by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The mayor’s office withdrew its request from the City Council Monday to issue $50 million in City bonds to pay to clear out Cecil Field for the return of the Navy. The move doesn’t close the debate on Cecil Field, but it does reduce the likelihood that the Navy’s return will be on the City’s dime.
Several members of the Council’s Finance Committee pledged not to spend taxpayer dollars to reinsert the Navy back at Cecil Field. The former Navy base is now an aerospace industrial park.
But several of those members declined a chance to vote against the bond issuance, preferring instead to let the mayor’s office remove the proposal from the Council agenda. Committee Chairman Daniel Davis encouraged members to vote against the proposal as a way to send a message to the mayor’s office and to the Westside neighborhoods surrounding Cecil Field.
“There’s a difference between a withdrawal and a clear statement saying, ‘We’re not doing this,’” said Davis. “I don’t want to be neutral on this. It’s in our hands and we all agree that this isn’t the right way to go, but we’re going to let it have life.”
At one point, Council member Reggie Fullwood called for an up or down vote on the bond proposal. The motion died for lack of a second.
“It’s not surprising to me that you didn’t get a second,” a disappointed Davis told Fullwood.
But even without voting the proposal down, several Committee members said they wouldn’t vote in favor of spending the $50 million to relocate Cecil Field’s current tenants. Council member Gwen Yates said the mayor’s office would be “stupid” to bring the proposal back to Council.
There were several reasons cited for allowing the mayor to withdraw the legislation instead of voting against it. Some members did it out of courtesy to the mayor’s office, some said there were too many unknowns about the Navy’s return to kill the prospect completely and some said voting the money down could send the message that the City isn’t willing to spend money to accommodate economic growth.
Davis said after the meeting that he was heartened by his committee’s public stance against the bond proposal.
“The message I take away from this is, if this thing rears its head again, it’s going to get chopped off before it ever makes it to the agenda,” said Davis.
By voting against the proposal, the City Council could have sent a clear message to the Westside neighborhoods that he represents that the City was going to let private economic development take root in and around Cecil, said Davis. The uncertainty surrounding the Navy’s return threatens to thwart economic progress in the area, he said.
After the Navy left in 1999 City planners designated Cecil Field as an industrial park. The City has successfully recruited aerospace firms like Embraer to Cecil Field, and Davis believes continued private investment represents the area’s best chance for continued economic development.
That school of thought appears to be gaining prominence on the Council. Council President Kevin Hyde sent Davis an Oct. 16 letter in which he said that economic growth around Cecil Field will be best served by private investment.
“I am convinced that this strong, private development is the best, long-term future for Jacksonville’s growth and the quality of life that all citizens seek,” said Hyde in the letter.
Hyde went on to request that the mayor withdraw the bond issuance, that the City encourage private development in and around the former base and that the City be reimbursed for economic damages should the Navy or Department of Defense insist on reopening Cecil Field as a military base.