Times-Union endorses Audrey Moran for Mayor (Jacksonville, Miami: real estate, insurance, house)

[fsu813]

This coupled with the endorsements by the Jax Chamber of Commerce endorsement, Builders & Contractors Association, North FL Real estate org, etc. and former Mayor's Godbold, Austin, & Dellaney make her the leading candidate, no?

BTW, I thought the T-U's description of all the candidates was spot on. Good stuff.

Moran for Mayor: The Best Choice

"The times have rarely been this difficult for a new mayor, not since the dawn of consolidation. Hans Tanzler had to put together a new city-county government.

Jake Godbold had sky-high electric rates and the recession that followed.

Tommy Hazouri had to worry about removing the tolls and dealing with the smells of pulp mills.

Ed Austin had to start reviving a city that needed a renaissance.

John Delaney spent four years putting the city's financial house in order before selling the voters on a $2 billion bond issue.

John Peyton thought he had a thriving economy to manage and instead found himself in the middle of a declining one.

But our next mayor will be facing all the hard decisions caused by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The stakes for this city are great. We can't accept cutting government without planning for the future. A growing economy, in the end, will cure many budgetary ills.

The times call for a special leader. Fortunately, one is at hand.

Audrey Moran has the combination of experience, character and skill that is unmatched; it's as if she has spent her entire life preparing for this challenge. Clearly, she is not intimidated.

She knows what it means to manage a small business and meet a payroll.

She knows how to squeeze a penny and make it scream as CEO of a major nonprofit, the Sulzbacher Center for the homeless.

And she knows how to navigate local government, having been chief of staff for Mayor John Delaney.

Other candidates will need to grow into the office. Moran is ready to govern from day one."

Full story at: ]Moran for mayor: The best choice | jacksonville.com

[Robyn55]

Based on what I've read here and elsewhere - I recommended to my Dad that he vote for Audrey Moran - and to tell his friends to do so as well. About the dumbest thing I think she's done is have the Sulzbacher Center smack in the middle of downtown JAX. Casts a pall on downtown IMO. Perhaps if she is elected Mayor - she will realize that her downtown constituents can't consist primarily of homeless people. Robyn

[fsu813]

She's talked about moving City Rescue Mission to its industrial Westside annex, as well as placing the forthcoming day center outside the downtown core ( probably in an industrial area as well, ie Tallyrand).

When Robyn & I both agree on something, it must be good.

: )

[fsquid]

I don't have a vote, but whichever candidate is in favor or revitalizing downtown and doing something dramatic with the schools is the one people should vote for.

[fsu813]

Well, Hogan's vision includes highlights such as "filling potholes".

No, i'm not kidding.

[Northside904]

Whoever has the best gameplan to get Jacksonville where it needs to be, they have my vote. If it's Moran, which sounds like she's the best qualified of all the others, so be it.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by fsu813

She's talked about moving City Rescue Mission to its industrial Westside annex, as well as placing the forthcoming day center outside the downtown core ( probably in an industrial area as well, ie Tallyrand).

When Robyn & I both agree on something, it must be good.

: )

"When Ju-pi-ter aligns with Mars..."

Actually - I suspect we are not so far apart about most things. I am not a extreme right wing religious person who believes in creationism (much less teaching it in schools) - and I reckon your brand of "liberal" would make you a Republican on the Upper West Side of NYC. As long as we don't talk about Springfield (a subject which inspires passion in you - but not in me) - I suspect we aren't that far apart on a lot of issues. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by fsquid

I don't have a vote, but whichever candidate is in favor or revitalizing downtown and doing something dramatic with the schools is the one people should vote for.

I think schools and jobs are probably the most important. Downtown is on the top ten list - but not at the top of the list IMO.

One local issue that will be important in coming months is how JAXPORT will be affected by the catastrophe in Japan. We of course won't know exactly what will happen in Japan for days/weeks/months - or what the "after-shocks" will be. But I think a fair number of those cars at JAXPORT are - if I recall correctly - from Japan (if someone has better info than I do - let me know). And the supply disruptions (there will be disruptions - just don't know how great or for how long) will be something a new Mayor will have to deal with. So JAX definitely needs a Mayor who is not an idiot. Robyn

P.S. I spent 3 weeks in Japan a few years back. I thought it was one of the most wonderful countries in the world - and I have friends there. If something like this had to happen - why couldn't it happen to a really crummy country <sigh>.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by fsu813

Well, Hogan's vision includes highlights such as "filling potholes".

No, i'm not kidding.

Hogan lost me with the bombing abortion clinics "joke". Although I am not a great friend of Muslims or the Muslim community - the idea of even making a joke about bombing a mosque in the US would make me sick.

FWIW - part of my reaction is perhaps based on my years in Miami. When certain extreme members of the expatriate Cuban community thought it was ok to bomb people and other things/places if they weren't absolutely totally 100% against Castro:

"Notable cases of violence [in Miami] targeting individuals include that of Luciano Nieves, who was murdered after advocating peaceful coexistence with Cuba, and WQBA-AM news director Emilio Milian who survived a car bomb but lost his legs after he publicly condemned Cuban exile violence."

It is ok in the US to like or dislike people - agree or disagree with them. Perhaps even dislike them or disagree with them intensely. But the idea of using violent force against people you dislike or disagree with isn't/shouldn't be the way we deal with things here. Or even joke about. Robyn

[jsimms3]

Mitsui is a Japanese shipper that opened a huge new terminal at Jaxport. Granted a lot of their shipping traffic comes from Vietnam and other countries, I'm sure there will still be a huge impact. Even greater will be the short term impact on Japanese car imports, one of if not the port's largest business segment (incoming US toyotas come through two or three ports and Jacksonville is one of them).

This makes it even more urgent to fix our port so the Korean shipper Hanjin can go ahead and break ground on their even larger terminal and trust that they will be able to navigate larger container ships up our channel.

While traditionally in the past (i.e. 1910s-1980s) Jacksonville was a financial/insurance superpower among the gods of the financial industry (well, minus NYC and Chicago of course), it no longer has the right population or mentality to support a similar scope of white-collar financial services/banking/insurance industry right now. Jacksonville just doesn't have enough of an educated population or the quality of life that most FIs look for in large cities. Several notable gay executives, most notably the lady at Wells Fargo, moved Florida operations to Miami because she perceived Jacksonville as a hostile workplace environment. That just is inexcusable.

Because of the above factors, the port is the only true driver the city has right now to pull it out of a rut. Healthcare no...as much as we think we have a huge advantage in the healthcare industry, we don't. We have no top 10 med school, no biotech industry, and only an above average amount of hospital beds to brag about. The Mayo Clinic is nice, but over 9% of their business is local and our Mayo is no Rochester in size. We need the port!

Congress is controlled by Republicans now. They are more reluctant than ever to spend, even on necessary infrastructure, and the port expansion and Mile Point fix will require federal oversight due to its nature and significance. Because of this, it is crucial that we as a city rally behind the port and behind anything necessary to get things going. Our port will die a sad death if we can't dredge and fix the channel before or only shortly after the Panama Canal widening is complete. Other ports, including Miami and Savannah will likely be ready before us, making us obsolete as the shipping contracts will go to those cities.

Shippers don't want to use Miami at all and JaxPort is actually more strategically located than Savannah's port, so shippers really want to come here. They just can't.

I firmly believe that Audrey Moran has a grasp on this situation, what can and should be done, and how to rally the city behind it. It will require some matching funds on our part for the feds and state to look our way. It will also require political will. The other candidates have made such firm promises to not lower any taxes or fees (all lies in this day and age when anything can happen and our taxes are abnormally low for any city of any size). Audrey will know how to make this work.