Urban Jacksonville

A while ago I posted I was helping organize a festival in Springfield. Well, I’m not anymore. The festival we were planning was too big for Springfield to handle, and definitely too big for me.

Too many false starts and a dwindling calendar forced us to reconsider time and again. Eventually we had to call it. It’s sad, but in a way I’m relieved. I learned so much from this experience, I’ll never run an event like that again.

I MUST EMPHASIZE The original Summetime in the City event, a hip-hop festival, will still take place in Springfield at 9th and Main. The date is TDB and I know this is confusing as hell, but bear with me.

For the past two years Summertime in the City has been a successful event that grew from the back patio of Burrito Gallery, to the parking lot of Burrito Gallery, to (we thought) 9 blocks of ever-loving Springfield. Therein lies the flaw, those 9 block require so much planning, documentation and resources that the festival was doomed before it started. It’s funny to look back and see how naive I was. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but give our timeline and resources, we really were kidding ourselves.

So keep an ear out, Summertime in the City is coming to a neighborhood near you and I’ll announce it as soon as I hear the date. You haven’t heard the last from me, I have a huge event coming up in late September, early October. It will blow your partisan mind.

If you have any questions please ask and I’ll be as frank as I can. If you were involved with the festival and this is the first you’ve heard of this I’d like to apologize for not reaching out to you personally. It wasn’t my intention to have you read about this now, but there were so many people involved, I kind of last track of who-knew-what.

Joey

Tags: summertime in the city

I just got this email from SPAR:

You are invited to attend the SPAR Council General Meeting tonight at 7:00 PM at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum (1st and Boulevard). Bill Cesery will be speaking about the 3rd & Main Street project. There will also be an update on the Springfield Heritage Days to be held July 4-6.

Go if you can and tell me what he says. I hear there is grocery and a restaurant in Springfield’s future.

Tags: 3rd and Main

What’s Super Tuesday you ask? It’s me and Biggie Tea from The Urban Core blog DJing at Marks to kick off a series of progressive parties for THE progressive party and Generation Obama. Plus there are drink specials. Peep the details:

The sixth Urban Jacksonville Mixtape is dropping this June so lets celebrate! DJ Huh? (Joey Marchy) and Biggie Tea will play their favorite tracks from the past five Urban Jacksonville mixtapes and more. $1 PBR $2 Draft $3 jager. Word That! DJ Brian V at 11 and delicious $1 well drinks from 12am to 2am.

DJ HUH? vs BIGGIE TEA - June 17th
Mark’s in Downtown Jacksonville
9-11pm @ 315 East Bay Street myspace.com/marksjax

Now for more Jacksonville news. Man those guys in Springfield are throwing up the Third and Main development like nobody’s business. Take a ride down Main Street between 2nd and 4th to see what I’m talking about. Progress is Springfield’s middle name!

Black Kids 2009 Tour Poster (Thanks Rachel!)

Jaxzine issue 1 Jaxzine hits the street with Issue #1

The zine is going to be released Monday at The Pearl at Avant Chic!/Apres Chic!. I only made 50 so they are super limited. The cover charge is free that night and the zine is free. You might be wondering, “Why the Pearl”. The Pearl lets me put on events and supports me and for that I’m thankful.

Laura Street Transit Station project gets green light

The developers will construct a single-story restaurant building and a three-story retail and office building on the half-acre unpaved parking lot adjacent to the Rosa Parks/FCCJ Transit Terminal and bordered by Laura, State and Union streets.

Here are some juicy news links
Mactruque @ Flux Gallery 06/20 (The Outer Box)
Moon River Pizza gets new menus (Jacksonville Confidential)
Local artist Tim Lenoir(Killroy) wins Metropark - OBEY - Art contest (The Outer Box)
Jacksonville Confidential clothing swap coming soon! (Jacksonville Confidential)

Globatron responds to Urban Art Warfare. Globatron has a posse! Here is what Bryon King is responding to RIP just a little longer Jax Monster Show!

Tags: barack obama, super tuesday

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