Community Workshop on Brooklyn and La Villa Street Improvements - July 30, 2026
Community Workshop on Brooklyn and La Villa Street Improvements - July 30, 2026
On July 30, 2026, city officials and project team members presented proposed street redesigns for Monroe Street, Riverside Avenue, and Forest Street in the Brooklyn and La Villa neighborhoods. The workshop aimed to gather public input on low-cost, fast-implementation projects designed to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, add parking, and enhance connectivity. The team emphasized a cost of approximately $100,000 per project and a completion timeline of 2027. No formal votes were taken.
Public Comments & Testimony
- A resident asked whether the project would involve resurfacing or just striping; the team clarified it is only striping, which keeps costs low.
- A resident asked about the potential for increased traffic due to future growth; Satcha explained that the traffic study applied a growth rate and accounted for planned developments, such as the redevelopment of the Haskell building.
- A resident asked about using concrete barriers to prevent drivers from inadvertently using the parking lane; the team responded that concrete islands would be placed at the beginning of parking lanes and at turning points, and green symbols would also be used.
- A resident asked about marketing the changes to the community to ensure understanding and adoption; the team acknowledged this was a fair point but noted that marketing is not part of the current project scope.
Discussion Items
- Jimmy Peluso opened with remarks expressing strong support for bike and pedestrian infrastructure, noting that such projects are low-cost and connect to the Emerald Trail and other recent investments like the McCoy's Creek daylighting and the North Bank riverwalk.
- Lee presented the problems and proposed solutions for each street:
- Monroe Street: Currently three one-way lanes encouraging speeding, no bike lanes, confusing navigation. Proposal: two-way two-lane street with bike lanes, connecting to the Emerald Trail and extending toward the courthouse.
- Riverside Avenue: Six lanes with no on-street parking, narrow unprotected bike lanes, high-speed traffic close to sidewalks. Proposal: reduce lanes, add on-street parking that will act as a buffer for protected bike lanes, and move moving traffic further from the sidewalk.
- Forest Street: Six lanes with no protection for bike lanes, and a missing crosswalk at Magnolia Street where pedestrians have worn a path. Proposal: convert outside lane to parking (protecting bike lanes), add a pedestrian crossing at Magnolia Street.
- Satcha presented the traffic study methodology and results:
- Study used drone video, field evaluations, and a 20-year horizon with opening year and design year.
- Level of service (LOS) metrics: Monroe Street will maintain LOS A/B through 2050; Riverside Avenue will maintain LOS C or better; Forest Street corridor will operate well except at Park Street intersection (LOS E in PM peak), which is outside the project scope.
- Travel times are expected to remain unchanged on all corridors.
- Matt presented safety data: Jacksonville was ranked the 16th most dangerous city for pedestrians in the 2025 Dangerous by Design report, though pedestrian fatalities have declined for three consecutive years. The city's Vision Zero Action Plan recommends designs like the proposed parking-protected bike lanes, which buffer cyclists from moving traffic and reduce the risk of being doored.
Key Outcomes
- No formal decisions or votes were taken; the meeting was a public input session.
- Attendees were encouraged to submit feedback via comment cards or email.
- The project team stated that construction is expected to begin in 2027, with all three projects moving forward simultaneously.
Meeting Transcript
Uh Jimmy Peluso. No clapping necessary. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming out here. I know it's relatively late on a Thursday. There's a lot of things going on this evening. So the fact that you want to show up really means a lot to me. It either shows that you are very, if you're like me, you're hopefully very supportive of the idea of more bike pedestrian friendly communities and neighborhoods, especially in our urban core. And maybe you just have questions about the project. Maybe there are some concerns. Maybe there's things that can make this project even better. But regardless, I'm so grateful that you're all here this evening. And if you go to some of the oldest cities on Earth, you can go to Paris, or you know, you can go to some places that were built hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, and they have made bike pedestrianism far more a part of the fabric of their society. And so naturally, I figured Jacksonville, Florida can do can definitely do the same thing. These are projects that are low cost. These are projects that can make a resounding difference for the community. And as we talk about the Emerald Trail, this connects to that. As we talk about slowing down traffic, it can do that. As we talk about making sure that neighborhoods are more connected to each other, this does that as well. And we just put a ton of money and attention into the McCoy's Creek project, daylighting the creek, and to the uh the the river walk on the north bank. I mean, there's a reality here where you can wake up in the morning in Brooklyn and walk all the way to the other side of the South Bank to where the district is and the uh DCPS building. That kind of connectivity is something that this city is now gonna have, which I find very, very like great. That's progress. Beyond that, if you look at the Monroe uh project, um, what's great about that is we've just opened up um the new La Villa Heritage Trail, right? This these beautiful markers that are celebrating the history of an incredible part of our city, La Villa. And what better way to get from one part of the trail than to the next? Getting on a bike or getting off, getting out of your car and walking from one to the next to see what has happened in this city. I mean, these are the kinds of things that that that big cities do, and and and I'm I'm just grateful to to Lee, to Chris, to everyone here this evening, to Osiris who who put this together. Um, and and I'm I'm interested to hear what your questions are, if there are any concerns, and uh, and and I hope to uh to to see us break ground on this, break ground. It's really just paint. Uh pull out the pull out the paintbrush, I suppose, in a couple of months and get this going. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, so why are we here? Uh we're gonna talk about why we think these projects are good ideas. Uh we think there's a lot of benefits to them, but we want to know what you think. You know, we we miss stuff, we make mistakes. So if you think we missed something or that we made a mistake, please tell us. Um, you can fill out a comment card, you can send us an email. Uh we'll have time for questions at the end. And if you like these projects, please tell us as well. Your your your input is very important. So everybody here, you know, has some connection to these neighborhoods. Uh, you might live there, uh maybe you work there, or maybe you just visit. Uh but I think everybody's here because you're interested in in making these streets better. So, how are these projects going to make Brooklyn and La Villa better? So they're gonna provide better access to local businesses. So on Monroe Street, we're gonna two-way Monroe Street. So that means drivers will have an easier time getting places. It'll also make businesses more visible because drivers will see them when they're going both directions.
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