A.G. Gancarski
The keynote address at the First Coast Legislative Delegation meeting Thursday was delivered by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry.
Curry, in the manner of many stakeholders, sees a cohesive regional vision for Northeast Florida, and his pitch to Northeast Florida legislators addressed that.
His message: as Jacksonville goes, so goes the region.
As he said Wednesday at the Duval County Legislative Delegation meeting, a major priority of Curry’s: securing $50 million in state funds to remove the Hart Expressway off ramps at the sports complex, routing traffic onto Bay Street instead.
“To be clear, we are talking about knocking down the ramps. The bridge will remain,” Curry quipped, explaining that he’d talked to someone who thought that the Hart Bridge itself was proposed for demolition.
The ramp is a “relic,” Curry said, denoting as he did Wednesday that its usage is 25 percent, that there are safety issues, and “it is an old structure.”
Curry noted that in the 2016 session, money was brought home, and the “dollars were put to use” for infrastructure, for at-risk youth, and public safety.
“When Jacksonville does well, the surrounding area does well. When the surrounding area does well, Jacksonville does well. It’s all interconnected,” Curry said, before pivoting to a discussion of the pension reform measure.
“We were all told it was unlikely. I asked you to put yourself out there. We didn’t even know there would be committee hearings,” Curry said.
“If we can pull that off, what else can we do,” Curry asked, before pivoting to a discussion of his first two budgets, which have been about “stabilizing the finances of Jacksonville … without a tax increase.”
“You’ve proven the critics wrong time and time again,” Curry said to legislators, “and I’m modeling that behavior in Jacksonville.”
Job creation and branding: key to the Curry strategy. Also key: debt upgrades, which beget “an ability to attract capital.”
“That has a direct impact not only on Duval County but on the counties around us … that extends into your counties, grows your tax bases, and creates opportunities for everyone,” Curry said.
The mayor pivoted to shared priorities, including the issues discussed during the morning panels.
Curry noted that Jacksonville’s healthcare outcomes need to improve, using policy initiatives that are learned “from our surrounding brothers and sisters.”
Curry then pivoted to education, noting that the Jacksonville Journey’s “significant investment in reentry programs and programs for at-risk youth” are what he can do as mayor.
That investment, Curry said, “is also going to be good for the surrounding counties.”
Collaborating on transportation, Curry said, is also key, with people commuting into Jacksonville to work.
