In an interview last week after presenting legislation to restructure the City’s economic development efforts, Mayor Alvin Brown responded to several questions from the Daily Record during an interview in his City Hall office. Here are edited excerpts.
Do you have any budget numbers for the proposed Office of Economic Development or the Downtown Investment Authority, the number of employees involved or the proposed closing fund?
The numbers aren’t the key right now. I am going to present a budget to City Council in July. We want to make sure we have some resources so that we can compete effectively; that is what the closing fund would do. The Downtown Investment Authority would have a nine-member board with a president and a CEO who is solely focused on Downtown to leverage our scarce resources.
(Remember that) $1.2 billion was spent Downtown, a lot of investment.
The infrastructure is there. I want to make sure the taxpayers really get a return on their investment.
It’s time to make it happen. Life is short. Time waits for no one.
Language within the legislation for the Downtown Investment Authority allows condemnation and eminent domain. It looks like the investment authority would have the ability to take some of those structures that are sitting vacant and take control.
The key is yes, you want your assets to work for you. The taxpayers have all this money invested in the city and we want them (properties) to get back on the tax rolls.
In 1986, Downtown used to generate 17 percent of the tax revenue for the City. Now it’s only 2 percent and we have to get that up.
Any structures or areas you have in mind?
The one thing we want to make sure is we take a holistic approach to really focus on Downtown, that we are not all over the map, that we really look at some of the things that were already laid out by the Jacksonville Civic Council, the JAX Chamber and Downtown Vision, so there are some good ideas out there.
This is why having a Downtown Investment agency is so important. To have that agency, that president and CEO, to focus on Downtown and nothing else is really to take a comprehensive approach to make sure we do it right and make Downtown an environment where people want to work and more people want to live.
I would like to see a grocery store, movie theater, a 24-hour pharmacy. We want to have some nice retail stores, Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, JCPenney, boutique-style, so that those who work Downtown and live Downtown have a place to shop.
Restaurants — wouldn’t it be great if we had a Legal Sea Foods Downtown?
The mayor thinks big. I see no limits.
I would love to see an Outback Downtown, a family friendly restaurant that people can go to.
When they did the St. Johns Town Center, they were focused. I want the same intensity, focus and success that St. Johns Town Center has for Downtown Jacksonville.
Have you involved St. Johns Town Center developer Ben Carter in the Downtown efforts?
I met with Ben Carter, who has great vision. He’s retired. He sat right here and I look forward to talking with him again. I look to really align with him. He’s one of those people I am going to reach out to again. It was really good to get that kind of insight. What works, what’s successful.
We have Peter Rummell and Huge Greene, Tom Van Berkel, who is the chair of the chamber, and Preston Haskell, Steve Halverson, Audrey Moran and Matt Carlucci, who believes in Downtown. I have people we can reach out to. It makes a big difference.
Who do you have in mind as the economic development officer or the Downtown Investment Authority CEO?
I have no one in mind. I don’t want to get ahead of Council. I will be meeting with Council. I’m excited. I am very happy we have a good City Council.
I am going to meet with them individually. I am going to go to their offices like I did with the budget. I am going to go to them. I still want to tour some of the Council districts.
What will be the role of the JAX Chamber in economic development?
They want certainty in the marketplace. They don’t want to wait forever to make a decision. The type of growth industry we have with life sciences and transportation and logistics and aviation and all of those are growth industries and the chamber is focused on that.
The Civic Council and the chamber have made some of the things I care about a top priority. Downtown, education, the port, parks, the St. Johns River, quality of life, seniors.
Taking a holistic approach for economic development for the whole city and Downtown is a way of looking at how we do things and do them better and on the economic development front, we know that the port is a major economic engine for our city. It’s a $19 billion economic engine that generates more than 65,000 jobs and the salary is about $45,000 a year and you don’t need a college degree.
Our new Jacksonville Jaguars owner, Shad Khan, is strong on the port, so having him as the owner of the Jaguars, and he has businesses locally, also helps. I look forward to working with Shad Khan and traveling with him and other business leaders to market Jacksonville.
I see myself as an ambassador to the business community to market Jacksonville.
When do you want the legislation out of Council?
I want to do the normal time. I want to work with Council on their time. I believe they understand how important this is and I want to really work with them to get this done on their timetable.
When will Gov. Rick Scott sign the legislation that allows the repeal of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission?
I look forward to following up with Governor Scott. It will be signed in time to do the City Council legislation.
I enjoy working with Gov. Scott. He’s been great to work with. He said if you need anything, if you see any impediments on growing business, he will help me.
What will be the relationship between the economic development officer and the Downtown investment CEO?
Obviously both will focus on economic development. One is Downtown and one is countywide. There will be the ability for both to work together on best practices, making sure the vision and the strategy is executed well. There will be times when we work together. When businesses come to town, they will be at the table.
There are a lot of new leaders among agencies and businesses. What is your view on that?
Jacksonville is in transition. You see the shifting of new leadership, new vision, new opportunities, and that is a good thing. A new Jaguars owner, new governor, new mayor, new Jacksonville Transportation Authority CEO, new JEA CEO. That’s a good thing. We are growing. We are going to have new ideas.
It is a great time to have all these new CEOs and I look forward to working with them. And we have those like CSX Corp. CEO Michael Ward, who is just a rock star. His core mission is to make sure that we can compete in the global economy in the marketplace, but he also is committed to Jacksonville and focusing on education.
(Former) Mayor John Delaney, a member of the JAX Chamber board, endorsed my reform plan. Think of it, a former mayor who loves this city supports this reform plan. When you have individuals like that who really are making a difference and want to help you, we’ve got a great city.
What causes you to call your advisers?
I’m a good listener, that’s the rap on me, right? I listen and I always want to get ideas and reach out within the City and outside the City and clearly they have the wisdom and the knowledge and experience and I feel it’s good to reach out and talk to people. With the reform plan, I talked to the Civic Council and the chamber and not-for-profit community, so those things are important.
You also said you wanted to address pensions. What’s the situation?
Pensions are coming up. We obviously are starting to focus on that and we have just begun that process. We are negotiating the contracts that are up with unions. We want to get those done, we have another budget now to present in July and we have pension reform. We have all of the things in the pipeline.
The mayor is really, really making sure that we stay focused, that we meet our timelines.
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