A.G. Gancarski
What had initially been proposed as a debate sponsored by Visit Jacksonville on Monday turned into a pair of separate mayoral candidate forums for Lenny Curry and Alvin Brown. The incumbent mayor, ever wary of Curry’s “partisan tricks,” declined again the opportunity to share a stage with his opponent.
Florida Politics went to the event’s venue at the Wyndham Hotel on the Southbank, intending to cover each candidate’s presentation.
Brown, however, after seeing a reporter as he entered the room, spoke to organizers of the event. “I thought this was an executive meeting,” he said, indicating that an executive meeting didn’t include “the press.”
Event organizers politely asked me to leave during Brown’s speech, in spite of having cleared it earlier. In any event, Lenny Curry welcomed the coverage of his ideas about issues of pressing importance to Jacksonville, both involving the hospitality industry and tourism, and beyond. Those issues likely will be central to his appearance on the Action News Jax “debate” that the mayor declined, as well as the two two-person debates next week.
The tourism industry in Jacksonville is a $2.2 billion economic powerhouse that generates $180 million in state and local taxes per annum, moderator Odette Stuys said. Curry said he looked forward to a “healthy dialogue” with Brown on those issues, but absent that he was able to talk about his vision for the city, if elected.
One of those issues was crime. Curry addressed it, saying, “If it’s not in your neighborhood right now, it could be there,” and, “Even if it’s not, we’re still talking about lives.” He spoke of how many neighborhoods suffer with subpar infrastructure and rampant crime, and to that end Downtown development matters and is “not a zero-sum game.”
Economic development is central to Curry’s free-market vision, which involves government getting out of the way of the private sector. Part of that process is streamlining redundancies in zoning and permitting, a process that he says takes too long and discourages capital infusions from outside Jacksonville. He vowed to, if elected, eliminate redundancies and “reinvigorate” the relationship between city government and businesses, in a “way that is customer friendly.”
Failure to do so comes with dire consequences. Jacksonville gets a small fraction of the investment capital coming into Florida, and that’s because, says Curry, our regulatory climate is not conducive to investment.
A big part of the problem is that our city is in “financial distress,” with “half a billion dollars in accounting errors” and a city hall with “little or no regard for finance,” according to outside auditors.
That’s not to say there aren’t successes. The Khan Shipyards project intrigues Curry. He said he sees Khan as a resource without peer in terms of economic development. Even in that context, however, responsible stewardship of taxpayers’ money requires government to “lay out steps” and ensure a “return on investment for the city” with measurable objectives.
However, the real issues cannot be avoided. Such as the Liberty Street “collapse,” which Curry called an “embarrassment.” Former city employees told him that much more could have been done in the immediate wake of the problem.
Another key issue is homelessness, which Curry addressed with empathy and depth.
“It’s a real issue, and a perception issue,” Curry said, one that Jacksonville can “solve in a humane way.” One solution: “We can find a way to serve the homeless and the mentally ill” that isn’t “in the heart of Downtown.”
For those who have seen the homelessness issue downtown in recent years, with no real progress toward solution, there is a realization that what has been done has not worked.
The issues of homelessness and untreated mental illness affect the entire city, along with the violent crime and murder that have spiked the past four years. His solution? “Long-term investment” and “long-term returns” achieved through a return to the “blueprint” laid out by the Jacksonville Journey. That includes a restoration of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to at least 2003 levels, an initiative that he estimated would cost $10 million to $20 million of a “billion dollar budget.”
Curry did not advocate arresting the way out of the problem. The extra police, he contended, would help build trust via community policing. To achieve safety, the city must “give at-risk kids a place to go,” and the executive branch must “have a relationship with the next sheriff.” He contrasted that to “the current mayor, who does not have a desire for a relationship with the sheriff.” To turn the tide of crime and violence, that must change, Curry asserted.
Curry has grown as a candidate during the past year, speaking with specifics about Jacksonville’s problems. He talks not just in general terms, but about problems in neighborhoods such as Grand Park and other areas that aren’t Republican sinecures. As he has evolved, Curry articulates an increased understanding of issues people face throughout town.
During Monday’s forum, he spoke with city stakeholders about transportation issues, as well as those related to marketing the city and moving the city forward. In these remarks, he delivered a detailed and specific vision of what the city could do better, and how he would get the city there.
As the debates near, Monday’s forum could have been an opportunity to see both candidates articulate their closing arguments. Undoubtedly, the mayor’s remarks were every bit as salient and detailed. The regret is that no one outside the room was able to hear them.
