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Code & Zoning Violations
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Your Vigilance Matters. If you see a Zoning or Code violation, take personal action. Such personal responsibility will protect
our property values and the quality of life in Southside Estates.
To learn about Jacksonville Zoning please review this
website. And, to discover what
the City will enforce, please visit this
website.
Most important: To file a complaint
begin the process at this
website.
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Protect Against ID Theft
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The best
way to achieve ID protection is to freeze your credit, because the thief’s
most profitable scam is to open accounts and loans in the victim’s name.
In mid-2018
the freeze process became free at all three credit agencies.
Online it
takes about 10 minutes at each agency.
Here is how to do it:
1.
Go to Equifax (800.685.1111); Experian (888.397.3742);
TransUnion
(888.909.8872), and follow the instructions.
2.
Be prepared to answer certain questions,
like the last 4 digits of your main bank account, previous home addresses
and model years of past-owned vehicles.
3.
Be prepared to create a 6-digit PIN. For a mobile phone number you can use
your landline if you wish.
4.
Save all the User Names and Passwords that
you create, and save them in a safe place forever – you will need them to
unfreeze your credit.
5.
Do all of this a private network, not a
public computer.
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Past Projects
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The Flowering Trees of
Southside
The
following letter, published
June 27, 2017 by the Florida
Times-Union, tells the history of the Boulevard trees:
Travelers on north Southside Boulevard are now
cheered by the beauty of crape myrtles which line the avenue for two miles
– the flowering trees have finally reached their magnificent maturity –
many towering at 20 feet and all dazzling with color.
This breathtaking City gateway, vital to a
resurgent Regency Square, wasn’t always like this. For a generation this state road remained
barren and bleak – FDOT had a responsibility to landscape this state
property, to lessen its impact on nearby homes, but wouldn’t do it.
The breakthrough came in 2003, when FDOT assented
to a landscape installation negotiated for years by adjoining Southside Estates Civic Association
and then-councilman Lynette Self.
Local council district discretionary funds, not
FDOT, would finance the planting of over a thousand trees. The community could have chosen another
park, or expanded a community center, but it wanted these boulevard trees
to protect adjacent property values and life quality – and to help revive a
declining Regency Square area.
Another boost came this spring when our heroes,
the City’s Mowing and
Landscape Maintenance Division,
replaced numerous dead trees to create a spectacular, uninterrupted
landscape vista.
The control of blight is a recent
civic priority, but blight has always plagued the City. Some cures take many years. If it were not for the perseverance of a
homeowners group and a city councilman, begun 20 years ago, we would not
have the blight-killing roadway trees that have reached their stunning
prime this year. By all means, see
this sensational community treasure.
Philip Wemhoff
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Skip (left)
& children he enlisted to create a butterfly garden.
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A Tribute to Skip
Benolken
Virtually
alone, former SECA president Skip Benolken created Overpass Park
at Ivey Road.
Without his
extraordinary efforts the park today would be a weed-covered
wasteland. Mr Benolken personally
acquired all of the donations, grants and volunteers needed to create the
park – and he did the lion’s share of the labor.
We hope to
begin an effort to have the park named after Mr Benolken, who was a great
benefactor to our Community, a model for all citizens. Colin Ross “Skip” Benolken, 1935-2015.
'Overpass
Park' brightens
community
By Sandy
Strickland, Florida Times-Union | Wednesday, March
10, 2004. More press coverage here
and here.
Just call him a walking billboard.
Most days, Skip Benolken dons an eye-catching
orange shirt that proclaims in bold black letters that "Nice people
don't litter."
He heads to Southside Boulevard, where he picks
up trash in a small pocket oasis dubbed Overpass Park.
It sits in the shadow of the pedestrian overpass at 2505 Southside Blvd. at Ivey Road.
Yellow pansies help the beautification efforts at
the park. But Benolken and members
of the Southside Estates Civic
Association do far more than clean up debris. They mow, trim and weed
their adopted park. They plant shrubbery. And they plan to involve students
from nearby Southside
Estates Elementary
School in the planting of a 2,500-square-foot
butterfly garden.
The project goes back to 2002 when the Florida
Department of Transportation built an overpass so some of Southside
Estates' students and people who use an adjacent school park wouldn't have
to cross the heavily traveled boulevard. As part of the agreement, the DOT
landscaped the site where a house was razed to make way for the ramp.
Skip Benolken has collected 60 bags of leaves that
he will spread on shrubbery beds at Overpass Park.
The leaves help keep weeds out and moisture in.
But some of the plants got scraggly looking
because there was no way to water them, said Benolken, who decided it would
be an ideal project for the civic association. To accomplish its goals, the
association was awarded $3,500 from the Mayor's Neighborhood Matching Grant
Program. Residents and businesses chipped in $3,500, with another $3,800
coming from the tree mitigation fund.
In November, an underground irrigation system was
installed. With money left over, ligustrum,
beauty berry, viburnum, chicksaw
plum trees, cassia, coontie palms and a flowering
shrub known as abelia were planted along the
south fence line.
Skinner Nursery donated half of the plants, said
Benolken, who took over as association president from longtime activist
Chris Gilmore. Benolken has been collecting bags of leaves to help keep
weeds down and the moisture intact. The association hopes to add park
benches, special lighting, a walkway and a sign.
[Read the remainder of the story here.]
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JSO Community Walk. Periodically, JSO and SECA undertake Community Walk.
Shown above are the officers
and residents who participated in a past walk. Philip Wemhoff took the photo.
As we walk through the
neighborhoods, JSO officers knocked on doors, to ask residents about their
crime concerns. And, Association
members offered help, and encouraged membership.
Some past Code violations are listed here,
although JSO cannot address most Code infractions.
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Boulevard Plan. Eventually, Southside Boulevard (SR115)
will become 6 lanes. Above, a 40
foot center median creates a true boulevard look.
Also, there are high
side berms, shown on the left, to shield the neighborhoods from noise and
view. This Community-designed plan, coordinated
by JTA (and downloadable
here), mitigates the 6-lane impact.
Please focus on the following sections:
● Page
64, the Community’s
preferred O1n plan.
● Page
69, note “Little Southside”
and the beneficial Westside
Road.
These additions were forced into the plan by SECA.
● Pages 83, 95 and 109, the
very important and informative commentaries authored by Philip Wemhoff on behalf of the Community.
On pages 109-115 is the SECA report that JTA
did not want included in the document, because it identifies all of JTA’s errors. JTA tried several times to remove it, and
will probably try again – it exposes too much JTA folly.
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The
Boulevard Crape Myrtles.
Over-pruning by FDOT contractors damaged boulevard trees in 2010,
2013 and 2014. This led to an
Association demand for improved FDOT pruning standards. Downloadable
here are the new FDOT standards.
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AC & Heating Savings. At the
08Jan2018 meeting, physicist Philip Wemhoff described ways to lower energy
bills at little or no cost.
To learn more about the topic, read the reports here
and here. To learn about Mr Wemhoff’s work, see the
news reports here
and here.
Also, follow these simple instructions
to determine whether your AC works OK.
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Mailboxes. The Association formally opposes curbside
mailboxes, which foster identity theft, collisions with vehicles and
unsightly neighborhoods. Note the
burglarized and vehicle-damaged mailboxes, above.
Learn about your rights here,
from the 2016 USPS Postal
Operations Manual, Section 631.6, page 326.
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Control
Illegal Signs. Please
help remove this deliberate form of litter, which decreases our property
values. Public roadways belong to
all citizens and may not be used for these “illegal billboards.” And, in the age of Craig’s List there is no
need for unlawful signs.
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Tree Service Company. Some
of us have had good experiences with the following tree services:
●
Budget Tree Service at 904.278.4917, who does not haul away
debris, but will place it at the curb, which a contractor may not do, but a
homeowner may. Budget’s insurance certificate is available here.
●
Avoid Integrity Tree Surgeons, 904.487.0197,
integritytreeinc@outlook.com,
which did not finish a job.
Caution. With ALL tree companies,
agree on a price in advance, and make it clear from the start that there will be no payment until the job is
done COMPLETELY.
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Recent & Ongoing Projects
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The Disaster That is
Mascara’s. Efforts were
finally successful at closing this Community-degrading facility. Efforts included a City Council “public
nuisance“ declaration, sponsored by Council
Members Matt Carlucci and Kevin Carrico – as well
as years of complaints from SECA members which induced tax-wasting action
by the Sheriff’s Office.
A history of Mascara’s evolution into a gangster strip club, and the
zoning mistakes that allowed its lawbreaking is detailed
in this downloadable report. City
government disgraced itself by the fateful errors made by incompetent public
employees who did nothing while we paid their salaries.
Taking Mascara’s place in 2023 is a quiet retail shop, which displays
home plumbing and cabinet options, and which is open only during daylight
hours.
Activities at Mascara’s, when it was operational, had induced lowered
property values and diminished quality of life, repeated assaults and
altercations, gun
battles with small children in the line of fire, relentless noise,
speeding vehicles, car wrecks and illegal parking on public and residential
property – a hell on earth that generates 200
JSO calls for service each year.
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Gargantuan Government
Waste. In November
2021 FDOT will begin a $10.5 million, 2-year reconstruction of the
Southside-Beach interchange. This
will be first use of a Median U-Turn design in FDOT District 2, and one of
the first in Florida.
Although the stated objective is accident-reduction, the novelty and
complexity of the design will actually increase accidents. The true objective is a synergistic
make-work project to keep FDOT and its contractors funded.
The first disastrous design required that all eastbound-to-northbound
traffic travel through the Southside Estates
Shopping Center. See the path of dots in the image above.
Every vehicle, from auto to 18-wheeled truck, would have to travel residential
streets: From Eve Drive to Patton
Road, turn left, then
enter Southside Blvd
through a new entrance at the west terminus of Patton.
All of these vehicles would shine headlights into the windows of
homes and, from their vibrations, shake the earth and homes for blocks
around.
All of this traffic will invade and destroy the residential
character of Patton Road
– and spread beyond – after Patton crumbles into dilapidated housing, nearby
Orr and streets beyond will fail.
An arrogant, deceitful FDOT would not stop until we had enlisted the
help of elected legislators Rep Clay Yarborough and Sen Aaron Bean, as well
as a staffmember from Congressman John Rutherford’s office.
All local officials, at election time, pledge to protect neighborhoods. But, all the locals ran away from this
FDOT attack. Only our State and
Federal representatives aided us.
As a result of that intervention, the plan was changed to the one
shown above – better than the first plan, but still very imperfect. The white dots show that trucks and cars
will be encouraged to travel through the shopping center, then to Patton
and the Service Road. Many will travel
through Orr and Barkley as well.
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Southside Estates
Park. By the close of 2022 the park will have a
new entrance, complete with reclaimed brick posts, simulated iron fencing
and landscaping.
The landscaping will likely consist of 5-foot camellia trees behind, and Azaleas in front.
The biggest changes inside the park include repair of the main two-story
building, and the creation of a new, exciting playground.
The new playground, at the current location, will have many
equipment types: Swings, slides, carrousel, rockers and climbing apparatus,
as well as shade trees. Parents will
enjoy covered picnic tables or a small pavilion.
The tables or pavilion will be strategically located so that parents
can watch both the nearby ball game and the smaller children in the
playground.
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New Senior Center. The center off Beach Boulevard, just south of SECA’s
district will be completed in mid-2022.
Many services will be offered, including smartphone and computer
training.
There will also be crafts and other group events in the many special
skills rooms.
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Completed: The Traffic
Calming of Peach, Forest, Live Oak.
On July 08, 2019 the City, urged by SECA members and Councilman
Scott Wilson, committed to using Speed Tables (shown above) to reduce
traffic, speeding and accidents on the Peach-Forest-Live-Oak corridor.
Work began on September 08, 2020 and was completed in October
2020. That corridor had become an
unwanted high-speed alternate to Southside
Boulevard, encouraged somewhat by the
City-State improvements at the Atlantic
and Beach Boulevard
entrances.
Now, the Peach-Forest-Live-Oak corridor has been returned to a
mostly calm residential street.
The City’s initial data and proposals are available in the
incomplete report
downloadable here. And, the latest,
October 30, 2019, revisions
are available here.
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Patton
Road Visual Barrier. In early 2019, following year-long
discussions with Councilman Wilson and the City, the City installed a
magnificent Visual Barrier between Patton Road and the shopping center
to the south.
The Magnolia-RedCedar-Pine landscape,
financed by Tree Mitigation funds, will greatly protect the property values
and life quality of the Patton-Orr neighborhoods. The final landscape design
can be downloaded here.
Initially, funds had been sought from Wawa and the shopping center owner,
but Wawa’s $10,000 donation will be utilized for the restoration of Overpass Park.
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Overpass
Park Restoration. Discussions are underway with the City to
revitalize Overpass
Park by means of a
$10,000 Wawa donation. A proposed
Landscape Plan is available
here; the Specifications here. The Park may even contain a public art
object visible from Southside
Boulevard. Of course nothing is final yet.
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Benolken
Parkway. In 2018
SECA sought to have Overpass Park renamed to Benolken Park,
in honor of deceased Skip Benolken, longtime president and park creator.
Because the park resides on State FDOT land, and because of FDOT’s
reluctance to act, we asked Rep Clay Yarborough to accomplish the objective
by act of the Legislature.
Unfortunately, FDOT had too little experience with park naming, so we
asked instead that the east service road be named Benolken Byway, to no
avail. Then, Mr Yarborough’s staff
suggested naming the pedestrian bridge after Skip, which was not suitable.
Finally, a segment of Southside
Boulevard was renamed. And, on September 09, 1999, the roadway sign
was unveiled and a sign replica was presented to Skip’s heir, Paul W. Rucker,
at that day’s SECA meeting. We wish
the replica had been made of gold, but unfortunately it is an ugly brown,
shown above.
Clay Yarborough has been a great
friend of SECA. When others
can’t get things done or violate the Public Good, he breaks through the
resistance. Note,
above, his help fixing the Southside-Beach interchange debacle.
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Plaque for Overpass Park. Using a 50% City grant, SECA in 2018
installed a plaque at Overpass
Park honoring the
extraordinary work and dedication of two past SECA presidents. The final artwork can be found here.
Some of Mr Benolken’s history is described on this page. And, here
is more information about Ms Gilmore.
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Peach Drive Apartments
(Proposed). In the past an
apartment complex of about 155 units has been proposed for a 14.5 acre site
east of Peach Drive.
SECA would oppose any Peach
Drive entrance, like that once proposed at 3154 Peach Drive
(shown as the protrusion in the aerial photo above).
A Peach Drive
entrance would cause too great a traffic impact on Peach, Kline, Leahy, Forest and Live Oak.
A Beach Boulevard
entrance may be more suitable, although homeowner would need to be canvassed
to learn the wishes of the Community.
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Storm Fallout. Our neighborhoods suffered somewhat
during the 2017 Irma hurricane.
Hopefully, the years ahead will be kinder to us.
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Wawa at Shopping Center
Site. In 2018 a gas
station convenience store was opened in the Southside Estates
Shopping Center. For more details download
the images here.
Beginning in August 2017 SECA requested that Wawa install a Visual Barrier between Patton Road and the Wawa
site. Here
are the communications, and here
is the 5-page report which argue
for the buffer. Controlled lighting
was also sought, as explained in the referenced documents.
Wawa board chairman Richard D Wood, Jr visited the site in September
2017 to evaluate our request.
The outcome of SECA’s efforts was a $10,000 donation to the City
from WaWa, to be applied to a nearby park.
Those funds will be used to revitalize Overpass
Park – one day to be named Benolken
Park after Skip Benolken a longtime
Community leader.
WaWa would not fund directly the Visual Barrier
at Patton Road. So, that Patton project,
on FDOT property, was financed using the vast Tree Mitigation Fund.
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Christmas Holiday Dinner Meeting. The spectacular yearly dinner, offered at
every December meeting, is prepared by Sandra Stokes and Betty Wells.
The meal is free to members and is always very well received.
This photo does not necessarily
represent the menu offered each year. This
year the selection will be more
austere, but still filling.
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