Looking Forward: Jax '23

[Charles Hunter]

Your last sentence is the key,

Hopefully, in our next election cycle, only someone like Matt runs from the middle.

[sandyshoes]

What I can tell you for sure is if Matt runs - his campaign staffers are probably gonna be in donut heaven everyday...

[marcuscnelson]

I'm wondering if someone from here should go for it. Surely the brain trust in a place like this could organize an insurgent bid to get someone who is, if nothing else, willing to listen to the community and urban planning experts into the top job.

The above scenario has played out in several of our recent mayoral elections resulting, most recently, in the elections of Peyton, Brown and Curry, all deemed long shots in the early going.

This sounds incredibly susceptible to being taken advantage of with strong enough organization. Especially in a place like Jax where it's basically a game of turnout.

[marcuscnelson]

Truly a campaign of the people!

[itsfantastic1]

What I can tell you for sure is if Matt runs - his campaign staffers are probably gonna be in donut heaven everyday...

Without a doubt. A vote for me would be a vote for a donut in every home.

I don't know... That sounds like socialism

[sandyshoes]

   What about equal distribution of the crullers and donut holes...you don't want to be accused of any backroom dealing!

[marcuscnelson]

Libertarians: the government has no business even thinking about donuts! Abolish the Mayor! Let the free market run Jacksonville!

Jokes aside:

I'm wondering if someone from here should go for it. Surely the brain trust in a place like this could organize an insurgent bid to get someone who is, if nothing else, willing to listen to the community and urban planning experts into the top job.

The above scenario has played out in several of our recent mayoral elections resulting, most recently, in the elections of Peyton, Brown and Curry, all deemed long shots in the early going.

This sounds incredibly susceptible to being taken advantage of with strong enough organization. Especially in a place like Jax where it's basically a game of turnout.

[marcuscnelson]

I wonder if the TU Editorial Board is trying to prop up Lori Boyer as some kind of "savior of downtown" for something in a few years.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/08/27/editorial-progress-continues-through-downtown-jacksonville-but-parks-plan-needed/5642205002/

But there is hope. It all comes down to leadership. With Lori Boyer leading the Downtown Investment Authority as its chief operating officer, there is hope.

[thelakelander]

Not for sure what they are doing. I like Boyer but there's no need to do any back patting right now. We have a lot of work to do and getting it done is much larger than her and what she can personally accomplish. As for hope, hope is always and has always been there. The question is how long will it take for hope and potential to become a reality. Resolving that question means moving past the excuse making stage or making things seem more impressive than they really are.

[marcuscnelson]

Not for sure what they are doing. I like Boyer but there's no need to do any back patting right now. We have a lot of work to do and getting it done is much larger than her and what she can personally accomplish. As for hope, hope is always and has always been there. The question is how long will it take for hope and potential to become a reality. Resolving that question means moving past the excuse making stage or making things seem more impressive than they really are.

2023 is far away, but not that far. We'll see how much changes between now and then.

I'd definitely like to hear more thoughts on what we need to do in the meantime. The next Mayor really needs to be an ideas person. At least someone willing to give a damn about really making this city a better place.

[jaxlongtimer]

If Carlucci and Boyer (and maybe Daniel Davis) run against each other, look for another special interest, inexperienced, ego driven, ladder-climbing or extreme out-of-nowhere candidate to sneak in and take it all perpetuating our string of do-nothing or mess-it-up mayors.

[marcuscnelson]

If Carlucci and Boyer (and maybe Daniel Davis) run against each other, look for another special interest, inexperienced, ego driven, ladder-climbing or extreme out-of-nowhere candidate to sneak in and take it all perpetuating our string of do-nothing or mess-it-up mayors.

Hence me saying earlier that maybe someone from here should just go for it. If out-of-nowheres are who wins around here, be the out-of-nowhere. In general, the people on this forum seem at least interested in listening to experts and wanting to improve things. And I'd bet that they'd give much more of a genuine effort than any other outsider.

[marcuscnelson]

I've been seeing a lot of noise on Twitter lately about if Donna Deegan loses this congressional race, she might take that support into a bid for mayor. Thoughts?

[Zac T]

I've been seeing a lot of noise on Twitter lately about if Donna Deegan loses this congressional race, she might take that support into a bid for mayor. Thoughts?

She's definitely been very active and involved throughout the city even outside of District 4 so I wouldn't be surprised. If republicans run multiple candidates like Carlucci or Mike Williams, it'd be interesting to see if democrats can consolidate around one candidate and get past the 50% benchmark the first round

[bl8jaxnative]

I wouldn't bet against any politician that was involved in the JEA debacle that has came out of it ( so far ) relatively unscathed.