by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Less than 12 hours after the final town hall meeting on the Jacksonville Journey adjourned, John Rood, co-chair of the initiative to stem violent crime in the community, took the first step in the next phase of the Journey.
Rood met with members of the Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Friday to detail the solutions identified by the more than 140 Jacksonville Journey committee members. He also laid out the financial commitment the Journey will require from taxpayers and made the case that the community doesn’t have any choice other than to pull out the checkbook.
Rood said the committee was charged by Mayor John Peyton with ways to reduce the level of violent crime in the community.
“We’ve just gone through four public meetings and I tell you, these were painful meetings when people told us it was a waste of time,” said Rood. “Other people told us they were thankful for what we’re doing. This is not an easy process, but we have come up with actionable items that will reduce the amount of violent crime in this city.”
Rood distributed a 22-page booklet titled, “Hope is Emerging. Join the Violent Crime Solution,” that details the recommendations from early learning to getting guns off the streets and the administration of justice. All share the same goal: to change Jacksonville’s direction in terms of crime and reputation.
“We all know we’re the murder capital of Florida,” he said. “We may be the murder capital of the United States. You can play around with statistics. Some say we are and some say we aren’t (the murder capital of the United States), but if we’re not, we’re very close. If things keep going the way they’re going, we’ll soon be known as ‘the Detroit of the South.’ What kind of business growth are we going to have in Jacksonville if we get that label?”
The Jacksonville Journey committee has placed a tentative figure of $36 million to implement the initiatives for the first year with a five-year budget of $61.6 million. Rood said the Journey’s finance committee is recommending a property tax increase to fund the program that would amount to an additional $150 a year for an average-valued home in Duval County.
“There’s going to be a lot of debate on that,” he predicted, then added, “It’s going to be interesting, but whether it’s funded through a millage increase or funded some other way, I don’t see any other choice we have in Jacksonville.”
Rood also predicted the Jacksonville Journey has a formidable task ahead in terms of acceptance by the citizens and their Council members.
“Right now if a vote was taken, I think there’s no way this would pass,” he said.
Rood said the people have to let their elected representatives know what they think should be done.
“If you believe we shouldn’t tax, then speak on that. But if you believe you want better services and more police and better response time and stronger mentoring programs and better schools, then you better speak out,” said Rood. “We’ve reached a critical point where 140 people were willing to invest a lot of time in this because they don’t like where their city is going and they want to see a change.
“We have an opportunity right now if we believe in this to do something about it. We have a choice to make on what kind of City we want Jacksonville to be.”