A.G. Gancarski
The Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University was the site of the Lenny Curry transition team meetings that have been instrumental to his early-term approach to restructuring government. On Friday afternoon, one of the rooms used for transition meetings was filled to capacity with some of the city’s most powerful movers and shakers, to hear the mayor and one of his most meaningful political allies, Council President Greg Anderson, outline their vision for Jacksonville on Northeast Florida going forward.
It was the largest crowd for one of these economic roundtable lunches in two decades, and it was unprecedented, bringing the mayor and the Council President together for one of these lunches for the first time. And on most issues, there isn’t much daylight between the two.
Curry talks more than most politicians of the importance of trust, and he values the relationship and “two way communication” with Anderson, crediting him with the “budget [having] passed unanimously under the Council President’s watch.”
They don’t walk in lockstep. Yet “if we disagree, we sit down and have a conversation,” which is ideal for the mayor.
“It’s not healthy when elected officials communicate through the media,” Curry said.
(Perhaps not, but it makes for good copy.)
Anderson, meanwhile, mentioned how “refreshing” it was to have a “truly balanced” budget, as well as speaking to the advantages of a “shared vision.”
That shared vision extended to the joint initiative between the two men to advance a meaningful fix for the Liberty Street and Coastline Drive collapses.
For Anderson, who has referred to that repeatedly as “blight,” it’s an issue.
It’s an issue for Curry also.
“People stay at the Hyatt… visit the Jacksonville Landing… do they want to come back?”
This restoration which will be completed in the next thirty months, and which might not have happened without collaboration, is seen as a key toward meaningful downtown revival.
Curry’s commitment to collaboration extends to his own “senior staff,” the assembly of which was different for him than some other politicians.
“I’d never been in government,” the Jacksonville mayor related, and “I knew that if I’d brought back people who’d had success before” there would be some criticism.
Yet bringing back the all-stars of bygone eras was necessary, as there had been “no budget discipline the last four years.”
Budget discipline, both men agree, is paramount.
“Future budgets will have the same kinds of pressures,” said Anderson, as the current one.
And Mayor Curry has a keen understanding of where one of those pressures comes from: the unfunded pension liability, which will turn Jacksonville into Detroit if “we don’t solve it soon.”
The over $100 million yearly burden is a “big concern” to Anderson also.
A solution for that is still an open question. Tallahassee may help with some aspect of relief. But what’s clear is that one path to easing the cash crunch is to improve Jacksonville’s attractiveness to businesses looking to relocate.
“Jacksonville is becoming attractive,” said Anderson, “not only nationally but internationally.”
Curry, meanwhile, sees his approach to easing regulatory burdens as allowing Jacksonville to “market itself as Florida has done.”
Jacksonville, noted Anderson, has an AA bond rating, as the “Great Recession hit us hard” and recovery has been slow, with ad valorem revenue finally on the uptick.
And Jacksonville will need that trend to continue. Beyond pension reform, another issue is paying the local portion of the dredging obligation.
Jacksonville issues, related Curry, have already had two meetings with the DOT on this and other issues.
“If pension were solved,” said Curry, “cash flow wouldn’t be an issue.”
That said, the mayor has a “high level of confidence” in state help to, perhaps, provide “cash flow now” to pay it back later.
Beyond interfacing with Tallahassee, Curry wants Jacksonville to be more aggressive in the pursuit of economic development.
“Successful cities talk about billion dollar deals,” Curry said, and Jacksonville clearly isn’t at that threshold.
For all of its aspirations, Jacksonville is as Anderson described it: a big small town, where everybody knows your name. The current leadership has aspirations to move Jacksonville to a tier where it is considered a Great City, and they are cooperating to that end.
