[ealgeone]

I lived there in the very late 80s through the nineties. When I moved there it was a city of about 500k. Around 1990 we had the thugs throwing junk off interstate overpasses. First inkling things weren't right in Jacksonville.

Then I began to notice gang graffiti in the middle class neighborhoods in the Mandarin and Baymeadows area.

I knew if I stayed there and had a family we would be moving to St. John's county for better schools.

Too bad to hear this about Jacksonville. It is a city with a lot of potential. Access to the beach. Moderate climate for north Florida.

Unfortunately it's on I-95....the drug highway of the east coast.

[Q-ManRN]

Most urban politicians do not live in those urban areas and they do not want to admit that they cannot solve the problems of crime and drugs themselves. Nevertheless, they want to appear that they do have the solution for re-election purposes.

[SampleMan]

Most of Jax is still ok, but the thug element is heavy in the hood and sometimes spills out. Lots of decent folks carry now.