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Cool Stuff in Other Cities


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I happened to be reading a novel this evening and one of the scenes take place in  Lisbon. The city is the capital of Portugal featuring both an old city (2700 years old - older than Rome) and modern districts. Its metro population is about 2.8 million, which makes it a skosh larger than Orlando.

”Isaac’s apartment building looked new. In fact, the whole street must have been built around the same time. The road had a partition down the middle that was POPULATED WITH TREES and further down the road that divider became a small square with benches. No doubt to allow the locals to enjoy some outdoor time under the shade of the trees...even here in the city, it was quiet, and the street wouldn’t have looked out of place in a smaller town.”

”Together Again” by Ara Ashley

Even in a sophisticated European city, trees are not an anathema. Instead, they make life pleasant for people.

SAVE THE TREE

interestingly, Lisbon proper’s tallest building is 360’ while the tallest building is in a western suburb, Oeiras, at 390’.  Both would be eclipsed by our tallest at 441’.

Oddly, Lisbon doesn’t seem to have the same inferiority complex many do about Orlando. I wonder why that is.

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We’ve discussed in another thread that cities are losing their luster in the top three US cities. It goes further than that, though - even in a fast-growing state like Texas, Dallas proper saw minor declines off and on in the last decade.

That’s why it’s so important in our haste to make downtown a “real” city that we make it comfortable and welcoming. It’s too easy here in the Sun Belt for folks to opt for the ‘burbs. Trees and other “cool spots” are a great way to do that

https://twitter.com/cinyc9/status/1264284408728649728?s=21

 

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We often use Austin as a benchmark and comparison city since It’s one of the few Tier 2 cities growing even faster than we are.

The Jaxson takes a look at the Texas state capital and home of the University of Texas. It’s a great chance to see what they’re doing right out there:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/an-american-boomtown-austin/

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14 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

I'm surprised McDonald's didn't sue them. 

When Southgate opened in 1957, McD’s was still primarily in two-arch mode on each side of the building and busy completing the transition to Ray Kroc’s control. (They might not even have been in Florida yet, either).

In any event, since it’s a single arch and was for a shopping center rather than a fast food outlet, they probably would have been OK anyway.

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Fortune 500 Company Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) to build 12-story $145 Million Global Headquarters on Jacksonville Waterfront. 

The company filed plans for the 357,460-square-foot office tower and 1,620-space parking garage — the company’s proposed world headquarters Downtown located at 323 Riverside Avenue.

The estimated $145 million project in Brooklyn will house more than 1,700 employees, including 500 new full-time jobs.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/fidelity-national-information-services-inc-files-site-plans-for-new-brooklyn-headquarters 

 

284509_standard.jpeg

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To call that “downtown” is a bit of a stretch - anything past the Acosta Bridge would be generally be considered more Riverside.

Nevertheless, at least it’s a significant project NOT on the Southbank.

If you think of what would have happened had Mayor Bill and a dedicated cast of activists hadn’t decided to save downtown back in the early ‘80’s, we’d look a lot like Jacksonville.

In fact, OC government threatened to leave downtown and move out to 33rd Street (thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and we got the Brick Bunker; for a while, the county even cleaned up and occupied the historic State Bank bldg at 1 N Orange).

The “business” center would have been Maitland Center. 

That’s pretty much what is happening in Jax with most activity going to the ever-growing sprawl of Southside.

It hasn’t happened yet, but when they decide to move the government out of the historic St. James Building for some location across the river, their dystopian vision will be complete.

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Jacksonville has a historical advantage over us in those jobs because of its past as a hub for insurance companies and banks (there’s still a branch Fed there even though no major banks are headquartered in the city anymore).

There’s also a lot less competition for entry-level clerical workers since there’s not much of a tourism industry to swallow those folks up.

It’s not unlike, even after so many were laid off in the space industry after the Shuttle’s demise (and many workers left), it kept its rep as a hub for the space program.

Having said that, it’s a huge get for Jax and that much sweeter that it’s in my old Riverside/Avondale stomping grounds instead of the soulless wasteland that is Southside.

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23 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

They also have the advantage of a Transportation Hub for the SE connecting to Atlanta, the Eastern Seaboard, and major ports in Florida  (CSX HQ) as well as a giant Naval Station. Lot of advantages over lowly theme park jobs. 

Meanwhile, their airport sucks. We have tech and they don’t. We also have an infinitely more progressive government (consolidation came about not because of enlightenment but because the city was about to be majority black and the elected officials as well) and UNF/JU are a joke compared to UCF/Rollins.

There’s a reason Jacksonville, once the state ‘s largest city*, now lags the rest of Florida. 

* They claim to be the “largest city” because of consolidation but are Florida’s fourth largest MSA.

We should give a nod to the Mayo Clinic there. It’s there because of the Davis family that founded Winn-Dixie. Only trouble is, the Davises probably should have stuck to their knitting because while they were bringing in Mayo their company was on a fast track to bankruptcy. 

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San Francisco is the latest city to see an exodus of residents as tech employees are given more options to work remotely.

Some are leaving the city for more suburban areas or even more remote locales.

Some are seeking more affordable alternatives in attractive new tech hubs like Austin:

https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-bay-area-tech-workers-leaving-coronavirus-2020-6

From Business Insider 

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An Ybor City institution, the La Tropicana Cafe, is the latest dining victim of the pandemic:

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/06/02/ybors-iconic-la-tropicana-cafe-is-the-latest-business-casualty-of-the-pandemic/
 

From the Tampa Bay Times 

It’s been years (since my Friday Happy Hour runs to Baxter’s and then Cityside), but I’m sad to see it go.

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One of my old stomping grounds in my Jacksonville days, Five Points brings together the Riverside/Avondale area of the city:
https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/neighborhoods-five-points/

Riverside/Avondale Preservation, founded India the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, is one of the largest and most successful preservation groups in the country.

In the days when very few in the Sunbelt were interested in saving their past, RAP went to battle against city hall and developers to create one of the South’s most incredible senses of place. 

This is what we continue to fight for everyday in downtown Orlando. If  we should be anywhere near as successful as these pioneers, it would be truly astonishing.

From The Jaxson 

Notice particularly that they have actual retail, especially along Park St. (an honest to God shoe store!). We should be so fortunate...
 

 

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https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-huge-confederate-flag-taken-down-near-tampa-due-to-protests-20200603-xrfqakynn5gazafaif5meg2w2q-story.html
 

The rather ridiculously huge Confederate flag in Seffner near the junction has I-4 and I-75 has been removed until further notice. 
 

Placed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, it was placed there for the 200th birthday of Jefferson Davis.

Speaking as a Southerner who had ancestors from both sides of the family fighting in the war, I hope it stays down.
 

If I need to celebrate my heritage, there are plenty of Southern authors like William Faulkner, Harper Lee and New South journalists and statesmen like Ralph McGill at the Atlanta Constitution and Governors LeRoy Collins, Reuben Askew, Jimmy Carter and Jim Hunt who led us into the 20th century. We should also not forget civil rights heroes like Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Andy Young are every bit as much a part of the South as I am.

it’s time to move on and do better.

From the Sentinel 

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Tampa’s West Shore Plaza is losing its JCPenney and this may signal the demise of the area’s once premier mall.

It still retains its Macy’s, a huge three-story store that was once the flagship of the region’s signature department store, Maas Brothers (if you remember the Colonial Plaza Jordan Marsh, it’s similar, only a floor shorter but wider).

While it’s easy to make comparisons with Orlando Fashion Square, West Shore is unique in a storied past including the former Maas Brothers but also for dipping its toe in upscale retail with a Saks before that chain mostly abandoned the state. It even had the flagship Robinson’s at one point (that chain ended up folded into Dillard’s which moved up the road to International Plaza - Tampa’s Millenia- near the airport).

Perhaps most important is the land. At the intersection of West Shore and Kennedy Blvds, it’s pretty much the epicenter of South Tampa. Even better, it has major frontage along I-275.

The entire Westshore area is like a second downtown with many office buildings so whatever becomes of the mall, this land won’t sit fallow for long. This is any developer’s biggest dream.

 

https://www.fox13news.com/news/future-of-westshore-mall-unclear-as-restaurant-jcpenney-permanently-close-their-doors
 

From FOX13

 

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The City of Weeki Wachee is no more. Incorporated in 1966 as a way to ensure the tourist attraction’s name appeared on maps of Florida, much has changed since then.

While its mermaid shows are still popular, the attraction is no longer private but a state park.

Irregularities by the city government (many of whom work for the attraction has been said by critics to cause conflicts of interest - interestingly, that seems to work for The Mouse).

It now returns to unincorporated Hernando County.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-weeki-wachee-city-dissolved-20200610-ptxxtxxdrrfprp5w5iai42aeiq-story.html
 

From the Sentinel 

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@AndyPok1 and @HankStrong have been waiting for this: no more Columbus, OH. It’s going to be renamed Flavortown!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/21/us/guy-fieri-flavortown-columbus-ohio-petition-trnd/index.html
 

From CNN

This could start a trend - Gainesville can go back to Hogtown and Jacksonville to Cow Ford. Imagine the possibilities!

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