Loser Daniel Davis had at least one good idea in his unsuccessful bid for the job of mayor.
He proposed moving the jail from downtown.
At the time the jail was brand new, I was given a tour of it by Jim McMillan. He was then chief of the jail and later sheriff. I was impressed, but that was some four decades ago.
When it was built, it made sense to put it in its current location, next to the headquarters of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and – then – a block from the courthouse.
Not so anymore.
The courthouse has been torn down and a new one built farther away.
More importantly, the city is trying harder than ever to get people to live downtown.
Having a jail, however secure, in the midst of a residential area is not practical or sensible.
Moreover, with court being held on the internet more and more often, proximity to the courthouse is not necessary. The cost of transportation and security is avoided.
Another vast improvement would be to move homeless shelters from downtown.
At times, the downtown area looks like one huge tramp camp. Jacksonville does not want to become like San Francisco, which was once one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Now, businesses and residents are fleeing because the liberal majority has allowed bums and drug addicts to take over the downtown area. They are attracted by the homeless shelters, which should be located in Jacksonville for the safety and convenience of residents, not the vagrants.
Jacksonville never will have a large number of residents in the downtown area if criminals and bums are a large part of the population.
With millions of people streaming across America’s unprotected borders, it will only get worse.
The downtown area has been transformed in the past 75 years and would hardly be recognized by anyone who did not witness the transformation. Ugly, rotting docks are gone, public buildings have been moved off the waterfront and the private sector has erected many new and attractive buildings.
Not all the public facilities have been beneficial – such as the Skyway and ugly brick intersections, but some have helped complement the private development.
Before post-war suburbia, downtown was an entertainment and business district in addition to a government center. It can be again, to some extent, but it has to be done right.
