by David Chapman
Staff Writer
With early voting for spring elections starting in less than a week, four mayoral candidates turned their attention Monday to an issue not widely discussed on the campaign trail: race relations.
Candidates Alvin Brown, Steve Irvine, Warren Lee and Audrey Moran took part in the “Facing the Reality of Race Relations” forum hosted by the Jacksonville Urban League and partners.
They answered questions about the importance of study groups, personal involvement, unemployment disparities and the perception of minorities in Jacksonville.
“Much of the dialogue is still at a superficial level,” said moderator Jarik Conrad of Conrad Consulting Group.
Some of the highlights from the two-hour discussion:
• Each candidate said race relations was a problem in Jacksonville and had stances on how to alter such perceptions. Lee spoke of finding a balance. Brown discussed the need to close the gaps in minority unemployment and graduation rates. Moran referred to her involvement in past Jacksonville Community Council Inc. race relations studies and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce tackling the issue this year. Irvine talked of
the similarities among all people regardless of race and the need for a spirit of cooperation.
• Regarding the local unemployment rate of 17 percent among blacks, Moran and Brown both said “jobs, jobs, jobs” would help reduce the rate. Moran also said she’d initiate a small business summit within her first 100 days in office and work with
the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to improve access to jobs. Brown specifically referred to port development as a job creator and the need to link businesses of different sizes together. Lee talked about putting convicted felons back to work and relaxing laws to ensure a majority of them could find work, while Irvine said Jacksonville would attract more employers if “the community cleaned up their act” in regard to crime, disease and education.
• The idea of future study groups caused a split. Moran and Lee both said such groups were important to initiate discussion and learn, while Brown and Irvine said enough study has been done on the issues and called for action on the problems.
• Lee, Moran and Brown each said their leadership teams would have a diverse background, with Lee noting he already had people in mind. Irvine said he was colorblind on selections and would appoint whoever is most qualified to his team.
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