Shirley Dasher is the executive director of JaxPride, a non-profit organization that serves as a liaison between local community action committees and the City regarding all matters aesthetic.
WHAT ARE ALL MATTERS AESTHETIC?
“Our mission is to create beauty and civic pride in Jacksonville. We want to work with communities to improve the City’s visual appearance. This could range from anything to beautifying the landscape, to getting rid of old signs, to asking someone to remove a couch from their front yard.”
SO YOU SERVE AS AN ACTIVIST FOR GOOD TASTE?
“Yes, but we are more than that. We actually coordinate with local agencies to help carry out policies and ordinances. We help serve as a middle man between a neighbor and the City to mitigate animosity in neighborhoods. If someone gets a letter saying that JaxPride wants you to pick up the garbage in front of your house, they can’t get mad at the people who live across the street who don’t want to look at it.”
CAN’T SOMEONE JUST CALL THE CITY DIRECTLY IF THEY HAVE A PROBLEM?
“Let’s just say it helps to have an objective voice to get things done. Many times if there’s not a direct risk, but rather a matter of appearance, there is not as quick of a response. We understand that because the City’s first responsibility is safety, and if we can avoid using public resources to resolve something, we do.”
WHAT IS NIVP?
“That’s the Neighborhood Inventory of Visual Pollution. Part of what JaxPride does is go around to neighborhoods helping people identify elements of visual blight, explore possible solutions and then generate a report to be forward to the appropriate agency to solve the problem. You can’t enhance beauty until the neighborhood is cleaned up first.”
WHAT’S THE BEST PART ABOUT YOUR JOB?
“I work with people who are committed to this community. For most people a home is their most important investment. When we allow blight, we are stealing from home owners and allowing our neighborhoods to be destroyed. Everything I can do to stop this from happening makes my job great.”
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE IN JACKSONVILLE?
“We keep building new developments even though our older ones have the infrastructure to support growing communities. New developments mean more traffic and more of a drain on City and environmental resources. We should clean up what we have before we build more.”
IF I WANTED TO BEAUTIFY MY NEIGHBORHOOD COULD I JUST GIVE YOU A CALL AND YOU WOULD HELP?
“Yes. Over 300 communities in Jacksonville are registered with JaxPride but we’ll try to help organize anyone who wants to participate. Many times an effort from us on the front end is the catalyst communities need to get organized. If it’s something as small as wanting a tree or a plant for your community, we’ll get it to you right away. I’ll deliver it myself.”
WHO ELSE HELPS YOU IN THIS ENDEAVOR?
“We work with local schools, civic organizations, churches, businesses and City agencies. The JEA is a major partner of ours.”
WHAT IS A CHARETTE?
“It’s an architectural term from the French word for the three-wheeled cart that was used to go around campus and collect the homework from architecture students. So, loosely translated, it means to bring together or brainstorm. That’s what we do at JaxPride, we bring together ideas from architects, city planners, landscape architects and local activists to try to figure out the best way to improve our city’s appearance.”
WHEN IS THE NEXT CHARETTE?
“Feb. 9 at Historic Snyder Memorial. Hemming Plaza is the focus of this year’s major project and we’re bringing in a nationally-known architect, author and new urban advocate from New York, Gianni Longo. Apparently, he’s quite a character.”
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE IDEAS?
“We have an extremely dynamic board that considers everything and votes on how we move forward. But we always try to make sure the voices of the citizens are heard just as much as expert judges. Many times we’ll take ideas from a neighborhood meeting or a charette and parlay those into suggestions to City Council for corridor projects.”
DOES YOUR JOB EVER GET FRUSTRATING?
“There are some people who think their house is in a vacuum and that they can make it look however they want. And of course when we try to motivate certain agencies to take action, sometimes it takes too long. The complaints we receive can be looked at two ways. Some think that if we are getting more complaints that means things are getting worse. Actually, more complaints mean people think something might actually get done and so they take they time to call us. It’s more work but it’s a good thing.”
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR FUNDING?
“We get grant money from the City but mostly through private and corporate donations.”
HOW DID YOU GET THIS JOB?
“[City Council member] Suzanne Jenkins had the job before me. We grew up together and have been friends for a long time.”
WHERE DID YOU AND SUZANNE GROW UP?
“The Northside. I went to Andrew Jackson High School.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY CHILDREN?
“Yes, and as of recently, a grandchild. My daughter Lonnie Ann just had a son. Ryan is my 15-year-old; he goes to Arlington Country Day. My husband Lonnie is retired.”
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR FREE TIME?
She’s involved with the River Celebration, Keep Jacksonville Beautiful, JCCI Clean Study, Trashbusters, the Sign Task Force, the Neighborhood Visual Pollution Committee. “I’m the Youth Teacher and the Director of Vacation Bible School for Englewood Baptist Church. We just formed the Northeast Florida Environmental Coalition to organize the 35 environmental groups in Duval County. We had our first meeting Saturday.”
— by Sean McManus