The State of Jacksonville

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton [Photo:Kelly LaDuke]

In recent months, international firms Pilot Pen, Deutsche Bank and Alenia have all announced major expansions there. The city’s wages remain higher than the statewide average, at $884 a week compared to $777. The unemployment rate is 6.6% compared to the statewide average of 6.8%. Economists say Jaxport is one of a few experiencing real growth at this time, thanks to exports.

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton talks aout the city:

On the economy:
We cannot let the existing climate create survivalist thinking or paralysis. On average over time, I am extremely bullish on our ability to perform with our business climate; over time we’re going to be fine. We are on a down cycle that may take years to pull out of. There are some good things that come with this. One thing is you can get the most competitive bids you ever sought for any capital projects, and this is a very favorable climate to get capital work done. We know we are not going out of business, so we should do all we can to not turn off the spigot. There is a lot of job creation that comes from contracts issued by this government, by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, the Jacksonville utility and the port. All of us, we let hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts each year. So we should view ourselves as an economic catalyst, as a bargain shopper, and improve the financial climate. Balancing all of those is a challenge. This is certainly a down period, and it’s terrible, but we cannot take our foot off the gas when it comes to the long-term economic prospects.

On Jacksonville’s job growth:
Jacksonville is a very, very different place. We have managed our infrastructure better. We’re the most western city on the east coast, even west of Orlando. So we have tremendous access to the Midwest and we’re sitting right in the middle of where all the growth is occurring in the Southeast as we see people migrating for better jobs and better climate. That’s what I call better to be lucky than good - we are very lucky. We have these fundamentals, with a very low tax burden that is 20% lower than the next lowest in the state. You combine that with a consolidated government that allows us to share one vision and speak with one voice, and you have a true competitive advantage for economic development.

On his platform to raise per-capita income in Duval County to equal or better than the national average:
If you were to pick one single indicator for success of the community, I think it would be per-capita income. That may be just because I’m a business guy, but economic development is major for us. Per-capita income tells a story, and if you’ve got poverty or challenges in the community, it will show up here, particularly in disproportion to your rural population.

We’ve increased per-capita income, but we have not surpassed the national average. We have a comprehensive strategy called Blueprint for Prosperity. This has been in place for several years. It involved thousands of citizens really giving input. We cannot talk about per-capita income without talking about education, infrastructure, leadership, safety, race relations; everything goes into that. You take critical benchmarks, it’s very quantifiable, things that you know you need to improve and we create what we call Blueprint partners. These are people who take ownership and accountability for trying to move along specific issues or targets. It’s been going really, really well. It’s very, very big. If there’s any one criticism of it, it may be too big. But I think we have redirected our focus as a community. It tells you where you need to shore up: You need to shore up in education, prepare your workforce and improve your graduation rate.

On downtown’s slump:
Certainly our progress has been slowed with this economic cycle. We’re using this time to make sure that we’re investing in walkability, access to the river, improvement of public parks, keeping it clean and safe so that when the market does change it will be a viable solution to housing demands. Some dynamics that work to downtown’s favor: You’re going to see a migration to rental properties with foreclosure rates. We’ve got a nice offering of product mix here downtown. As fuel prices rise, which are now falling but I think over time will go up, people are going to desire to spend less time in their car and spend less money on fuel. So downtown becomes that place. If you think about Jacksonville’s downtown, there are a lot of things here that are different. You have this river that comes through that creates value. Some of the highest-end neighborhoods are close to downtown. Most downtowns are circled with a ring of light poverty, typically. In Jacksonville, if you look at the adjacent neighborhoods: San Marco, St. Nicholas, Avondale, certainly Ortega, all of these communities have very, very strong property values and very nice neighborhoods. We have some challenges to the north, but the Springfield neighborhood directly north is going through this amazing revival where you have a lot of historic homes being refurbished and a sense of pride and community engagement unparalleled to really any neighborhood in Jacksonville.

Tags: Politics & Law, Northeast, Government/Politics & Law