Donna Deegan invokes Martin Luther King Jr. in first-year recap

Jacksonville’s Mayor Donna Deegan is looking back — way back — in an email recapping the achievements of her first year in office.

Deegan quoted the 1964 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech of Martin Luther King Jr. to close her “From the Mayor’s Desk” communique, which intended to “celebrate the one-year anniversary of the dawn (of) our New Day.”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word,” the first-term Democrat wrote.

The quote falls somewhat short of King’s entire thought, which included the phrase “in reality” at the end of the sentence. The remarks came directly after a meditation on “the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction,” which was a topic of speculation during the 1960s that has abated since.

Deegan often has quoted historic figures, like when she cited French theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin during her inaugural speech last July. The MLK close to her email trumpeting a “New Day marked by hearing new voices, having new ideas drive change for good, and flinging open the doors of City Hall to welcome everyone” is just the latest iteration.

The Mayor’s communication takes a trip around some of the high points of the administration, including how Jacksonville’s “city-owned stadium will be renovated into a world-class facility for the 21st Century” after the City Council approved a plan to spend $775 million in tax dollars on the Jaguars’ stadium.

She also noted that “Riverfront Plaza (is) taking shape on the site of the former Landing,” as funding “dedicated as part of the stadium agreement ensures the completion of the three Riverfront Parks in 2027.”

Another unfunded mandate, yet to be approved by the City Council, involves pension plans for public safety workers.

“Our police and fire departments will now be able to compete for new recruits thanks to an agreement which fixed the problems of the past by making an historic investment in the future,” Deegan said.

Her administration has said the exact costs of this “historic investment” putting police and fire in the Florida Retirement System can’t be told yet, however, due to that being a product of “collective bargaining,” but they have promised the figures eventually will be released.

The email went on to tout achievements in affordable housing, feeding seniors, getting children to read, and relegating a Jim Crow era “monument to our nation’s darkest days” to “the dustbin of history” before working up to another flourish.

“There’s one more thing I want to share,” Deegan added. “It’s the thing that I think I am most proud of in my first year serving as your Mayor. It’s the thing that I hear most often when I’m out in the community. That feeling of hope people tell me they have about the future we are building together. A future built by harnessing the energies of love to spark each New Day.”