A.G. Gancarski
The last time the local media heard from former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown was the end of June, at a combination farewell address and employee appreciation event that sounded not a little bit like the campaign speeches of yesteryear.
He said, at the time, that he was taking his children on a vacation.
Presumably, the vacation ended at some point.
Since then, a lot has changed. His replacement, Lenny Curry, laid the blame for unorthodox city budgeting at his feet, and Curry’s senior staff went into seemingly every board and commission with a push broom and a dust pan, and swept out the remnants of an era gone by.
The critics said it was “unprecedented.” Meanwhile, Curry allies, such as Rules Committee Chairman Matt Schellenberg, and other Republicans and Democrats on the council say they don’t want to go back to how things were during the past four years … and sweeping out the old for the new is necessary.
Despite Brown’s absence from the public sphere, the public sphere is still talking about him.
There’s the narrative from credible sources, which is unverifiable by the man himself, that he had pursued a vice president position at Florida State College Jacksonville only to be rebuffed, as there were thoughts that might not jibe with the current mayor’s preferences.
[NOTE: FSCJ denies that Brown had any such interest.]
The issues at Eureka Gardens, which stem in part from an unorthodox bond financing scheme made possible because Brown skirted City Council to get it done, arguably are the former mayor’s legacy in terms of that and other similarly blighted Section 8 complexes.
Multiple media outlets, including this one, reached out to him this week for answers on that and other questions.
The master of the daily press conference took a tip from former President Calvin Coolidge, and became Silent Al.
Those who know say he doesn’t want to talk to the media.
And, given how the campaign went, you can’t blame him.
That said, with the Duval Democrats getting beaten pillar to post these days one might argue that their former standard-bearer owes them the courtesy of resurfacing.
As the narratives swirl, and the Curry administration and City Council lay the blame for myriad issues at his feet, what is notable is how almost no one goes on record to defend the previous four years, which were spun up until the end of June as an unqualified success.
So what’s next?
Will he work for Hillary Clinton, should she be elected President?
Will he run for something after 2016?
Will there be, as one wild rumor said, a second run for mayor?
The guessing games will continue, no doubt.
Since this piece ran Thursday morning, Brown has issued a statement regarding Eureka Gardens, and the issuing party claimed that Brown is “doing well,” which is encouraging.
