Lenny Curry charges Alvin Brown with “failure to lead” in “Liberty Street crisis”

With complications from the Liberty Street collapse in Jacksonville still a major news story, the Lenny Curry campaign issued a statement regarding its take on what it perceives to be a “failure to lead” by the Alvin Brown Administration.

“The lack of urgency displayed by the mayor’s office after the Liberty Street collapse is irresponsible,” Curry claimed. “Brown’s absence of a plan in time of crisis mirrors his lack of leadership as mayor.  It’s unacceptable that the residents of The Riverwalk Townhomes, and others affected, will continue without heat and electricity for an additional two weeks. Instead of taking immediate action, the mayor waited nearly two weeks to simply accept his role in the failure, then only offered minimal relief to the people of this community.”

Curry went on to outline what his specific remedy for this situation would have been if he were Mayor.

“As mayor, I would have immediately called for City Council to appropriate the emergency funds necessary to provide generators to the affected areas, allowing the residents to regain basic quality of life. Then I would have solicited contractors to survey the collapse and bid on a temporary fix to be in place until the plan for permanent solution was ready,” Curry maintained.

The candidate added that in his administration, “I will ensure we have a rapid response team that is ready for any crisis. And, by working with both JEA and FDOT consistently and not just in times of crisis, I would ensure our roads and infrastructure are up to the standards that the residents of Jacksonville both expect and deserve.”

Curry’s comments were interestingly timed, especially given that Republican Councilman — and Duval County GOP Chair — Robin Lumb spoke yesterday to the Jax Daily Record about the COJ efforts to resolve this situation.

At-large City Council member Robin Lumb has been working with the city and residents to ensure communication. The area is represented by council member Johnny Gaffney, who leaves this month after resigning to run for the Legislature.

“It appears I’ve been elected their de facto representative on the Council,” Lumb said.

He agreed everything is being done to restore electricity to the townhomes as soon as possible.

“The city has not been dragging its feet,” Lumb said. “There are 60 people inside city government working on it.”

We have reached out to the Alvin Brown Campaign for comment on Curry’s statements, and Fabien Levy responded:

Mayor Brown has worked with Republicans and Democrats on the City Council, the Florida Department of Transportation, and JEA to deliver a permanent solution to restore power to residents as soon as possible. Even Republican Councilman and Chair of the Duval County Republican Party Robin Lumb has said everything is being done to restore power as soon as possible. It’s sad that Lenny Curry is playing politics and creating a political sideshow when others are actually delivering solutions to help Jacksonville families.