A.G. Gancarski
The meeting started off in a full room. It ended in a largely empty one, a raucous crowd thrown out as debate heated up.
On Tuesday night, the Jacksonville City Council withdrew a referendum on a half-cent sales tax to benefit Duval County’s school capital needs.
In the end, they are starting over. The bill may be back, starting a new cycle of discussion like that just concluded.
This withdrawal was the latest twist in a months-long saga that has seen bill deferments and no clear consensus: a choose-your-own-adventure novel with a circular narrative.
Tuesday night represented the apex of that.
Two divergent committee reports last week set the stage for drama.
The Rules Committee approved a 2019 vote last Tuesday; the Finance Committee, meanwhile, voted for a straight withdrawal.
Agenda meeting saw Carlucci battling to get the Rules bill up first, but the will of the Council was to take Finance’s withdrawal recommendation first.
With word going in that at least 11 people supported withdrawal, the packed crowd of those who wanted the tax to be on the ballot in 2019 looked poised for a disappointment.
Councilman Rory Diamond said that the withdrawal offered an opportunity for everyone to align on new language.
“We are very close,” Diamond vowed. “We need everybody pushing together.”
Diamond was jeered by the partisan crowd, vexed by months of what they’ve seen as stalling.
Republican LeAnna Cumber was jarred by the reaction of the crowd, which was removed after an outburst.
Media was allowed in the room, and elected officials soon thereafter.
The debate continued, with consensus elusive. Democrat Brenda Priestly-Jackson pushed for the 2019 vote, but she and Carlucci and the remnant of advocates didn’t have to vote. Republican Randy DeFoor changed her position, backing the vote.
Finance Chair Aaron Bowman noted his problems with the bill, saying he “wished the School Board asked for help” with the proposal.
“I’d be their worst nightmare right now because I don’t support it,” Bowman said.
Councilman Carlucci issued another motion: a postponement until Oct. 8’s Council meeting to work out the charter carveout.
The pitch struggled to get traction.
Councilman Danny Becton said this would be a close vote, noting a St. Pete Polls survey that shows a referendum at 56 percent support.
A postponement, he suggested, might help shore up backing.
Diamond urged that a withdrawal was “cleaner,” but momentum was moving toward postponement.
School Board Chair Lori Hershey cautioned that a postponement might not change anything, leading Councilman Reggie Gaffney to reconsider the postponement.
“If they choose not to come back in two weeks with solutions, shame on them,” Gaffney said.
“We need a break,” countered Republican Ron Salem, who met with Mayor Lenny Curry before the meeting.
Democrat Joyce Morgan said the Council has “stalled and delayed it as long as we could.”
“I don’t think we need to wait any longer,” Morgan said, advising a “hard look” at structural issues in Duval schools going back decades.
“If they vote it up, it’s their choice,” Morgan said.
Carlucci wrapped up debate noting that Hershey’s comments “lost him a lot of votes.” Then he left the dais to talk to Mayor Curry’s CAO, returning to the platform looking less than thrilled, the debate clearly all over except the vote.
The postponement failed 2-17. The withdrawal would not fail.
3 comments
Frankie M.
August 27, 2019 at 9:33 pm
Thank god for that. No postponement! Finally we got these bastards on record as anti-public education zealots. In the end they could not leave this referendum in the hands of the voters because they knew it would pass. Welcome to Jax where’s it’s easier to thwart the will of the voters.
Sonja Fitch
August 28, 2019 at 6:23 am
Looting Lenny and the rest of the racist CityCouncil. In Oceanway …Yes a part of”looting Lenny” ville. The school bus stop is in a ditch Yep a ditch. So “Looting Lenny” get that neon safety vest and go and protect this children Cause you and the rest of the racist City Council are Legally and morally responsible for these children NOW
Seber Newsome III
August 28, 2019 at 11:51 am
When people act like animals, you either put them in cages or clear the council chambers. Since they could not put them in a cage, the city council chambers were cleared. Maybe one day these idiots in the audience will act like human beings. I applaud Mr. Wilson’s decision to clear the chambers. He gave them fair warning and they acted up again. As far as the decision to withdraw the school tax, I applaud that as well. The school board cannot even take care of their own finances. They are full of mismanagement. They also do not support the military and the National Anthem. The teacher who wanted his students to stand for it, is still out of the classroom. The school tax will never get passed by the voters, and this is just one reason. There are many military members and their families in Jacksonville. The Jaguars found this out when they kneeled for the National Anthem. Attendance dropped dramatically. They are not kneeling anymore.
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