A.G. Gancarski
Tuesday night as Jacksonville’s ArtWalk event began, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry called a press conference on the steps of City Hall, where just a day before, a different scene had transpired.
Curry’s press conference on Tuesday night had to do with reassuring Jacksonville that ArtWalk is a safe event to attend.
Such assurance was needed after January’s ArtWalk, at which two people were shot just blocks away from City Hall.
In Tuesday’s press event, Mayor Curry also addressed the peaceful protests that happened in front of city hall Monday night, just as much as he did the events of a month prior at ArtWalk.
Curry irked local progressives when he endorsed Donald Trump‘s refugee moratorium from seven terror-linked countries as a necessary security measure, in line with what Curry himself recommended in later 2015.
Throughout the event Tuesday evening, speakers and signs had messages for Mayor Curry, who even though he’s not in a position to impact federal policy, nonetheless endorsed it.
And indeed, a cool, calm, and collected Curry addressed on Tuesday night both the ArtWalk violence a month before, and the protests aimed at Trump and him a night before.
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Safety First: The mayor noted, regarding Artwalk, that the event had been happening “for many years without a serious incident.”
Despite issues in certain neighborhoods regarding crime and public safety, the mayor had a message.
“We’re on it. The sheriff’s on it. We’re going to focus on every neighborhood, including downtown. An event like this that has happened for years without incident — I encourage people to come out … it’s going to be a good time, and they should not be fearful,” Curry said.
The mayor and the sheriff have been talking about public safety since “before both were sworn in,” Curry said, and “major cuts to public safety” have been a recurrent topic.
“You don’t dig yourself out of that hole overnight,” Curry said. “I’m going to continue to invest. He’s going to continue to work … we’re going to get the city back where it needs to be.”
Curry also sounded bearish on the idea of youth curfews or being barred from the Jacksonville Landing, citing a classically American freedom: “freedom to move around, freedom to associate, freedom to speak.”
“We’re not going to allow a handful of individuals to scare us,” Curry said. “Those rights run from pure joy and entertainment to expressing ourselves on the issues of the day.”
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Freedom of Speech: That commitment to freedom of expression extended to the hundreds of protesters who visited City Hall the night before.
This was notable, in the context of many on the right, ranging from Sen. Marco Rubio to Sean Hannity, painting protesters as “left-wing radicals” and the like.
“Free speech, man. That’s the beauty of our country — exercised right here in our city. People have the right to express themselves and their views. That’s how we operate in civilized democratic society,” Curry said.
“I don’t know how they organized. I don’t know how they got here. Regardless,” Curry said, “it’s free speech. I always encourage people to exercise their right to express themselves in a peaceful manner.”
