Monday, June 23, 2008
Lets Stand up For our Neighborhood
Over the years, we have had a horrible relationship with the Atlantic Beach officials. As you all know up until the most recent years we were simply the eyesore of AB. Now we are gaining attention, and in a positive way. The City of AB has employed a representative for the Mayport Corridor, Dale Hatfield, who is going to help up get the attention we need. They are taking the right steps towards improving our communications with the city and police. But it is our job to make sure that they are not going to do this until things settle down and we quiet down. We need to make sure that this becomes years of an on going program. This Blog is a way for all of us to let each other know about the issues in our neighborhoods. I personally know how hard it is to make it to the city meetings and/or the neighborhood meetings, hopefully this will help all of us to stay informed as to the happenings on OUR side of town. Just remember one thing, when we point our fingers in a negative way towards our officials, it is a natural response to block out negativity. We need to prove that we are here because we love this neighborhood and are a part of this great city of Atlantic Beach. We also need to take steps to get rid of the crime and make sure we all are informed about the issues. We can take back our neighborhood it will just take the assistance of all of us to do it.
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5 comments:
We must stand together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools- MLK
OBAMA's campaign slogan says, that we can support CHANGE we believe in! but I say support CHANGE you can be apart of! This is a crucial time in the world as well as here in AB, we must be prepared as a citizen force to stand up for what is equal and collectively the right thing to do! It is all of our responsibility to support this communty and ensure that our elected and appointed officials do what it is that they were charged to do..serve,support, manage...WE THE PEOPLE OF AB!...I applaud the city and the chief of police for stepping up and realizing that for many many years there has been unequal and unfair representation for many citizens and demographics within the AB community! We must collectively agree to disagree and move forward with the bizness of ensuring, equality, opportunity, and justice for all! This is a new day and time and as you see we are dedicated to breakin the cycle of unfairness and preparing this city for the culturally and social diversity that the future is ushering into our nation, our state, our city and hoods!-Sarge
If we don't than I forsee Mayport Road and it's small businesses as a beautifully manicured ghost town..the bisnesses are suffering , they need relief!
It is very encouraging to see my neighbors stand up and demand that thier neighborhood become a better place to raise thier families. Many of us are tired of feeling like second class citizens of Atlantic Beach. In this last election I ran for office because I realized that in the history of Atlantic Beach noone even bothered to run for city council from the west side of Mayport Road. I was tired of feeling like I didnt belong in a city that I chose to live in because I loved the small town atmosphere. Little did I know when I bought my home is that there was a drug dealer living next door and that I would become acustomed to prostitutes and drug buyers walking through my neighborhood.
In the four years I have lived here though I have seen things dramatically improve. I no longer see the prostitutes walking around as much and the drug dealer living next door is gone. Alex with code enforcement has done a great job cleaning up most of the eyesores and delapidated vehicles in my block. The police have made a concerted effort to patrol our neighborhood on a regular basis. I usually walk my dogs after 10 pm and I have rarely not encountered a police officer patrolling at that time. (I would have not felt safe doing this 4 years ago)Several City Council members have not only made verbal commitments but have attended neighborhood meetings and walked our streets.
Things are not the way they should be, but they are getting much better! There are still many more battles to be won. It is not going to happen with 1 or 2 outraged citizens taking a stand, but with a change in attitude from the entire community. We all need to adopt the position that we will not settle for anything less than a safe and beutiful neighborhood to raise our families. For too long we have let people tell us that we do not belong. Our neighborhood should be held to the same standard as the rest of Atlantic Beach. businesses along Mayport Road should be held to the same standards as those along Atlantic blvd. The Palms Apartment complex needs to either be condemned or developed. Parks, Sidewalks, and infrastructure should be of the same quality and abundance as the neighborhoods east of Mayport road.
I am a proud citizen of Atlantic Beach! It is great to see this blog form as a way for us to communicate and get to know each other. Only together can we make this a much better place to all of us to live!
Jonathan
My family moved to Atlantic Beach in 1955. I have lived on 9th Street (east of Mayport Road) and on Orchid Street (west of Mayport Road- for the past 20 years).
I worked for the City of Atlantic Beach in the Clerk's Office for several years and attended Commission meetings as part of my job. The City has grown and changed a great deal since that time. The last meeting I attended was more "professional" than they were back in the 60's. I understand that growth brings change, but I, and I believe the folks from Section H that attended the meeting regarding paving our streets, did not feel that we were heard or that the Commission listened to what we were saying.
I welcome more police patrolling in our neighborhood, watching for speeders. I would like to see speed bumps on Orchid Street and possibly Main Street to slow down traffic as there are lots of children in our neighborhood. When traffic is slow on Mayport Road, cars often go too fast down our streets to get by the jam. I know that children should not play in the street, but the fact is that they do. I rarely drive more than 20 mph and try to look out for them. Balls roll too far and a child is usually right behind it.
I agree that we need a strong representative on the Commission and that the members of the Commission and the Mayor need to listen to that person and hear our needs.
I agree with Bhadden. Speed bumps would make a major difference on the main steets in our neighborhood (sec. H). I live on the section of Main Street close to 3'rd west and have witnessed about 75% of the cars that go through the intection on Main and 3'rd run the stop sign on a daily basis. Kids should be able to play infront of there homes. I did when I was young but there is no way I would allow my children to play in front of my house on Main.
The policing effort is great but sometimes the police focus on the wrong things. For instance pulling folks over at night for not having a light on their bike and searching and trying to find a reason to arrest. Meanwhile dealers and street walkers are blocks away getting away with crimes. I think the focus should be on theft and crime not harrasing locals who are ridding to and from friends homes in the neighborhood on a bike with out lights. I am not at all saying that all of our officers are like this but we do have 1 or 2 on our staff who just look for a reason to bully. We are very lucky that we have the support and officers that we have. Its always those one or two that give a whole group a bad name. The main thing is now to report to the chief who the officers are and how we as citizens feel harrassed.
Greetings and Salutations to all!
The Icebreaker- I heard a joke the other day from a senior citizen who was very vocal about her present representation at city hall-(not in AB)
She says 'You know the one thing politicians and diapers have in common-they both need to be changed regularly and for the same reason-Anon
(I must say that I had a wonderful 4th of July weekend here in AB, I surF fished all weekend at 7th street and enjoyed the fireworks from the same location later that night, the people the excitment was priceless! I enjoyed the scenes of people from Ocean Walk to Ocean Drive, Selva Lakes, Royal Palms, Duton Island, the Main St Area, both Donner & Jordan Park neighborhoods, all filled with activities of citizens enjoying the blessings of living in an awesome beach community!)
I would like to make a few suggestion openly through this blog community concerning two issues at Jordan Park. 1. The sand that is currently surrounding the playground equipment is becoming not only a safety hazard, but also a huge problem for the personal hygiene (spescificaly hair)of the young girls. I speak as a Fitnes Expert on the matter that the sand poses a larger threat to accident and injury than the rubber mulch, that was used prior to the addition of the sand. The re-addition of the rubber mulch would be of great benefit to the children, parents and the community.
Secondly, I observed several kids throwing rocks, out in front of the Jordan Park Center parking lot. (it is made of rocks). I first thought to my self, who would place a rock parking lot in front of a youth center and community park, knowing that kids will be there and "KIDS THROW ROCKS!" ...think about it, would you put a dog in a room with a treat and then tell him don't eat it... I saw rocks on top of the church across the street, and a resident said yes rocks often get thrown. I'am not implying that this is an action that requires police attention that would be a waste of valuable resource time. I would like to to suggest a simple idea! Put mulch or rubber mulch down to help stop a issue into becoming a bigger issue and to also protect the cars from minor damage and lastly to beautify the area. (watch This Old House-PBS)
In closing, I would like to add that the city of AB did a great job with the grass over at Jordan Park, it looks like the NFL grass! (watch NFL Network) I hope that someone could take a look at this and try to take action. (If you read this) I understand it's budget time.(times are tight) but these are very simple solutions in very complex times.
(I wished that everyday could have been like the 4th of July in AB, but you live and you learn and you pass it on!)
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