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Mayor Peyton says this in April 2006 "Friendship Fountain will be refurbished, not demolished.". His "spokeswomen" Susie Wiles says today, Aug 31, 2006, "The city said it's too late to fix the Friendship Fountain, which was the highest fountain in the southeast when it was built in 1965. They also said it would cost too much to restore it to its former glory.
"It can't be done at any kind of a reasonable cost," said Mayor's Office spokeswoman Susie Wiles." So who is really running the City?
Read it on TV 4 News!
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Latest News regarding Friendship Fountain, Susie Wiles says Fountain can't be fixed!!
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Bob Baughman, Former Director of the City of Jacksonville Parks Department is running for City Council District 6.
If you are a registered Voter in District Six I encourage you to visit Bob's Election Web Site here: http://www.electbobbaughman.com/
Bob has always been a strong supporter of Friendship Fountain and deserves your consideration.
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| News: Is the City of Jacksonville
planning to demolish Friendship Fountain? |
I
was contacted by Jim Piggott, TV-4
News on, Apr 10, 2006.
Jim asked
if he could discuss the future of Friendship Fountain as he recently
was made
aware of plans by the City of Jacksonville to Demolish the Fountain and
Replace it completely!
However exactly what that replacement would entail is not yet fully
clear.
Here is the Proposed Project:
Project
Description: Demolish
existing fountain and construct new fountain including
interactive
childrens water playground
Click here to see the actual document.
As recently as Feb, 2006 the Times Union had reported that repairing
the Fountain was still being considered. At last report
the cost of completely repairing the Fountain was placed at around
$400,000.00 which it was stated was too expensive. however
the price tag on the proposed project is estimated at $3,000,000.00 (7.5
times as much as the estimate for repair)
Read
more about this Here!.
Friendship Fountain is only partially in operation
due to severe Center and Inner Ring Pump problems.
Latest Friendship Fountain News - Friendship Fountain's makeover By Dan Scanlan Times Union
| What do you think?
Should the city demolish Friendship Fountain on the Southbank as part of its proposed renovation of the riverfront park, or keep it intact when the site is redone? And what are your memories of the fountain that has flowed for 41 years next to the St. Johns River? E-mail your answers and tales to reporter Dan Scanlan at dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com. Include your name, part of town and contact information. |
The follow-up to Dan Scanlan's Times Union Article can be viewed at the below link. Note that the responses are overwhelmingly
in support of repairing Friendship Fountain and returning it to it's full operation and improving the surrounding area.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050606/ner_21783751.shtml
Introducing
Friendship Fountain!
Click
on the above picture to reach the Main JaxFountain pages.
The
interview with Jim Piggott was aired in both the 6 PM and 11 PM news
segments and can
be seen on the News4Jax Website: Direct Link to Video
.
Click here for a very Active Discussion regarding the demolition of Friendship Fountain
Taylor Hardwick, Friendship Fountain Architect
City Contact Email and Phone Information. Contact Your Council Representative
At this point it appears that the Demolition
of Friendship Fountain is in the planning stages yet a
replacement
plan is still "being discussed". Now folks I don't
know about you but I don't tear down my house without
already having a rebuilding plan in place. Is it possible
that the city knows that what they plan and are afraid
that if the public knew we would scream?
I
received the following email Friday Afternoon Apr 14, 2006...
Quote:
From: John Peyton <JPeyton@coj.net>
To: Bob Johnson <Support@jaxfountain.com>
Date: Apr 14, 2006 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: Demolition of Friendship Fountain?
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for taking the time to write to weigh in on the city's plans
for the future of Friendship Fountain Park. As part of my vision for
downtown, the city's Department of Parks, Recreation, Entertainment and
Conservation will oversee the master planning process for the
refurbishing of Friendship Fountain Park. One of the goals of the
master plan is to re-configure the fountain to encourage pedestrian
traffic, creating a park that is more interactive and
multi-dimensional, and will be an attraction for visitors. Friendship
Fountain will be refurbished, not demolished.
Citizen input will play a major role in the planning process, and I
welcome feedback from the community. Currently, we are requesting
proposals from architectural/engineering firms to conduct the master
planning process. Master planning is anticipated to begin later this
year. If you are interested in participating in the stakeholder
discussions, please contact Phil Bruce at 904-630-3586 or at bruce@coj.net.
Thanks again for writing. I appreciate your input about this important
Jacksonville monument.
Sincerely,
John Peyton |
I
wrote back thanking the Mayor for his clarification and requested
permission (yes I know all city officials email are public, however it
is just a nice thing to do) and he
replied within a few minutes saying certainly.
Andy Johnson, Radio Talk Show Host formerly on AM 1530, was kind enough to invite me to call into his show on Monday May 1, 2006 and we spent almost an hour discussing Friendship Fountain and what was being said by the city as well as what we would like to see done.
Andy's web site is located at DownToBusiness.org and I encourage you to take some time and check out Andy's website and offer him support. Radio 1530 suddenly changed formats and Andy and other Talk Show hosts are now looking for new digs to continue their Valuable points of view. I don't care if you agree with Andy's views on everything or just the Fountain, Jacksonville is poorer with the loss of this important type of media which is becoming more and more scarce in the world of Big radio conglomerates and don't forget to express your opinion regarding Friendship Fountain as well as contact your City Council Representative and the Mayor's Office in regards to the Fountain.
Contact Information.
TV-30 FOX News finally covered the controversy regarding Friendship Fountain on their May 2, 2006 evening News cast (which unfortunately I missed). A quick mention is located on their Web Site. Note the last sentence "The Parks and Recreation Department says it could take up to a year to decide what kind of changes need to be made, but assure people, the fountain won't be demolished."
Why doesn't that reassure me?
This site was first born on November
1998 as an attempt to get attention for "Friendship Fountain"
which
seemed to be off more then on at the time.
As any additional information should be learned of we will
update this site.
Also to voice your opinions or
suggestions please visit the Fountain
Forums and feel free to post.
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