Make the Next Local Elections About Something Rather than Nothing: Twenty Questions for Jacksonville Mayoral and City Council Candidates
Seinfeld was, deliberately and famously, a show about nothing. As City of Jacksonville (COJ) elections unfold over the next 16 months — with a Council special election concluding on February 22 and contests for Mayor and all 19 City Council seats scheduled for March/May 2023 — early signs suggest this important process has the potential to become Seinfeld-esque.
With six weeks left until Election Day, the defining issues remain unclear in the current Council contest to succeed the late Tommy Hazouri. For 2023, two likely mayoral candidates have combined to raise nearly $5 million before actually joining the contest or providing the public with a sense of their visions for the office.
Let us hope that ambiguity will give way to clarity over the next month for the special City Council election and over the next year for regular COJ contests. The 2022/2023 local elections have major importance since Jacksonville is at a historic crossroads. Later this year, our city will commemorate its bicentennial and the 55th anniversary of the vote that merged Jacksonville with Duval County. In 2023, we will elect a new mayor. At least nine Council seats will be open, meaning that close to half or, if more seats open or incumbents lose, even a majority of Council members could be new in July 2023. The long struggle with COVID-19 has created or exacerbated challenges in need of solutions, and it requires that Jacksonville carefully consider its strategic plan so the city is well-positioned for success in a potential post-pandemic era.
With those stakes, our community cannot afford for the next local elections to be about nothing. They have to be about something, and involve a substantive conversation with citizens to shape Jacksonville’s future. Every voter will have her or his own questions for candidates to answer. The twenty below are mine.
1. Fast forward to the last day of your term (June 30, 2023, or June 30, 2027). How will Jacksonville be different because of your service at City Hall?
2. What is Jacksonville’s identity? Should it change?
3. Our unique form of local government was based in part on the belief that a single governmental unit could better deliver services and infrastructure to all neighborhoods. During the 1967 consolidation campaign, advocates explicitly promised citizens throughout the community that merging city and county governments would result in the paving and illumination of roads, building of sidewalks, replacement of septic tanks, enhancement of drainage systems, and provision of potable drinking water to neighborhoods in need of those amenities. While there have been efforts to address these challenges — most recently the enhanced gas tax to help with drainage and septic tank replacement — many promises remain unkept. As an elected official, how will you work to fulfill the promises of consolidation?
4. Citizens have the most vital role in our democracy. Former Illinois Governor and United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson said it best: “As citizens in our democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law givers and the law abiding, the beginning and the end.” As an elected leader, what specific strategies and tools — e.g., town hall meetings, budget workshops, office hours, virtual interaction, crowdsourcing, enhanced use of technology — will you use to ensure that citizen engagement is a key component of your local government decision-making?
5. Jacksonville will commemorate the 55th anniversary of consolidation on October 1, 2023. What changes, if any, would you make to the City of Jacksonville Charter?
6. Voters in all but one of Florida’s 67 counties can adopt a half-cent sales surtax to support public health. The exception is Duval County. Because Jacksonville is a consolidated government, Florida law excludes our community from this funding source even if citizens wanted to consider its use. Had this revenue measure been in place when COVID-19 appeared in 2020, Jacksonville could have generated nearly $100 Million annually for needed health services such as primary, preventative, hospital, and trauma care. If elected, will you urge the Legislature to correct this disparity and give Jacksonville voters the same ability as those in Florida’s other 66 counties to invest in public health?
7. Crime control is often said to be a blend of prevention, intervention, and enforcement. Under our local government structure, the independently elected Sheriff is responsible for law enforcement. But the Mayor and City Council can still play a role through the annual budget and by advancing prevention and intervention initiatives. What prevention and intervention strategies will you pursue?
8. Under current law, the new mayor will have just two weeks after taking office on July 1, 2023, to propose a budget of more than $1.5 Billion. City Council members will then have slightly more than two months to revise that proposal and finalize the annual COJ budget. What are your top three operational funding priorities and top three capital funding priorities?
9. The St. Johns River and its tributaries are among the most defining features of the Jacksonville geographic landscape. These iconic waterways are also vital environmental, economic, and recreational assets. As a City of Jacksonville elected official, what actions would you take to enhance the health and utilization of the St. Johns River system?
10. The Jacksonville Jaguars will soon ask COJ to help fund a major renovation of the existing TIAA Bank Field. Based on recent media reports, that request could involve hundreds of millions if not more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars. Will you condition that investment on a lease extension which (1) Lasts at least as long as the COJ is paying its renovation financial obligations; and (2) Requires the team to pay any remaining COJ stadium costs if it ceases to use the stadium before the lease extension expires?
11. In 2022, the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) turns 10 years old. Are you satisfied with the current DIA structure, funding, and Downtown revitalization plan? If not, what would you change?
12. Consolidation skeptics argue that our local government model is too big and unwieldy to serve individual neighborhoods effectively. Durkeeville, Mandarin, Phoenix, Riverside, Oceanway, Argyle Forest, the Beaches, Arlington, Grand Park, Springfield, Windy Hill and other neighborhoods have distinct needs. As an elected official, would you support updating and codifying the Neighborhood Bill of Rights to ensure neighborhoods have sufficient say in the funding, planning, zoning and other local government decisions that impact them?
13. Jacksonville is known for having one of the biggest urban park systems in the nation yet still aspires to be one of the best. Though Jacksonville is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States and the 12th largest by population in the nation, the Trust for Public Land has ranked Jacksonville as the 87th best park system. How would you elevate our local parks?
14. Here in Jacksonville, we have a long history of convening task forces, asking citizens to study key local issues and provide recommendations, and then letting those reports sit on shelves and collect dust. With climate change and sea level rise already producing significant local impacts like flooding, will you read and act upon the Final Report of the City Council Special Committee on Resiliency?
15. In 2021, the Duval County School Board completed a process which resulted in the renaming of local schools previously named for Confederate figures. In contrast, the City Council ended 2021 by withdrawing Mayor Curry’s budget request to remove a large Confederate statue from a local park. Less mentioned in those debates was Jacksonville’s rich civil rights history. The 2018 Task Force on Civil Rights History chronicled and recommended numerous ways to highlight that history. Will you work with fellow elected officials and other local leaders to implement those recommendations?
16. Last fall, the City of Jacksonville announced a temporary suspension of recycling collection. In its place, COJ established recycling drop-off sites at parks and other facilities. Do you agree with this approach? If not, how would you change it through solid waste policy, operations, or funding?
17. The Florida Constitution codifies the important principle of home rule, which recognizes that cities and counties are often best positioned to address their own needs. Yet in recent years, the Florida Legislature has passed numerous laws pre-empting local control in favor of state decision-making. This approach has produced some deep dives into the weeds of local governance, including new pre-emption bills filed in the 2022 Florida Legislative Session. If elected, will you urge the Duval Legislative Delegation and other legislators to defend home rule and local control?
18. According to the Florida Housing Coalition, nearly 40% of households in the Jacksonville metropolitan area were living in unaffordable housing in 2019 — and that was before the pandemic and the booming residential real estate market worsened Florida’s affordable housing crisis. As Mayor or a City Council member, what actions will you propose to help Jacksonville residents in need of cost-effective housing?
19. In November 2021, Congress passed and President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that will direct nearly $20 billion to Florida. While Jacksonville has prioritized infrastructure investment in recent years, most recently through the Jobs for Jax initiative, local needs remain substantial. Some commentators have recommended projects to pursue with the new infrastructure funds. What is your plan to leverage this major federal investment for the benefit of Jacksonville citizens?
20. Which Jacksonville taxpayer-owned or supported facilities (e.g., parks, community/senior centers, performing arts venues, museums, arenas, stadiums) have you visited? Do you have a favorite?
Though media and public attention often focuses on Washington and Tallahassee, local government decisions have the most immediate impact on our daily lives. In 2022 and 2023, voters will make electoral choices that affect the next decade of local governance in Jacksonville. Candidates should tell us how they would govern at City Hall. Over the next 16 months, those potential elected officials have an opportunity — and a responsibility — to engage Jacksonville citizens in real dialogue that makes the next local elections about something rather than nothing. _________________________________________________________________
Chris Hand is a government law attorney who served as Chief of Staff at the City of Jacksonville from 2011–2015. He previously co-authored America, the Owner’s Manual: You Can Fight City Hall — and Win and authored the 50th anniversary update to A Quiet Revolution: The Consolidation of Jacksonville-Duval County & the Dynamics of Urban Political Reform.
