by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Two weeks after mayoral candidate Alvin Brown had the floor solo with the Southside Business Men’s Club, Mike Hogan took his turn to speak with members of the civic organization.
Hogan spent lunchtime with the group Wednesday after being unable to attend the earlier forum with Brown.
Wednesday’s presentation was the second time he’s stumped with the organization while on the campaign trail.
He took part in a mayoral forum with former candidates Audrey Moran and Rick Mullaney in early February, before the March 22 first election that led to his runoff with Brown.
A straw poll after that forum had Hogan in third place among the members with 15 votes, behind Moran and Mullaney.
On Wednesday, Hogan answered questions posed by club and City Council member Bill Bishop, who moderated the presentation about Downtown, finances, pensions and education, among other topics.
On the issue of Downtown, Hogan called the neighborhood “very important” but one that constituents have never made a top priority when asked about problems they’d like to see resolved. He said their focus has been on improving public safety and parks and recreation.
“Downtown rarely made the top 10,” he said, “and it never made the top three.”
As mayor, Hogan said he’d encourage people to come Downtown and use public-private partnerships to spur growth, but he wouldn’t spend any more “hard-earned taxpayer money on it.”
Asked about finances and taxes or fees he’d like repealed, Hogan said the JEA franchise fee was one, calling it a dual taxation.
He followed up by saying that with the City facing a $62 million budget gap, he has no recommendations for any taxes or fees to be repealed that would create a further shortfall, and instead is pledging no tax or fee increases as part of his campaign.
Club members then heard about his plan to rectify the pension issue so that it doesn’t affect core City services. He said it was a structural problem because the contract is locked in until 2030 and negotiations are now between the City and the Police and Fire Pension Fund board of trustees instead of the unions themselves.
Two options he is not advocating are massive layoffs and declaring bankruptcy. Instead, he believes the board will understand the situation and will give more back to reach a compromise.
Concluding with education, Hogan said the state is not living up to its obligation to provide quality education and he would “use the bully pulpit and be a copycat” to improve local schools.
He referenced a St. Petersburg policy that requires businesses that receive city incentives to provide volunteer hours in poor-performing schools and to hire young people in the summer from poorer neighborhoods.
“It’s working great,” said Hogan.
In Jacksonville, he pointed to school adoptions, similar to the Ruth N. Upson Elementary School being adopted by Murray Hill Baptist Church, as a way for students and the community to better engage. The partnerships are an initiative he’d “roll out all over the city.”
Also Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio encouraged voters to join him in supporting Hogan.
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