Dear Neighbors,
Welcome to summer in San Marco! As your City Council representative, I’d like to update you on a few things our office has been working on in the past several months.
Councilman Art Shad
We, along with the City’s Public Works Department and RAM Professional group, hosted a community meeting in May to discuss the 90% plans of the San Marco Boulevard Streetscape Project. The designers and engineers listened and worked with local residents and merchants, including the San Marco Preservation Society, over the past few years to create a plan that has addressed concerns, logistics and aesthetics for the area. The work will be done in eight, two-block segments from Naldo Avenue to Gary Street and should begin in January, 2010, just after the 2009 Holiday season. It’s projected to take about two years. The finished product will boast two traffic circles (round-abouts), one at Landon and one at Naldo, historic light poles, underground utility wires, pedestrian-friendly eight-foot wide sidewalks and lots of great landscaping. One more meeting is planned to give the community a chance to meet the contractor and discuss traffic flow and time-frames before the projected construction start date. You can go to
http://www.ramprofessionalgroup.com to see meeting minutes, maps and details on this project, or to leave comments for our engineers.
Greenscape Celebration Park at Lasalle Street will be our newest pocket park in the neighborhood. Construction has started and we expect it to be complete by September. Along with Greenscape of Jacksonville and our Parks Department, we will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony at that time and look forward to celebrating with everyone. Also, at its completion, funds will be released to place benches and trash cans at Jim Rink Park, the first San Marco “Pocket Park” on the river, a block to the north at Cedar Street.
A request from the San Marco Preservation Society came in several months ago to install dog waste clean-up stations in five local parks. We were able to fund the purchase and (forthcoming) installation of “Dogi Potis” for Greenridge, Fletcher, Landon, Largo, and Brown L. Whatley Parks. The additions of these Dogi Potis will assist our dog-walkers to clean up after their pets, creating a healthier, cleaner environment for all. This request was a follow-up to the successful installation and use of two Dogi Poti Stations that were placed in River Oaks Park in 2008.
I will be meeting soon with local residents and members of the San Marco Preservation Society to discuss the possibility of creating a landscaped walking path within FEC Park, located at 1620 Marco Place. The tentative, preliminary (and contingent upon funding) plans consist of a six-foot wide sidewalk winding through the back area of the park, connecting River Oaks Rd. to Marco Place, with five to six shade trees planted along the way. This design concept came about from local residents and members of the San Marco Preservation Society as a way to maximize the beauty and layout of this unique neighborhood green space.
We like to hear from you so please feel free to contact me with your questions or concerns, ideas or suggestions regarding San Marco or the City of Jacksonville, at my Council office at 630-1382 or by email at ashad@coj.net. Also, please call 630-CITY to report any Code Enforcement, Traffic, Public Works, Solid Waste, or other city concerns or complaints. This will generate a CARE issue (Citizen Active Response Effort), which is immediately sent to a specific City department for immediate response. This is a good tool to track common complaints and issues and helps the City determine where (and how often) problems exist and what has been done to address them.
Thank you for your efforts at maintaining San Marco’s beauty and charm. It is a pleasure to represent this unique area of Jacksonville. I wish all of you a happy and safe summer and look forward to seeing you in the neighborhood.
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