There has been much discussion about the closure of Monroe Street. What is to follow is not a comprehesive view of the situation.  This is just a summary with my opinion/viewpoint towards the end. 

On one side there is the school of thought that says "Monroe Street should/ must be reopened"   That argument was well stated by Mr. Ted Pappas at the City Council meeting on 2/8/11.  Clink Here for link to City Council Meeting 2-8-11 .  This should open up a media player window.  Fast forward to Ted Pappas' testimony at 1:11:50.  Mr. Pappas makes a case for the opening the street and getting a plaza. Keep watching because the next couple speakers give more information and there is more discussion about the Monroe Street.  If you listen through 1:29:00 and you will get a good idea of what is going on right now.  If you start a little earlier in the recording you will be able to hear my dear friend Rod Morrill give the view as seen by the common man/taxpayer.

Here is a drawing similar to what Pappas is suggesting. 

Here is something similar to what was agreed to in 2008/2009.

The other school of though wants a walkable downtown with plazas and people space and advocates the closure of the road and a plaza at the front of the courthouse. If you go to my earlier blog post about the court house you will see the ideas being suggested by Mayor Peyton for no Monroe Street and a plaza.  The photos are examples of what has happened in other cities.

We are seeing a battle between visions and the taxpayer has been footing the bill for far too long.  When it becomes evident that we can not longer grow out into our county and the surrounding counties; when there is no more room or when it becomes too costly to drive from homes in outlying areas to work in Jacksonville, when the cost of building downtown is competitive with the cost of building elsewhere; then we will see downtown growth again.  Until then, it seems that all we are doing wasting huge sums of taxpayer money.

I side with the reopening  Monroe Street.  Jacksonville has a virtual abundance of land within a relatively short driving distance.  People like living somewhere else besides downtown and we are blessed to have the space.  Cars are a part of our lives and I don't see that changing dramatically in the near future.  Forcing it to change and demanding that it change isn't helping the situation - just drives people out of the urban core to the suburbs.  Those who  demand that we have a downtown community are not taking into account that we, the people, don't want to live that way (for the most part).  Downtown MUST accomodate automobile traffic.  We need the street more than we need the mayor's idea of a plaza.  We need it so that vistors can get off the Interstate and get to the theaters, parks, musuems,Landing, sports center, city office, etc with realtive ease.  If you want the downtown to thrive then you don't need to put up more roadblocks -the courthouse is bad enough.  We can do a courtyard type feature that should address the runoff issue with stormwater and have the street.  There is green space in the 08-09 picture above.  I don't see why it can't be fleshed out with xeroscaping and donated benchs and or artwork. Just do a variation of the plan already in place.  That is what I advocate right now given the limited information I have available to me at this time.

I have found that the best place for me to get information about what is going on downtown and what plans are in the  works is at MetroJacksovnille.com.  I don't always advocate their approach but  admire their depth of knowledge, passion and level of involvement.  I would recommend looking at a other links of interest that  follow. 

Other Links of interest:

Review Committee Nov 2007

Pedestrial Walk Project   - I don't know if this one is going to be built but has some good rendering.

MetroJacksonville's Monroes street debate. 

Within the MetroJacksonville Monroe street debate site is a JEDC presentation-I disagree with most of the opinions given in the JEDC Courthouse plaza. Example:  45 feet from steps to roadway is not uncommon in the city.  What immediately came to mind was the Main Library and the St. James Building (City Hall).  Most of  down town is very close to the street.  It could be said that it practically a design feature of downtown and to deviate from that norm is not in keeping with the overall look of downtown.  Hence the courthouse's plaza is inconsistant with the overall design of the city. 

The opinion that the closure of Monroe Street has "not created any distruption or diminution of service levels for the transportation system".  Well that might be true if you think that people should not drive their cars downtown.  When I started going downtown for meetings, I made the mistake of getting on Monroe Street; it dead ends and then you are left wondering where the heck to go next.  It is distruptive and even a potential hazard to anyone who is unfamiliar with downtown.  I used to travel Monroe street all the time  and now  I avoid it at all cost, which might explain why there has not  been a distrubtion - no one uses it!