In some ways, it should not come as a surprise that the current renovations for the Southbank Riverwalk will come up several hundred feet short.
It’s been that way from the beginning.
Mayor Jake Godbold got the idea to build the riverwalk during one of the first JAX Chamber leadership trips to San Antonio.
Godbold often jokes San Antonio’s mayor said he would trade his riverwalk for Jacksonville’s river.
Godbold knew you could not introduce something new like the riverwalk to Downtown without marketing and promoting it in order to draw crowds.
Since it was first designed and constructed along 1.2 miles of Downtown riverfront — stretching from the Harbormasters (now River City Brewing Co.) eastward to the Duval Countyy School Board building — the riverwalk always has failed to meet expectations.
There have been grandiose plans to build an aquarium that faced Friendship Fountain, a grassy seating area with a grove of palm trees, a cafe under the Main Street Bridge and a 3,000-seat amphitheater.
None of those ever happened.
So, when Public Works Director Jim Robinson told the Jacksonville Waterways Commission last week the replacement of the wooden riverwalk will come up a few hundred feet short of where it now ends, it was symbolic of the riverwalk’s history.
The Southbank Riverwalk has been a benefit for Downtown. Even as an aging wooden structure whose boards were sometimes uneven, it has been enjoyed over the years by thousands upon thousands of people, whether it is a jogger or walker, friends enjoying lunch along the river, or crowds celebrating one of the fireworks shows over the river.
In the early years, Pat Craig of the Godbold administration was able to schedule events and tie them together to keep people engaged and entertained.
I remember some of my family’s best times were cruising to the riverwalk where we had to raft up sometimes three boats deep from the school board building to the Main Street Bridge.
You had your choice of bars and restaurants, ranging from Crawdaddy’s to hot dog stands to the ice cream store.
It was the home of “River Rally,” a party created by Craig on the riverfront that drew hundreds of people each week.
Magicians, musicians and jugglers often performed on the wooden boards, sometimes in organized events and often just as buskers looking to entertain.
Boats of all sizes could dock along the riverwalk, but the natural turn of the river caused the silt to build up. The river was dredged for the Super Bowl, but now is only a couple of feet deep there.
Over the years, riverwalk maintenance became minimal and the entertainers mostly faded away. Rotting boards eventually discouraged joggers and
walkers.
City Council member Don Redman, whose district includes Downtown, is an avid cyclist who broke his leg riding on the riverwalk.
Even when it first opened, women often complained about getting the heels of their shoes caught between the boards.
Like a lot of things, the problem with completing concrete construction along the full length of the riverwalk is tied to a lack of money.
Mayor Alvin Brown set the budget at $15 million and no more. The Haskell Co. has a contract for $14.9 million. But that’s not enough to build the final few hundred feet, according to Robinson. That will take another $2 million.
When the Southbank Riverwalk renovation was approved by the Downtown Development Review Board –– part of the city Office of Economic Development –– it was for a shorter but much improved design, including an amphitheater near Friendship Park.
The design called for the replacement of the riverwalk from Friendship Park to near the Peninsula condominium tower west of the school board property.
There probably will be lots of discussion over the next few days about whether more money can be found to finish the job. And there will probably be more back and forth between the mayor and council members about when they were told the construction would stop short of the school board property.
The mayor’s office says that’s not new news, but Council member John Crescimbeni says he’s never heard it before.
When the plan was announced isn’t really the issue. The real issue is why can’t we do it right?
When the shorter riverwalk was proposed, the plan called for using the money budgeted for underwater work on the part that wouldn’t be constructed to create a vibrant atmosphere on what would be built.
The plans included an observation tower, wind sails and lighting. Finally, a chance for the Southbank Riverwalk to be what it should be.
There’s talk about waiting to see if the school board moves and how that property might be developed.
Why wait until that happens, if it ever does?
We need to find the money to finally do the Southbank Riverwalk right — to make it as successful as the iconic Northbank Riverwalk.
For once, let’s not fail to fulfill the possibilities of what the Southbank Riverwalk should be.
If we do, it is like designing a 10-story building but leaving off the final floor and roof.
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