DowntownParks

Skate Springfield?

2006-10-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

Dear Springfield Neighbor,

Due to the ash contamination in Schell Park, the park’s future is very much up in the air. Until some form of remediation, or cap is completed, the park is an unusable site for any sort of recreation.

Recently an idea was brought up in the neighborhood to build a skate park on that site. The skate park would be helpful in containing the contamination by covering it with a layer of concrete, and would simultaneously improve the park’s functionality and make it available for recreation use by neighborhood families and children.

The design of the park that we would like to see would be that of a skate plaza. Skate plazas are built to look like a city park with landscaping, fountains, and sculptures, but intended to meet the needs of those with skateboards, scooters, and bikes. They are inherently multi-use, and can serve as a regular public park, suitable for relaxing, picnicking, or even as a concert or play venue.

The first step toward having a park like this built is to have the support of the neighbors around the park. We feel that a park like this would only benefit our community. It will contain the contamination in the park, be aesthetically pleasing, provide a place of recreation for neighborhood families, as well as draw other families to our great community.

We would appreciate your support as we work to make this park safe, usable, and esthetically pleasing for the entire community.

Please contact us at downtownparks(at)gmail.com, if you have any questions or would like to assist us in improving Schell Park.

Sincerely,

Phil Collins

Dan Blanchard

Jaimee Smith

Responses!

2006-08-31T22:22:00.000-05:00

SO!

I have been bombarding City Hall with questions and suggestions regarding Hogans Creek and the parks and land near the poor polluted old creek.

First, a little tidbit for those who like history.

Did you know that Hogans Creek acted as a natural fire break during Jacksonvilles great fire in 1901. The only place the fire crossed the creek was a lumber yard that sat across the creek in what is now Confederate Park.

So basically, the reason Springfield blew up to be the booming neighborhood it was from 1901-1925 was because that creek saved Springfield from the same fate as the rest of downtown. After the exhausted denizens of downtown riffled through the charred remains of thier homes, they moved north of Hogans Creek to turn a sleepy little farming community into the residential center of downtown.

I dare say its our turn to see if we can repay the favor to that poor little creek.

NEXT!

I have officially re-started requesting meetings with Congresswoman Brown, of Floridas 3rd Congressional District, or as Stephen Colbert might call it, Floridas Fighting 3rd... It is my goal to get her to earnestly work towards federal funding for a Hogans Creek Cleanup. Last time, about a year ago, I sent a series of faxs, emails, and phone calls to both her DC office and her Jacksonville Office. These attempts didnt even warrant so much as a phone call from an intern in her office asking me to "please quit it".

NEXT!

During the last week and a half I have sent a series of emails to various people whose emails end in @coj.net.

It is my sincere hope to assist Jennifer Holbrook anyway I can as she lauches her SPYS kids sports program. One of my requests was to Parks and Recreation regarding the installation of irigation in Klutho Park. Lorenzo Williams, the director of Park maintenance replied to my email after an email from City Councilwoman Locket-felder sent to him said:

Please let me know what can/will be done.

I have to admit I was a bit shocked to see that the councilwoman was willing to help, albeit a one line email to a city employee. I have been somewhat vociferous in my opposition to many of the councilwomans past fiscal deicisons, particularly those regarding our districts bond money, and didnt really think she would support anything attached to my name.

I was wrong.

So, the email from Mr Williams asked me to call his "point man" on irrigation issues, Steve McyIntyre. I recieved a phone call back from Steve today, where he told me the cost of installing irrigation in Klutho park for two small youth soccer fields could be as much as TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

I wont even bother expounding on that. One can only assume that the city is using golden PVC for thier irrigation piping.

FINALLY!

From another email I sent out regarding developing a comprehensive plan for Hogans Creek, I got a reply from Ed Hall, who is the Director of Jacksonvilles Public works dept.

Here is what mr Hall had to say in regards to my rant.

Flood Reduction: A project to reduce flooding along Hogan Creek has been underway for several years. The initial study identified contamination issues in the creek that would have made channel dredging too costly for the flood reduction benefit gained. However, flood reduction was gained by constructing stormwater treatment ponds upstream within the watershed. Flood reduction will also be gained with the replacement of the Bay Street Bridge and channel widening at the mouth of the creek and the river. This project is scheduled to commence construction in January 2007.

Eco-Restoration: The USACOE project will be a good first at restoring Hogan Creek. The city as a funding partner has committed to pay all costs associated with required contamination remediation/removal in the project footprint. We look forward to this project being reactivated by the corps in the future.

Hogan Creek Greenway: Walking Path along the creek including greening landscape—Design is underway with estimated bid letting in May 2007.

St. Johns River and Tributary TMDL Cleanup: The city is obligated to reduce pollutants entering the main stem of the St. Johns River and several tributaries, including Hogan Creek. Development of a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) is underway now. Funding for this project is forecast in the proposed 2006-2011 Capital Improvement Plan. We are currently grading proposals form consultants to provide professional service associated with this work including, updating the master stormwater management plan, updating the flood insurance rate maps, and performing water quality modeling to identify cost effective solutions to meet our TMDL (pollutant reduction) allocation for urban stormwater runoff entering the St. Johns River.

River Accord: Recently, the mayor, together with partners who will invest in the future health of the river, announced the formation of the River Accord, a 10-year, $700 million program to begin restoring the health of the Lower St. Johns River Basin. Details can be found at: http://www.coj.net/Mayor/River+Accord/default.htm

A project to address the specific cleanup issues throughout the reaches of Hogan Creek, or any other similarly contaminated creek, is not underway. However, through our current NPDES permit activities, we are aggressively identifying and causing removal of point sources of pollution entering our drainage system and ultimately the St. Johns River and its tributaries. The City committed over $75 million of BJP funding for phasing out failed septic tanks throughout the city. JEA is also executing an aggressive program to rehabilitate aging sewer lines.

I have since replied to Mr Hall stating to following:

Thank you Mr Hall,

Its good to hear so many different items are being looked at. I still think that downtown and Historic Springfield would benefit from a master plan for the creek and its parks. Yes, it may only be one small creek, but its one small creek in the middle of an area that is in the throws of revitalization, and just a few blocks from city hall. Its also the single largest parcel of developed parkland downtown (37+ acres not including undeveloped land) and Jacksonvilles best opportunity for an urban central park-like system.

My first question would be about the Army Corp plan. Just to clarify, are you saying that the city will be cleaning up industrial waste along with the Army Corps plan? I have met with the Army Corp, and while their plan is a good one it does not address industrial contamination.

Furthermore, neither their plan, nor any of the info you just provided addresses the land surrounding the creek.

In some cases you have a site like Confederate Park thats already being addressed by the city and FDEP. IFor other sites, like Kluhto Park, there is no plan, and to my knowledge, no known study to determine the best path to remediating the area.

While I think that examining the aquatic health of the creek is important, I think it is secondary to cleaning up the industrial contaminants both in the creek and nearby land.

As to the flooding, can we look at excavating the Hogans Creek ponds at 4th and Pearl and 5th and Broad? At the very least, can we start to examine what those ponds were filled in with?

Lets get comprehensive

2006-08-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

The following is a letter sent in reply to Brad Thoburn of the Mayors office. I sent it to most of the citys mayoral staff, Parks and Rec leadership, Environmental clean up managers, and involved citizens... The links were added later for your pleasure.

Good evening everyone,

I wanted to follow up from my previous email.

I think the thing that needs to be done first and foremost is to develop a comprehensive plan for Hogans Creek.

My point in all of this is, The Army Core of Engineers plan has been billed by the city as being some sort of fix all. I think that we all know it is not. Aquatic re-nourishment MIGHT help the bacterial issue, but it doesnt solve any of the other issues we have, nor does it make the parks along the creek useful again to the citizens of Downtown Jacksonville and Historic Springfield.

I want to stress, when I say comprehensive plan, "clean it up" simply wont work. I feel we need to identify sites that are contaminated or possibly contaminated and work towards clean up plans. This means addressing both industrial, and bacterial problems and identifying how it can be addressed. Let’s see if we can get JEA to find leaking sewer lines, or failed septic tanks that are contributing to bacterial problems.

We also need to identify both short and long term goals, and see where existing concepts and unfunded mandates like the aquatic re-nourishment plan, fit into the overall plan.

A good short term goal might be to wrap up the clean-up in Confederate Park. It seems to be one of the best understood sites of industrial waste along the creek.

A good long term goal would be to complete architectural restoration to Kluthos remaining architecture. Perhaps lighting the Greenway, or including workout stations along a fully extended Greenway that runs from the River to Shands. I think the plan should include everything from the serious environmental issues to the mundane items like playground structures.
I also think that the comprehensive plan needs to include the entire length of the creek. Let’s talk about some good goals for the entire creek. What do we need to look at for flood control? Re-establishing the upper and lower ponds? Maybe establish more down stream parkland and ponds near the Stadium complex? Maybe reinstall flood gates like Klutho did?

The Mayor has talked about wanting to green up downtown. Why cant we make an effort to green up existing park land in downtown, land that could potentially become a central park type system to a thriving downtown, before we talk about towing under parking lots and planting trees on Main St?

Simply building a comprehensive plan shouldn't cost much money, and would give both the city and the community of Downtown and Historic Springfield a list of actionable items. Once the list of goals are created, then all interested parties can seek funding, be it though bond money, grant money, federal and state money, or even donations.

I look forward to hearing from you all on these thoughts.

Will wetlands fix industrial waste? Nope!

2006-08-24T08:56:00.000-05:00

Picture from http://www.geocities.com/xpatriot_1999/One/north.html

Upon my post two days ago, I sent emails to Rich Rachal, the director of environmental clean-up for FDEP, north east division. The Mayors Office, including Brad Thoburn, Susie Wiles, John Peyton, and Chris Pearson.

Mr. Pearson is the director of environmental clean up at the Duval County Solid Waste Division, and in the past has been very difficult to get a hold oh. He is also the person who keeps telling the community that we cant put in things like irrigation or playgrounds in our parks.

Within a half an hour Brad Thoburn replied that there is progress, refering to the Hogan's Creek Greenway (Again, a sidewalk, not a cleanup plan), followed quickly by a reply from Chris Pearson.

I have asked Chris Pearson to attend the Sept. SPAR roundtable meeting, and he agreed to look at his calendar, but has so far not committed.

the next day I got a call from Daniel Cronrath with COJ. He has been tasked with finding funding sources to push ahead the ACoE plan for aquatic renourishment. I replied to him and the rest of the city players, via email, with my thoughts on the plan.

Thank you for your time on the phone yesterday. It was truly a pleasure.

Based on our conversation, I want to go on the record as being against starting the Aquatic Renourishment as its has been proposed by the Army Corp of Engineers, until such time as the city/state/feds clean up all industrial contamination in the Hogans Creek Basin including a plan for cleaning up the parks contamination.

The biggest problem facing the creek and the connecting park system is the fact that we have oil, ash, and other industrial waste sites along the creek. Removing Hydrilla weed and restoring the creeks "aquatic health" will only address the issue with the elevated fecal coloforms, not items like the current levels of nickel, cadmium, lead, manganese, and other known industrial pollutants. Otherwise, the tax-payer would just be paying to make it a prettier superfund site.

The DEP and city have already been working on a plan for the remediation of the former coal gasification site and Confederate Park. This is a great first step.

Next we need to get action on the 6th St Ash site in Schell Park, as well as identify other source contamination sites. The old Auto body at Laura St/Hogans Creek, the old Lower Pond site at 4th and Pearl, areas near the Maxwell plant are all good places to get some soil testing done to see what sorts of problems we have.

At such time as there is a plan to address industrial waste in both the creek, and the parks, THEN we should look at improving the overall health of the creek with the rebuilding of wetlands, ponds, and transplant of native plants and fish, as well as the architectural restoration/preservation of the remaining Klutho architecture.

Thank you all for your time!

One note, I have learned that its going to cost roughly $11 Million dollars to clean up the oil contamination around Confederate Park, stemming from the former Coal Gasification plan on the grounds of the Park View Inn.

Give Me your Money!

2006-08-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

Photo Courtesy of Urbanjacksonville.info

Ok, here is the deal.

In my efforts in the parks in the past year or so, one thing has become clear. Nobody seems to have a cumulative plan for the environmental clean up of Hogan's Creek or its parks.

The Army Corp has a plan for "aquatic re-nourishment" of the creek. This is not an environmental clean up, as much as a "make the creek healthier". It doesn't clean up the parks that apparently aren't safe enough to put a playground in.

The State and the City are going to be laying a 12' wide sidewalk from Liberty St to 8th St, and are calling it a greenway, but it doesn't clean up the parks.

Neighborhood heroes like Jennifer Holbrook and Chris Farley are working diligently to bring people back to the parks, but we cant get the city to give us approval to install a sprinkler system to plant grass for a soccer field.

Looking back over the last year of writing on this blog, we have made some progress on a series of smaller items through the parks. Cement pole, ugly buildings, and painted bridges are all important parts of a bigger picture, but at the end of the day the thousand pound gorilla is the environmental issues surrounding the parks.

I am going to start documenting the efforts to get someone, somewhere to do something with this problem we have in our parks. I will be working on getting meetings with the decision makers like the Mayors Office, Congresswoman's Office, and anyone one else I can think of that might help us get this problem moved forward. The environmentalists at the DEP, EPA, ACoE, and DCHD all agree we have a problem. Now we need some money to fix that problem.

Wish me luck.

Park Happenings

2006-06-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

Flying a kite in Klutho Park

It occurred to me that I haven’t posted in a rather long time. I know most of those of you who have read this thing probably have stopped reading by now, but screw it. I’m gonna post some current news on the parks anyway.

Chris Farley and the Springfield Woman’s Club have been extremely busy this spring. They have a whole host of events lined up. They are calling it Magnificent Obsession, and are hosting several events in the parks in the coming months. Chris is also thrilled to report that the Klutho Park fountain is getting ready to break ground. She is still taking last minute brick orders to help cover the cost of the fountain, which is somewhere over $100K. If you would like an engraved brick, you can contact her at chris@springfieldwomansclub.org

Lynn Gilley of the Springfield Woman’s club recently applied for, and won a grant from Comcast to replace the seating at the Klutho Park ballfield. It is also rumored that there is some money set aside to put clay on the field. As a person who has played at the field several times, they will be welcomed improvements.

Speaking of the ballfield, the annual Springfield East vs. West Memorial Day softball tourney was a lot of fun. Due to a poor turn out from the Eastside, however, the Westside had to send a few Westside players over to their team. As a result, the Westside was soundly beat three times. There will be a rematch on July 4^th at 10am in Klutho park, and this time, rumor has it that Westside wont be giving up some of it biggest bats.

The Klutho Park Bandstand is well underway. The contract is 180 days long, so hopefully work will be done by September. The construction won’t address the bathrooms or storage rooms in the band stand, but the rest of the structure will be sound once again.

Lastly, Parks and Recreation is feeling the neighborhood out about the possibility of moving the recently installed playground in Schell Park (On Boulevard) over to Klutho Park. I think that it’s a great idea, particularly in light of the fact that the current location wont be open any time soon due to contamination. I have heard from one member of the Springfield community who doesn’t like the idea, but personally, I think if the play equipment is put in near the ballfield, it would be a real asset to the park and its usability. If you have any thoughts on it, please email me at downtownparks@gmail.com

ACoE Hogans Creek Fact Sheet

2006-03-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

Conferderate Park Footbridge, courtesy of http://www.geocities.com/xpatriot_1999/

CESAJ-DP (Cong) January 2006

FACT SHEET

Hogans Creek Restoration, FL (206)

Construction General (CG)

Congressional District: 3

1. DESCRIPTION

Hogans Creek sub-basin contains 36 hydrologic units and 1 channel reach. It drains 3.1 square miles, is 1.7 miles long and has 11 major roadway crossings. The creek discharges into the St. Johns River (a designated American Heritage River). The project will improve the natural flow of the creek and create wetland areas in the creek’s basin. This restoration project will restore fish and wildlife habitat, and improve water quality by creating a greenway along the creek’s corridor. An increase in aquatic vegetation is expected, which would produce a food source and habitat for fish and wildlife within the Hogans Creek ecosystem. Section 206, of the 1996 Water Resources Development Act, authorizes this study.

2. FUNDING

Estimated Total Cost	$ 5,155,000
Estimated Federal Cost	3,351,000
Allocation thru FY05	450,304

Project is Section 206 Continuing Authorities Program project.

3. SPONSOR

City of Jacksonville

117 West Duval Street

Jacksonville, Florida 32202

4. STATUS

FY 2004 CAP 206 funds were suspended. FY 2005 and FY 2006 funding not included in CAP Program. The Preliminary Restoration Plan (PRP) was completed in FY 2002. The Environmental Restoration Report (ERR) completion and initiation of design Plans and Specifications will be rescheduled when funding becomes available. The ERR will form the basis for Congressional authorization.

No Pressure

2006-03-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

The Springfield Mommies Club Sponsored Mardi Gras parade ends at Klutho Park. A great time was had by all.

It seems that the plan of using inmates to paint the overpasses in Klutho Park has hit a snag. The pressure washer that JSO had intended on using to clean the bridges prior to painting them has issues. I have been assured that as soon as the machine is fixed, the painting will occur. I will be asking that an effort be made to get this done prior to the April 22 Designs on Springfield, in order to help beatify our festival location, in support of the Symphony Showcase of Homes, and the Spring Home and Garden Tour.

I was also told that in lieu of the inmates painting for the time being, they would be addressing the trash issue along the creek. I will check sometime this week to see how things are looking out there.

Councilwoman Lockett-Felder has stated that she intends to have ribbon cutting ceremonies at both Liberty and Oakland parks, probably sometime this month. For those who have driven by, you can tell how far along these playgrounds have come.

There is no word yet on the contamination at Schell Park, so for the time being, work is still on hold on that playground.

Lastly, as some point in the next few weeks I will be sitting down with Parks and Recreation to develop a plan for Klutho Park. It’s currently a 17 acre park with very little going on. We will work to rectify that with some of our ideas, but I would also really like to take any ideas the community has for Klutho.

Personally, I would like to see a very nice playground installed out there, as well as refurbished softball field, and a cohesive sidewalk system. Currently, there is no playground, the softball field is a ligament tear waiting to happen, and the sidewalks are a mish-mash of surfaces that randomly begin and end. So please, forward your ideas for Klutho Park to me at downtownparks@gmail.com

Also, thanks for all of your support, and kind emails!

Jacksonville's Central Park?

2006-02-23T23:13:00.000-05:00

Map of exisiting, proposed, and needed walks and greenways.

A question was asked on the MetroJax message boards about making the Hogan’s Creek parks the “Central Park” of Jacksonville.

This is not a new concept. Many people who have been involved in the parks over the years have mentioned this as a desire. Someone else asked about the size of the parks, and I thought I would compare them to other city’s “marquee” urban parks.

Downtowns Historic Springfield district parks make up about 37 Acres of parkland. This is made up of Confederate Park and playground, H.J. Klutho Park, W.W. Schell Park, and McPherson Park. This does not include any connecting land between Liberty the Northbank Riverwalk, which in an ideal work would complete a Hogan’s Creek Greenway.

By comparison, Boston Common is 48 acres, while New York’s Central Park is an unbelievable 843 Acres. Denver has about 80 acres of urban parks split between Civic Center Park, Sky Line Park, Sunken Gardens, Commons Park, and Confluence Park. Atlanta’s Piedmont Park is about 185 Acres, but includes the Botanical Gardens and 50 acres of undeveloped parkland. Charlottes Freedom Park comes in at 107 acres, but it well outside of the urban core.

In Florida, Miami’s Bayfront and Bicentennial parks are about 50 acres. And Orlando’s Lake Eola and Ivanhoe parks combine for 31 acres, not including the water.

Keep in mind also, if our historic districts parks were to be "redeveloped", they could be even larger because the south side of the creek is mostly undeveloped city property.

In all, if the Hogan’s Creek and McCoys Creek Greenways were to be completed and tied into the Riverwalk system, it would give Jacksonville over 8 miles of nearly contiguous access to the river and urban greenspaces. They would also be tied into other river front parks like the Kids Kampus, Metro Park, and Memorial Park when the Northbank Riverwalk is extended. You could walk from Shands to 5points, or from Cummer to the Stadium with minimal interaction with traffic.

If we do this right, we may not have the largest urban park system, but we will have one of the most unique urban parks in the US.

Nine Outta Ten Ain’t bad

2006-02-22T22:49:00.000-05:00

W.W. Schell Park, Summer 2005

Here is a joke for you. How many soil samples have to be slightly above allowable levels to bring the construction of Schell Park playground to a screeching halt?

One would be the correct answer. Out of ten soil samples, one came back with slightly elevated levels. Levels of what we aren’t sure. I might have been slightly elevated levels of peanut butter; sadly, we weren't given the specifics. Which chemical compound in the soil they are measuring, we really don’t know, but the magic number to trigger this was over 200 part per million, (PPM). One of the samples there was 226 PPM of peanut butter, while the rest passed.

What does this mean? This means that the failing sample will be reanalyzed, and as long as on the re-testing it does no exceed 400 PPM of peanut butter, the park will be completed.

The testing is supposed to be completed by Friday, so we will keep you in the loop. It does lead one to ask, if the acceptable number is really 400, why wouldn’t they just set the limit to 400, rather than 200 initially, and cause all this anxiety?

There was a meeting today regarding the Hogan’s Creek Greenway. I will let UJ fill everyone in on those details since the information is far more likely to get out from his site.

Lastly, Councilwoman Lockett-Felder has agreed to hold ribbon cutting ceremonies at both Liberty Park and Oakland Park. These will be some time in March. Stay tuned for more information. With any Luck, SPAR and the mommies club will hold an event at the opening so all of our little rug-rats can break the new equipment in.

Oh, and don’t be shy to sign up to help clean the medians on March 4^th. With any luck we will have some yummy grub out there.

Bad News

2006-02-22T09:28:00.000-05:00

Photo of Schell Park construction
courtsey of UrbanJacksonville.info

We understand that construction has stopped on the nearly completed Schell Park Playground near the corner of West 6th St and Boulevard.

The rumor is that the Parks Maintenance Division was told to stop work due to possible contamination in the area. There are emails out to work out the particulars of this issue.

There is possible contamination south of the Basketball courts where the old “upper pond” used to be. But this is the first we have heard of that area being a concern.

Busy Days

2006-02-18T22:49:00.000-05:00

Looking across old lower pond towards Jacksonville skyline

The last few weeks have been busy in the parks. This last week alone we met with the Florida Dept of Environmental Protection, Jacksonville University, and an event planner.

The meeting with DEP was to ascertain whether of not the proposed location for the Rose Arbor in Confederate Park would be affected by any contamination stemming from the Park View Inn location. The short answer is, no. This should eliminate one of the arguments that the Parks and Recreation Dept have given us to not build the arbor.

While speaking of the Hogan’s Creek situation, the representatives from DEP were interested to hear about our two ponds that were filled in. They have asked those of us at the meeting to try to find records or witnesses as to what may have been dumped in the ponds. They seemed interested in the possibility that they may have been used as dumping sites.

At the meeting I was fortunate enough to meet Philip Ramsey. Mr. Ramsey is an event coordinator who has ties to the Uncommon Grounds Café in San Marco. Most recently he was involved in organizing the Tangerine Festival at Memorial Park in Riverside. Mr. Ramsey is part of a group of people who have an interest in starting a public vegetable garden in our area. He also expressed an interest in perhaps trying to plan an event in one of our parks. It should be interesting to see where this relationship goes.

Our meeting with Jacksonville University was to see if some of their chemistry students would like to perhaps use our polluted little creek for some homework. JU has done a lot of testing on the St Johns River, and seems very interested in testing the sediment of our creek for non-biological contaminants. We will keep you up to date on JU’s plans as they become more clear.

Coming up this week we are meeting with Parks and Recreation about Klutho Park. On April 22^nd Historic Springfield will be hosting the Symphony Showcase of Homes, as well as the Designs on Springfield. The Designs on Springfield is an event that will be held in Klutho Park, and will have fun, food, and entertainment for the entire family. I have offered the time of the Parks Task Force to do what can be done to make the park ready for this event. In short, the trash will be picked up, the grass will be mowed, and what ever else we manage to squeeze out of our friends over at parks and recreation.

We also have a meeting scheduled with the City Of Jacksonville regarding the Hogan’s Creek Greenway. For those that are unaware, there is a planned biking, walking, running path planned from Liberty St to 8^th Street along Hogan’s Creek. This is a fully funded project, of which we will learn the details on Wednesday. Stay tuned to this site and UrbanJacksonville for updates on the Hogans Creek greenway plan.

Downtownparks email link now works

2006-02-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

A mistake was apparently made when the layout of this blog was created. The email address was supposed to be downtownparks at gmail dot com (Spammer be damned!)

This link is now corrected. If you have tried to email downtownparks before you may have gotten a bounce back, please let me know if you have any questions or input about the work we are doing.

Thanks for your support!

Parks, Parks, Everywhere Parks...

2006-02-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

At UrbanJaxs request we have dug up whats happeneing in Schell Park.

As perviously stated, Liberty park is on the fast track to completion. I will let everyone know when the park is set to reopen. Some have suggested that Springfield have a celebration the day it opens. We agree, but are not in the position to organize anything. If anyone is planning to do that, please let us know and we will spread the word.

Along with UrbanJax, we noticed that the Schell Park playground was missing the other day. We have asked about the park many times, but never gotten a comitment to make anything happen. An email to Parks and Rec turned up this answer.

Yes, the playground is being replaced by Park Maintenance therefore the time frame on this project should be completed within the next 2 weeks.

We are also working to get a playground in Klutho Park, when we have details worked out we will let everyone know.

Thanks to UrbanJax for being on the ball, somewhat suprising for a blog getting so little sleep as of late! :-)

Park Happenings

2006-01-25T12:09:00.000-05:00

In the last few months the parks task force has been fairly busy. We have met with City Councilwoman Lockett-Felder again to follow up with some problems we face in our work in the parks. We have also had correspondence with Parks and Recreation, Jacksonville Sheriffs Office, and the Streets and Drainage Departments to address various issues in our parks.

To start with, there were some milestones achieved. The lightless cement poles in Klutho Park are finally gone. Liberty Park is finally underway, and the preliminary Drawings for the "Hogan's Creek greenway" are in. These are all items that have been sort of hanging out there for a long time, so it is good to see them start to be addressed.

The task force has done a decent job of staying on top of getting graffiti addressed when it appears in the parks. Sadly, Streets and Drainage, the city agency responsible for maintaining bridge structures, tend to paint ONLY the graffiti, leaving large white splotches on a bridge otherwise untouched by paint. At our behest Councilwoman Lockett-Felder has asked JSO to help beautify our parks by having inmates paint the Pearl and Broad St bridges. JSO told us they expect to start painting in February, but that it may take a few visits to get the job done. The have also agreed to have a group of inmates address the litter and trash in the area while working on the bridges.

Streets and Drainage did address the shopping cart situation in the creek about a month ago. A large number of carts were removed, but there are still more that need to be picked out. With any luck we can get S&D to get that done. We are also working on getting the weed situation looked at. Streets and Drainage says that Hogan’s Creek is on a list of waterways that are supposed to be treated for Hydrilla weed. Now that we know that is the case, we can work to stay on top of the weed problem in the creek. This should help the flow and appearance of the creek.

We are asking Parks and Recreation to do some preliminary work on finding funding for a playground in Klutho Park. It is by far the most used of our parks by families, and it would make a nice addition to the area. Ideally we feel that there should be a play ground near every “activity center” to allow parents to bring their children along while making use of the facilities we already have in place like the Tennis Courts, ball field, and basketball court.

Finally we would like to welcome Jason Acosta and Mike Dickey to the parks task force. Mike will be mainly helping behind the scenes with his knowledge of environmental issues, and Jason will be stepping in to help with the routine activities that the task force has been addressing over the last year. Doug Vanderlaan has officially spread himself too thin, and is moving on to chair our zones Sheriffs Advisory Council. This is along with his duties on the SPAR board, Urban Core CPAC, church responsibilities, and just generally being a swell guy. We will miss Doug, but we feel safe in saying the Confederate Park ducks wont.

Between newsletters please feel free to check out the Downtownparks blog for park updates and information. You can access this site at http://downtownpark.blogspot.com.

Save Hogans Creek

2005-12-26T22:13:00.000-05:00

Springfield Park, after Kluthos Improvements in 1929.

Hogan’s Creek has a history like few other bodies of water in the city of Jacksonville, with the notable exception of the St Johns River. It served as a natural firebreak during the Great Fire, saving homes, businesses, and even the original St Lukes Hospital from the flames that ripped through Downtown Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Subtropical Exposition, destination for many tourists in the late 1800’s was built on the Creek. The Expo later became Jacksonville’s Water Works and Home to Big Jim, the famed Steam Whistle. The Jacksonville Zoo even started on the banks of Hogan’s Creek.

Today the creek runs next to Shands Hospital, two JEA drinking water reservoirs, Bethel Baptist Church, The Parks and Recreation Building, and a large number of public housing units. It also runs the length of down town Jacksonville’s largest greenway with over 30 acres of park land, which lies about five blocks from City Hall.

I was all prepared to start ranting and raving over the state of Hogan’s Creek. To express disappointment over a city that claims to want its parks to go from the biggest to the best, but seems to ignore a park within a stones throw of its leaders offices. Then, after I read the words of Henry Klutho, one of Jacksonville’s most famous and influential architects, I realized the city has always neglected the creek. When Klutho revitalized the creek in 1929, he spoke of the "improvements to Hogan's Creek" calling it "an unsightly and rather filthy stream." He stated that "A general opinion prevailed that a large underground duct should be designed", but instead at the behest of the Springfield Woman’s Club, he worked to improve the creek. With a city issued bond Klutho was able to work miracles and install a balustrade and beautiful bridges. His work was so remarkable that it was written about in engineering magazines, and was the subject of countless Jacksonville Postcards and photographs.

Now, seventy five years later, we find a creek that is possibly in worse condition than how Klutho found it in 1929. The remnants of Klutho’s work are neglected, graffitied, and falling apart. The creek itself has harmful levels of fecal coloform bacteria, and other pollutants. There is litter, debris, and weeds choking the creek all the way from Shands to the Maxwell House plant, yet all the city seems to say is, "Yup, it’s a nasty creek".

Many Springfield residents and downtown workers hope to see a return to the days when the creek was serene and beautiful. Just imagine the possibilities of a Hogan’s Creek walkway tied into the Downtown Riverwalk system. It would be a jewel for all of Jacksonville to enjoy. The only way this can happen is if the city gets serious about solving the problems facing the creek. It won’t be cheap, but it will be worth it, especially to a thriving urban center.

River Regions is being disingenuous.

2005-11-14T10:41:00.000-05:00

According its own mission statement, River Region Human Services, is an organization that assists individuals that struggle with "dependency-producing drugs, debilitating mental disorders, involvement in anti-social and criminal activities, and HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. Nevertheless, it has been selected by the Federal Government to take possession of the historic Jewish Center/Job Corps facility on W. 3rd Street, to be used as a living and treatment facility, despite the fact that this use is precluded by local zoning laws and historic covenants.

In June, four-hundred Springfield residents turned out at Henrietta's Restaurant to tell to federal, state, and local officials what they thought about River Region's plan. No representatives of River Region attended.

At the Mayor's June town hall meeting at the FCCJ campus Downtown, Springfield had another great turnout to learn that the Mayor also did not support River Region's taking over this building. The Mayor promised to form a task force stating that "there could be better use made of the building, one that would better serve the interests of the Springfield community."

On July 11th the Springfield community was seemingly rewarded for its vigilance on this issue when Derya Williams, the CEO of River Region, wrote a letter to the Mayor stating that they had "agreed to suspend its pursuit of the former Job Corps building based on your commitment to assist us in finding comparable accommodations."

In September, Springfield learned that the General Services Administration was still moving forward with rewarding the property because River Regions had never withdrawn their application. Until such a withdrawal occurs, GSA is forced to continue processing the property.

Despite attempts to contact River Region, no answer has been given to Springfield's residents of why River Region has not withdrawn their application. The Mayor's office was also unaware that this was still an issue, as they felt that they had handled the issue and were already working to find a suitable location for River Region.

The Board members of River Region do not seem to care that they have hijacked a neighborhood and its future in this process. They seem to only care that they get what they want, and with their actions they are saying that their word is no good. This is a very obtuse position from an organization that receives the vast majority of its funding from Tax Payer money. If River Region treats the Mayor's office and Springfield this unethically, it frankly makes one wonder how it treats its patients.

Time is running out, if River Region does not withdraw its application for the Historic Jewish Center in the next few weeks, they will be awarded the building, and Springfield's future will once again have suffered at the hands of the City and Federal Governments.

Security in Confederate Park

2005-11-03T19:58:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, Nov 1st, the SPAR parks task force met with Parks and Recreation, DSI security, and JSO. The subject at hand was park security, specifically in Confederate Park. Anyone who has lived in Jacksonville for more than a few minutes knows that the park has crime issues, and has for a very long time.

Since the inception of the taskforce, we have been working on many fronts to simply find answers to questions that have never been asked of the right people. One such question was, what, exactly, is the job of the security officer that sits in the park. A guard who is ultimately paid with taxpayer money

Our main focus was to find out what was expected of that position. DSI has now committed to not only giving us an exact list of what their job is, but they will, at our request, work to enforce the policies we have asked for.

For starters, we have asked that the guard simply enforce park rules. This means no alcohol, no camping, no illegal activity, and no pan handling. Simply enforcing these rules would make a huge difference in our neglected little park. We have also asked that the guard make a reasonable effort to look just outside the fence. It has been clearly left to the bad element in the past. If the guard simply called JSO when he sees feedings, prostitution, or drug activity, this would again make an enormous difference.

In a perfect world this would be easy to enforce and ensure is happening. Sadly, this isn’t a perfect world. Even with a written policy, the trick will be getting the guards to actually adhere to said policy. However, the big difference is that with a policy in place, an issue can be made of the lack of enforcement. We will KNOW that rounds are to be made at every hour to every corner of the park. This means that the people who sit along Hogans Creek and drink beer should be asked to leave; litterers should be asked to pick up their trash. If they are not, we now can clearly hold that guard, and DSI responsible.

This is where you, the community come in. There needs to be a concerted effort to hold these guards accountable. If you are in the park and you see someone with a bottle of beer, go ask the guard. If the guard blows you off or doesn’t take any action, email me with the time and date of the problem at downtownparks@gmail.com, and I will contact the supervisor. We can make these rules stick with a little bit of effort. If these policies and rules are enforced, it will not take very long for our crime problem to move somewhere else.

When there is a written policy in place, it will be posted here. But it will all be for not if we don’t get in there and see what the problems are. If the guard wont act or your don’t have time to confront him, call JSO at 630-0500 and tell them the problem.

Most importantly, take your dogs for walks in the park, or pass by after dinner or on your way to work. It only takes a minute to see what’s going on and make a note of it.

Happenings in the parks

2005-11-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

The last two months have been busy for the parks in Springfield. In October the Block Captains and SPAR teamed up with Celebration Church to paint the Hubbard and Market Street Klutho Bridges. In addition to painting, the group cut back the trees and picked up an inordinant amount of litter. Thank you to everyone who participated or donated money.

Speaking of bridge painting, so far our efforts to get the two overpass bridges in Klutho Park, the Pearl and Broad St. Bridges, have been fruitless. Streets and Drainage has told us that they are “no longer in the bridge painting business” and that we should pursue it through a neighborhood effort. While Painting the smaller historic bridges isn’t overwhelming, the effort and equipment needed for the larger bridges makes this unlikely. Other channels are being looked at to get this done. While I would like to praise the Streets and Drainage Dept for painting over the graffiti, the bridges need more TLC.

Parks and Recreation has been doing a better job of keeping up with the baseball diamond in Klutho Park, as well as unearthing a large section of the parks sidewalks in Klutho. Parks and Rec. also had many of the inactive, non-historic cinderblock buildings in the parks removed. The ones that remain are still in use by JEA. If anyone has any ideas of how to make the remaining buildings look nicer, please let us know.

The Parks task force has meet with JSO and DSI security about the situation with criminal activity in Confederate Park. DSI is working on providing SPAR with a list of what it requires of its officers. Among the items we spoke about was simply calling JSO when there is criminal activity in the park. This is also true for Springfield’s residents. It only takes a minute to call 630-0500, and tell them what you saw, and give a brief description. Sometimes we get desensitized to the "petty" crime around us. Don’t fall victim to that habit. When you see something, take the few minutes and call JSO.

As always, use the parks well, and use them often.

Save our Parks!

2005-10-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

Please help save Springfield and its parks by telling the city how you feel. While the city is not actively allowing River Regions to take the former Job Corp building, it is passively doing so. The Cities inaction is going to cost our parks dearly if this is allowed to go forward.

[Klutho Park, directly infront of the former Job Corp Building]

They have asked for our input for alternative locations. I can think about dozens of Strip Malls in heavily commercialized areas that are not in the middle of a historic, residential area.

If you would take a moment to let out city leader know that this will not work for Springfield, or our parks, we would greatly appreciate it.

Mayor Peyton:

JPeyton@coj.net

City Council:

WAlvarez@coj.net, ElaineB@coj.net, Corrigan@coj.net, LDaniels@coj.net, DDavis@coj.net, ReggieF@coj.net, ArtG@coj.net, KHyde@coj.net, SuzanneJ@coj.net, GloriousJ@coj.net, MJones@coj.net, pfelder@coj.net, LRay@coj.net, LSelf@coj.net, AShad@coj.net, GYates@coj.net, RonnieF@coj.net, RClark@coj.net,

Congress Woman Brown:

(202) 225-0123 DC Office
(904) 354-1652 Jax Office
Email her at http://www.house.gov/writerep/ (Your zip code is 32206-2248)

UrbanJax and Downtownparks team up!!!

2005-10-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Joey Marchy and UrbanJax for hooking us up with Mr. Silliman for a tour of the E.H. Thompson building. Rather than wax poetic about architecture or restoration I will let the photos speak for themselves...

Thank you!!!

2005-10-20T11:31:00.002-05:00

[Kids actually playing in Confederate Park!}

On Saturday October 15th Members of SPAR and Celebration Church hooked up to help save two of the 1929 Klutho Bridges. After 4 hours of hard work, 10 gallons of paint, several large piles of debris, and countless ant bites, the team converged on the Vanderlaans for a great lunch. Thanks to everyone who donated time, food, or money to make this project happen!!!

[Bridge Being Painted @ Market St]

[More people hard at work]

[Painting @ Hubbard St]

Painting the Bridges

2005-10-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

[Before and After @Laura St]

This Saturday (10/15), starting at 9:00am, the Springfield Block Captains, along with two church youth groups, will be working to preserve a piece of Downtown and Springfield History.

The Klutho Bridges, which cross Hogan’s Creek at Liberty St, Market St, Hubbard St, Confederate Park, Main St, Laura St, and 5^th St, as well as the old Julia St Bridge in Klutho Park, where built in 1929 as part of a Hogan’s Creek improvement. Famed Jacksonville architect, Henry Klutho, at the request of the Springfield Woman’s Club and Springfield Booster Club, stepped in and designed and built an expansive walkway and channel system between the St Johns River and 5^th Street. Klutho’s design addressed the flooding concerns with a pump system. He also addressed the issue of beauty by designing the bridges and balustrades that we see today. The design was so impressive it was featured in an engineering magazine at the time. (http://dblanchard.clearwire.net/html/hogan_s_creek.html)

[Hogans Creek in Florida Engineers Magazine]

Two of these bridges will not need to be addressed. Laura St, shown above, was completed in May, and the 5^th St Pedestrian Bridge was completed in July.

Volunteers are needed to help organize up to 40 teenage kids. The groups are meeting at Klutho Park, and the job will entail cleaning and applying a fresh coat of paint to these historical structures, helping to both beautify and preserve them.

The SPAR office is also asking for people to pitch in food and refreshments for this project. You can contact SPAR at 353-7727.

Something is missing in the parks!

2005-10-09T13:02:00.000-05:00

Only this time it’s a good thing!

[Existing building @ Boulevard and 6th]

The small cinder block building seen above is similar to many other small buildings between 1st and 6th in the parks system. It appears that after the parks task force last meeting with the Parks and Recreation maintenance chief Lorenzo Williams, someone decided to remove them.

[Missing building @ 4th and Pearl]

These building served no purpose other than taking up space. Space that could be landscaped, or have a playground, or just sit and be green. There are still a few buildings left, but these appear to be actually serving a purpose, which is a novelty in our parks. I am personally of the opinion that the remaining buildings should get a nice coat of neutral/earth tone paint.

[Missing building @ Klutho Park]

The neat thing about the fight to get the parks back into shape is that there are small battles that can be won. While we really don’t know if it was our efforts that got these buildings removed, it’s certainly hard to argue that we haven’t gotten a little bit of attention from those that are supposed to maintain and improve our parks.

[Missing Building @ 3rd and Pearl]

The more small issues we can resolve, the better our parks will be. While getting these buildings taken down may seem like an insignificant feat, it was an arduous task simply finding out who owned the buildings, let alone who could take them down.

[Old Tennis Court Light Poles @ Klutho Park}

Hopefully in the near future the now functionless light poles at the 2nd street parking lot, in Klutho Park will be removed. This will open up a large unimpeded area that can be used for football, soccer, or even kite flying.

Are the parks Springfields Lions?

2005-10-06T09:05:00.000-05:00

A few months ago SPAR applied for a Mayors matching grant to start rebuilding the Rose Arbor in Confederate Park. The grant was approved, and SPAR will soon begin the process of putting together a plan to rebuild as much of the arbor as possible. Over the next few months there will be an effort to get local people involved in bringing back an item of true beauty in our park system

While getting a coffee recently at the Starbucks in San Marco, I passed the Lions in San Marco Sq. These lions are very well known throughout the city, and photographers can be seen shooting the Lions quite often. Seeing all of these photographers makes me wonder;

Can the parks become Springfield’s Lions, if they are brought back to life?

Certainly rebuilding the rose arbor will give all of the folk who used to live in the neighborhood as children reason to revisit Confederate Park. But will it be enough to get the parents who live here now to bring their children?

Sadly, Confederate Park has become the red-headed step child of Jacksonville’s parks system. People don’t go to it because it for any umber of personal reasons. It may be that they fear that the environmental issues are significant to the point of being a potential health hazard. Others may not want to deal with the homeless and panhandlers. Some have a political beef with it because is has “Confederate” in its name.

No matter the reason, the bottom line on the parks is, if we don’t use them, someone else will. On a recent visit I asked one of the folks hanging out why they chose that area, of all the areas in downtown, to hang out. I was told "because no one messes with us."

If the parks are made to be both beautiful and functional, there is no reason they wont attract people from outside of Springfield to enjoy them. I have had several people who "remember Springfield when..." tell me that they remember walking though the arbor as a child.

I, for one, hope this helps bring people back to our parks.

Can Streets and Drainage help?

2005-10-04T19:12:00.000-05:00

Can Streets and Drainage help?

On Thursday the Springfield parks task force is meeting with the COJ Streets and Drainage dept. The meeting was supposed to be with Jeff Beck, head of the Dept, but this morning we were notified that we were meeting with a different manager within the dept. The task force has been in touch with Mr. Beck on a fairly regular basis since March, meaning that he has a fair understanding of what the task force wants to accomplish. Since the meeting is with someone who has never been privy to our goals, an email was sent containing the questions we are hoping to answer.

For starters, we want to learn if there is anything that can be done about Hogan’s Creek from a trash, litter, and debris standpoint. The Streets and Drainage Dept is presumably in charge of the creek because much of Springfield’s run off drains into the creek. When all of the debris and trash come to rest against the various obstructions across the creek, it acts like a dam, helping make an already tenuous drainage situation even worse. This debris needs to be cleared from the creek. This not only beautifies the creek, but makes it more functional from a drainage stand point.

Secondly, graffiti has been a problem on the various bridges over Hogan’s creek for years. With the help of the Block Captains, the Klutho bridges are being addressed. Streets and Drainage has also helped by covering over graffiti on the Pearl and Broad St bridges. The problem is, they are painting JUST the graffiti, leaving the rest of the bridge unpainted. This makes it look like someone went nuts with whiteout on the bridge.

Lastly, lighting is desperately needed under the two previously mentioned bridges. There are walkways that go under them connecting the parks. There was at one point lighting but it has since been vandalized. This is a different time in Springfield, and items like this should not be allowed to be put off because it “might happen again”. Streets and Drainage has maintained that is it not their responsibility to replace this lighting. That is fine, but since they have ownership of the bridges they should be able to at least let it be known who can replace the lights. This lighting is vital for the safety of the parks users, as well as runners and bicyclists who are currently forced to run across two fairly well travel roadways.

The parks sidewalk problems

2005-10-01T10:43:00.000-05:00

Confederate Park by pedestrian bridge.

The Springfield parks task force has been working to get the sidewalk situation in Springfield’s parks sorted out. Unfortunately, the problem involves a little more than simply replacing the buried or missing concrete.

In Klutho park there is the issue of which sidewalks to restore. The original Klutho walkway along the creek and balustrade has sunk and broken in so many areas it would take a significant investment to replace or repair it. Lorenzo Williams, the Parks and Recreation maintenance chief, has already had crews disinter many of the sidewalks in, and around Klutho. He has shown a real interest in helping us get the parks more up to speed. The areas where the existing sidewalks are broken and buried will be addressed in the near future.

Confederate park is a bit more of an issue. The parks task force has learned from the Florida Dept of Environmental Protection that there are significant environmental concerns in Confederate park. An old coal gasification plant used to exist where the Park View Inn now sits. The plant apparently caused extensive ground water contamination. The DEP and Duval county health Dept are working on planning a remediation of Confederate Park. This will likely be extensive in scope, and take a lot of time to plan.

The task force has been told that SPAR should have no problem with moving forward on the Rose Arbor, but that any sidewalks around the pond will likely be affected during any remediation work. In addition, any soil excavated must be tested, treated, and disposed of in accordance to EPA rules.

The upside to this is that the nature of contamination is not dangerous to anyone using the park for recreation not involving soil excavation. In addition most of the sidewalk repairs will require fill be brought in, not taken out. Add to this that remediation is likely years off, and it is very possible we can convince Parks and Recreating to repair the worst of the sidewalks.

An Update on Springfields parks.

2005-09-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

The plans for an upgraded Liberty Street Park have hit
a temporary snag. The bidding for the work on Liberty came
back with a higher price tag than anticipated. Oakland Park, on
Union St. was bid at the same time and also came back with a
higher price tag, which is most likely due to the recent surge in
oil and concrete prices. Parks and Recreation have now gone
back to Jacksonville City Councilwoman Pat Lockett-Felder
and asked her if she would be willing to increase funding for
both parks. This, unfortunately, means the Liberty Street Park
construction has been delayed, and rather than seeing
completion at the end of September, as previously expected, it
will be much closer to December.

Members of the SPAR Parks Task Force met with Park
Maintenance Chief Lorenzo Williams a few weeks ago and
expressed some community concerns over various issues
throughout the Hogan's Creek park system. Mr. Williams
seemed very receptive to many of the ideas presented.
Hopefully this will translate into some action items for our
parks.

The Parks Task Force has also been meeting with
various environmental and health groups to determine the
nature and scope of problems surrounding the Hogan's Creek
and surrounding parks. To date, meetings have taken place with
the Army Corps of Engineers, Florida Dept of Environmental
Protection, and the Duval County Health Dept. The picture of
the sort of pollution and environmental damage in Hogan's
Creek is getting clearer, and while there are major concerns,
there doesn�t appear to be any immediate danger to public
health.

Finally, SPAR has applied for a grant to begin
reconstruction of the Confederate Park rose arbor. This was a
beautiful arbor that ran along a large portion of the parks northeast
walkway. The arbor, along with the monument to southern
women, was the centerpiece of the park for many years, and is
shown on many period postcards.

Remember, the more we use the parks, the more
leverage we have to get things done. Even if it's just taking
your dog for a weekly walk, get out there and make good use
of them!

DowntownParks

Skate Springfield?

Responses!

Lets get comprehensive

Will wetlands fix industrial waste? Nope!

Give Me your Money!

Park Happenings

ACoE Hogans Creek Fact Sheet

Estimated Total Cost

$ 5,155,000

Estimated Federal Cost

3,351,000

Allocation thru FY05

450,304

No Pressure

Jacksonville's Central Park?

Nine Outta Ten Ain’t bad

Bad News

Busy Days

Downtownparks email link now works

Parks, Parks, Everywhere Parks...

Park Happenings

Save Hogans Creek

River Regions is being disingenuous.

Security in Confederate Park

Happenings in the parks

Save our Parks!

UrbanJax and Downtownparks team up!!!

Thank you!!!

Painting the Bridges

Something is missing in the parks!

Are the parks Springfields Lions?

Can Streets and Drainage help?

The parks sidewalk problems

An Update on Springfields parks.