A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville District 3 City Councilman Aaron Bowman has had a long and illustrious career. A Navy veteran and former pilot who brought his Annapolis training to Florida’s First Coast, where he was in charge of the Mayport base for a time, Bowman knows leadership.
He also knows business, with a leadership role in JAXUSA, a division of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, where he is senior VP for business development.
Because of that experience, he comes to Council with a bit more gravitas than some of the other members of the new class. And also, perhaps because of that experience, he speaks with moral clarity on the issues of the day.
One such issue: the Human Rights Ordinance, which is expected to be a big issue very soon in #jaxpol.
On this, Bowman is uncompromising.
The HRO, he says, is “part of my fabric.”
In 32 years in the military, he related in an exclusive interview last week with FloridaPolitics.com, he says that he “didn’t select who [he] got to support and defend.”
Believing in his core that the American experience is one in which all should be treated equally and entitled to the pursuit of happiness, Bowman “can’t fathom why” one group would be treated differently than another when it comes to housing, employment, and other human rights.
Bowman understands both sides of the debate, and is confident that a “win/win” can be crafted through “dialogue,” which can serve to avoid a repeat of the debacle of 2012.
Forcing a bill on those who are wary is not a solution; however, there must be a legislative remedy to the discrimination that HRO proponents believe is persistent.
If Jacksonville does nothing, he says, it won’t “grow as a city.”
“If it fails again, when will it be taken up again? We need to take time and do it right,” Bowman adds, to “make sure everyone is comfortable.”
There are those in both parties who contend that there is no evidence of discrimination against LGBT Jacksonville citizens.
For Bowman, the proof is there.
He’s talked to a lot of LGBT people both recently and throughout his military career in a variety of command positions. And the native of the very conservative city of Knoxville came by his position honestly.
“When I joined the military,” Bowman relates, “homosexuality was against the rules,” and as an officer, he was bound by regulation to investigate charges.
The “young kids,” he said, taught him a more enlightened path. They would tell him that if a person does the same job, puts his or her life on the line for America, then there should be no difference in treatment.
This extends to legal protections.
“Discrimination happens in many forms,” says Bowman, and “it’s often easy to hide behind the guise of something else.”
To those who say that the instances of discrimination are statistically insignificant, Bowman has a rejoinder.
“What’s an appropriate number,” he asks of cases of discrimination.
To him, one case is too many.
“You can’t put a number on it.”
Bowman recognizes that he is the “new guy” on a Council that privileges (indeed, almost fetishizes) seniority.
No big deal.
Saying that he “learns leadership lessons from everyone,” both good and bad ones, he’s “very comfortable” with learning the job, adding an interesting disclaimer.
“What I watch and learn,” he says, “isn’t necessarily what I want to be.”
Bowman brings a lot of the table in the upcoming leadership discussions, which already see folks like Doyle Carter and John Crescimbeni jockeying to replace Lori Boyer as Vice President next year.
He has a proven ability to work with diverse groups, including those of different religions and ethnicities from around the world.
Such experience, he says, compels one to “learn to work with everyone” and go in to any negotiation and create a “win/win” scenario.
“Because I’ve been involved with such different groups,” he says, “I find it easy to work with all of them.”
This includes, obviously, the 18 others he works with on Jacksonville’s City Council.
“We’re all doing this for the same reason. We want to make the city better. We’re all trying to get to the same place.”
One of those goals: making Jacksonville a “destination” city. Things like the IKEA launch help in that regard. And, similar to what Mayor Curry has said, growth is a way to abate the costs of debt, needs, infrastructure, and of course, the pension predicament.
Still, “fundamental changes and hard decisions” are coming, he adds.
“The status quo is unsustainable.”
Bowman, who first moved here in 1985 for a stint at Cecil Field, “immediately fell in love with the city.”
He moved away in 1998, never expecting to return. Then the command post at Mayport was offered to him, and his love affair renewed.
It was codified Christmas 2006, when he was sitting outside at his beach house in shorts, and he told his wife what so many transplants have told their loved ones.
“I’m not sure we’re going to move back north,” Bowman related.
From there, and his work with the Chamber, he realized that he had a unique value add, as he began to mull public service.
“I ran for City Council,” Bowman said, “because I believe in Jacksonville and I have a lot to give.”
