by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Mayor John Peyton, in the home stretch of his two-term administration, said Tuesday there’s one key observation he wants to share with the next mayor.
“We’re not connecting with our children,” he told about 90 people gathered at the Main Library Downtown for the “Quality of Life Progress Report.”
“That’s something we have to get figured out,” he said as Jacksonville Community Council Inc., a civic think tank, presented its 26th report of indicators that measure the area’s quality of life.
Hugh Greene, chair of the 2010 Quality of Life Progress Report review committee, shared highlights, which the Daily Record published Tuesday.
Greene talked about how the economic recession affected many of the more than 100 total indicators that measure progress in Jacksonville.
The indicators cover education; the economy, the environment; race relations; arts, recreation and culture; health; government; transportation; and safety.
Greene described the report as “storm clouds with silver linings,” detailing red flags and gold stars.
He shared that the committee issued nine red flags, indicating a need for improvement: Duval County’s 66.6 public high-school graduate rate; a drop in reading proficiency at the 10th-grade level; a 10.7 percent unemployment rate; growth in the percentage of households paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing; a drop in bed tax and sales tax collections; a growing percentage of people who consider racism a problem in Duval County; a growing homeless population; an increase in new HIV cases; and a drop in the percentage of people who believe they can influence local government.
Greene also talked about the three gold stars that show-
ed notable improvement: the increased number of higher education degrees awarded; a decline in average daily water use in Duval County; and a decline in the number of children in foster care.
Many of the indicators were affected by the lingering 2007-2009 national recession. “We’re in an economy that Jacksonville is not immune to,” said Peyton, whose second term ends in June.
While he talked about the need to work on the red-flagged issues, Peyton focused on the need of “engaging the intellect of the younger members” of our community.
“If we get that figured out, so many other of these indicators will get fixed,” he said.
Peyton said that ensuring quality of life for children will assist with all the indicators, such as lowering crime, reducing racial disparities, improving education and health, caring for the environment, and others.
He said that in economic development, if an area has a strong foundation for its children, the other recruiting tools aren’t as important.
“You do the best job with children, and it’s a slam-dunk,” he said.
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