Mayor Alvin Brown Re-election Hopes in trouble?

[Cheshire Cat]

^True but if that is the case we need another "hole" to represent those who neither vote or research the candidates they put into office.    It is up to the people to get involved and change what is broken.  We have got to drive the process as opposed to it or special interests driving us.

[downtownbrown]

^ Yeah, well, I've spent the last couple of years trying to get government to do something about the hole.  Several emails and calls to the mayor's office, chat's with Jim Robinson at public works, many conversations with various members of City Council.  Still we have a hole in the core. So at least I've tried.

[Cheshire Cat]

You sure have tried.  Right now the city is claiming it hasn't the funds to do all the required repairs, yet it was announced yesterday that after an intensive search by Lori Boyer on council 12 million in unused funds were found apparently a collective amount from a variety of sources.  The problem all goes back to leadership and on down the line to all those hired by the city in various departments.

[Cheshire Cat]

Spoke with Debbie Guy an JU and they confirm they will be holding a debate forum for the candidates for mayor in March.  The date has not been set but should be by next week.  I will update that on this thread.

[downtownbrown]

You sure have tried.  Right now the city is claiming it hasn't the funds to do all the required repairs, yet it was announced yesterday that after an intensive search by Lori Boyer on council 12 million in unused funds were found apparently a collective amount from a variety of sources.  The problem all goes back to leadership and on down the line to all those hired by the city in various departments.

The source of the problem is the Mayor's General Counsel.  The GC dithered for over a year with the insurance company that should have paid to fix it, and finally decided to sue.  City Council pretended they were impatient and were going to fix it now, and hope to recover the money later.  But they lost their nerve, and there has been no movement for months.  They blame the pension crisis.  April 11th will be 3 years for the hole.

[-jerrycornwell]

  Brown acts and moves in his own interest and in the interest of those he wishes to appease and appeal to at any given moment.  We have seen this politically time and time again and even in his personal interactions in his response to his "declared" friend Bill Cosby who he was more than willing to identify with and tout as a buddy until he met with some allegations of a sexual nature.  Brown then dropped him like a hot potato in spite of the fact that he had not been proved guilty.  Brown also returned the campaign funds he received at his Cosby campaign fundraiser, all out of town donors who clearly have an agenda of some sort for our city and an event that Brown dissed the city's budget hearings for.  This all goes to reliability, priorities and how Brown responds to uncomfortable news before the facts are known.  These traits are terribly important in any elected official.

I dont see a problem with this. The relevation of Cosby's past came out after the fundraising event. Furthering the return of outside donations to stim accusations of outside pandering seems well towards acheiving character in anyones campaign. Does Curry have the same ethics in his coffer? I feel a second round of ads coming.

^Rather than speak in hypotheticals, I'll say this. It's hard to get worse than what we've got right now. Under Alvin Brown's leadership, we have a city that can't fund basic services, that can't control its crime rate, that can't manage its own budget, and that has punted on every major issue from the HRO to the port to the pension fiasco. Until we fix the basic functions of the city government, the rest of it doesn't matter.

While I'll say I see the city is in a bit better shape than you do, you bring a decisive point up in your conclusion of "fixing the basic functions of (our) city government. Unlike the federal government, Jax's executive branch is made up of many ELECTED executives, the sheriffs office for example. When you complain of the crime rate (and you are right) how does the elected sheriff escape blame and then passed directly to the mayor? No coincidence Sheriff Rutherford is term limted, he has no political liabilities to pay. Concerning fiscal issues, Ive seen the Mayor do some pretty good things, particularly the re finacing of many municipal instruments that netted the city millions of dollars. And, to my personal experience, my property taxes did stay the same.
The HRO legislation is essential for our future. The failure of its passage was the disaster of the past 4 years. But I hesitate to blame that on the Mayor as he has no involvement in its path towards passage. That key democratic coucilmen (legislaturers) voted against HRO. Brown has little/ no influence over these (democratic) councilmen. Tachale, you did point out that the Mayor does approve or veto city legislation. But could he use that power in any way for legislation that DOESNT pass?

[fieldafm]

But I hesitate to blame that on the Mayor as he has no involvement in its path towards passage.

I'll beg to differ with extreme prejudice. In fact, his actions directly led to the HRO being defeated.

Ive seen the Mayor do some pretty good things, particularly the re finacing of many municipal instruments that netted the city millions of dollars.

If refinancing bond debt is something to applaud.. then the Mayor's accomplishments are laughable. 2013 and 2014 saw massive refinancing of municipal bonds nationwide as rates dropped. That's like calling a CPA a financial wizard because they refinanced their home's mortgage when rates dropped 2%.
In fact, I would submit that the long term debt structure worsened... despite a one time savings due to bond refinancing... because the Mayor's budgets forced a large increase in public borrowering in FY2012 and FY2013 (City Council had to put a brake on the massive use of the City's credit card in the Mayor's budget during FY2014).

how does the elected sheriff escape blame and then passed directly to the mayor

When the Mayor cuts your budget-forcing a reduction in the police force (including eliminating pretty much every Community Service Officer).... and cuts funding for the Jacksonville Journey programs (enacted under Mayor Peyton... that had a measurable effect on reducing violent crimes)... then yes, you can blame the Mayor.
And for a Mayor that loves photo opps... I rarely see him in front of the podium stumping for solutions to the murder epidemic sweeping the city. John Peyton sure as hell did.

[Tacachale]

^Rather than speak in hypotheticals, I'll say this. It's hard to get worse than what we've got right now. Under Alvin Brown's leadership, we have a city that can't fund basic services, that can't control its crime rate, that can't manage its own budget, and that has punted on every major issue from the HRO to the port to the pension fiasco. Until we fix the basic functions of the city government, the rest of it doesn't matter.

While I'll say I see the city is in a bit better shape than you do, you bring a decisive point up in your conclusion of "fixing the basic functions of (our) city government. Unlike the federal government, Jax's executive branch is made up of many ELECTED executives, the sheriffs office for example. When you complain of the crime rate (and you are right) how does the elected sheriff escape blame and then passed directly to the mayor? No coincidence Sheriff Rutherford is term limted, he has no political liabilities to pay. Concerning fiscal issues, Ive seen the Mayor do some pretty good things, particularly the re finacing of many municipal instruments that netted the city millions of dollars. And, to my personal experience, my property taxes did stay the same.

Actually, if you live in Jax your property taxes taxes did go up, despite Alvin Brown saying they wouldn't. The difference is that the City Council had to take over the budget (normally the Mayor's duty) because the Mayor's budget was so incompetent. If taxes hadn't gone up, we'd have seen even more service cuts, lost more cops, and closed libraries and amenities. In other words, Brown saying he supports lower taxes didn't actually result in lower taxes, though he doesn't have to take responsibility for it.

On his competence at "fiscal issues", the news today is that the Council Finance Committee found $12 *million* dollars in unused funds sitting in city accounts. All this while the Mayor's telling us we don't have the money to fix potholes, maintain our parks, and rehire police.

The HRO legislation is essential for our future. The failure of its passage was the disaster of the past 4 years. But I hesitate to blame that on the Mayor as he has no involvement in its path towards passage. That key democratic coucilmen (legislaturers) voted against HRO. Brown has little/ no influence over these (democratic) councilmen. Tachale, you did point out that the Mayor does approve or veto city legislation. But could he use that power in any way for legislation that DOESNT pass?

The mayor certainly can and should take the lead in important debates on civic policy like the HRO that lead into votes. In this case, plenty of other people were there fighting for the HRO, meeting with council members, and trying to build a consensus while the mayor hid under his desk pretending he had no power.

As for using his power on legislation that hasn't passed, it's funny you mention that. Warren Jones (the sponsor of the HRO bill) told the Times-Union that he thinks Alvin Brown made shady backroom deals with Council Members Johnny Gaffney to get him to flip on the HRO, which he previously supported. Brown denied it, but the fact is that something made Gaffney pull a Judas, and Alvin was scared to death of the bill hitting his desk (where he'd have to sign or veto it, that is, be seen making a decision). So yeah, I'd say his position has plenty of power, he just picks... interesting times to use it.

[-jerrycornwell]

  Well, we are definitely in for an action packed (just under) two months of Jacksonville politics at its best.