KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN JULY 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/07/01/public-school-budget-cuts-present-opportunities-challenges-for-downtown-museum/

Due to proposed budget cuts at the state and federal level in arts education, including field trips, the Museum of Contemporary Art – Jacksonville, or MOCA, will continue to get creative in order to reach beyond its doors and engage young minds.

Dedicated arts magnet schools, such as Central Riverside and Fishweir Elementary Schools, and LaVilla and Douglas Anderson Schools of the Arts, could see their arts programs cut to one day a week or lose arts resource teachers, thus limiting opportunities for exposure to the arts.

While MOCA provides arts education for Duval County Public School children as well, government cuts in arts budgets will present challenges for the museum, too. “Currently, we no longer have government funding to bring children in Title I schools to our museum,” said Nan Kavanaugh, director of communications and marketing. “Sponsorships and private funding have become critical.”

It was private funding in 2016 through a gift from J. Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver that allows the museum to employ an educator for family and children’s programs. As the Weaver Educator, Anthony Aiuppy oversees the museum’s two flagship programs, “Voice of the People,” which brings fourth-graders from underserved schools to the museum twice a year to write an essay about an art piece and record an interpretive art essay for museum visitors to hear, and “Art Aviators,” an educational initiative designed for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other exceptionalities.

In the meantime, MOCA is creatively working to attract visitors of all ages. For example, it hosts hands-on family days to get children into the museum, where they can engage with the permanent art.

The museum recently collaborated with Friends of Hemming Park on a Family Day, and is working with the other local museums and the main Jacksonville Public Library next door.

“We are also looking for outreach opportunities outside of downtown, such as satellite or pop-up art events like the one we hosted in Space 42 art gallery in Riverside,” said Kavanaugh.

In January, the museum teamed up with Space 42 to host New York City artist Rosemarie Fiore as she did a live “smoke painting” performance. “We want people to have the opportunity to experience contemporary art outside of our downtown walls,” Kavanaugh said.

Exposing youth to contemporary art in an educational format isn’t brand-new to the 94-year-old museum. Since 2009, MOCA has had a flourishing relationship between its artists and scholars and the University of North Florida students, faculty and staff.

“MOCA provides UNF with a learning laboratory in which ideas important to our time and place can be explored,” said MOCA’s new director, Caitlín Doherty. “That vitality, sense of exploration and curiosity drive artists and scholars alike and serve as a bridge back to our Jacksonville community as a whole.”

Doherty sees the challenge of deepening the relationship between UNF and downtown Jacksonville as an opportunity for growth that will attract new audiences to the museum.

The museum is making strides in increasing UNF student and faculty involvement beyond merely taking field trips to the museum. As one example, more UNF art classes are actually based at the museum.

UNF’s gallery space in the museum is coordinated by regionally-known artist and art teacher Jim Draper. He works with UNF faculty who guide students in creating their own art shows in the museum.

“Our goal is to have students understand all aspects of creating art,” Kavanaugh said. “While not every student will become a well-known artist, with exposure to all aspects of the arts, a student may end up curating art, funding the arts, loaning art from a personal collection and appreciating art, in general.”

In 2014, MOCA added a student-in-residence program with separate studio space. The student works with a curator, directs the installation team in hanging the student’s art and has the opportunity to interact with the public who comes to view the student art.

UNF students can also work in a paid position as MOCA ambassadors. They are the first point of contact for visitors at the guest relations desk and throughout the museum. The program is open to all UNF graduate and undergraduate students who have a passion for museums, art history, and contemporary art.

Gabbi Bautista is a public relations major at UNF. Bautista, who graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, appreciates the opportunity to interconnect arts and media and hopes to put her high school art skills to use in working with the media as a public relations professional someday.

“It is a very fun job,” Bautista said. “People often tell me how nice it is to have someone in the museum to talk to them about our works of art.”

The museum also offers internships to UNF students. Interns are exposed to art and art history, art education, the museum profession, and public programming.

MOCA is the perfect setting for art students as it is “self-curating,” according to Kavanaugh, explaining that it researches, collects, documents and creates its own exhibitions, rather than renting art shows like many museums choose to do.

Conversely, the museum’s first sculpture-only exhibition, “A Dark Place of Dreams,” will travel to Charleston, S. Carolina, after it closes here Sept. 9. The monochromatic assemblages of Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), one of the pioneering American sculptors of the 20th century, will stand alongside three contemporary artists: Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock and Kate Gilmore.

“For those living in or nearby downtown, a visit to MOCA can provide a transformational experience through the arts but, short of that, you can just enjoy a great meal, send your kids to a fun art camp or be entertained by a special film in the auditorium,” said Charles Gilman, outgoing board president. He will pass the torch to Rick Hawthorne, attorney at Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, LLC, as the incoming board president.

Museum shop closing for new retail venture

Taking a step toward downtown revitalization, the museum is partnering with Troy Spurlin, owner of the 5 Points retail store Generation Us, to transition the museum shop to create a contemporary retail destination retail.

A larger initiative includes redevelopment of the lobby to make the museum’s first floor an open community space and to bring more people downtown, according to Doherty.

Spurlin, who also owns Troy Spurlin Interiors in Riverside, served as MOCA’s director of marketing and special events from 2004 to 2007. He decided to open a second retail store to be part of the focus on stimulating downtown commerce.

After the closing sale, which runs through July 14, the MOCA Shop will close for renovations, with an anticipated opening to kick off the fall exhibition season.

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/08/02/way-we-were-lee-beger/

The lack of flow in once-navigable Christopher Creek begs for dredging, but while there are several options available which could make that happen, there is no cohesive wish among property owners on the Lakewood area creek’s banks.

Some residents enjoy the wildlife which has settled in the area and are afraid dredging will destroy their habitat. Other property owners are fearful of an increase in property taxes or a special assessment for a dredging project.

Christopher Creek’s navigable access to the St. Johns River was part of what drew developers to the area after World War II veterans began looking for homes in the suburbs.

In 1953, Crabtree Construction Company bought and began developing the Lakewood subdivision that is bounded on the north by Miramar and the south by Christopher Creek, and lies between San Jose Boulevard and St. Augustine Road.

To create as much waterfront property as possible, the company dredged and relocated part of Christopher Creek to give it more branches for creekfront lots and the potential for docks, bulkheads and boats.

Barlow Curran can point out which part of the creek is natural and which was manmade, because his father was vice president of Crabtree Construction Company and oversaw the Lakewood development. “The creek is straight as an arrow in front of my property because it is manmade there,” Curran said. He can point out the berm that was created from dirt dredged to create the creek. On the other side of the berm is marshland from what used to be the creek.

“We moved into the home that my father built in 1954 when I was two,” Curran said. He and his wife now live in the same house. “I used to take a 14-foot boat with a 35-horsepower outboard motor out into Christopher Creek, go under the bridge on what is now called San Jose Boulevard and into the St. Johns River,” Curran remembered.

That’s no longer the case. The creek that once was as much as 6-feet deep in the center is now silted up to the point that it has a sandbar at high tide. Curran has taken down his dock, but kept the pilings in the hope that he can put up a dock and take out a boat again someday.

Curran also remembers alligators, largemouth bass, brim and bull frogs. “Residents today are just as glad that the alligators are gone,” Curran said. The water life found in deeper freshwater is largely gone. In its place are resident and wading birds such as wood ducks, great blue and white herons, snowy egrets, wood storks and roseate spoonbills. “I watch the ibises feed on fiddler crabs and minnows when the water is at low tide.”

While the birdlife may be interesting, many waterfront residents want to take advantage of the creek today by boating on it and fishing in it as did those who first bought the 1950s Lakewood houses. People visiting Nathan Krestul Park want to launch boats, too, as the signage for the park indicates they should be able to do.

Toni Woods, who lives on Christopher Creek Road, shared her thoughts with District 5 Councilwoman Lori Boyer in an email last July. “I put my kayak into the creek at the park last weekend and even the channel to the river was so shallow I got stuck,” she said. “I would be happy to help any way I can to make it so it can be paddled again as it once was.”

Silt issue goes back decades

Varying suppositions exist as to why the creek has become silted. One theory is that when the retention pond at the head of Christopher Creek was created for Walgreens at University and St. Augustine it sent lots of sediment down the creek. The City filed an environmental resource permit (ERP) application in December 2014 for a temporary sedimentation basin at Nathan Krestul Park to address the problem caused by the retention pond.

However, in July 2015, the City withdrew the ERP application and there were no other application submittals for a project related to Christopher Creek sedimentation, according to Teresa Holifield Monson, public communications coordinator for St. Johns River Water Management District.

“I think the retention pond is just a one part of the problem,” Curran said. “The creek was filling up with silt before that pond was built. My father always believed that the silting started when the San Jose Forest homes on the south bank of Christopher Creek were built.” Those homes built in the 1960s sit on high lots and have steep runoffs into the creek.

But even the Lakewood subdivision itself is subject to runoffs. All of the homes north of Christopher Creek sit at higher elevations designed to have water run down into the creek. And more and more development has happened in the area.

“The creek has not been maintained for its full drainage capacity,” Curran said. “Plus, more development equals more concrete and less natural land to absorb the water.”

With storms seemingly occurring more often and with greater intensity, at least two residents have more reasons than recreational enjoyment to push for having the creek dredged. Tom Henley’s waterfront property is on San Marie Drive South across from Nathan Krestul Park.

“During Hurricane Irma, my entire backyard flooded all the way up into the first level of my house, even though I have a bulkhead,” Henley said. And yet, at normal levels the water is so low that he finally sold his boat.

“I tried talking to St. Johns River Management District, but no one seems interested,” he said. “Councilmember Lori Boyer is the only one who has expressed any interest.”

Three trees fell into the creek near Curran’s house also during the hurricane. “I called the City’s Public Works Department and told them that the trees were blocking the creek which would be a drainage problem for the whole neighborhood,” he said. “They came out right away to cut the trees up and haul them off. That would seem to indicate that the City thinks it is responsible for the creek.”

“To my understanding, the fact that the creek was dredged and relocated would make a good case for a maintenance dredge today,” said Alaina Johanson, who lives on Segovia Avenue.

Funding a dredging project

How to get the dredging approved and funded is the question and concern. There are four ways this could potentially happen, according to Boyer. 

The easiest route would be for the City to modify the current proposal to dredge Nathan Krestul Park so that it includes maintenance dredging of the entire creek.

Residents could pursue an ecosystem restoration project with the Corps of Engineers in which the Corps pays 75 percent of the cost and the City or others – such as the property owners – pay 25 percent. This option would take longer. One dredging project recently approved for Fishweir Creek took about 10 years to get accomplished.

Another option is to create a special assessment district as was done for Millers Creek in St. Nicholas. Residents funded the dredging through assessments on their properties. In this option, the City contributes 12.5 percent to the effort. This could be accomplished within a few years.

 The City could include the dredge in the Capital Improvement Program of the City and bear the full cost. To be included in the CIP, however, the project has to score competitively against other demands for roads, parks, etc. To be successful, a concerted lobbying effort by the neighborhood would be needed.

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/08/02/way-we-were-lee-beger/

Directing is in her blood, history shows. When her mother, Pearl Lee Lowery from Georgia met her father, Arthur Stewart from Alabama, they had both recently moved to Jacksonville.

Pearl worked for a linen company. Arthur had been moved to Jacksonville by Sears Roebuck & Company to help open a new store.

Arthur’s role was to design the storefront windows. Then, Sears asked him to move again, this time to the company’s headquarters in Chicago, which Pearl and he didn’t want to do. On top of that, the company tried to make him design the windows the way their other stores were designed. The other Sears stores were in the north and designed to catch the attention of people walking by. Arthur told the company that people in his hometown didn’t walk through downtown; they drove.

So, he designed the window the way he knew would be more effective for people driving past in cars; he put a big pile of batteries in the window with a large sign advertising them. The company disagreed, and Arthur decided to strike out on his own.

“I guess I hadn’t thought about how much I’m like my father,” Lee said. “I like directing because I can control what will make a play work best, just like my father knew what made a store window most effective.”

Pearl and Arthur opened Stewart’s Five and Dime store on Florida Avenue on the east side of downtown Jacksonville and not far from the current location of TIAA Bank Field. At first, they kept their full-time jobs. Lee’s grandmother opened the store and ran it until Lee’s parents could arrive after work. They eventually worked full-time managing 14 or 15 stores scattered around Jacksonville, including stores in Springfield, the Westside, and San Marco among other locations. Gradually, in later years, they sold all of the stores.

Lee’s parents first lived on Jean Court in Springfield. In 1943, they bought a house on the river, south of Miramar in an area called Hollywood Park, when Lee was still a babe in arms. Lee remembers a photo of her grandfather holding her in the backyard of the house and looking out on the river.

She thinks the house was designed by Harold Saxelbye and its original address was, simply, Foot of Ardsley Road. “I remember when the post office made us change the address to 4600 Mundy Drive,” Lee said.

The house sat high on a bluff. In fact, her father told her that he picked it out because it was the highest point between San Marco and what is now called Mandarin.

“I loved the big oak trees, all of the plants and the old Florida feel of the property,” Lee remembered.  She has planted her current backyard to be very natural as well, because it is very comforting to her.

“My fondest memories of my homeplace were of the river and the sunsets over the river. We had a staircase that went up to a landing and then turned to go up to the second floor. There was a window on the landing where I could look out over the river.”

Lee was not supposed to play on the river, but she remembers that didn’t stop her. “I would skid down the bluff to where my father had put white sand and a bulkhead. Off to the side were trees that went over the water and made a great hideout.”

She also remembers that she was a pretty wild teenager. “We had a long circular driveway with gateposts at the street. I regularly bounced the car off the posts trying to make the sharp turn into our driveway,” she recalled.

The person who bought the house after they lived there tore it down and leveled the property so that there is no longer a bluff. At the time the house was being sold, Lee talked to her sister, Connie Stewart Green, who now lives in Neptune Beach, about whether they should buy the house because of its historical value, but a real estate agent convinced them that they would have a hard time selling it eventually.

Lee attended Hendricks Avenue Elementary School and graduated from Landon High School. She started college at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., but when she had a waterskiing accident during the summer, she couldn’t go back to school in the fall because she needed surgeries. She went to Jacksonville University instead and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in theater.

After teaching for two years at newly-opened Wolfson High School, she left Jacksonville to earn her master’s degree in theater at Southern Illinois University. After that, she didn’t want to return to Jacksonville. “I wanted to see the world and have adventures,” Lee said.

She was offered a teaching job at the University of Montana, and while there, met Richard Beger. Lee insisted that he meet her parents, so they returned to Jacksonville and married. They lived in Jacksonville for about a year, while Lee worked retail and Richard worked as a mechanic to earn enough money to get a start as a married couple and return to Montana. Even though they divorced after 10 years, he is still her best friend, Lee said.

Lee’s art of creating in Jacksonville was also an act of nature. “I came back to Jacksonville because my mother had died and my father asked me to return to take care of him,” Lee said. “I told him he needed to ‘sweeten the pot’ to get me to come.” So, he bought her a small house on Mango Place and refinished the floors for her. He lived another 10 years until he was 96 years old.

After she met Cathy Smith, who lived next door to her, they realized that neither had a home large enough for two people. “I happened to go to a small meeting on Peachtree Circle East in Lakewood. I knew the house was for sale. When the owner offered to show me the deck and backyard, I immediately asked, ‘How much do you want for this house?’”

It was just a dirt yard with a big oak tree, but it reminded her of her home on the bluff at the river, and she knew she could landscape it to look like old Florida. “It has been such a wonderful neighborhood with families who stay and look out after each other,” Lee said.

The house was Cathy’s and her home for more than 30 years until Cathy’s death in 2016. Lee still lives there with her dog, Sugar, and lots of photos and mementos from their personal and professional lives and their travels together.

Cathy was born in Georgia. She had only been in Jacksonville a couple of years when Lee and she met. In addition to her work as an event planner in the travel industry, Cathy was the stage manager for the first Shakespeare at the Met that Lee directed in Metropolitan Park and, after that, all of the shows that Lee directed for six years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Lee was hired to be house manager for The Florida Theatre when it reopened as a performing arts center in the early ‘80s. She had completed her coursework at Florida State University for a doctorate in theater. All that remained was defending her dissertation.

“Working at The Florida Theatre gave me the chance to be part of something bigger than myself that opened new possibilities, Lee said. “The Florida Theatre taught me a lot about theater operation, how to organize and work with people and how to run a theater as a business.”

Even though she loved her time at The Florida Theatre, “the best advice I ever received was from someone who told me to leave The Florida Theatre job and get a job teaching theater in a new art school that was opening, and finish my dissertation,” Lee said.

That new art school was Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, which had been renovated into a magnet high school in 1985. Two years later, Lee was asked to start the theater program at the school, an opportunity for her to teach the arts, as well as direct.

“I always taught them as if they were going to be professionals even though statistics say that maybe only 30 percent of them would go into the arts,” Lee said. “That’s the only way to teach. Don’t teach to the middle; teach to the ultimate. Then, students are prepared to do anything. They can make their own path.”

Lee taught at Douglas Anderson for 28 years before retiring in June 2015. She saw the program grow from two faculty into seven and 50 students to more than 200 students. A number of her students have made names for themselves in the acting world. One of her legacies is Liz Pearce, who is a member of the cast of off-Broadway’s “Sweeney Todd.” Another is Daniel Torres who is in the current Broadway cast of “Beautiful.” And, Nick Sacks is an understudy in the Broadway play “Dear Evan Hansen.”

“I thought teaching at Douglas Anderson would just be something I would do for a short time until I could go back north. But I fell in love with it.”

Lee enjoyed building DA’s theater program from nothing, under the guidance of then principal Jackie Cornelius. “I miss it. I was able to direct two shows a year. Within reason I could choose what I wanted to direct.”

In addition to her many years of directing students at Douglas Anderson, Lee directed “Pippin” at Theatre Jacksonville, a series of plays in the late ‘80s for Jacksonville Actors Theatre at Grand Boulevard Mall, Shakespeare at the Met, and a couple of new scripts by Ian Mairs at Theatre Jacksonville. Since retiring, she has directed “August, Osage County” and co-directed “Into the Woods,” both at Players-by-the-Sea.

Lee recently finished directing “The Laramie Project” for The 5 & Dime, a theatre company in downtown Jacksonville. “I directed the play years ago at DA, but I had to tone its content down for students to perform,” Lee said. “Still, the fact that I could do it at all is a testament to what that school is.”

“It is so great to do the play with adult actors for an adult audience, as it should be done,” she admitted. “Cathy would be so happy that I’m directing it.”

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/09/01/quiet-train-zone-study-awaiting-funds/

Efforts by some San Marco residents to create a Quiet Zone in their neighborhood are progressing, albeit slowly. Lilla Ross, who has lived in San Marco for 40 years, is leading the charge to create a Quiet Zone that will eliminate the need for train engineers to blow horns as they approach the 10 train crossings between the trestle bridge across the St. Johns River to Emerson Street.

Ross created a website this past April to notify other San Marco residents who are interested in quieting the train horns, and met in June with Bill Joyce, operations director for the City of Jacksonville’s Department of Public Works.

“Joyce said that the next step is an engineering study that will determine what needs to be done and how much it will cost,” Ross said.

Quiet zones are regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration. Because the absence of routine horn sounding increases the risk of a crossing collision, a public authority desiring to establish a quiet zone is required to equip each public highway-rail crossing within the zone with active warning devices, such as flashing lights, gates, constant warning time devices and power out indicators. Supplemental safety measures including medians or channelization devices, one-way streets with gates, four quadrant gate systems, and temporary or permanent crossing closures reduce risks and enhance safety, according to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

According to the FRA’s “Guide to the Quiet Zone Establishment Process,” the prohibited use of train horns at quiet zones only applies to trains approaching and entering crossings. It does not include train horn use within passenger stations or rail yards, and train horns may still be sounded in emergency situations or to comply with other railroad or FRA rules even within a quiet zone. Quiet zone regulations also do not eliminate the use of locomotive bells at crossings.

“This Quiet Zone project is quite large and addresses train crossings from San Marco to Emerson Street,” Joyce said. “The City’s current proposed CIP [Capital Improvement Plan] includes $250,000 in matching funds to be applied to this effort.”

The crossings that are included in the San Marco Quiet Zone proposal are Prudential Drive (at Baptist Health), San Marco Boulevard, Nira Street, Naldo Avenue, Hendricks Avenue, Atlantic Boulevard, River Oaks Road, St. Augustine Road, Emerson Street and Reba Avenue (south of Walmart). The study will identify each crossing and determine what countermeasures are needed to establish a quiet zone. 

“A study would not be able to be commissioned until the proposed CIP is adopted on Oct. 1, 2018 as part of the City’s FY18-19 budget,” Joyce said. “At this point I would not be able to anticipate a timeframe or cost.”

The FRA does not provide funding for establishing quiet zones. Public authorities that want to establish quiet zones must be prepared to identify sources for the cost to install any safety measures needed. Costs can vary from $30,000 per crossing to more than $1 million depending on the number of crossings and the types of safety improvements required.

In the meantime, Ross is forming a committee to strategize about next steps. Residents who would like to be a part of the Quiet Zone initiative may email her at lillaross@comcast.net to join the committee and add their names to the more than 200 people who have signed the online petition in favor of a San Marco Quiet Zone at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/san-marco-quiet-zone.

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/10/01/real-estate-shift-coming-to-historic-areas/

The face of Jacksonville – especially its historic neighborhoods – will look significantly different in a few years. In the San Marco and Southside areas alone, more than $700 million in mixed-use projects – apartments, townhouses and retail – are expected to be developed. More than 3,000 families are anticipated to move into the Southbank and San Marco’s historic neighborhoods.

To accommodate the greatest number of dwellers, multi-family living and amenities, rather than single family homes, are being planned. Following the growth path of Riverside, San Marco is almost at capacity and open land for development is dwindling.

“There has been a demographic shift from the suburbs to urban, walkable neighborhoods,” said Alex Sifakis, president, JWB Real Estate Capital. JWB owns 70 lots in Springfield, 4.5 acres in Brooklyn and various properties around TIAA Bank Field.

“This shift has made the historic neighborhoods that are closer to the urban core more desirable, which, in turn, drives prices up and makes it financially feasible for developers to come in and buy up property, especially property that once had something on it and has the infrastructure needed for [infill] development,” he said.

According to Sifakis, “highest and best use” of certain properties change over time. Prior to 2008, the highest and best use of the property on which San Marco Promenade will now be built was strictly commercial as the site of the Jerry Hamm Chevrolet dealership. Now, multi-use development is the property’s highest and best use, Sifakis believes.

Infill projects underway or on the horizon that aim to revitalize previously vacant land in and around San Marco include The District – Life Well Lived and Broadstone River House on the St. Johns River, San Marco Promenade and San Marco Crossing, SoBa Apartments on the vacant lot behind Clara’s Tidbits at 1444 Home Street, and a 185-unit building proposed by Ventures Development Group on Prudential Drive adjacent to the former Aetna Building on the Southbank.

In addition, two projects will renovate existing buildings in San Marco. Block One Ventures is currently remediating asbestos in the Florida Baptist Convention building at 1230 Hendricks Ave. with plans to eventually offer 345 apartments in the seven-story building, according to Scott Hobby of Block One. “The project is currently on hold until the rent that we can charge is able to support the total development cost we anticipate,” he said. Also, Corner Lot Development plans to renovate LaSalle Townhomes, on LaSalle  Street, as 14 three-story units.

While the Southbank and San Marco are now on the infill bandwagon, Sifakis views Riverside as the trendsetter in infill development. “Back when infill development started in Riverside in 2012, people thought the bars and restaurants would ruin everything,” he said. “Since then, Riverside has at least twice had the highest property value appreciation in the country.”

Noting that property values have appreciated 60 percent in Murray Hill as well, he predicts LaVilla and Springfield will be the next most likely places for infill development.

“It is indisputable that infill development raises everyone’s property values,” Sifakis said.

Major mixed-use projects underscore need for San Marco Publix

East of San Marco, developer Chance Partners officially broke ground on Sept. 11 for San Marco Promenade, a two-phase infill project. Once completed, its two phases – along with Chance Partners’ San Marco Crossing project – will fill the Philips Highway corridor from Atlantic Boulevard down to Service Street and west to the railroad tracks near Alexandria Oaks Park.

According to Jeff Rosen, a Chance partner, the Promenade will offer the current trend in amenities that attract potential homeowners to multi-family developments, such as a resort-style pool, fitness center, doggy spa and dog park, a bike-share program, co-working space with a coffee lounge, outdoor kitchen and fire pit, private garages and more.

“This is a transformative step on Philips Highway,” said Lori Boyer, District 5 Councilwoman, at the groundbreaking. “It brings increased density to San Marco, which is what is needed to get stores like Publix and other businesses such as shopping and restaurants to want to open in San Marco.”

The Resident reported in May 2018 that construction at the corner of Hendricks Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard of a 50,000-square-foot shopping center, including a 30,000-square-foot Publix and 20,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, would begin by the end of the year. In response to a request for an update, Dwaine Stevens, Publix’s media and community relations manager, Orlando region, which includes Jacksonville, said, “We remain committed to the project and look forward to serving this community.”

“The only thing we are missing in San Marco is a grocery store,” said Bryan Mickler, president, San Marco Preservation Society (SMPS). “We believe Publix is finally moving in a positive direction. If they’ll do what they did in Riverside, we’ll be happy.”

Chance Partners’ plans for the total mixed-use project include street designs all the way to Daily’s gas station and convenience store on Atlantic Boulevard. “The project’s connection to Atlantic Boulevard is very important in terms of its ability to be integrated into San Marco,” Boyer said.

The Promenade will face the northern side of the property towards San Marco and is scheduled to be open next fall for residents and completed by Spring 2020. San Marco Crossing will open in Spring 2019 on Southside Assembly of God property north of the Promenade. Southside Assembly of God sold its property to Chance Partners in March 2018 and plans to start construction in November on a new 24,000-square-foot, 450-seat sanctuary on about 5.1 acres it bought Aug. 8 for $1.45 million at 6851 Southpoint Parkway.

“We view the Promenade as part of the San Marco area,” said Rosen during the groundbreaking. “We are working with Brian Croft and Matt Hugo to create the San Marco East Association which will represent the area south of I-95 to Emerson.” Croft is president and CEO of Holmes Custom, a product personalization company formerly known as Holmes Stamp & Sign, located at 2021 St. Augustine Road, just off Philips Highway. Hugo represents Hugo’s Interiors at 3139 Philips Highway. The newly-formed association is working in concert with San Marco Preservation Society and San Marco Merchants Association.

“The development that is coming in is complementary and contributes to a vibrant community by bringing in lots of people into our shops and restaurants,” Mickler said.

While acknowledging that parking has been an ongoing issue in San Marco Square, Mickler notes that SMPS is working on new ways to address the issue. “SMPS is working with Beachside Buggies on providing service in San Marco similar to what it has been providing for the Beaches community since May 2017,” he said.

Beachside Buggies works in partnership with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to provide free service to residents. SMPS hopes that the company will transport San Marco residents to and from San Marco Square for shopping and dining to their homes. Customers will be able to request on-demand rides via the Beachside Buggies’ free mobile phone app.

“We’re also working to educate residents on how to manage public transportation better,” Mickler said. He points to the widening of San Jose Boulevard and Hendricks Avenue to add bike lanes as another option. “Eventually the bike lane will run through the middle of San Marco all the way to The District on the Southbank.”

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/11/05/digging-up-history-in-memorial-park/https://

Nearly 94 years ago on Christmas Day, a Jacksonville Citizens Committee put a parchment scroll, onto which 1,220 names of Florida men and women who died serving in World War I had been beautifully inscribed in India ink, into a lead box. They soldered the box shut, put that box into a bronze box, soldered that box shut, too, and buried both in Memorial Park in front of the statue, “Spiritualized Life.” On top of the box they placed a plaque honoring the dead and walked away, certain that their work would be good to protect the scroll for a hundred years.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma was almost their undoing. A year later, on Sept. 27, volunteers with the Memorial Park Association, a nonprofit group that works to preserve the riverfront park in Riverside, removed the boxes. The purpose of unearthing the lead box was to reveal the 1,220 names of the Florida Fallen and compare them to nearly 1,600 names, identified from various sources by Dr. R.B. Rosenburg of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, who has been researching the Florida World War I dead.

The Memorial Park Association plans to add the names of more than 300 additional men and women discovered to have died in the “Great War” to a new list and re-bury the boxes. The original scrolls will be on display at a location yet to be determined.

After the boxes were unearthed, the outer bronze box was successfully opened by members of the Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department and St. Augustine-based Ann Seibert, who retired in 2016 as deputy director, Preservation Programs for the National Archives, and who previously worked in paper preservation for the Library of Congress. When they started to open the top corner of the inner lead box, they noticed a small amount of rust. Seibert feared water from flooding caused by Hurricane Irma had gotten inside and may have damaged the parchment.

The lead box was immediately taken to the Archaeological Maritime Lab at the St. Augustine Lighthouse where Seibert and Starr Cox, director of Archaeological Conservation, St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, discovered a second smaller parchment folded inside the larger parchment.

“Seibert is incredible; the patience she has to have to mend the paper is amazing. Although all the records indicated the names were on parchment, they are actually on paper,” said Michele Luthin, MPA vice president at large. “Ann discovered the watermark while she was cleaning the pages. She is mending the pages now and after she is finished with that she will place them in a secure medium (probably a plexiglass type thing), so they can be displayed and moved without causing further damage. 

“I asked Ann Seibert how difficult this project was compared to other projects that she’d worked on,” said Luthin. “She said it is the most difficult of her career. We are so grateful for her willingness, patience and expertise.”

Some pieces of the pages were just tatters, but the names were generally listed in alphabetical order, which helped Dr. Rosenburg figure out who was missing. “The parchment scrolls were just a big wad of wet paper and the box had a big hole on the side,” Dr. Rosenburg said. “The plaque said that 1,220 names were listed, but I knew that I would find more than that because it is not unusual for lots of names to have been left off.”

Dr. Rosenburg believes that the intent behind how the names were listed on the six parchment pages found in the box was to separate them by race and by branches of the military. The first three pages have larger writing and the names are almost of all white male members of the U.S. Army. The fourth page has smaller-sized names of members of the Marines and Navy, as well as five YMCA workers, including the only woman listed on the scroll. The fifth and sixth pages are all names of black members of the service who died during World War I. The page that the association originally thought was a second scroll was probably originally attached to the second page, not a separate scroll.

  

“I have names of more women who held a rank within the Navy and served in the war, but they weren’t listed on the scroll,” Dr. Rosenburg said. He now has a list of nearly 1,600 names with 40 more possible names of Floridians who died during World War I.

Dr. Rosenburg is searching for more information on each name, such as residence; when, where and why they entered the service and into which service; birthplace; birthdate; last assignment at the time of their death; cause, date and place of death; next of kin; and other details.

“About 75 percent of those who served in World War I died of bacterial and viral infections, not from being killed in action or wartime wounds,” he said.

He has found the names of three brothers and several other sets of brothers. At least three names on the scroll are related to him, he discovered. 

He discovered personal stories about some of the people listed, such as Fred Safay (listed as Safey on the parchment). Safay, whose family was originally from Syria, was born in Jacksonville on May 15, 1889. After serving in the U.S. military for six years in two different Calvary units, he entered World War I in a Canadian regiment out of Quebec in 1915, before the war started. He served until his death in 1917 in Belgium where he is buried.

“About 500 Syrians lived in Jacksonville prior to World War I,” Dr. Rosenburg said. “About 25 fought for the United States against Turkey.”

The project started with the desire to say the names aloud, to honor the men and women in some way this Veterans Day, said Luthin. “Because of the work of Ann and Dr. Rosenburg, we are going to be able to do just that, honor these men and women 100 years after the end of WWI.”

Dr. Rosenburg will discuss other interesting findings from his research at a free lecture Saturday, Nov. 10, 10 a.m., at the Garden Club of Jacksonville, 1005 Riverside Ave. All the names will soon be available at MemParkJax.org.

Memorial Park, located at 1620 Riverside Ave., opened in 1924 as a World War I memorial, thanks to the vision of Rotarian George Hardee. On Nov. 12, 1918, the day after an armistice ending World War I was signed, a Citizens Committee was formed to raise funds, and on Dec. 25, 1924, the park opened. Designed by the famed Olmsted Brothers, it is the only park in the state dedicated to the Floridians who lost their lives in service during World War I.

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/11/05/courthouse-run-goes-big-in-freed-to-run-2-0/

Jacksonville attorney Mike Freed’s passion for helping others is contagious. Last year, Freed launched Freed to Run, six marathons in six days from the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee to the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville.

After years of doing pro bono work with the nonprofit Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, he decided to create his own fundraising event to help the organization and raised $70,000 in the inaugural Freed to Run point-to-point relay race.

Freed covered at least 26 miles each day for a total of 157 miles. He ran from courthouse to courthouse along US-90, like circuit court judges used to do by horse.

“Officially I was the only runner, but I was surprised by some supporters and even some perfect strangers who joined in for fun and encouragement and ran some miles with me,” Freed said.

Freed and his wife, Crystal, aren’t new to philanthropy. Independently and collectively, they have been working to raise money and awareness for causes. In 2016, Crystal hosted a Bollywood-themed benefit ball for her friends, Sarah Symons and John Berger, to add a third floor to their shelter in Jalpaiguri, India, that serves survivors of human trafficking. Her success inspired Mike to create Freed to Run in 2017.

This year at least 17 relay teams will join Mike in Freed to Run 2.0, Dec. 2-7, in an effort to raise $180,000. Each team is trying to raise $10,000.

With a commitment from Baptist Health Foundation to match by 125 percent the funds the relay teams raise, the event is seeking to raise $405,000 for the JALA Endowment for the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership (NFMLP). Baptist Health Foundation has challenged Freed to raise $1 million over the next five years.

“I am not a runner, but I wanted to support Mike and, most importantly, spread awareness and raise funds for an important cause,” said Michelle Barnett, Jacksonville Bar Association relay team member. “Too many people need representation and even a simple question answered, but the don’t have the resources to get help. Legal Aid provides a tremendous resource and we are proud to support this cause.”

Including the Foundation’s match, Freed to Run has an ultimate fundraising goal of $2.25 million for the JALA Endowment. Interest from the endowment will pay for a lawyer’s salary to provide legal services for low-income, disadvantaged people and families facing issues related to medical problems, Freed said.

“Marks Gray has a longstanding relationship with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid,” said Shannon Peabody, who is volunteering as marketing director for this year’s run, in addition to leading the Marks Gray law firm’s relay team.

“Freed to Run 2.0 combines physical fitness and charitable giving to raise funds for the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership – a perfect union for a great cause.” Peabody will be running the relay with Giselle Carson, who is captain of the Marks Gray relay team.

Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership (NFMLP) is part of a nationwide network of projects in which professionals from the medical and legal communities combine resources to produce outcomes for low-income and vulnerable patients (children and adults) that positively impact their health and ability to thrive. Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) supports NFMLP by providing high quality legal assistance to low-income and special-needs groups.

“Akerman law firm is dedicated to assisting the less fortunate in the communities in which we live and work,” said Katie Fackler, captain of the firm’s relay team with John MacDonald, co-captain.

“Running is one of my greatest loves, so I feel exceptionally lucky to have the opportunity to use it for a higher purpose,” she said.

“The goal is to have a lawyer available 24/7 to help the medical community improve people’s lives,” Freed said. “It is a good idea, but it is not fully funded. This marathon works to solve a critical social service problem. A pediatric patient may have asthma. The hospital can treat asthma but can’t solve the living conditions that are causing the health problems, but lawyers can help with that landlord issue,” he said.

Lawyers can also help with the medical benefits process and many other problems to reduce the need for medical attention.

“A modest amount of legal help can make a big difference and create a positive outcome for everyone,” Freed said. “Most lawyers practice on the business, criminal, corporate side; not as many are available to address the civil side, especially for indigent people.”

“My husband, Asghar, and I are supporters of Freed to Run because the need for donations is particularly dire in Florida given that the state does not allocate funds for civil legal aid,” Sabeen Perwaiz said. Asghar Syed joins Gunster law firm members Rachel Mills, Mike Freed and his assistant, Donna McGavic, in planning Freed to Run 2.0.

“Women’s Giving Alliance wanted to participate in Freed to Run to show our support for JALA and NFMLP,” said Lauren Purdy, who works for Gunster. She and Sabeen Perwaiz are both members of the Women’s Giving Alliance, which funds, educates and advocates for Jacksonville women and girls to strengthen families, communities and the future.

“The missions of JALA and NFMLP align very closely with WGA’s mission, in particular our current focus of breaking the cycle of female poverty,” Purdy said.

“There are so many great, philanthropic lawyers and law firms and other nonprofits in Jacksonville. Community First Credit Union saw this as a great opportunity as well,” Freed said. “I think the fact that the event is a cost-free, fun opportunity to run across the state that brings a 125 percent match captivated their interest.”

Freed graduated from Jacksonville University, went to Georgetown law school, and practiced law in D.C. until he and his family moved to Jacksonville in 1995.

“I enjoyed D.C., but it is a bit of a rat race,” he said. After the birth of their first child, Crystal and he thought the opportunity to raise a family and work in Jacksonville was more appealing.

Freed attributes his passion about social issues to Crystal’s influence. She left her job as a commercial litigator in 20018. Since then she’s focused her career as a human rights lawyer advocating for victims of human trafficking in her own firm, The Freed Firm. 

Crystal Freed, The Freed Firm; Dennis Harrison, Jim Kowalski and Kathy Para, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid; Circuit Judge Hugh A. Carithers; and Deno Hicks, Southern Strategy Group of Jacksonville, are also part of the working group that is producing Freed to Run 2.0.

To date, other relay teams are Abel Bean Law; Black Girls Run!; Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Board of Directors; Community First Credit Union; Forbes, Thompson & Gilham Wealth Management Group; Jacksonville Area Legal Aid – St. Johns County and Clay County; Jacksonville Bar Association; F3 Jacksonville; Office of the State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit; Shutts & Bowen; Fisher, Tousey, Leas & Ball Attorneys at Law; Florida Public Defenders – PDO 4th Circuit; and Jacksonville University.

Sponsors of Freed to Run 2.0 include Gunster law firm, The Freed Firm, Elite Parking Services, Jacksonville Bar Association, 1st Place Sports, Wahby Financial Services, UF Health and JTC Running.

The community is invited to help the relay teams finish by running a 5K to the finish line – from the Jacksonville Farmers Market to the Duval County Courthouse on Friday, Dec. 7. The run begins at 3:15 p.m.

All funds raised will directly to benefit JALA’s endowment. To learn more about Freed to Run 2.0, visit jaxlegalaid.org/freedtorun/.

KAREN RIELEY

PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER 2018 ISSUE OF THE RESIDENT NEWS –https://residentnews.net/2018/11/09/when-community-comes-together-students-are-the-winners/

The public elementary schools in Jacksonville’s historic neighborhoods enjoy a longstanding history of community involvement that spells success for their youngest students now and throughout their lives.

At many Duval County public elementary schools, three parent groups – the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Student Advisory Committee (SAC) and “Friends” of the school, a fundraising arm – work with teachers and the principal at schools to obtain resources needed beyond what the school can fund.

For example, Erin Scharer, who is on the Health and Wellness Committee of Hendricks Avenue Elementary School’s PTA, said her committee performs vision and hearing screenings for the school as well as coordinates the Walk/Bike to School Day in San Marco.

Friends of Hendricks Avenue Elementary School funds teacher grants and high-cost items like laptop carts, while Henricks Avenue Partnership Initiative (HAPI), a faith-based partnership between Southside United Methodist Church and Hendricks Avenue Elementary School, serves students and the school with after-school programs such as tutoring, digital music academy and Dance for Joy. The partnership also provides Backpack Blessings stuffed with supplies, a new outfit and shoes for students at the beginning of the school year; Friday Food for Families grocery delivery for two families; and Angel Tree Christmas gifts and a homecooked meal for all families in need.

In Ortega Forest, Friends of Stockton raised funds in the past year to put iPads in every classroom, create all-in-one media systems and purchase STEM materials and a new STEM lab, according to Stephanie Freeman, treasurer of Friends of Stockton.

West Riverside Elementary School benefits from many community organizations that provide everything from food to educational materials to character building to healthcare to mentoring. Blessings in a Backpack, with the help of Avondale United Methodist Church, gives nutritious snacks to select students on Fridays for the weekend. Bean Tree Dentistry provides nutritious snacks in partnership with Riverside Publix for student celebrations and gives lessons on dental hygiene. Feeding Northeast Florida coordinates a mobile food pantry several times a year for families needing help.

Last year, CenterState Bank and BoatUS donated school supplies for West Riverside students. The Woman’s Club of Jacksonville, the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida and Ortega Orthodontics donated funds for reading intervention curriculum, new art tables and a new speaker system; end-of-the-year academic celebration and academic-related incentives throughout the year; and other general expenses. Riverside Presbyterian Church’s Caring Tree donates gifts for select families around the holidays.

American Civility Association uses “Precious Not Prickly” curriculum to promote kindness and organizes the annual “Kindness Week” in February. Jean Grant-Dooley and Bud Para coordinate a group of 30 adults, mostly members of Riverside Presbyterian Church, in providing Lunch Buddies, a nearly 20-year-old program at West Riverside. One adult is paired with one student and they meet once a week during that student’s lunch time in the school building to talk or play games.

“Just once a week has a tremendous impact, because the student knows for that short time someone is paying attention to only them,” Para said. “It doesn’t matter if you play a game, read a book, or just talk. What matters is being with them.”

For 20 years, an association of churches in Riverside and Avondale called Children’s Enrichment Workshops (CEW) has provided quality after-school enrichment programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the school year for West Riverside, Central Riverside and Fishweir Elementary Schools.

Trinity Lutheran Church offers yoga and boys basketball; Riverside Avenue Christian Church hosts Melody Makers; and Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd runs Computer Lab for about 70 students weekly. Church members provide a snack for students each afternoon. Funding from individual gifts, family foundations, bequests and “love offerings” cover the costs of transportation, supplies and stipends for staff.

CEW’s goal is to provide a safe place for students after school ends. The kids benefit from extra attention and experience activities that their parents can’t provide because they work and/or don’t have money to pay for these experiences. The teachers select the students who will benefit the most from participating in CEW.

“CEW is a wonderful faith-based partnership of churches working with schools to enrich the lives of children,” said the Rev. Robert Kinley, Trinity Lutheran’s pastor.

Riverside Children’s Arts Center provides Melody Makers, classes in instrumental music, mixed media arts, visual arts, yoga, and private lessons for children and families, and covers the cost of the teacher.

“We’ve watched children go from being terrified of speaking to singing at the top of their lungs within a matter of weeks,” said the Rev. Erin Dickey, Riverside Avenue’s senior pastor.

Schools succeed when educators, parents, and communities collaborate. Given that, many of the public elementary schools in our historic neighborhoods are well on the right path.