by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The paint on the walls is still drying in her new office and the boxes remained sealed and untouched, but that hasn’t stopped City Council Vice President Elaine Brown from waxing poetic about Jacksonville’s future and the newly reassembled City Council helping guide it.
“But, you know, I’m not nervous about what lies ahead,” said Brown. “This is going to be an exciting year and it’s a great time to be here.”
Brown has just taken office but she’s quick to point out she already has the ideas and the drive to get the City Council thinking hard and, more importantly, thinking together.
“We have some great and young people coming on with new perspectives, new ideas and the desire for change. They’re bright and educated,” said Brown. “All things can happen now.”
To further facilitate communication among the new and returning Council members, Brown is hoping to hold weekly meetings in her office where “open discussion” can take place.
“It will be a time where we can all talk about the issues in the various districts and some of the newer Council members can ask questions if they need to,” she said. “As vice president, I really feel a responsibility to help develop this Council.”
And though stressing no issue takes priority over the other, Brown remains focused on a laundry list of goals.
“I would like to see if [Council President Lad Daniels] would appoint a sub-committee that would look to the possibility of changing the City Council meeting times and I would like to chair it,” she said. “If you look at different cities throughout the state, you’ll begin to notice that the majority of Council meetings start during the day, not late in the evening like ours. To me, it really makes more sense to do it that way. I think it’s unfair to hear public comments at midnight.”
Making reference to previous meetings lasting until 4:30 a.m., Brown added that, even before order is called, there should be a specific stopping time already set aside and adhered to.
“Many Council members are having to call babysitters when, maybe, they shouldn’t have to,” said Brown. “I think it’s worth looking into, and I see value in a group that could make recommendations.”
And she’s looking forward to tackling issues outside of City Hall, as well.
“A major source of my time is going to be concentrated on substandard housing,” said Brown. “We need to get more suitable housing in the area.”
Lavilla is another concern.
“I’d like to think of this as the year of consensus for that area,” said Brown. “We all recognize the importance of the area and that a hotel [adjacent to the Prime Osborn] is going to be vital to its success. Mixed housing will be very important, too. But we need more than a plan. We need to Master Plan it.”
Brown said the continued construction and polishing of the sports and entertainment venues-including the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, the Arena and Alltel Stadium-should only further drive the development in the Lavilla subdistrict.
“There’s a definite need for it,” she said. “There has to be a balance downtown from the sports complexes on.”
And with most of her time devoted to issues, when will she start thinking about her run for Council president?
“I started thinking about it the day I was elected vice president, and I’ll use this year to prove myself,” said Brown. “We’re a diverse Council, and that’s a good thing. We won’t always agree, but that’s never been our intention. We were elected to work together towards the betterment of Jacksonville, and I know we can. We can accomplish an awful lot.”