Journey now in hands of Funding Committee
by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Now that five of the Jacksonville Journey subcommittees have completed their work, it’s the Funding Committee’s turn.
Led by chair Tom Petway, the Funding Committee heard from each subcommittee chair Monday in an effort to better determine exactly what each committee would like to see implemented and the potential costs of those programs and initiatives. Those subcommittees developed more than $35 million worthof recommendations. However, the projected costs over five years is estimated at $214.7 million. Right now, the City doesn’t have the $35 million, never mind a dedicated funded sourceover the next five years.
While Petway said he isn’t sure how the Journey will be funded long term, he did say Mayor John Peyton has made it clear the money will be located.
“I have discussed this with the mayor. He’s committed to funding what is necessary coming out of the Jacksonville Journey,” said Petway, explaining the City is facing the “perfect storm” in trying to fund the Journey with property tax cuts coming from Tallahassee and Jacksonville facing revenue shortfalls. “I think it’s our job to help the mayor,” he said. “That’s a lot of money and I am not sure where it will come from. This is not a good time to be looking for $35 million.”
Petway stressed at the start of the meeting the Funding Committee’s job was not to prioritize or favor any particular recommendation.
“It’s fair to assume we will not fund all of them,” said Petway. “It is not our job to prioritize. Our job is to listen and instruct on what to do next.
“All of this is happening pretty quickly. The final meeting of the Steering Committee is April 24. I expect some instructions from this committee.”
During the meeting, three potential funding sources did emerge. While none of them will come close to the $35 million and none appear to be recurring, the prospect of getting state and federal dollars is possible.
Wight Greger, director of the City’s Housing and Neighborhoods Department, said there may be some money available through Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which are funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“There is a very broad parameter of things that can be funded withCDBG funds,” said Greger. “All of the activities have to benefit those considered to have low and medium incomes. In Jacksonville, that is no more than $51,000 per household.”
Greger explained the funds can be used for everything from the acquisition of property to code enforcement to the construction andrehabilitation of public buildings. During the current fiscal year, the City received $7.32 million in HUD money. Greger said the proposed figure for next year is $6.9 million, and its non-negotiable.
“It’s a very complicated formula,” said Greger. “HUD tells us whatthey are giving us. We don’t have the ability to ask for more.”
According to Greger, her department has $1.8 million in funds not allocated. And since many of the recommendations from the Journey subcommittees are similar to her department’s programs, Greger said she’s willing to put the $1.8 million “on the table.”
The City could also tap into state funds. However, due to a variety of reasons, those funds may either not be available or may not be recurring. Peyton stressed last week that he doesn’t want to use one-time money for a multi- year initiative.
Adam Hollingsworth, Peyton’s chief of staff, told the Funding Committee that much of the funding potential hinged on the outcome of a bill that went before a state taxing commission. That bill would put a cap on property taxes, thus limiting the City’s annual budget. Hollingsworth said he believed the bill is “in effect dead” and would not appear on the ballot in November.
Hollingsworth said a couple of funding possibilities include revenue generated by red light cameras capturing people running lights and state money to help Jacksonville set up a children’s zone similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York. The first option has its obstacles, though. While the bill has gotten out of a couple of legislative committees, it has detractors — mostly people who view the cameras as an infringement on civil rights. There’s also debate over who would install and maintain the cameras and on what roads they would be located.
“I put it at about 50-50 the bill will get out of the Legislature by the end of the session,” said Hollingsworth.
The children’s zone funding is a little more feasible. Hollingsworth said House Speaker Marco Rubio has secured $1 million for a children’s zone in Miami and he supports similar funding for a zone in City Council member Warren Jones’district.
Most of the subcommittee chairs agreed many of their recommendations overlap to some extent. Others, such as solid early learning centers and programs that prove successful over an extended period of time, could help alleviate the need for higher education programs down the road. They all believe longterm funding must be identified and the programs expanded or implemented as soon as possible.
“It would do us no good to start these programs, then drop them. Actually, it would probably do more harm than good,” said attorney W.C. Gentry, who chaired the Education, Truancy, Dropout and Literacy Subcommittee.
“After-school and education programs are critical,” said former Jacksonville Jaguar Tony Boselli, who chaired the Neighborhood Safety and Stability Subcommittee. “I agree we need to be proactive. Sometimes we are reactive. Proactive is better in the long term.”
Petway asked that a few of the Funding Committee members volunteer to form a subcommittee to quickly look at alternative funding options. He said the Funding Committee will meet again soon, but he did not set a date.
U.S. mayors fighting gun show loopholes
by David Ball
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton is slated to be in front of Congress today, testifying on how loopholes in America’s laws are allowing criminals to purchase firearms at gun shows without a criminal background check. He said congress should listen to what he has to say.
“Jacksonville has a compelling case. We lead the state in murders,” said Peyton. “We know the ways criminals can get a hold of guns, and one of the ways is at gun shows.”
Peyton will be repeating his message in a television advertisement featuring other U.S. mayors and presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. It’s a bipartisan message coming from Monday’s national summit of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of 322 member cities chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Last Month, Peyton hosted a conference of the bipartisan coalition in Jacksonville with 18 cities represented. He said making the trip to Washington to join the 60 other mayors was an easy decision.
“Curbing violence in Jacksonville is our number one priority. That’s why I’m here, that’s why the Jacksonville Journey is meeting and why we’re in meetings with the sheriff,” said Peyton. “What we do know is the majority of gun crimes are committed with illegal guns. We know that for sure.”
For the coalition, the problems posed by gun shows was just one of the issues tackled. Also yesterday, the group eight Duval County Wal-Marts polled, three sell firearms (Lem Turner Road, Normandy Boulevard and Regency) and ammunition, while the others sell just ammunition. The Wal-Mart in nearby Macclenny sells firearms and ammo.
“I think anytime we can have a private partnership that ought to make Jacksonville safer, the better we are,” said Peyton. “We also know Wal-Mart is the largest distributor of guns in our country. To have them as a partner will give us great credibility.”
The partnership’s goals are to deter the purchasing of guns through “straw buyers,” who buy guns for those who can’t legally purchase them, as well as stem lost or stolen guns making their way to the market.
The 10 points of the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership include:
• Videotaping point of sale for all firearms, and maintaining videos for six months to deter illegal purchases and monitor employees.
• Developing a computerized system to flag customers who have purchased guns at the retailer that have been used in crimes. The retailer would have discretion to proceed or stop the sale.
• For flagged sales, purchasers will fill out a declaration indicating they meet legal requirements to purchase the firearm.
• Accepting only valid federal- or state-issued picture IDs and utilizing additional ID checking mechanisms.
• Posting signage to alert customers of their legal responsibilities at the point of sale.
• Conducting criminal background checks for all employees selling or handling firearms.
• Training employees to deter illegal purchases. An online training system will be based on Wal-Mart’s current training program.
• Conducting daily and quarterly inventory audits based on Wal-Mart’s existing procedures.
• Prohibiting sales based on “default proceeds,” which are permitted by law when the background check has not returned a result within three days.
• Securing firearms in locked cases or racks.
Peyton said the new guidelines would improve on a current system, while the proposed gun show law reforms will hopefully fix a presently broke system.
“The notion you can go into Wal-Mart, go through the process of having a background check and going through the correct process is important,” said Peyton. “Not having to do that when buying a gun at a gun show is wrong, and we think those loopholes can be closed.”
The coalition’s “common sense proposal” would close a gap in federal law that allows “occasional sellers” of firearms, who often operate at gun shows, to sell them without performing background checks or keeping records of their sales. Dealers with revoked licenses would be barred from the current practice of selling their inventories without background checks.
Persons on terror watch lists would also be prohibited from purchasing a gun, and retailers would be required to perform background checks on employees handling guns.
Northeast Florida is not without its gun shows, including last weekend’s Southern Classic Gun and Knife Show at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds. Peyton said the coalition doesn’t want to discourage the legal sale of firearms.
“I think Mayors are the ones that get the phone call when there’s a murder. They are the ones held accountable when there is crime in their community, and a mayor is the one that goes to the hospital room when a police officer is shot,” said Peyton.
“No one is against the second amendment, and this is not an effort to thwart gun ownership,” he added. “We’re just saying that someone who purchases a gun in a gun show environment should go through the same rigors as if purchasing it at a reputable dealer.”