by Staff
Over 120 community leaders visited San Francisco and Oakland last week on the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual Leadership trip.
The group was able to study several things, including sports facilities, housing and the local school systems.
Audrey Moran, Mayor John Delaney’s chief of staff, was impressed with the activity downtown and the new baseball stadium.
“The best part of the trip was being able to walk through downtown any time of the day or night and have the streets full of people,” said Moran. “Everyone I walked with said the same thing: ‘We can’t wait until Jacksonville’s downtown has this much life.’ The second best part was visiting PacBell ball park [home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants] and knowing our ball park will be even better.”
Kirk Wendland, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, spent a good deal of his time in Oakland looking at housing developments.
“They are doing a lot of downtown housing and we looked at how they’re doing it,” said Wendland. “They are taking a little different approach. Downtown housing is something they are really encouraging and they are building the infrastructure around it. Their dilemma is how to consolidate in a small area whereas our dilemma is how to consolidate where there are so many areas to expand.”
Rick Mullaney, general counsel for the City, was impressed by the educational levels in the Bay area.
“The superintendent of San Francisco schools and the Stanford University pediatric surgeon, who serves on the School Board, both were articulate and insightful on education,” said Mullaney. “The most telling stat of the trip was this: 45 percent of the adults in San Francisco age 25 and up have bachelor’s degrees or higher. In Jacksonville, it’s 18 percent. That’s a very educated and literate work force and population.”