “Only four miles to go.” There is much more than that, not the least of which is the last leg of eminent domain and a sizable inventory of other goals entirely separate from the waterfront axis.

Greenville – boy, that town has been an example of great urban projects for quite some time. They set a national record for public-private partnerships with the first phase of DT revitalization some years ago. I think it took all of 6 months – conceptual idea to usable, picture-perfect completion.

Immediately FOLLOWING COMPLETION of Phase I (all those years ago), all kinds of cool, unusual, foreign, domestic relo, etc. investment, jobs, and people started showin' up. High attrition/low recidivism. Launched a mini-megapolis with Spartanburg, Clemson, onward and outward. Best airport in the US – no contest if you would rather travel than shop. My second favorites are all in NYC where TSA helps not hinders. I could go on . . .

This consideration – hiring from within v hiring from without . . . it has got to be so incredibly frustrating to want to do a job, be hired to do that job, bust ass in your job, be great during tenure (perform and achieve as required and desired) , and never “see” the point of your job: AKA what did I ever do? Will what I did ever get done? These worries have got to up the number of nightmares in any given career.

Is this a deterrent to many with talent AND experience in emerging and mature metropoli from considering Jacksonville? Is this why talent vacates to “more exciting” towns and cities?

Agree with lakelander on this one, and the City has no idea how many persons of talent it loses to other cities each month!

vicupstate is also correct when he says the City thinks it has the planning talent, but obviously doesn't. I would say this also applies to the City thinking they have/have hired the best marketing talent (”The Place Where Florida Begins”, “Jacksonville Journey” strike me on this one).

I would also suggest the the City needs to do a better job at looking at problems from the 40,000 ft, rather than the 200 ft level. The Riverwalk, MetroPark, Hogan's Creek issues and the parks that go northward in the Emerald Necklace are all tied together, but are being addressed/planned separately. This, and other aspects of planning — i.e. transit, commercial/economic development, street-scaping — should all be part of a master plan, which doesn't just exist, but is actually followed! But this doesn't happen b/c of functional silos, budgetary silos and political silos.

These have got to be broken down and open discussions/implementations pursued if Jax is to have any hope!

Metro Park can become both beautiful and functional, while at the same time DESOLETE and UNDER-USED if what surrounds it is not taken into account and made part of the plans. Continued isolation will kill it's potential, and make the millions spent on it look like a waste.

My city, Greenville SC, has followed a master plan created by the well-respected Sasaki Associates of Boston/SF for 25 years, including a recent revison/update. Link: http://www.sasaki.com/

They held numerous charettes both for the original plan and the revision. The basic concepts of the plan have been followed throughout a number of administrations and the results have been very successful. Delegations from all over the US visit to try to emulate that success. All in a city with probably 1/10 the tax base of Jax.

Hire a professional urban planner(s) to guide the process, get input (and thus buy in ) from the public, develop a plan, and stick to it. That is what it takes. It doen't start with the Mayor, the JEDC and Ron Littlepage telling us what will work and hoping we agree.