Political context looms over Jacksonville Mayor’s after-school program visit

Wednesday afternoon saw Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and City Councilman Reggie Brown slated to visit an after-school program.

Brown, in the end, did not go — even as he gave us a quote after the fact as if he had.

Brown and Curry collaborated earlier this month on a measure to boost after-school funding, a measure that undercut an analogous proposal from Finance Committee Chair Garrett Dennis.

Dennis’ proposal was panned by the Mayor’s spokesperson as one in a collection of “knee-jerk reactions of appropriating funding on an emergency basis,” underscoring recurrent tensions between Dennis and Curry over the summer, regarding spending on swimming lessons, summer camp , and the aforementioned after-school programs.

The squabbles have been about funding sources in some cases, including general fund spending at the end of the fiscal year. In other cases, Dennis and Curry’s conflict has gotten more personal: by now, the story of Curry’s political operation running a poll in Dennis’ district to gauge how opposition would do against the Councilman is widely known.

The schism between the Mayor and the Finance Chair is such that even the Curry/Brown visit to an after-school program Wednesday had political overtones; the elementary school (Pinedale Elementary) was in Dennis’ district, not Brown’s.

We asked Councilman Brown about the visit Wednesday; he noted that Dennis had filed a memo requesting an excused absence for the week.

“I was informed that Dennis said he was out of pocket and would not be available for Council business. The Mayor just told me that Dennis has an open invitation if he’s available today,” Brown said before the visit Wednesday.

Dennis did not make the trip, and he said the Mayor did not reach out and invite him to the event.

Brown, after the event, described it as an “exciting day for kids.” However, he didn’t make it to the event, informed sources say … raising questions as to why he gave a quote on the event.

Curry, on Facebook, noted that it “made [him] smile when [he] saw the important work being done at an after-school program at Pinedale Elementary.”

The district Councilman, however, wasn’t there to see it.

Jacksonville City Council committees are on break this week; however, it’s clear that the political drama never ceases in City Hall.

One wonders if any hurt feelings and miscommunications from Wednesday’s event will resurface after Labor Day weekend, when committees resume — including Dennis’ Finance Committee, a panel of which Brown is a member.