Good News for the District

In the past week or so, the District was the recipient of some very good news in spite of what the "news machine" wants us to believe. The 32204 zip code was one of the bright spots in an otherwise typical doom and gloom story. Home prices in Riverside rose 145% in the second quarter with home sales 113% higher than the same quarter last year.

The second bright spot was an article in Money magazine. Riverside Avondale was listed as one of the top places to retire to in the country. Among the reasons cited was the architectures, the Cummer and St. Vincents Hospital. Just ignore the Caribbean photo that accompanies the story. At least they got the story right. Yahoo Finance and AOL also ran the story.

And finally, overheard on the recent Restore Jacksonville tour of the Riverside Avondale district were two skilled restoration contractors up from Melbourne. As they were touring our neighborhood, every other word out of their mouths was . . . "Wow." They kept switching sides of the bus to peer out the window at all the wonderful homes we sometimes take for granted. They were thrilled by our bungalows, open-mouthed at our mansions, and impressed by our diversity. As one of them said to another, "There's so much eye candy here." One of our board members who was there says it best. "It made me very proud to call this place home, and humbled to be part of an effort aimed at making sure our "eye candy" sticks around for the next century."