by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Pat Lockett-Felder boasts she’s a full service City Council member. Young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Lockett-Felder offers equal representation to all her constituents.
In a few years, the outspoken representative of District 7 will have a few more opportunities to practice what she preaches. Her district, which encompasses much of Northwest Jacksonville’s economically depressed areas, is about to get a lot richer — about a million bucks a condo richer.
The Shipyards project — part of the billion-dollar mile — is the diametric opposite of most of Lockett-Felder’s district. The residents who will eventually live along the banks of the St. Johns River aren’t expected to come flooding from A. Philip Randolph Boulevard in a mass exodus searching for better housing. More likely, people from well-to-do suburban neighborhoods will dominate the demographic.
When City Council Dist. 7 is mentioned in some local political circles, the term “Minority Access District” comes to mind. When Lockett-Felder says “my people,” misconceptions could happen.
“I want to make it clear,” she said. “When I say my people, I mean my people in Dist. 7. I’m not just talking about black people. I’m talking about white people, I’m talking about Hispanic people. People.”
Lockett-Felder, who is running for reelection next spring, welcomes her potential affluent constituents.
“It’s been said about me being African-American and the Berkman Plaza and the [Shipyard developer] Spence family and those buildings coming on that those are only going to be rich, white Republicans and they won’t care to vote for a black person that’s doing a great job,” she said. “I don’t believe that. They don’t care what color my skin is. They want me to represent them and represent them well. And I will. I feel I’m the Council person to represent them well.”
If reelected, riverfront living may be Lockett-Felder’s last concern. Berkman Plaza is practically finished with residents already living there. The Shipyards seem to have all the financing and incentives available to move forward. A few short blocks north of the fresh stucco walls of Berkman, Lockett-Felder can practically hear the neighborhoods along A. Philip Randolph Boulevard and Phoenix Avenue decay.
“The people in the east Jacksonville area have suffered for a mighty long time,” she said. “The streets out there are deplorable. The houses . . . it’s unheard of. I have said to the mayor [John Delaney] over and over and over, ‘I cannot buy into one project if you cannot help me help my people live in decent houses.”
Lockett-Felder points to a handful of blighted areas in her district she wants to concentrate on.
“Union and A. Philip Randolph is deplorable. First and A. Philip Randolph is deplorable. Eighth and A. Philip Randolph is deplorable. Twenty-first and Phoenix is awful. Eighth and Phoenix is awful. We have got to put pride back into the community. How do you tell a person to come alive when everything around them is dead?”
To inject new life in her crumbling and oft forgotten pockets of Jacksonville, Lockett-Felder wants to infuse City dollars into the areas to jump start revitalization. During the course of conversation, it is clear she has a soft spot for senior citizens.
“What we need to do is put money in the east Jacksonville area so that we can upgrade the houses,” she said. “I’m not saying build all new houses. I’m saying the houses that my senior citizens live in have the roof caving in, the bathtubs are dropping through the ceiling. Help these people. Help them to come up. Most of my seniors, they don’t want to move. They are perfectly happy living where they are. But help me to help my people put their bathroom on a level playing field.”
Lockett-Felder has no qualms advocating subsidized housing for the poor, especially when large corporate handouts are being doled out left and right — mostly in tax incentives.
“When the Adam’s Mark came to town, we gave them the shirt off our backs,” she said. “Let’s start putting the dollars where the dollars belong. They’re available.”
Not every story out of Lockett-Felder’s district is a sad tale. She is eager to point to a few bright spots on the horizon.
“We’re doing a health clinic at 21st and Phoenix,” she said, which happens to be one of her worst blighted intersections. “It’s going to be top of the line.”
The proposed clinic promises to have a few doctors, prescription services, a diabetes clinic and a handful of other non-emergency services available. Lockett-Felder, true to her seniors, wants to establish a van service for older folks who have limited mobility.
Another pet project would brighten the area around Harts Road with fresh landscaping.
“I want to do Harts Road,” she said. “There are so many houses back there, so I want the people to come out and be proud of it. I want a nice Harts Road. I want this area to be very pretty. It’s one of the nicest areas we have for African-American families in this city on the Northside.”
Other welcome additions to Lockett-Felder’s district will soon come in the form of a new school off Biscayne Boulevard and a proposed park off Harts Road.
Lockett-Felder has a rich background in minority affairs: she is one, she spent years as a business owner off A. Philip Randolph Boulevard with her husband, “Bull” and she was a member of the City’s Minority Business Program prior to her election in 1999. She also has a strong political background, logging 16 years with U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and significant time with State Rep. E. Denise Lee, both prominent Jacksonville political figures.
She recently filed paperwork with the Supervisor of Elections office to begin collecting campaign contributions for her reelection bid. If all goes as planned, and with a little help from above, she intends to lead Dist. 7 through 2007.
“I take my oath seriously,” she said. “There is nothing strange about me asking the good Lord every day to give me direction to help his people and to be the best person that he wants me to be. Not me. Not Pat Felder because I’m nothing without him. I’m something with him.”