by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
Comparing the City’s budget to the budget of Gate Petroleum, mayoral candidate John Peyton spoke about his global vision and then about the neighborhood of Springfield to about 25 people at the monthly meeting of the Springfield Business Association Thursday.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time here,” said Peyton. “I took a bus tour recently and I’ve been talking to people who live and work here.”
Peyton said research shows that citizens across the nation want to elect candidates who have a background in business. He cited New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and the newly elected mayor of New Orleans as examples.
“I can take the lessons I learned at Gate, like the value of customer service and the importance of return on investment and apply those to City government,” he said.
Like most political candidates this election season, Peyton said education would be the top priority of his administration. He said removing barriers to “making Jacksonville great” starts with good schools.
“We need to mobilize communities like yours around the education,” he said. “I believe that both the successes and the deficiencies in education start at home.”
Peyton said that growth management is also critical to the success of any city.
“I’m a big fan of master planning,” said Peyton. “I’m glad that Phase I of the Main Street Master Plan is being rolled out and I hope to continue it.”
He also said a component to growth management was making sure communities such as Springfield are utilized instead of expanding growth into areas where there is no infrastructure.
“Everything you need for a vibrant community is here,” he said. “It makes sense to invest in this community instead of reaching further out and building new infrastructure.”
Peyton said the success of Springfield will be contingent on the success of downtown, an area where he sees much promise. He said sky rocketing property values and the popularity of places such as San Marco show that proximity to the city’s core can breath life into an community.
He conceded that this concept isn’t new.
“I was at the funeral for Tom McGehee this morning,” Peyton said, referring to the founder of Mac Paper who died recently. “In his elegy, they were praising him for work he did bringing business into Springfield in 1968.”
Peyton promised to get a better handle on code enforcement, an often-criticized element of Jacksonville bureaucracy and create a larger police presence and ease the mechanisms for purchasing affordable housing.
“I’m optimistic,” he said.
Peyton, who has spent six years on the board of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, said that he has seen the way red tape can get in the way of progress.
Some in the audience, which was mostly there to listen, weren’t completely convinced. Rita Reagan, who is retired and now serves as a Springfield activist, said she has been less than enamored with the level of investment in Springfield from Gate Petroleum.
Many in the audience were concerned that the City should do more to market Springfield. Jeannie Fewell, who heads the City’s Planning and Development Department, held an auction a few years ago where people were encouraged to purchase dilapidated houses well below market value. Some, who moved to Springfield to take advantage of that, believe the City hasn’t done enough to support the neighborhood since then.
“That was a marketing endeavor,” said one Springfield resident.
Crime was also a major topic during the hour and a half Peyton spent in Springfield. “The news media calls areas of Springfield a ‘war zone’ that are not even Springfield,” said Ingrid Greene of Watson Realty. “I lost a sale on a house recently because of misinformation delivered on the news.”
Mike Trautmann, who is a Springfield developer, said that he has negotiated with major firms such as Publix, Walgreens and Blockbuster, who have all said they can’t have their brands associated with the blight in Springfield.
“We need the City to bust the drug dealers and shut down the slum lords if we’re going to get that kind of investment,” said Trautmann said.
Tommy Hazouri will be the featured candidate at next month’s SBA meeting.