Jacksonville's Mandarin Info Blog

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We have lived in the Mandarin area for a very long time.  I have 4 children and now a grandchild so I have used almost all of the parks in this area included in the zip codes 32217, 32223, 32257, 32258 and 32259.  We are revisiting all of them for this blog to take pictures and to give reviews.  The most recent one that we have used is:

Burnett Park Community Center
3740 Burnett Park Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 268-7510

Last year my youngest daughter wanted to learn to play baseball so we signed up with the Mandarin Athletic Association and she was placed on team.  The fees were reasonable and the season was short as it was Fall.  We liked the coaches and they were patient with the newcomers.  She was the one of the only 2 or 3 girls that tried out that season.  But the coaches were great and the other members of the team pretty much took her in stride.  All of the practices and games were played at Burnett Park which has 6 baseball fields, 4 tennis courts, 2 basketball courts and a children’s jungle gym for the younger kids to play on.  They also have a snack bar opened during the games with the usual hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, drinks and ice cream.  The bleachers are all metal and pretty cold during the late fall and early winter when she played.  The public bathrooms need some repair especially those near the tennis courts.  Every time we went was not on a trash day or it was late in the afternoon after quite a few teams had practiced.  I had hoped to get a collection of volunteers together to keep it clean but that was a wash.  The fields are kept nice though and the children’s equipment seem to be in good repair.

We had a good time after my daughter got more comfortable with her teammates and with the rules of the game.  She even managed to hit a few during the later games with a little help from Mandarin Mill where they have a batting cage and practices.  Sadly, my daughter did not want to play baseball anymore because she had some kind of falling out with one of the players during the tryouts in the spring.  But maybe next year she will want to play softball with the girls!

Mandarin Mill Family Golf
10910 San Jose Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32223
(904) 262-7888

The park is opened all year round.  And you can play or practice on the fields at anytime unless there are team practices.  The park has some old oak trees for shade and pine trees to screen the traffic noise coming off of I-295.  There is a community hall on the premises but we have never used that.  The park in located in the middle of an established community and not very close to any major arteries so if you are not familiar with the Mandarin Area you are going to want to “GOOGLE MAP IT” on your first try.  There is a care-taker onsite for any problems.  Of course, there is no admission charge for any of the city parks.  There is ample parking unless of course it’s baseball season.

Something you may not know about Burnett Park is that the area to the west side of the park use to be a Horse Training and Show Area.  When we first moved to the area the park had two sides separated by a screen of pine trees.  The pine trees are still there but the horse track, tower and bleachers are gone and have been replaced by two more baseball diamonds with dug-outs and practice boxes.

Let me tell you upfront I have never been impressed by the Duval County School System.  I was born and raised here and went to schools here as have my mom, dad, half of my grandparents and all of my children.   As with almost all school systems throughout our country there are problems with over-crowding, under-budgeting, cutting of extra-curricular activities and shortages of qualified teachers.  Granted there are limited resources to go around but my goodness can’t we figure out how to get our children educated in more that taking the FCATs.  That is all that the schools have been concentrating on for the last 7 or 8 years.  They have cut off funding and canceled extra courses that round out our children’s education.  It really doesn’t matter which middle school or high school you put your child in or what Magnet Program they join.  Most of our children are way behind any other country in the World.  I don’t know what the solution to the problems is but we need to do something to help our children and our grandchildren before it is too late.

In the Mandarin area (that is zip codes 32217, 32223, 32257, 32258 and 32259) there are numerous elementary schools, a couple of middle schools and probably only 2 high schools.  I don’t know the exact number of private schools but I have only seen maybe 3 or 4 of those in this area.  Mandarin High School is a zoo of over 3000 students all crammed together trying to get through.  My two oldest kids didn’t make it through and finally just gave up and took the GED.  My younger son is going through that now.  I have taken my last child out of the public school system and am trying to homeschool her.  We are using a free resource call the Florida Virtual School that has the curriculum for 6th through 12th graders online with teachers from all over the state teaching the classes.  From the enrollment logs on my daughters listing the class size is a little smaller and she can go at her own pace.  All the information and tests are online.  The teachers require that the parent and student call them about once a month and a progress report is posted every couple of weeks.  As a parent or guardian you can check their gradebook every day at almost anytime of the day or night.  The only problem we have so far is keeping her on track and turning work in every week.  She gets ahead in the posted pace chart and figures she can take the rest of the week off.  But the teachers require that the students turn work in every week even though they are ahead.

We hope that this will give her an opportunity to progress and actually learn something.  She still has to take the FCAT every year and keep a copy of her work for inspection by the Home School People at the Duval County School Board.  She will not get a Duval County Diploma but we will worry about that in the future.  By the time she actually gets into 12th grade they may recognize the Florida Virtual School as a viable entity and grant their students a Florida High School Diploma.  They do have graduation ceremonies but I think they are in Orlando.

I cannot advise on where to place your child or even really advocate homeschooling I only know that something needs to change and we need to change it very soon!

Click here to go to a Mandarin Schools Page.

Have you noticed that most places, other than bars, close around 9:00pm here in Mandarin.  I mean if you are a night-owl and really want to go out for a bite or need something from the stores there are not a lot of places you can go.  Thankfully, our Walmart  on San Jose Boulevard is usually opened 24/7 and you can get pretty much anything you want from there but sometimes it would be nice to be able to go somewhere else in the middle of the night.

I am a night-owl.  I work the midnight shift at one of our hospitals in the Emergency Room.  I have to pretty much keep to that schedule even on my off days or else I will mess up my sleeping patterns.  So, when I get restless on my days off I usually go for a drive.  It’s pretty nice out there for the most part with hardly no one else on the road but if I want to get a burger or a decent cup of coffee then my choices are limited.  The people at the Gate Store on St Augustine Road just before the I-95 overpass almost never disappoints.  They keep the coffee fresh and the flavored coffee creamers cool at almost all times of the night. Their store is also very clean and the prices for other stuff is not too outrageous.

Of course as far as the great burger or pizza is concerned I am out of luck after 10:00pm or 11:00pm during the week except for McDonalds down by I-295 on St Augustine Road.  But just remember their menu is limited after 11:00pm and I found out that all the 24 hour McDonalds closes between 3:00am and 4:00am for computer updates.

So, for those magic hours after 2:00am when the bars close and before 5:00am when the fast food places open for breakfast there are not too many choices in the Mandarin Area for a night-owl to go.   If you know of any businesses opened after 11:00pm during the week or even the weekend in the Mandarin Area please post that information here and what they offer!   I must find another place to go when I can’t sleep and don’t want to wander the aisles at Walmart!

Cheers!

Hey everyone!  Just a little note about posting reviews on restaurants and fast food places.  We want to encourage everyone to subscribe to the blog and begin making posts and uploading pictures of their favorite places to eat.  There are a few rules however.

First of all, please make sure you keep your comments rated ‘G’.  We know that it is so tempting to blast a place where we got really bad food or terrible services and of course, you can do that here.  But we are a family website and posting your review should be an honest reflection of the dissatisfying service or food you received not how bad your language skills are.  Most people appreciate an honest opinion of a place so that they will not waste their hard-earned money on bad food and/or bad service.

Second, pictures should be compressed for documents.  Almost everyone has access to some kind of picture software.  I use Microsoft Picture Manager that came with my computer.  Sorry, but only subscribers can upload pictures to the gallery. If you have trouble with any of this or do not have access to some kind of picture suppression software then just email me the pictures at:  jolene.macfadden@jacksonvillesmandarin.info and I will compress it for you and then upload the pictures.

Third, we are not an advertising space.  While it is true we do not mind if you own the restaurant and want to post your specials or upcoming events, advertising for it’s own sake is not what we do.  If you are not sure just email us with the post and we will review it.

Fourth, most of all we want to encourage an honest review of wherever you and your family enjoyed your food adventure.  So when you eat out take a picture of the most interesting thing (most people have a cellphone with camera to email it to yourself) and tell us about what foods you and your family enjoyed!

For those who love history or are just curious about this area that you live in we are asking for volunteers to write a little history of the Mandarin area.  Now it can be a history of just your neighborhood as well.  There are plenty of interesting facts and history about all parts of Mandarin that we have yet to discover.  Find out when your neighborhood was built, see if you can find the person who has lived there the longest and interview them for your story.  Old and new pictures of your neighborhood would be great as well.  Here are two resources that can help you get started.  One of course is the public library but you will probably want to go to the one on Kori Road as that is the first library in Mandarin and will probably have some great material and possibly some pictures that you can copy.  The second source is the Mandarin Newspaper.  They may have some articles on the history of Mandarin or have some research available and pictures.  Remember to cite your sources and give credit to where you get your information.  If you take your own pictures, of course, we want to give you credit as well.

This is a great exercise for kids as well as adults and all entries will be posted.  So, get out there and discover your history!

cheers!

Jolene

We hope to provide our subscribers with all the latest information on what’s happening around the Jacksonville, Florida’s Mandarin Area. That will include restaurant reviews, local park information, schools, daycare,  government services and the different kinds of housing and neighborhoods.   We will also be including a photo gallery of the various categories as we get them.  These are usually taken on my weekend off which I only get two a month so the pictures will take some time to build up.  We also encourage our subscribers to upload pictures for any comments that they make on our posts or pages.

All of our Jacksonville Informational blogs will be divided by zip code.  Some may not consider a few of these zip codes as a part of that side of town but this is how we are going to be doing it.  So, for the Mandarin Area we include the following zip codes 32217, 32223, 32257, 32258 and 32259.  Now, technically 32259 is in Saint Johns County, however, we have long since included them in the Mandarin Area as far back as I can remember.  True, that area has grown tremendously over the last 7 years and is in the process of changing how things are named and may even become a whole city with a new zip code in the future.  But for now we include the Fruit Cove and Switzerland areas all the way down Racetrack Road to US1 and down State Road 13 down to Orange Dale in this blog.

We are always looking for volunteers to be authors for this blog as well so if you live in the Mandarin Area and would like to contribute just sign up as a subscriber and then email me at jolene.macfadden@jacksonvillemandarin.info.  We look forward to hearing from you and appreciate any volunteers.

We can use anyone who can type, take a digital picture and upload it or email them, and /or those who like to tell where they have eaten, found some terrific bargain, or just had some great service when they went out to eat or bought something.  We also could use those who have kids in sports and want to report on local sporting events or know of an art show, carnival or dance that is open to the public in our area.