Lenny Curry, demolition man
Jax Mayor Lenny Curry operating a forklift.

Lenny Curry forklift

On a crisp Friday morning, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry thrilled some onlookers and alarmed others when he took command of a excavator to begin the deconstruction of a blighted, 12-unit apartment complex on Payne Street.

This creative destruction was for a good cause: a prelude to the development of Payne Avenue Walk, a 12-unit affordable single family home complex located in one of the city’s most vulnerable communities.

The old unit, called by Denise Lee – the area’s former city councilwoman and current city director of Blight Initiatives – a nexus for “thug, crime, prostitution, anything you want to name,” had been targeted for redevelopment by Lee in her final term on Council.

Lee, who grew up on nearby 10th Street, is “very familiar with this area” and noted that “blight breeds crime. When you get rid of blight, you get rid of crime.”

On Friday, she summed up the importance of the effort: “This sends a message that we are not playing.”

Sheriff Mike Williams noted that in 1991, when he was a rookie patrolman, he spent a lot of time at this complex in the Durkeeville area of Jacksonville, on “call after call after call.”

“A place like this” with its population density and its design “draws resources.”

Williams noted that the area has improved in the past 15 years or so, and the new construction would allow “people to take ownership,” which is “an important piece of the puzzle” of crime abatement.

Curry, flanked by Williams, Lee, and current Councilmen Jim Love and John Crescimbeni, who served with Lee on Council’s blight committee when these initiatives were launching, termed this “the beginning of a new day” for the Payne Street area, and a signalling of his administration’s commitment to conquering blight “block by block, zip code by zip code.”

“We’ve had so many neighborhoods and zip codes left behind for so many years,” Curry said, and “when we talk about public safety,” blight removal and infrastructure renewal are essential pieces of a puzzle Jacksonville has eternally tried to solve.

Current area Councilwoman Katrina Brown, who attended the nearby Stanton High School for “a couple of years,” said she knew this area very well, crediting Lee’s focus on “this area, this project.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Jesse Scheckner, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704