As a reader service, the Daily Record plans to present daily information about candidates on the ballot in the spring election. The information is scheduled to be published in advance of early voting, which begins March 7 in Duval County. The Daily Record sent the same questions to council candidates and will publish their e-mailed responses. Candidates were given a word limit. Responses that exceeded it are edited for space.
| The candidates say... | What is the single most important issue facing your district? | What are the most pressing problems facing the City? | Would you support new taxes or fees to improve the port and/or Downtown? | Why should district constituents elect you? |
| Joe Andrews Republican | Without having polled residents I will have to answer from my own perspective. I believe the “culture of spending” adopted by this and previous City governments along with commensurate taxation imposed to support it has placed my district and others under undue economic stress. Repeated removal of resources from the local economy starves productive and consumptive capacities. That’s why local unemployment rates are 2 or 3 points higher than the national average. | While most candidates will give you a a laundry list of hot topic issues, I see it differently. The City must face and resolve the problem I stated in the first answer. If the City would restrict its spending to the proper core functions of government as described in Economic Literature on Public Goods, it would enhance productive capacity and lead to an elevated standard of living. | I would not. The port is a multibillion dollar enterprise that does not directly contribute to the revenue of the city (as does the JEA). The port should be able to support its own improvements (including expansion and dredging) from its cash flow, just as private enterprise is required, while trying to make a profit. Downtown improvement shouldn’t be a City/tax funded effort. The City should, however, play a facilitator role. | Because instead of raising taxes, spending money unwisely, building monuments and “going along to get along,” I would be working to resolve the aforementioned problems in a systematic and economically sound way, both in the short term and the long term. Government, as we have known it, is not an ideal model. It needs improvement. More of the same does not constitute improvement. |
| Doyle Carter Republican | There are times when the main issue facing a district is quite different than other areas of the city. At this time, the most significant issue facing District 12 is the same of the entire city: surviving in this difficult economy. | Facing the City is the challenge to maintain a fiscally stable budget that provides for core services without raising the tax burden on our citizens. In these difficult times, we must provide stability for our citizens to be able to maintain their homes and provide for their families. We must grow our tax base expanding our job market, especially in the area of the port and our medical industry. | I would support placing the option on the ballot for the citizens to decide whether they would support any new taxes or fees to improve the port and/or Downtown. | I believe district constituents should elect me because I have a proven track record of being accessible and responsive to the needs of the voters in District 12. I know the issues and I have the history of getting things done. Nobody will work harder to represent the citizens of District 12 than me. |
| Jim Davis Republican | The economy: jobs, taxes and City fees are the hot-button issues. | Poor leadership. From spending to taxation to the recent polling data that showed only 24 percent of Jacksonville residents believe the City understands their situation or relates with who they are as a people. | Absolutely not. The people of the 12th District are overburdened with the cost of City leaders and their “visions for the future.” The people on the Westside want the economy to turn around, they want their neighbors to keep their homes and they want the City leadership to stop pretending that isn’t the case. | I’ve met, listened to and brought back the concerns of the people of the 12th District to the Republican Party, the mayor and the City Council. After standing for their conservative ideas, it’s now time to stand with them in the City Council with enough boldness to tap my knuckles on the desk and proclaim “enough is enough,” which is exactly the perspective of the voters in the 12th District. |