I live in what I consider a reasonably safe neighborhood. Chances are that you’ll agree — you feel pretty good about your neighborhood, too.
That’s good for you and me, but it may not be good for someone moving to this area. When the media trumpets headlines and sound bites like “Murder Capital of Florida,” it really doesn’t matter where we live or how safe we feel.
It matters how others feel.
I live in Duval County. Maybe you don’t, but what’s trumpeted about Jacksonville certainly affects the areas around it. Crime is a reality in any big city, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean it should be accepted, and it sure affects real estate sales.
That’s why I’m strongly supporting our mayor and sheriff. They’re in the leadership — along with lots of civic leaders — of a movement called Jacksonville Journey. It is designed to handle both the perception and reality of crime in my county, even though I may not think it’s in my neighborhood.
The Journey has been a long, careful study of perceptions and realities.
When you get a headline “Murder Capital,” it can be both perception and reality.
When you get a person saying ‘There’s a lot of crime,” that’s a perception.
When you see that people are getting murdered each week, that’s a reality.
Is it as bad as the perception that’s being tossed out? Absolutely not. You know that, better than I do. Overall, North Florida is a safe area by any measure. You hear about problems in every neighborhood but you don’t hear gunfire.
Do we have a crime problem? Of course. The Jacksonville Journey has laid it all out. We’re losing citizens needlessly every week and that’s not just combatants — innocent bystanders are paying the price, too.
I hope you’re on the Journey with our mayor and sheriff to find the funding needed to make all our neighborhoods safer. Not just your neighborhood or mine. What’s talked about somewhere in North Florida may be perception but it can easily become reality in the mind of someone considering a move here, and a home purchase.
The best way to solve both perception and reality problems is to give our officials the tools needed.
That’s why you need to be along on the Jacksonville Journey. Go to www.coj.net and click on the banner on the right side of the page about the mayor’s budget, then click on the link to the Jacksonville Journey.
Crime affects your sales. Here’s a chance for you to do something about it.
As Mayor John Peyton has said, curing ourselves of the cancer of violent crime cannot come by police officers alone. It must begin with parents and become a collective effort where neighbors work to make their neighborhoods safe; and where teachers, mentors, coaches and counselors play as important a role as police officers.
”We need a balanced approach to justice,” said Mayor Peyton.
And, I agree with Sheriff John Rutherford and the mayor, who have said repeatedly that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem. We must invest in prevention and intervention.
— Jim Bailey is publisher of Realty/Builder Connection and may be reached at [email protected].