Not great if you have children
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10/30/2011
I have lived in Jacksonville for 20 years. Having read others negative reviews, I have to agree with a lot of what they say.It has it's good points which are the beach, Riverside, Avondale and various small nice areas. The weather is too hot but great if you hate snow and cold weather. There are 4 seasons but mild and the "winter" is very short, maybe 2 1/2 months of cold weather. The temperature does drop to below 32 degrees about 10 - 20 nights per year. It is very sunny and bright and the months of Oct and April have generally gorgeous and just magnificent weather. Other than that, overall, I have to agree with most of what the negative people said.
The people are very closed minded. Coming from Toronto Canada, it was a culture shock when I first arrived. It was almost like going back in time the way the people think. It is hard to believe people are actually like this in this day and age. Like one guy said, they believe everything Glen Beck says.
Simple things which would make the city more liveable and attractive are not done. For example, there are almost no picnic tables or benches anywhere. Bridges that cross beautiful, picturesque rivers are built in a way so that concrete obscures the view. Much of the spread out city looks like a baron wasteland of big box stores, car places and parking lots. Roads and public areas are not well maintained and most of the city looks dilapidated and run down. They have overgrown, medians everywhere littered with old yard sale signs and trash. The medians make it harder for drivers to enter businesses and u-turns are required everywhere just to get to for example, into the library.
The people don't seem too happy and there are poor race relations. There is practically no cultural diversity and minorities are disliked and viewed with suspician. This goes across the board, neither the blacks nor the whites seem positive toward other nationalities or cultures. The only visable minority other than black are Philipinos who have no real area but are scattered around town. Hispanics are starting to come in but as yet have made no real positive impact to the area.
The economy is really bad so that may account for the run down look of the place but in the 20 years I've lived here, it's never been economically doing well. It's just a little worse now than before.
The schools are very bad, especially middle and high schools.
Bike riding is extremely dangerous. The bike lanes are inches wide and traffic whizzes by at 60 miles an hour. I have personally known several people who have been hit and one co-worker who is completely paralyzed with spinal cord injury after a hit and run while biking in Ponte Vedra, one of the nicer and safe areas. Jacksonville has been determined to be one of the un-walkable cities in the entire nation. In addition to the murders, pedestrians are often hit and killed by motorists. Overall, this does not make for a relaxing atmosphere. Hardly anyone walks anywhere and the whole place looks like a ghost town populated only by cars.
I have only lived here and Toronto and Montreal as a young person so I may not be realistic in my assessment as compared to other American cities but I've visited Orlando and Miami which appear much more appealing in every way except the traffic.
If you are a retiree and are into a few cultural activities (we do have some here), but mainly would enjoy the weather, gardening and walks on the beach, Jacksonville might work out for you. Housing is cheap. I would not recommend it for a family as there is not a lot for kids to do and a lot seem to get into trouble with the law or drop out of school, possibly due to the lack of things to do and depressing job market.
Gwen | Jacksonville, FL