Live blogging mayor browns econOmic initiative with Some guy named bill Clinton

[TheCat]

We are at the times union theatre. The crowds are entering the theatre. The one closest to the landing. Browns communication team has been very helpful and informative. The words " secret service" is heard every five seconds. "these are not my rules. It's secret service."

[TheCat]

Sound check issues.

You can follow the twitter feed at www.twitter.com/metroj

We're supposed to start a little after 11am.

[TheCat]

The media talks to one another...
"do you know if he's staying in town after the summit?"

"he's going to the tpc"

"he is..."

"he wouldn't miss that. That's probably why he's here and not in some place like Boise"

"yeah, he wouldn't miss the tpc"

I didnt know bill was such an avid golfer.

[AshleyS]

Interesting dynamic here at the Mayor's Economic Summit in downtown Jacksonville. We find ourselves in a room that greatly resembles a high school auditorium, a nice auditorium, but the setting makes for a very intimate gathering
Numbers reaching 500 peopleof, Jacksonville's finest are all in attendance: including city officials, firefighters, police officers, media representatives and secret service. We're told Mr. Clinton will speak for about 25 minutes and will immediately depart Jacksonville. Mr.

[TheCat]

Lights are dimming. Crowd noise fades out. We're looking at the stage. Wally lee, president of the chamber opens the event.

He says

Clinton will talk about jobs and we are honored to have him with us.

Who is speaking?

Brown
Joost - council president- who is pro economic growth...that's a funny way to describe someone in politics
Tom b- from the chamber

[TheCat]

Stephen joist takes the stage.

[TheCat]

Joost purpose brag on Clinton. Then say browns successes are very similar to Clinton's. He's rattling through a list of job creating iniatives that are happening in Jacksonville.

Joost pounds the podium as he speaks. He's like a surfer talking to you around a beach fire pit. " dude, you know what else....

Joist is gone. Muzak fades in. Did we just enter a massive elevator?

[TheCat]

So...we're in stand by mode. We've been waiting for a solid ten minutes with that subtle, easy  sounds of light jazz...

Okay music fades out. Crowds quiets down. Oh, it's a new tune. We are status quo.

[TheCat]

We just watched a promo video from the Clinton Foundation.

Brown takes the stage. He brags on Clinton " he left us with a surplus...."

He brought people together. Unemployment went to record lows during his term. Now, brown is speaking about vision, hope, future, children, next level.

He's humbled to be mayor and believes "we" can take Jacksonville to the next level. He talks about God and says he is so very thankful.

Iniatives brown is talking about

1 5 jaguars related people take the stage. They have committed 1mil for veterans
2. Florida Blue commits to investments for non profit stuff
3. Wells Fargo committing 1 million for "neighborhood stabilization efforts" nice PR term, eh?
4. CSX is actively supporting downtown development
5. Wayne hogan - commits 200k for parks and recreation
6. Farrah's firm has committed 200k

Ooooooh....this economic summit is anything but a summit. It's a commercial.

Bill Clinton is introduced

[TheCat]

Clinton starts with a joke. We learned that in speech class.

He says...always get introduced by someone you gave a really good job to...referring to Alvin brown. He says he is really proud of Alvin.

Speech moves on. Dreams and desires are universal but opportunities are not.

[TheCat]

He relates humanitys genome...in terms of how we are related ....to how we should recognize each others value to work together. He, of course, as a master communicator, said it with more sophistication and allure.

Our diversity, genetic or otherwise is not a reason to not work together.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day and deserves some respect.

He talks about how success happens....

It's when all parts of society's work together. The alliances between government, business and non profits...but the emphasis is not on organizational powers but on the people working together

[TheCat]

Clinton goes through a list of national issues and global issues. From politics to sugar consumption.

He's gone to the major soda companies and said " look you guys don't want a diabetes epidemic...work together to figure out how to solve this problem..They are.

What he's saying in essence is regardless of your motivations there is a way to work together. The actua
solution, though it matters, is only a part of the process.  How we go about solving our problems matters, a lot.

[TheCat]

This speech are his thoughts on the state of the union. Imagine a stand up comedians ability to guide the audience towards a hundred different jokes on a variety of subjects in a short period of time. Clinton does the same thing. He's all over the map. From college graduation rates to wind energy. Yet, it's cool. It's not confusing. We're on a guided tour of Clinton's thoughts. Anecdotes are abundant.

Again, if you are to boil down the ultimate message it is " community makes changes and solves problems"

Okay Mjc crowd. We're on the topic of infrastructure.

[TheCat]

It's official. Bill Clinton said  something like, "I think your mayors right. You should focus on your downtown and make it the strongest"

If you know where you want your economy to go you should rig your education system for that purpose.

[TheCat]

Orlando has a great model of Public education, government and business working together.