Tommy Hazouri: Why I am Running for City Council

[Metro Jacksonville]

Tommy Hazouri: Why I am Running for City Council



Former Mayor, Tommy Hazouri joins MetroJacksonville for a guest article articulating why he is running for the City Council.  Join us for his essay and ask him plenty of questions after the jump!

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2015-apr-tommy-hazouri-why-i-am-running-for-city-council

[simms3]

Seems like an obvious yes, but definitely more of a high-level, "sound-bite" vision for Jax.  At least he mentioned "discriminatory practices/mentalities" needing to stop, and he tied that to the local economy, which is correct.

[Tacachale]

Tommy has a wealth of experience in a variety of capacities in local politics, serving in the Florida House, the School Board, and of course as Mayor. This experience is even more needed given the amount of institutional knowledge we'll be losing as half the Council cycles out. He's also a rare voice in enthusiastically supporting the Human Rights ordinance. Check here for what his opponent has to say about it:

jacksonville.com/opinion/2015-02-27/story/meet-candidate-geoff-youngblood

[simms3]

^^^Well unfortunately, there are a lot of people that still harbor those views, and large concentrations of them live in cities like Jacksonville.  All the more reason for extra protections in a city like Jax (oh the irony).  There could be no formal protections for the LGBT community in coastal CA or Key West or Seattle or NYC and nobody in their right mind would choose to discriminate anyways and very few people even have those views, but fortunately, because people feel that it's the right thing to do, there are laws protecting just about any kind of person in these places.

In Jax, because there actually are a huge amount of people who have a lot of ill will towards the LGBT community, and other communities of "people who aren't just like them", there is actually a need for tough laws to protect the underclasses.  It's just harder to get such laws passed because there are so many people against them.

And this is why people view Jax and other cities like it as backwards hinterlands, and yet people like Geoff Youngblood are of the impression that the world is enamored with Jacksonville and the city just needs to continue what it's doing with little to no change.  Frightening.