Urban Jacksonville

Thanks to COJ for planting dead sod in front of my house. Also I really don’t understand why it took two days to do it either. Waste. Of. Money. Anywho.

This Friday Anomaly is having their 3rd year anniversary as well as Obey launch party falling on First Fridays in Five Points with DJ Roy spinning outside. Come to the center of the action and toast in their 3rd year with champagne and browse the new lines of clothing.

Thanks for the tip Jaxscene

Get your Jacksonville Link on!
The secret is out! Jacksonvillians want rail (Metro Jacksonville)
Rich & Mir Go to Nicky G’s. This is weird. You have been warned.
This Is What a Cycling Nightmare Looks Like (BikeJax)
There’s a passionate discussion (41 comments strong!) going on at JaxCal on the merits of Monster Art. Fascinating. Frustrating.

Thanks for this Urban Art Warfare!

Tags: anomaly, coj, obey

The Jacksonville Community Council will be hosting a discussion of Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City on May 20th.

JCCI released it’s study Reducing Murder: A Community Response in 2006 and two years later we’re still having the discussion finding a cure for our violent city. The discussion is designed for everyone, whether or not they have read Code of the Street. For those interested, a blog authored by JCCI staff offers thumbnail sketches of each of the book’s chapters.

JCCI, 2434 Atlantic Blvd
Tuesday, May 20
5:30 to 7 p.m.
Space is limited, please RSVP by calling 396-3052

A review on Amazon says:

Not content to sugarcoat problems or to stockpile blame, Anderson takes a piercing look at the complex issues surrounding respect, social etiquette and family values in the multicultural neighborhoods along Philadelphia’s Germantown Avenue. A major artery of the city, the street reflects the vast social and economic difficulties confronting many of the nation’s urban centers.

Dr. Michael Hallett, chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at University of North Florida, recommended the book in two separate editorials in the Florida Times Union. He will be the opening speaker.

Tags: Code of the Streets, JCCI

If anyone found a Blackberry Pearl last night at TSI, it’s mine! Please return it. Reward! It was a fun show even though I lost my phone.

Beginning in mid-May, city commuters in Washington, D.C., will have an alternative to stuffy bus rides and long traffic lines.  Clear Channel Outdoor (an outdoor advertising company), partnered with the district’s Department of Transportation, will launch the country’s first bike-share service, SmartBike DC.

Bike sharing services offer urbanites low-cost access to bicycles within the inner-city to ease traffic congestion, curb pollution and boost physical activity.  Bike sharing operates on a self-serve model (no attendants) and is geared toward short-term uses.  New technologies including GPS and RFID tags (radio-frequency identification) and automated payment kiosks make the systems more secure and user friendly.

The SmartBike DC system will offer bicycles at key locations in the central business district.  Bicycles are parked at docking points which use a proprietary locking system to ensure that each bicycle is securely stored.  The service is accessible via online subscription and subscribers will receive a SmartBike DC user card that provides access to every station of the program.  An individual annual subscription is $39.99.

Bike stations consist of a horizontal rack with docking points.  The docking points, as pictured above, are parking slots with locks, and they secure the bicycle when it is parked at a station.  An operational team manages the rotation of bicycles for each station to assure a proper ratio of available bicycles to drop-off locations.

How could most cities afford this?  As mentioned before, in the case of Washington, D.C., the district’s Department of Transportation partnered with Clear Channel Outdoor, a private advertising company.  The contract allows the private company to provide advertising on as many as 800 bus shelters.  Public-private partnerships are common among existing bike-share programs, according to Paul DeMaio, the founder of MetroBike LLC, a bike-share consultancy based in Washington, D.C.

Bike-share programs have proved successful in many other countries so far, including France, Spain and Austria.  Leading street-furniture company JC Decaux launched its Paris operation, Velib’, in 2007.  Today, more than 20,000 bikes are available at 1,400 stations.  Paris has four times more bike-rental stations than subway stations and the system is completely financed by advertising and rental charges.

The market in the U.S. is wide-open right now.  Most recently, Clear Channel secured San Francisco as the next city for which to develop street furniture plans, most likely including a bike-share component.  Chicago has expressed interest in bringing a bike-share program to its streets as well.

If Jacksonville had a bike-share system around its core neighborhoods, traffic and pollution would decrease and our city would be populated with a healthier group.  Some commuters would not be forced to wait for a bus if they did not have far to travel.  Also, commuters who bike already would not waste time locking their bike up properly and worrying that it might be stolen.

So.  Who wants to step up with the sponsorship?

Tags: bike sharing, MetroBike LLC, SmartBike DC

This Thursday Springfield Area Merchants & Business Association (SAMBA) will host Ian Ranne, of Shantytown Pub and Hip Hop Hell Records. The topic will focus on the introduction of Shantytown, Royal Treatment Record Shop, Zombie Bikes and Burro Bags to the Springfield community.

There will also be an update of the Metro Edge commercial corridor study. Shantytown will be offering a 1st free beer to all Samba members.

Shantytown Pub
Thursday, April 10, 2008
6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
22 West 6th Street

Members and guests should make reservations. Call 219-7499 or e-mail urbansouth at hotmail dot com by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 9th.

Here is some other Springfield news compliments of the SPAR weekly email update.

Parkview Inn Update
In mid-April - Elaine Lancaster – COJ Municipal Code Enforcement Division - will request a hearing before the Special Master to present the case for demolition of the Park View Inn. Ms. Lancaster’s determination to bring about COJ action on this downtown eyesore has widespread support.

Karpeles Manuscript Museum
101 W. 1st St. Hours Tues – Sat 10AM-4PM and Sun Noon – 4PM. Free admission. Now thru April 25th – Jacksonville Watercolor Society Annual Juried Spring Show. Now thru June 28th – American 19th Century Authors - An exhibit of original letters and writings by 19th Century American authors featuring Mark Twain, Poe, Washington Irving, Harriett Beecher Stowe and others.

Visitors entering Springfield from I-95 will see new directional signage on the north and south off-ramps guiding them into the Historic District and to the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute.

The Springfield Animal Care & Rescue Club (SACARC) is currently looking for volunteer dog walkers! Please contact catcamp1644 at yahoo dot com for details. Also, SACARC is in desperate need of foster homes. Please contact group at sacarc dot org if you or someone you know is willing and able to provide foster care for a puppy or adult dog,

Yes this was an April Fools joke. Thanks to everyone for playing.

I just inked a deal to sell Urban Jacksonville to the Florida Times Union for an undisclosed sum of money. I’m all about being transparent and in my original draft of this post, I did indicate how much I sold the blog for. My wife advised me otherwise so I plan on keeping the sum between me and the Time Union.

I sold out! I know, I know. I’m always saying how bad the Times Union and their new media initiatives are, but I think adding the Urban Jacksonville content and attitude can add some credibility to their struggling newspaper and failing new media site. Besides, they had to do something with newspaper ad revenues taking their worst drop in almost 60 years.

According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 — the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.

This deal has been in the works for some time now, one reason I haven’t been posting on a consistent basis. I’ve spent quite a few nights after work at the TU offices in Riverside working out details and negotiating a contract. As it stands I will become a full time employee of the Times Union starting Tuesday April 15th, two weeks form today. I just put in my notice at nGen Works.

Instead of averaging 5 posts a week, I’ll ramp up my posting frequency to 5 times a day for a total of 20 posts a week. Laura Capitano, a Lifestyle columnist, will take over posting on the weekend. That was actually one of the items I had to negotiate. They wanted me posting 7 days a week, but I wanted to make sure I had time to spend with my family.

The content and tone of the site will stay the same. I have full editorial control over my post content and media (photos, video, and especially comments). The site will be redesigned slightly and co-branded with the Florida Times Union look. My stories will appear in the news rotation of the homepage (see above sample) and selected articles will be reprinted, on-demand, in the Metro and Lifestyles sections of the newspaper.

One big change you will see is more advertising on the blog. I have been saying forever what a good value advertising on Urban Jacksonville is. Targeted market, juicy demographic and great daily page view numbers. Apparently the TU is the only business in the City to recognize this.

In the long run, this will be a good thing. There will be a few growing pains, but I’ll have more resources at my disposal and more visibility in the city. Exposing a broader audience to my brand of activism and cultural awareness will, I think, make the city a better place in the long run. Since I don’t have the same editorial mandates to please advertisers and political connections I will, hopefully, bring a breath of fresh air to our hometown paper.

I’m curious to hear what you think so please feel free to leave a comment.

Capitol Hill Block Party, photo: Peter Kearns

I’m happy to say I am the first (I think) editorial contributor to The Urban Core blog. That means I’m on the editorial board now. Whoop!

Head over there and read my post Springfield Needs a Festival. It’s got pictures and everything!

What I’d like to see is more along the lines of a music festival, something like SXSW, but divided by 10. You know, much smaller. I’m thinking a one day thing. It doesn’t have to be big, and probably shouldn’t be to get started.

Quoted from the post Springfield Needs a Festival.

Tags: festival