During my abbreviated campaign for mayor a couple of years ago, I often said my reason for running was because I want us to create a Jacksonville so great that our children and grandchildren will never want to leave.
After reviewing the Jacksonville Community Council Inc. JAX2025 report, that same message is what came through the strongest from the 2,000 people who helped stitch together the 10 vision targets they believe will make Jacksonville a great city in a dozen years.
The concept began when 14,000 people responded to an online survey asking what they liked about Jacksonville, what they are concerned about and what they plan to do about it.
Now that the report has been issued, the next step is a June 26 implementation meeting.
All of this hard work and thought was not just an exercise for the people who sat at the tables during four Saturday sessions to discuss our future.
Instead, the results are intended to be a guide for the youngest among us who will be taking their places on the Jacksonville stage in 2025 and beyond.
Will those young people be drawn to remain here to raise their own families, become our teachers, first responders, doctors, lawyers, and business and political leaders?
Or, will they look elsewhere for something better?
We live in a great city. It's not like we have to start from scratch to become greater.
We have good bones upon which to build the city envisioned by those who came together starting last September to create JAX2025.
It's the promise of the plan that Jacksonville will grow and change "in ways according to our ideals and values," says J.F. Bryan IV, JCCI board of directors chair.
There's certainly no guarantee that will happen, but if we can find strong leaders for the future and keep people engaged in the details of this report, we have a better chance of being that kind of city because of the work done so far.
In many ways, the 10 outcomes are predictable. They read like "apple pie" — platitudes that anyone with any knowledge of Jacksonville could have written without all of this fuss.
That's the real point, isn't it?
This is a plan created by an organic process. It was created by this community and that should provide the momentum to move it forward.
There was a lot of discussion around developing the 10 targets for JAX2025.
This was not created by an individual from a lofty perch.
Instead it's the product of the collective minds of people who care enough about Jacksonville to show up for several Saturday morning meetings to talk about how we make our town the best it can be for our children and grandchildren.
Keeping in mind this plan is a "dream," some of these targets could take as long as 12 years to build. But, there also are key elements that can — and should — be quickly implemented to demonstrate we are very serious.
For example, one target is for Jacksonville to be renowned as a diverse and inclusive community "that protects the rights of all of its citizens, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, faith, race, ethnicity, age, disability, national origin, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or marital or family status."
How do we arrive there when the majority of our City Council members denied the enactment of an amendment to the human rights ordinance that protects the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities? Or with a mayor who wouldn't take a stand on such a basic moral issue that business leaders say is important to our economic success?
Another target is to have an exemplary government, in part by having a local government "that has a high level of transparency in its decision making process."
It's been my experience that even honest, well-intended elected officials sometimes prefer to conduct their public business in private.
To have an exemplary government, in addition to having quality elected officials, we must have a diligent media and citizens who pay close attention to the workings of government.
Of course, Downtown always stays at the top of my agenda.
JAX2025 addresses Jacksonville's "Urban Heart" because most of the 14,000 people who completed the survey said that to be a great city by 2025, our Downtown must become a destination.
Furthermore, people deserve to understand why Downtown is important to all taxpayers.
In the report, Downtown is envisioned as a "business powerhouse fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and our community's 24-hour epicenter of first-class arts, culture, sports and unique shopping opportunities."
Right now we have Downtown momentum coming from multiple directions and that gives us a jump-start on reaching that vision.
As someone who grew up on the St. Johns River and who spent 18 years as a member of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission, it's more than obvious to me, as it was to the participants in JAX2025, that our river and natural environment is a huge asset that must be protected and improved.
If we fail our river, Jacksonville will never be a great city. Not in 2025. Not ever.
The other vision targets all are important, including arts and entertainment, education, transportation, health, people and the economy.
What happens now?
Without consistent citizen engagement, powerful institutional support and strong leaders who embrace these visions, I fear that in a few years JAX2025 will become just another failed plan.
We shouldn't allow that to happen.
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