by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Political success is, at best, subjective. Polls may prove to be statistically accurate, but because just a small percentage of the population is questioned, they can only mildly be considered a gauge of success.
A politician may get a ton of legislation passed — and their PR folks will tout those passed bills — but it’s rare to hear much about legislative failures.
So, when City Council president Matt Carlucci says the past year was a success, it’s easy to be skeptical. Until he explains.
“I think the year went real well,” said Carlucci, who will preside over his last Council meeting next Tuesday night. “It’s been the greatest year I’ve ever had in public service.”
When Carlucci was elected president in May 2001, succeeding Alberta Hipps, he had a list of agenda items. One item, though, was staring him and the entire Council square in the eyes and couldn’t be avoided: Council redistricting, the unenviable task of trying to please 14 people whose political livelihoods may be at stake depending on how the lines are drawn.
After racing through an entire alphabet’s worth of maps and then some, Council settled on a map that will be used for the next decade. Carlucci said the Council was remarkably congenial and professional during the process and credits redistricting task force chair Pat Lockett-Felder with not only keeping the peace, but keeping the task force focused.
“We got through redistricting without any major controversies,” said Carlucci. “It went longer than I thought it would, but not much. We took the extra time in order to get it done right. I thought that Chairperson Lockett-Felder, the Rules Committee and the entire Council did an outstanding job of playing give and take and displaying statesmanship.”
In addition to aligning Duval County until the next census in 2010, Carlucci is proud of several other accomplishments, most of which he planned on addressing. While there isn’t much tangible to show for his efforts yet, Carlucci said steps have been taken to assure Jacksonville’s park system is also set for the future. During the last year, Carlucci and Council enacted legislation which will provide more than $30 million for the city’s active parks.
“We formed a special committee on active parks and we put $30 million into that plan,” said Carlucci. “That’s unprecedented and it includes a long list of parks and improvements including soccer fields, basketball and tennis courts, concessions stands, gyms and pools all throughout the county from Blue Cypress Park to Ray Greene Park.”
Item three on Carlucci’s to-do list centered on creating an entity specifically designed to salvage as much of Jacksonville’s urban history as possible. That idea resulted in the Downtown Revitalization Historic Task Force, which Carlucci called an overwhelming success.
“There are 14 pieces of legislation working through City Council and some of them have been passed,” he said, adding the task force recently initiated a $7 million bond that will give it the working capital to purchase historic downtown buildings such as the three located on Laura Street between Forsyth and Adams streets. “The Historic Task Force played a key role in the acquisition of that corner. Those three buildings will play a big role in downtown’s future.”
(At this point, the City owns the Marble Bank Building, the old Florida National Bank and the Bisbee Building. Requests for Proposals will be issued to private developers.)
The Historic Task Force also rewrote the separate codes that directly affect downtown development: the zoning code, parking code and the building codes are now modeled after international buildings codes.
“That code is now much more flexible for builders,” said Carlucci. “The historic plan is not only a plan, but the tools are now in front of City Council and they are being implemented.”
Carlucci’s agenda also included forming a tighter bond and better working relationship with the School Board. The result of that initiative was joining School Board chairman Jimmie Johnson to create Project Reach.
“We have had a really good year in helping the public school system,” he said.
Finally, with little time to prepare, Carlucci teamed with Mayor John Delaney and the City’s Office of Volunteer Services to tackle one of Jacksonville’s messiest issues — trash. On June 1, volunteers amassed a mountain of trash, literally, but barely made a dent in what’s cluttering Jacksonville’s streets, drainage ditches and sidewalks.
“We had over 500 volunteers that picked up almost 10 tons of trash,” said Carlucci. “That’s pretty impressive considering we only had a month and a half to two months to prepare. We were certainly eager to take on that issue.”
For everything he did get done, Carlucci may not resolve one issue he broached — the City’s current battle with AT&T over whether or not Jacksonville’s only cable TV provider has violated the terms of its franchise agreement. Several months ago, in response to citizen’s complaints, Carlucci publicly took on AT&T and even asked State Attorney General Bob Butterworth to investigate. With less than two weeks left as Council president, Carlucci has not resigned himself to the idea he may have to leave the issue to Council president-elect Jerry Holland.
“I had hoped we could resolve the AT&T matter,” said Carlucci. “I only have a few days left and we’ll see. I want to try to get it resolved so Mr. Holland doesn’t have it carry over to his agenda. I want him to start with a clean plate.”
Carlucci, who is eligible to run for reelection, has yet to file in his district. Like Sheriff Nat Glover, Carlucci is a popular name to toss into mayoral candidate discussions. After a very busy year in which he got a lot done as Council president and continued to own and run his State Farm office in San Marco, Carlucci said he will consider his options after a break.
“I’ll take a breather after July 1 [the day Holland takes over] before I start thinking about all of that,” said Carlucci. “I want to stay focused on being Council president and it will stay that way until July 1. It’s been a busy year.”
In looking ahead to next Tuesday when Carlucci pounds the gavel for the last time, he provided a dining analogy.
“It’ll be like finishing a big steak dinner,” said Carlucci. “I won’t want anymore, but I’ll be satisfied. I’ll be happy to turn the gavel over to Mr. Holland.”