The city is defined by the St Johns River, which bisects it en route to the nearby Atlantic coast. The mild climate and access to the ocean have made it an important centre for the U.S. Navy and for commercial shipping and it has attracted the back-office operations of several national financial institutions. A logistical centre, Jacksonville is also home to CSX Corporation, the dominant rail company in the eastern U.S.

Obviously a well-researched article, it is the work of one Henry Hamman, a Financial Times contributing writer,  living in Sewanee, Tenn.  This seemed a curious arrangement, so I phoned Hamman to ask him how an FT contributor, who lives in Tennessee, came to learn of Riverside and Avondale. He’s a very affable man, tells great stories and has led quite an interesting life.

Hamman, at one point in his life, was Bureau Chief for Radio Free Europe in London. I’m not exactly sure how he ended up in Miami, but there he was, a Financial Times correspondent covering sporadic South Florida events.  He named a few, from the Noreiga trial and the murder of Gianni Versace to hurricanes and everglades. All the while, he was working on his doctorate in International Relations at the University of Miami, and also as a UM administrator.

As it turns out, he is also an avid architectural buff and a proponent of the New Urbanism architectural movement, which stresses urban reinvestment over suburban sprawl. He has a penchant for Prairie School and Craftsman styling. He particularly enjoyed the resources available at University of Miami’s School of Architecture and made great use of its Archives of the New Urbanism.

Hamman is also president of Sociocybernetics, a computer research company founded around his  patented communications software. UPDATE: Sociocybernetics was actually started to study the application of cybernetic theory to social organizations. Our patent came out of work we were doing on computer-assisted negotiation, and I [Hamman] am a co-inventor only. Through the patenting process in New York City, he became friendly with Joe Kincart, an intellectual property attorney, who now lives in Avondale and works for Johnson and Johnson’s Vistakon as a patent attorney. In a phone chat between the two, Kincart raved on about his cosmopolitan neighborhood:

It’s the closest thing to Greenwich Village you’ll find in Florida!

Any journalist will probably tell you it’s not easy finding  great resources right away in a new city, but fortunately, Hamman had Kincart AND Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP). These neighborhoods have had a National Trust for Historic Preservation designation since 2000, so there’s plenty of historic information available. Hamman also had the help of long-time Riverside resident Myrtice Craig, who he describes as a lovely and gracious woman, who knows just about everybody. [Local events and news are posted on RAP's blog.]

All told, Riverside and Avondale, which lie contiguously along the bank of the St Johns River, comprise a collection of about 5,000 buildings, of which about three-quarters are protected by historic designation. Architectural styles range from late Victorian to craftsman bungalows, colonial revival and prairie school, the design tradition of America’s pre-eminent 20th-century architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Henry is back in Sewanee, Tenn. His 15-acre spread is named The Tick Farm. He tells  me the area is awful, it’ s very unscenic and there’s no reason whatsoever to move there.   I suspect  his disdain for Sewanee  is a self-devised plot to prevent other people from moving to the area and ruining everything. Update: FYI, the weather in Sewanee is horrible, too — we had snow yesterday, the ground is soggy, and the deer are eating all the foliage.

Hat-Tip to Brother in arms, Jon Singleton, for posting Perfectly Preserved on twitter.

Henry James Klutho, a prominent Prairie School architect, practically redesigned Jacksonville single-handedly after the Great Fire of 1901. And that is a post for another day!

Update: Just in case I don’t get to a post about Klutho any time soon, “The Architecture of Henry John Klutho, The Prairie School in Jacksonville” by Robert C. Broward is available through  The Jacksonville Historical Society.

The severely damaged Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s port  is only one of the logistical nightmares hindering relief and reconstruction of  the nation.

The pier is now handling about 30 percent of its pre-quake capacity. If pushed, it could unload 200 to 250 containers a day, but debris is limiting the size of the ships that can enter the port, U.S. Navy Admiral Sam Perez told Thomas Reuters news service. [Haiti port recovery key to aid ...]

UPDATE:  Haiti port capacity boosted, repairs advancing [Reuters Feb. 25, 2010]

The harbor of Port-au-Prince Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command [Mayport] is the Navy’s lead command in Operation Unified Response - the joint forces humanitarian aid mission under U.S. Southern Command in Miami..

Crowley Maritime is working under contract with U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).  The joint forces  logistics organization relies heavily on its commercial partners to “deliver unrivaled, full-spectrum, deployment and distribution solutions.” In an experimental “lightering” operation, Crowley discharged 12 20-foot containers of relief supplies across a beach  on Fri., Jan. 22nd. Supply containers were lifted from a ship anchored in the harbor to a  landing vessel for transport and discharge over the beach, paving the way for container shipments directly into Port-au-Prince next week.

“Today’s operation was an important milestone in reestablishing direct container shipments into the heavily damaged port,” said John Hourihan, Crowley’s senior vice president and general manager of Latin America services. The port survey conducted Monday by a team from our TITAN Salvage subsidiary was spot on in terms of identifying a suitable location in the port where we could safely discharge the cargo.

Marcajama en route to Port-au-Prince

The Crowley container ship Marcajama, which offloaded the containers today, is scheduled to return to Port Everglades, Fla. over the weekend and load more relief cargo under contract with USTRANSCOM. The ship will then return to Port-au-Prince in the middle of next week and discharge containers via the proven lightering method utilizing two shuttle vessels.

“USTRANSCOM values the innovative solutions that our contractors are implementing to rapidly facilitate humanitarian assistance in support of the Haitian people,” said Army Brig. Gen. Michael Lally, director of operations for the command.

Future cargo operations in the port should improve substantially in the coming weeks. Crowley is mobilizing two 400-foot-long, 100-foot-wide flat deck barges, along with two Manitowoc 230-ton crawler cranes in the United States for USTRANSCOM that will be brought into Port-au-Prince to serve as a makeshift dock for future cargo operations. The first barge and crane in Orange, Texas should arrive in Haiti on or about Feb. 4. The second deck barge is being outfitted in Lake Charles, La. and will arrive by mid-Feb.

“The diverse resources of the Crowley organization are being brought to the table in response to this emergency,” Hourihan said. “We are working closely with USTRANSCOM, USAID, FEMA and other organizations to provide the assets, services and technical expertise they need to accomplish their missions.”

Relief cargoes are being consolidated and stuffed into containers at Crowley’s Miami warehouse and distribution center. Containers delivered by Crowley in Rio Haina, Dominican Republic this week are being trucked over the border into Haiti. And more shipments – 179 20-foot containers and 11 40-foot containers for USTRANSCOM – are due in Rio Haina Sunday morning.

“The combination of direct shipments into Port-au-Prince and shipments into Rio Haina that are then trucked over the border is now resulting in a steady flow of aid,” said Hourihan.

Those wishing to contribute humanitarian supplies to Haiti’s relief effort should do so by contacting non-profit organizations such as Food for the Poor or Catholic Relief Services

From the Florida Times-Union

FILE - This a photo of Michael Scott Speicher made aboard the carrier USS Saratoga in June 18, 1990 when he was promoted to Lt. Commander. Speicher, whose jet fighter went down Jan. 17, 1991 over Iraq, has been missing ever since. Officials said Sunday Aug. 2, 2009, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has positively identified the remains of Captain Michael "Scott" Speicher, whose disappearance has bedeviled investigators since his jet was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the war (AP Photo/Barry Hull, File)

After an 18-year saga, the remains of downed F/A-18 pilot Michael Scott Speicher have been found in Iraq, the Pentagon announced Sunday, buried in a grave near where his plane crashed on the first day of Operation Desert Storm.

“We thank the active duty men and women whose diligence has made this happen,” the family said in a statement about the search released by their lawyer, Cindy Laquidara.

The family, which declined to comment, is digesting the news but still has questions, Laquidara said, particularly relating to exactly when Speicher died.

“We’re discrediting the rumor that he died in the crash,” Laquidara said in an interview. “That’s just not accurate.”

That information does not fit with data the family has collected over the years, she said, an issue it will bring up during an expected meeting with the Defense Department.

Questions aside, the announcement moves Speicher’s family a step closer to ending the trial it has endured for almost two decades. …