by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
Democratic mayoral candidate Tommy Hazouri said revitalizing downtown will be his first priority as mayor, something that struck a cord with the 20 people who gathered to hear him speak Thursday at the Springfield Women’s Association.
As part of an ongoing series sponsored by the Springfield Business Association, Hazouri spoke for about an hour about his experience and his vision for the post-John Delaney Jacksonville.
“I don’t know how many people realize it, but I was actually born and raised in this neighborhood,” said Hazouri, who lived above his parent’s grocery store on the corner of Liberty and Ashley streets until he was 24. “That was before lofts were popular.”
Hazouri reflected on his years as mayor in the late 1980s and reminded the audience that it was under his watch that the infamous odor that plagued the city was removed. He also abolished tolls on local bridges. Long-time Springfield activist Rita Reagan also reminded the group that another legacy of his administration was the proposed garbage tax, one of the more unpopular suggestions in the city’s mayoral history.
“I was left without many choices,” Hazouri said in his defense. “You can’t get everything you want for no money.”
But Hazouri spent most of his time discussing his history in Jacksonville, his time in public service (both in the State legislature and his time as mayor) and his most recent experiences in the private sector working as a lobbyist.
“I think I’m the token Democrat,” Hazouri said. “But I think everybody would agree that you have to pursue many different angles in Tallahassee.”
Hazouri attended Andrew Jackson High School and Jacksonville University. He recalled learning how to play baseball in Confederate Park, learning how to swim in the Springfield pool, watching movies at the Capital Theatre and eating donuts on Main Street.
“I think it’s hard to talk about the future unless you reflect on the past,” he said.
To the sound of a train whistle blowing in the background, Hazouri said that he believes Springfield has the potential to be a more important urban destination than San Marco, considering the amount of cultural venues that are clamoring to move in.
Playing to his audience of small business people, the candidate said incentives for big business are fine, but that he believed small businesses were the backbone of healthy neighborhoods.
“Sometimes I feel like some Jacksonville companies think they are free agents,” he said. “After a couple years, they want more.”
Hazouri said an important role for a mayor is to promote certain neighborhoods that he thinks are critical to a community’s revival.
“Delaney has done a terrific job,” he said. “I don’t only want to continue his work, I want to expand on it.”
The chronic problems facing Hogan Creek was another issue where Hazouri spent time. He also said he wants to see improvements to McCoy’s Creek.
“I want to see a river run through Springfield,” he said. “Even if it’s a creek.”
Hazouri said with the right amount of attention, clean-up and preservation of the Henry Klutho-designed bridges that are crumbling above Hogan’s Creek, Jacksonville could have urban waterways similar, if not better, than other cities. Some in the audience were also concerned about the preservation of greenspace all over the city. Hazouri said that not only was he responsible for four new, regional parks during his time as mayor, but that environmental issues were an major factor in why he supported Delaney for mayor.
“I hope this election comes down to two things: experiences, which I’ve got and vision, which I’ve got,” he said.
Some expressed concern over transportation and transportation patterns, and thought that Jacksonville needed consultants to evaluate traffic problems.
“While consolidation has been a great thing for this city,” said Hazouri. “It does mean that taking care the entire place takes a great deal of work.”
He said that public buses will always be around, but that projects like the people mover and other mass transit ideas need to be explored.
Careful not to ignore education, Hazouri, whose wife has been a teacher for 34 years, said, “the whole alphabet of commissions and committees need to be brought under one umbrella.
“It’s always going to be at the top of everyone’s mind,” he said