Naval museum for the Southbank?

[Timkin]

What became of the Sara? I was aboard it back in the day when the Navy still used Offset Printing Presses instead of copiers, and Mimeograph machines. 

[gatorback]

What year was that?

[blandman]

I believe the Saratoga is still docked in Newport, RI.  The Saratoga Foundation was trying to convince the Navy to give it to them, so they could set up their museum on it.  Unfortunately, it's scheduled to be scrapped/sunk next year.

[gatorback]

A waste truly.

[Timkin]

Thats too bad.  I hope that does not happen.

Gator.. if you were asking what year (s) I was on the Sara ... 1985-1991  ..to repair equipment.. and any of the other Navy Vessels and offices that had printing press equipment at NAS/ Mayport/ and Kings Bay

[Noone]

Last night at city council 2010-675 was introduced which will pave the way to bring the USS Adams to the Southbank. Introduced by Bishop and its not even his district. Sponsored by Johnson and Redman.

 

[rjp2008]

I think Northbank is better because a) much more visible from bridges and b) gives people another reason to be downtown and near the sports district also.

[thelakelander]

Continuing to spread our attractions and resources too thin hurts all of them.  The sports district is a mile away from the  walkable Northbank core.  Compact connectivity should play a role in where this thing ultimately ends up.  With that said, being immediately adjacent to MOSH, RCB, a restored Friendship Fountain and riverwalk isn't a bad thing.

[rjp2008]

True. Either way, I'd like to see two ships - Adams and a historical sail ship.

[Ocklawaha]

I think itd be cool to have an old carrier for a naval museum , but Im not even sure one could get under the Dames Point Bridge?  defintely not under the Matthews , so it would have to be one smaller than an Aircraft Carrier.

Maybe we'd get REALLY lucky and it would take out that damn Dames Point Bridge. Be a great excuse to rebuild it WAY higher.


OCKLAWAHA


 

[copperfiend]

Continuing to spread our attractions and resources too thin hurts all of them.  The sports district is a mile away from the  walkable Northbank core.  Compact connectivity should play a role in where this thing ultimately ends up.  With that said, being immediately adjacent to MOSH, RCB, a restored Friendship Fountain and riverwalk isn't a bad thing.

Agreed.

[blizz01]

Plans to attract retired naval destroyer to Jacksonville take step forward

Daniel Bean remembers - vividly and fondly - the first time he stepped foot on the USS Charles F. Adams.
"It was a great learning experience that I wouldn't want to repeat," Bean said this week about his days as a midshipman on the Adams back in the 1980s, a tour spent mostly on general quarters in the waters around Cuba.
Bean went on to qualify as a surface warfare operator and then to law school, worked as a Navy lawyer and eventually joined the reserves and started practicing civilian law.
Now a partner in the Jacksonville office of the Holland & Knight law firm, Bean recently consulted on legislation that would take a big step toward having the Adams return to Jacksonville, this time as a floating museum.
"It's one more thing for people to do when they're downtown, another reason for tourists to visit downtown and create more activity there," Bean said.
A first step
That legislation was introduced to the City Council on Tuesday night, marking the first official move by the city in the years that the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association has been working on the project.
"We've got some traction," said John O'Neil, executive director of the association, which along with the Adams Class Veterans Association has been fighting to get the 50-year-old vessel a new home.
The city ordinance would provide the city's formal support for bringing the decommissioned destroyer to Jacksonville, a requirement before the Navy would release the ship. It also binds the city to supporting museum organizers as they negotiate with the state over using the site east of the Acosta Bridge where the ship would float.  The city now has a pier there, which the museum association would replace once the ship arrives.
The bill doesn't ask the city for any money for the project, which organizers say will be totally donation-funded.
Mayport roots
A group of Navy veterans has been trying for years to save the destroyer, which had once been based at Mayport Naval Station. About 2007, it looked like Tampa was going to get the ship, but those plans fell apart, leading a Jacksonville-based member of the Adams veterans group to suggest the First Coast as a new home.
In 2008, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the idea, but that motion didn't have the legal force of an ordinance.
"It just sounded like a neat idea, but I was also kind of skeptical," said Bill Bishop, the councilman who introduced Tuesday's bill. "We sent them away saying, 'We like this in principle, but you have a lot of homework to do.' They did the homework."
That included working on raising donations, figuring out a plan for refurbishing the vessel and nailing down some details about the Southbank site. The entire project is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $9 million, mostly for the pier and repairs.
Already, the two groups involved have raised about $1 million in cash and in-kind donations, mostly for the studies required by the Navy for the application to get the ship.
O'Neil said the museum association has had preliminary talks with the state, which owns the submerged land over which the vessel would sit. Right now the city has a non-exclusive easement to use the site, and O'Neil said the state seems OK with the Adams sharing the space.
What's next
In coming weeks, the legislation will have to be approved by three council committees - Waterways, Recreation and Finance - and then go before the full council.
If it's approved, O'Neil said, it will be a major step toward getting the ship here with a projected arrival date of 2014. He said the association is ready to jump into the hard work of getting the ship fixed up and docked on the St. Johns River.
The Navy has a time limit on how long it holds onto ships that have been decommissioned, and if the museum association doesn't get moving, it will miss the opportunity.
"If we don't have it here in four years," he said, "the Navy's going to say you've had your chance, you're done."

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-08-13/story/plans-attract-retired-destroyer-take-step-forward

[CS Foltz]

Time to man the rail and get it into gear!

[Noone]

Don't you just love it. The group of the USS Adams made a presentation to Waterways asking that the ship use the 680' Promised Downtown Public Pier when it was announced that the 44 acre Shipyards/Landmar was in bankruptcy. Would there have ben an amendment to make that happen?

So in coming weeks the legislation will have to be approved by three council committees-Waterways, Recreation, and Finance-then go before the full council.
So now there is legislation 2010-604 Shipyards/Landmar and its only in Recreation and Finance. Why was it left out of Waterways?

4 new members in Waterways. Who is going to say NO to the Navy? I hope they are successful. Just a couple of months ago they needed $5,000,000. Now its $9,000,000.

Another underlying  reason, example, concern, why the PROMISED DOWNTOWN PUBLIC PIER needs an amendment to 2010-604 to keep the pier separate. The Public Trust continues to be absolutely destroyed in this community.

2010-675 is the legislation for the USS Adams.

 

[blizz01]

From Today's Daily Record:

Downtown ship would ‘open some doors’

It’s all about opportunities.
The Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association is pursuing an opportunity to bring the decommissioned USS Charles F. Adams to port in Jacksonville as a floating museum.
Attorneys at Holland & Knight are looking for opportunities to provide pro bono help to the community in an effort to reach 100 percent participation by its firm.
The two opportunities converged and now they are on a path to the same goal, bringing a new attraction to Downtown Jacksonville.
Attorney Chris Commander is a partner at Holland & Knight and practices in its mergers and acquisitions group. His focus is mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and real estate areas.
“It’s tough to find pro bono opportunities in those areas,” said Commander. “So when Dan (Bean) approached me with this, I was glad to help out.”
Commander donated pro bono hours to work with the City’s Office of General Counsel regarding the submerged land agreement, easement acquisition and land use agreements for the project.
“It’s been an interesting project and, because I have kids, I can see how it benefits the community both in tourism and education,” said Commander.
Bean, president of The Jacksonville Bar Association in 2009-10, stepped on the ship as an 18-year-old midshipman at the beginning of his Navy career, so it wasn’t difficult for him to decide to get involved with the project.
“This would be a great asset for Downtown,” said Bean, a partner who practices in the field of public-private partnerships. “If we could open some doors for children to experience war ships at an early age, maybe they would be more amenable to military service.”
Bean has given his time to represent the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association’s interests in talks with government officials. The City Council is now reviewing Ordinance 2010-675, which provides the City of Jacksonville’s formal support and help with efforts of the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association to coordinate local, state and federal authorities to bring the USS Charles F. Adams to Downtown as a floating museum, immediately east of the Acosta Bridge on Jacksonville’s Southbank. The association is not asking for any monetary support from the City. All it asks from the City is the permission to moor the ship near the Acosta Bridge.
Suzanne Judas is the firm’s Jacksonville office pro bono and community services partner, and she helped coordinate the pro bono efforts as the office surges to 95 percent participation throughout the last year.
“We challenged the office to take the Florida Supreme Court’s ONE challenge, for every attorney to take on one pro bono case during the year,” said Judas. “We are almost at 95 percent. We try to match people with the opportunity and provide them with the help they need to succeed.”
The City Council Rules Committee will discuss the issue of bringing the USS Charles F. Adams to Jacksonville at its meeting Tuesday, which begins with an agenda meeting at 9:30 a.m. and the regular meeting at 10 a.m.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=531817