Thoughts on the Race for Mayor

[danem]

Alvin's issues list is as follows 1. Jobs 2. Balanced Budget 3.Education 4. Public Safety.  Contrast that with Hogan's top four and even the most conservative among us see that Alvin has a better handle on what the job of Mayor is.

P.S.  #5 Downtown Development

Emphasis added for my strong agreement with that sentence. It's ridiculous anyone would win on a list of issues that are irrelevant to the office. I was impressed by Alvin Brown in the debates.  

[JeffreyS]

I understand.  I assume that many here will vote for Mr. Brown in the runoff.  I found his religious victory speech to be quite interesting.  Is he a "Jerry Fallwell" too?  Mr. Brown is an intelligent, articulate, and experienced individual.  I hope that you all can get past his religious nature and address his stance on the issues.

Hogan is a joke.  In 90% of all other cities with pops over 500K a joke about "bombing an abortion clinic"  would have meant certain doom.  His support is all right wing nutters.  He got about 50K tonight.  The rest of the votes were split among 4 people all with better intellects.  One of which was Brown.

+1

[buckethead]

I think if we are all realistic with ourselves and accept the fact that the failings of Jacksonville are far less about policy, and far more due to the (relatively) backwards, uneducated, socially ignorant inhabitants of this city, we'd be a lot less disappointed when things like this happen. I'm not going to shake my fist and make empty promises about leaving -- at least not while I have a good job here and enjoy Jacksonville's natural assets -- but I really do think I am done caring about the city making much progress over the coming decade. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Jacksonville is a nice little city these days, but the damage that has been willfully done in the last five years, and the damage that continues to be done, will be felt for another 20 years. When I made the "why do you stay in Jacksonville?" thread, I learned that a lot of people on this board hold Jacksonville very dear to their heart and desperately want to see the city progress. I hate to say it, but it might be time to throw in the towel, concede defeat, and search for greener pastures. Nothing short of a massive population transplant is going to right this ship in the short to medium term. Maybe even the long term.

You only live once.

If what you want is a vibrant, culturally diverse city -- one with good mass transit, a lively downtown, a sense of identity and forward progression -- you owe it to yourself to seek that place out and make it your home.

Hate to say it, and this could just be a kneejerk reaction to this election, but if you're expecting any real progress in Jacksonville, you're betting on a loser.

That's gonna leave a mark.^

[JeffreyS]

My best opportunity is Orlando wish it was D.C. or Chicago.

[NotNow]

I understand.  I assume that many here will vote for Mr. Brown in the runoff.  I found his religious victory speech to be quite interesting.  Is he a "Jerry Fallwell" too?  Mr. Brown is an intelligent, articulate, and experienced individual.  I hope that you all can get past his religious nature and address his stance on the issues.

Hogan is a joke.  In 90% of all other cities with pops over 500K a joke about "bombing an abortion clinic"  would have meant certain doom.  His support is all right wing nutters.  He got about 50K tonight.  The rest of the votes were split among 4 people all with better intellects.  One of which was Brown.

Am I to assume that you now support Mr. Brown despite his publicly proud dedication to his religion?

[futurejax]

I understand.  I assume that many here will vote for Mr. Brown in the runoff.  I found his religious victory speech to be quite interesting.  Is he a "Jerry Fallwell" too?  Mr. Brown is an intelligent, articulate, and experienced individual.  I hope that you all can get past his religious nature and address his stance on the issues.

Hogan is a joke.  In 90% of all other cities with pops over 500K a joke about "bombing an abortion clinic"  would have meant certain doom.  His support is all right wing nutters.  He got about 50K tonight.  The rest of the votes were split among 4 people all with better intellects.  One of which was Brown.

Am I to assume that you now support Mr. Brown despite his publicly proud dedication to his religion?

Is your devil's advocate routine just that or are you a Hogan supporter?  I have no problem with his religious beliefs.  My problem with Hogan is that I fear ( I believe justifiably so) that he will insert those same religious beliefs when determining public policy.  I don' think Brown will do this.  Maybe I'm kidding myself but kinda doubt it.  The question is, what do you think?

[uptowngirl]

ugh so now we are down to who is less religious than the other- figures.

[peestandingup]

I think if we are all realistic with ourselves and accept the fact that the failings of Jacksonville are far less about policy, and far more due to the (relatively) backwards, uneducated, socially ignorant inhabitants of this city, we'd be a lot less disappointed when things like this happen. I'm not going to shake my fist and make empty promises about leaving -- at least not while I have a good job here and enjoy Jacksonville's natural assets -- but I really do think I am done caring about the city making much progress over the coming decade. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Jacksonville is a nice little city these days, but the damage that has been willfully done in the last five years, and the damage that continues to be done, will be felt for another 20 years. When I made the "why do you stay in Jacksonville?" thread, I learned that a lot of people on this board hold Jacksonville very dear to their heart and desperately want to see the city progress. I hate to say it, but it might be time to throw in the towel, concede defeat, and search for greener pastures. Nothing short of a massive population transplant is going to right this ship in the short to medium term. Maybe even the long term.

You only live once.

If what you want is a vibrant, culturally diverse city -- one with good mass transit, a lively downtown, a sense of identity and forward progression -- you owe it to yourself to seek that place out and make it your home.

Hate to say it, and this could just be a kneejerk reaction to this election, but if you're expecting any real progress in Jacksonville, you're betting on a loser.

Bingo.

[cityimrov]

enjoy Jacksonville's natural assets

If Jacksonville didn't have these natural assets.  Would you still be here?  

I will say this though.  Jacksonville will have an advantage that very few cities in the United States can match.  That is, we're cheap.  Super cheap.  Cheap enough that you can move to another city and probably have enough money left over to keep your property here.  Think about what you can do with that

If the Tea Party really is true to their word about having less government, that also means you can do anything you want with that property.  Anything without any government interference! 

[CityLife]

enjoy Jacksonville's natural assets

If Jacksonville didn't have these natural assets.  Would you still be here? 

There wouldn't be a Jacksonville without said natural assets.

[dougskiles]

I think if we are all realistic with ourselves and accept the fact that the failings of Jacksonville are far less about policy, and far more due to the (relatively) backwards, uneducated, socially ignorant inhabitants of this city, we'd be a lot less disappointed when things like this happen. I'm not going to shake my fist and make empty promises about leaving -- at least not while I have a good job here and enjoy Jacksonville's natural assets -- but I really do think I am done caring about the city making much progress over the coming decade. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Jacksonville is a nice little city these days, but the damage that has been willfully done in the last five years, and the damage that continues to be done, will be felt for another 20 years. When I made the "why do you stay in Jacksonville?" thread, I learned that a lot of people on this board hold Jacksonville very dear to their heart and desperately want to see the city progress. I hate to say it, but it might be time to throw in the towel, concede defeat, and search for greener pastures. Nothing short of a massive population transplant is going to right this ship in the short to medium term. Maybe even the long term.

You only live once.

If what you want is a vibrant, culturally diverse city -- one with good mass transit, a lively downtown, a sense of identity and forward progression -- you owe it to yourself to seek that place out and make it your home.

Hate to say it, and this could just be a kneejerk reaction to this election, but if you're expecting any real progress in Jacksonville, you're betting on a loser.

Very well stated.  I feel as if I just got punched in the stomach.  My only hope is knowing that sometimes things have to get really bad to open the eyes of enough people to finally get better.  But, it seems that I've been saying that for a while and I'm not sure how much more I can take.

[NotNow]

I understand.  I assume that many here will vote for Mr. Brown in the runoff.  I found his religious victory speech to be quite interesting.  Is he a "Jerry Fallwell" too?  Mr. Brown is an intelligent, articulate, and experienced individual.  I hope that you all can get past his religious nature and address his stance on the issues.

Hogan is a joke.  In 90% of all other cities with pops over 500K a joke about "bombing an abortion clinic"  would have meant certain doom.  His support is all right wing nutters.  He got about 50K tonight.  The rest of the votes were split among 4 people all with better intellects.  One of which was Brown.

Am I to assume that you now support Mr. Brown despite his publicly proud dedication to his religion?

Is your devil's advocate routine just that or are you a Hogan supporter?  I have no problem with his religious beliefs.  My problem with Hogan is that I fear ( I believe justifiably so) that he will insert those same religious beliefs when determining public policy.  I don' think Brown will do this.  Maybe I'm kidding myself but kinda doubt it.  The question is, what do you think?

I voted for Hogan, and will do so again probably.  I am not really impressed with any Mayor's candidate.  Mr. Brown is intriguing and I will study his message and his actions over the next few months.

[duvaldude08]

Im sorry but Hogan has had very little to say and that scares me. I am very afraid for this city. I guess 2012 is coming quicker than we think. LOL

[simms3]

Folks,

I am very sad for our city.

Our city missed out on: Audrey Moran, Michelle Tappouni, Diaz, and more.

I cannot take it anymore.  I cannot take the frustration.  Jacksonville is no longer my city.  It is no longer my hometown on my Facebook profile.  It is no longer a part of me.

I am very happy that I already live in a city that is moving forward at light speed.  Yesterday I went to a volunteer sign up event for the Atlanta Beltline to help get people up to speed on it and sign people up.  Soon Atlanta will have a loop of parks, bike trails, street-cars, and light rail around the urban core (the parks and bike trails are largely done already and look great!).  Atlanta Metro voters so far are in favor of adding a SPLOST tax just for mass transit improvements, and this will be voted on next July.  Sometimes I get frustrated up here, too, but not nearly as often and most people up here went to a decent college, so that helps a lot.

I don't think I will be posting on MetroJacksonville anymore.  I just don't want anything to do with the city.  I regard Jacksonville as the crappiest of the crap and Mike Hogan just unloaded a huge shit on top.  The flies have come in to feed.

Being that cheap is not a good thing.  The city is a very poor city and it shows everywhere.  It's not a nice looking city, even with all of the water.  Now you have the devil running it (I always picture Hogan with horns for some reason), so best of luck.

It's been a good several years.

PS:  More of the same?  Peyton was a visionary next to this guy.  Peyton at least has a sister in NYC to keep him on his toes, a more highly educated and extensively traveled background, and he was never beholden to FBC or the Tea Party like Hogan is.

I bid my adieu. 

[mtraininjax]

I bid my adieu.

Enjoy Atlanta and the 40 county metropolis fraught with more corruption and issues in one day than we have in an entire year in Jacksonville. Having growin up in 30306 and going to Tech, I know that when Arrington ran against Campbell for mayor it was , which of the 2 crooks do we like least. Atlanta has nothing but crooks running for office, entitlements out the wazoo and property taxes that make Jacksonville look like  a flea on an elephant. Atlanta is so much more of a zoo than Jax.

Voter Apathy is to blame for sure. Less than 30% of the voters come out to vote. Apparently there was not enough of a choice for the residents. So shame on the candidates for doing a poor job of connecting with the other 70% of voters.

HOGAN is the best of what is left and I am voting and campaigning for him!