Community views new cancer center renderings
Provided the Jacksonville City Council and Land Use and Zoning Committee sign off on the deal, by early 2018 the two-block parcels of mostly vacant land across from Nemours Children’s Specialty Care should look very different than it does now. In a public meeting April 4 sponsored by the San Marco Preservation Society, officials from […]
Episcopal rowers dominate invitational
Not a ripple spoiled the calm, clear waters of the Ortega River early in the morning Feb. 27 as crews from four schools competed in the 2016 Stanton River Bank Invitational. Joining the Stanton River Bank Rowing Club in the competition were crews from The Bolles School, The Episcopal School of Jacksonville, and Hilton Head […]
Middle school students create, perform opera
Full-length opera makes history as first in country Art may imitate life, but for students at LaVilla School of the Arts there is no replicating the production of the full-length opera titled, “Jared: A Tale of Freedom, Control and Choice.” Indeed, every word and every note of the production is the outcome of collaboration between […]
St. Paul’s students play Tom Sawyer for a day
Mark Twain’s character Tom Sawyer may have had the right idea to enlist help whitewashing his Aunt Polly’s fence, but he had nothing on the students at St. Paul’s Catholic School. After participating in the school’s annual Jog-a-Thon, students cooled down with a painting session at a 60- by 6-foot white picket fence on the […]
Ruth Moore Berry
Imagine a time in Ortega without U.S.17/ Roosevelt Boulevard or when traffic consisted of a trolley running across the Grand Avenue Bridge. Ruth Page Moore Berry remembers it well. Growing up in Ball Cottage on unpaved Baltic Street with neighbors Honesta and James Willis of Sunshine House right next door, Berry had plenty of freedom […]
Southbank’s Riverplace Boulevard: Creating a streetscape for the future
The city of Jacksonville is one step closer to building a better road for its “urban village” on the Southbank. The Downtown Development Review Board approved a plan Feb. 18 to reconfigure the lanes on Riverplace Boulevard so it can become more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. Public meetings to discuss the Riverplace road diet project took […]
Plans materialize for East San Marco
Long awaited mixed-use project coming to fruition After several attempts to finance and bring one of the largest projects in San Marco’s history to fruition, its time has come. East San Marco, planned for several vacant lots on Atlantic Boulevard at the intersections of Hendricks Avenue and Mango Place just a block east […]
San Marco Preservation looks to put teeth in neighborhood plan
The balance between urban development and preserving the character of an historic neighborhood has always been tricky. In an effort to preserve San Marco as the unique and special historic community it is, the San Marco Preservation Society intends to legislate its neighborhood action plan, San Marco by Design, in order to give it some […]
Despite vocal local opposition, Roost gets one more approval closer to plan
A recent unanimous decision to approve The Roost, a 150-seat, late-night bar and restaurant on Oak Street, has frustrated nearby residents who wonder whether city planners are considering business opportunity over the letter of the law. Based on action by the City of Jacksonville’s Planning and Development Department and by the Planning Commission, many opposed […]
