Save our Parks!

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!!!

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!!!

[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

[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!

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?

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?

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

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.