May be you think this upcoming local election is not important, and it really doesn’t matter who gets elected Mayor or to the City Council. May be you’d be wrong.
Congressman Tip O’Neill, who was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, once said, “All politics is local.”
In our real estate and building industries, a lot of our own future success relies on who’s in local office. It’s as simple as this: laws can be passed (or repealed) that directly impact if and where we can construct new home developments, or where new roads and highways will be built to ease traffic congestion and promote growth.
If we get a new City Council where the members are anti-growth, or want to impose new taxes and fees, it is like putting a target on the backs of our industries. Our market is still volatile, but we’ve seen positive signs that things are improving. What we need are elected officials who will create a political environment that fosters growth, not Council members who want to strangle our ability to make a living with new regulations and restrictions.
Believe me when I tell you that in Jacksonville, with our Consolidated and strong mayor form of government, the person we elect in the next couple of months to lead will have an opportunity to do some important things for Jacksonville. He or she can move us forward as a community, maintain and enhance our quality of life, and help determine whether our housing and building industries will sustain and increase the current momentum.
Peter Drucker, legendary management consultant, said, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” It’s incredibly important that our next Mayor “do the right things.”
Don’t ever underestimate the influence and power of the Mayor. Just go back and take a look:
Mayor Hans Tanzler undertook restoring the St. Johns River by ridding it of raw sewage, a bold and expensive act that has made a huge difference in our success for the last 40 years.
Without a cleaner river, it’s very doubtful that Mayor Jake Godbold would have had so much success in the development of downtown, or helping bring thousands and thousands of new jobs to Jacksonville.
Mayor Tommy Hazouri took on our local paper mills to erase the odors that had dominated our atmosphere for so long, and he led the effort to rid our highways and bridges of tolls.
When you visit the Times-Union Performing Arts Center and other cultural and entertainment venues, it’s because Mayor Ed Austin made funding the River City Renaissance his top priority.
Of course, Mayor John Delaney is best remembered for passing the $1.5 billion Better Jacksonville Plan that has changed a lot of the landscape of Jacksonville.
Mayor Peyton will probably be remembered because he successfully took on a roaring crime rate by rallying the community and getting the Council to dedicate an additional $30 million to public safety and social programs.
Here’s the point. It matters.
We have our Political Action Committees (PACs), and each has endorsed candidates. We should take advantage of the time and effort that PAC members spent studying all of the candidates before making their recommendations.
But, don’t simply rely on what your PAC recommends. Sometimes a candidate gets an endorsement because of inside influence, i.e., having friends on the PAC. That’s just politics.
Do your own homework.
Find out for yourself who will best represent and lead us by making sure Jacksonville is on the cutting edge and at the front of competition for new business and new jobs; that we are positioned to take full advantage of the market turnaround, and we maintain the quality of life all of us enjoy about Jacksonville.