Am I stepping into the Twilight Zone?

For the last two days, I’ve worked Downtown, all day, in an office. And while there were plenty of reminders that I was in the middle of it all — skyline photographs and paintings, window views of the Main Street Bridge and Independent Life Building Wells Fargo Center — I kept forgetting where I was. Rather, it just didn’t feel like I was in Downtown Jacksonville. It was odd that I had to work to remember that I was in ZIP code 32202, not 32256.

The joy of the day was being outside. Even the walk to the parking lot was exciting — not because the workday was finished, but because there were the historic Dyal-Upchurch and Knight Crockery buildings! Oh, over there is the Bostwick Building with the Anne Banas and Jim Draper “Cat House” mural! This afternoon, I walked two blocks to my bank just to remember what Downtown Jacksonville is like on the street level.

Maybe it’s because I couldn’t hear Big Jim.

I’ll be Downtown again tomorrow and Friday. Maybe I’ll spend a few extra minutes outside, especially at noon and 1.

Do you work Downtown? What is your office like?

(In an effort to post more, I’m attempting to write less. Think closer to Twitter than well-documented research paper. We’ll see how it goes.)

Should old acquaintance be forgot

What’s new in Downtown Jacksonville? Well, there’s a new Mayor, and a majority of City Council representatives are new. I’ve had the good fortune to meet our new Mayor, Alvin Brown, a couple of times.

Mayor Brown ran on a platform of a new vision for the Bold New City of the South, and a major plank in that platform was Downtown Revitalization. He created a number of volunteer-led transition committees, and I had the honor of serving on the Downtown Revitalization Transition Committee. The committee heard from a number of resource speakers, from groups like Downtown Vision that market and promote Downtown; to the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, with development authority; to developers and residents and the Library and even startups that want to base their operations Downtown. It was a fascinating study of all the moving parts, and great to learn that there are a lot of people who care deeply about the city’s most historic neighborhood.

The Daily Record did a nice job of wrapping up the work of the committee in its story.

Currently, the City Council Finance Department is in the budget process. There have been significant cuts by Finance to the mayor’s proposal. The new budget must be approved by the end of this month. It remains to be seen what the future of Downtown development (and economic development) will look like.

Jacksonville Jaguars football is back. It was a little uncertain for a while over the summer, with the NFL lockout. Although our preseason didn’t come with a lot of wins, our home opener is this Sunday against division rivals the Titans. It’s also the tenth anniversary of 9/11, so expect it to be a highly emotional game.

In case you, dear reader, are curious about this long absence from writing, I have been devoted to looking for a job. If you know someone who is looking for an experienced writer, I would love to get in touch and see if I may be the best candidate. Please contact me via LinkedIn or leave a comment. Thank you!

Happy birthday, Donald Duck!

This is a quick post to wish the happiest of birthdays to my sweet baby brother, Josh. Today, Josh turns 30. Sometimes I still think of him as 10 — not for a lack of maturity, but because those were carefree days.

Josh also loves Downtown Jacksonville and photography, but he especially loves making movies. He’s made a couple of short films that have been set in Jacksonville, and one about zombies filmed in our hometown of Starke.

Recently Josh completed his philosophy degree at UNF and he has long wanted to enter seminary. He is compassionate and thoughtful and caring.

Somewhere there is an old photo of the two of us on Christmas morning. We received jointly a (toy) microphone and guitar, thus planting the seed of our shared love of karaoke.

For the Jaguars season this year, Josh and I attended nearly all the home games together. He ridiculed my Twitter habit but always told me what was happening at the north end of the field. (I couldn’t see that far and sometimes replays were slow to be shown.)

Then there was the trip to the Bahamas, in which we and our mother were part of a crew that traveled through the Berry Islands on a 64-foot sailboat. We snorkeled, swam, fished, and bathed in the ocean with a bottle of Joy dish detergent. When we visited the island of Bimini, we had a nice dinner at the marina restaurant. Then, we went to the Compleat Angler, a bar in a house that locals said was either owned or occupied by Ernest Hemingway. While playing the ring-toss game, we heard shouts of “OJ! OJ! OJ!” and went to the bar to watch the television screen. O.J. Simpson and a friend were driving down a highway in California, pursued by police, all at such a slow pace as to think we were in a slow motion daydream.

Happy birthday to the best little brother anyone could ask for!

(This title comes from a long-ago trip we took to Disney World around Josh’s birthday. There was a parade celebrating Donald Duck’s birthday, and Josh always loved that character.)

Josh and Beth

All I want for Christmas is … a revitalized Downtown

Hello! Yes, BNC5 is back after an unfortunate delay. There’s been so much happening in Downtown Jacksonville in recent months! And tomorrow includes a big event, that I am absolutely delighted to share: The reopening of Friendship Fountain on the Southbank. If you’d like to attend, the program will begin at 9 am at Friendship Fountain on the Southbank of the St. Johns River.

It’s been nine months since the groundbreaking to start renovation. While driving home from a morning meeting yesterday (more on that in another post), I noticed the fountain was on. It had been tested in the evenings in recent weeks, but something else was different. As I walked up the sidewalk, I realized: The fencing was down!

Music was playing — oddly enough, Christmas music. I listened to a few songs, and — with a break from recent smoke-filled skies (and the extra heat that brings to the day) plus spray carried off the fountain by the breeze, and the lovely sounds of Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley and Mariah Carey singing about Christmas — I would have sworn it was close to Halloween.

Without going into all the history of the Fountain (check out Bob’s wonderful blog at jaxfountain.com), it’s so exciting to see the Fountain return to its former glory. I recently had a conversation with Ron Barton of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission about the Fountain project. He pointed out that this is a maintenance project, not a capital project — something Downtown sorely needs. Many of JEDC’s current projects are maintenance, with big costs because that work is so long overdue. I asked him if the restored Fountain could be considered an attraction or destination, and he said when it was constructed, it was such because not much else was on the Southbank of the river. The Fountain now is surrounded by business and commercial activity. I maintain that it will continue to be an attraction, in some sense. Each time I’ve visited in recent weeks, there have been others peeking through the construction fence, standing on benches, eagerly watching and waiting for completion of the project.

Here are some photos. There will be plenty taken tomorrow, as well. Architect Taylor Hardwick is supposed to attend and speak, and I hope to meet him.

Thank you to the readers who have tuned in, awaiting another post. There’s a lot to share and I hope to get to it quickly. Downtown Jacksonville seems to be gaining momentum.

See you in the morning! I recommend arriving early, for parking and getting a good seat.