Healthcare:

When President Obama was elected in 2008, he promised to change the way D.C. politics are run, and change he did on the healthcare debate. In 1993, President Clinton proposed a universal-coverage healthcare plan, which was designed around the single-payer model. This is very similar to what can be found throughout Europe and Canada, and for that reason failed miserably in the US. Republicans at the time wanted a more market-based approach, which would allow health-insurance companies to compete for people’s business in a free market style. Republicans at the time determined that the only way to make health-care affordable was for each citizen to take personal responsibility for their healthcare purchase, and those who do not, should be taxed for their imposition on the American taxpayers.

This GOP approach might sound very familiar, because it is the exact plan that President Obama and the Democrats proposed and passed into law in 2010. President Obama fulfilled his promise to reform healthcare and lead from the middle. In doing so, he demonstrated what is so wrong with D.C. politics. Instead of a bipartisan support for this very moderate approach to healthcare reform, President Obama was faced with a Republican Party that changed their beliefs in order to oppose him. Even now, we see the GOP primary frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich having to change defend their long-term support for the individual mandate. The truth is, they both believe that it was the right policy decision, but because their party has moved so far to the right since 1993, it is impossible for them to support that position and be elected their party’s candidate.

Stimulus:

The stimulus failed. Not because stimulating economic growth from supply-side spending failed, but because of the economic factors that have caused the stimulus dollars to be misused. The Republican Party has done an incredible job of demonizing debt. This fear of debt has led to the average household debt in the U.S. to be at its lowest point since the 1970s. The reality our economy is that a healthy amount of debt is actually a good thing. Debt is an investment. Whether it is a mortgage or a student loan, debt provides us with the ability to purchase valuables that appreciate in value over a long period of time. When the President introduced the first stimulus package it was small. In fact, if you factor in inflation, it was a fraction of the size of President Reagan’s stimulus package during the 1983 recession. 

Taxes:

What we truly need in this country is demand. Companies do not hire new employees because they have extra money lying around. This is why no amount of tax cuts to businesses can truly stimulate long-term growth. In order for companies to begin hiring again, they need demand. When demand for their good or service increases, the need to hire becomes apparent and the economy begins to grow. Simply giving tax breaks to companies might allow for some small wage increases of current employees, there is no way for the government to offer enough tax incentives for companies to generate demand. That is simply not a function of economics. 

If we truly want companies to expand and begin hiring again, we need to invest in consumers. When consumers have more dollars in their pocket, they have the ability to stimulate the economy. Since the stimulus only led to consumers using those extra dollars to pay off their debt, other such incentives must be introduced to help develop that type of demand growth. This is why President Obama found it so essential to extend the payroll tax break holiday. This will put thousands of dollars in the pockets of consumers during a time of the year when consumption is so important. This found income by consumers is largely responsible for this year’s holiday season being the most lucrative in American history for businesses. 

The payroll tax but has always been the conservative economists tool to stimulate the economy in a business friendly way. But yet again, when the President embraced this very helpful tool, the GOP was forced to move even further to the right, proposing for their first time in their party’s history a need to pay for a tax cut. It is interesting how this idea of paying for a tax cut was never once brought up when it came to extending the Bush tax cuts, which went directly into the pockets of the nation’s wealthiest, and cost $1.35 trillion since its inception in in June of 2001. Again, this fear of debt has led to deadlock in congress. When the President moved to the middle, the GOP had to differentiate themselves by moving even further to the right.

Conclusion:

In conclusion the President has fulfilled many of his campaign promises. He left Iraq, he put an end to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” he has made it easier for minorities and especially hispanics to go to college, he has reformed the healthcare system, and has taken a fiscally conservative approach to economic growth. All of these changes, he made from the middle of the road, which has forced the Republican Party to move so far to the right that the party’s moderate candidate Mitt Romney stands to lose the election unless he panders to the radical branch, and candidates such a Gingrich, Paul, Cain, and Perry have each been far ahead in the polls for a period of time in this primary. When it comes to the general election, the GOP nominee will have to answer to independent voters. The President’s record has been misconstrued, but the comparison between his first term policies and the suggestions of the GOP candidates will be stark in their differences. 

Fox News would have you believe differently though. In hopes up drumming up support for their weak candidates, they are instead helping the Democratic Party to rally behind their President. Democrats are afraid for November. Their fear is that a Herman Cain or a Newt Gingrich could be the nominee and ride into office on the waves of an unpredictable economy. This fear has led to the record high Democratic Party fundraising numbers, which has outweighed the entire Republican field combined in all fundraising quarters thus far.

In hopes of beating the President in November, the Republican establishment is trying to paint their candidates’ radical points of view as the winning policies to beat the President. But this pandering is destructive to their chances of winning. The Republican voters I know are smarter than that, and they do not stand behind the tea-party’s dogma that has bolstered the rise of Newt Gingrich this week, and Herman Cain last.

Similarly, it is tough for even Mitt Romney to show any enthusiasm toward his candidacy, let alone anyone else. But the rhetoric he has invoked lately has led even the most moderate of independent voters to wonder if they could really pull the lever for him over President Obama. This lack of enthusiasm for either candidate has led to a GOP that is out of energy, money, and time.

Meanwhile, the President has begun shifting toward the center in the public’s eye. Just last week he overruled an FDA decision to make the “Plan-B” contraceptive pill over-the-counter. This decision went largely unnoticed by the liberal base, but was played up by moderate voters. These types of decisions reveal the President as the only adult in the room when it comes to the November elections.

As the GOP candidates continue to pander to the right, and their pundits continue to compare these radicalized candidates to the President, you will see the Presidents approval ratings increase through election day. We are already beginning to see his approval rating tick back above 45%.

The GOP as of late has had nothing to offer the nation. With a banner reading the simple word “NO” it is hard to tell what they truly represent. The truth is, the Republican party has no message because the President has moved so far to the center, the Republicans are having a hard time distinguishing themselves. The President took a clear stance during his 2008 campaign that he was going to change D.C. politics and govern from the center, which is exactly what he did.

Regardless of what you hear from the candidates today, Obama’s mandate was the Republican Party’s choice in the 1990s, when Clinton was pushing the single-payer healthcare system. This single-payer system is what is used in Canada and throughout Europe, which truly represents the Liberal ideal. Instead, Obama chose the path that both of the GOP frontrunners backed in the 1990s in hopes of building consensus amongst both parties in congress.

Instead, the President met gridlock. By moving the goal posts to the center, the GOP had to oppose his policy suggestion just out of principle; and oppose they did. It wasn’t long before the mandate, which was formerly the GOP healthcare overhaul Mecca, was being associated with “European socialism” and “death panels.” Just to oppose the President, the Party of Lincoln turned their back on their own policy ideas as well as the American people.

The list of moderate policies from the President does not end with healthcare. Barack Obama is currently supporting an extension of the payroll tax holiday, as well as funding this extension with a modest increase on taxpayers making over $2 million/year. This was the exact same proposal made by President Reagan during his recession in 1983. Yes, the same Reagan that has been figuratively dug-up and paraded around the floors of congress in hopes of invoking a fictitious, more simpler times in US government.

But long gone is the party of Reagan. In fact, the current Republican party has gone too conservative to accommodate the late President’s policies. It is my hope that the yin to the Democratic Party’s yang will return soon. There is too much work to be done.

Romney represents everything the tea-party has hoped to cleanse the Republican party of. There is no single Republican that better embodies the D.C. GOP elite than the former Massachusetts Governor. When the tea-party staged their congressional revolution in 2010, it was in hopes of removing these neo-conservatives from power after their extreme frustration with the President’s healthcare overhaul.

Mitt Romney’s healthcare law in Massachusetts was the model for the President’s overhaul, and it is for that reason that the tea-party has had such difficulty warming up to him. O’Donnell correctly sees that Romney truly is the only chance the GOP has of beating the President in November. Her hope is that an early endorsement will allow her supporters the opportunity to warm up to him through her, but that will be a difficult task.

Likely, the voters that put O’Donnell’s tea-party friends in office in 2010 will become disengaged. The only hope the GOP has of winning is to bring in a candidate that con both assuage the establishment party-goers as well as the tea-partiers. Mitt Romney is not the ideal candidate for either of these tasks. His lack of conservative credentials makes him a target for the tea-party, yet every step he makes to prove his credentials to these radicals pushes him farther away from the moderates in his own party

Romney’s strategy this season is to try and stay quiet so that neither sect of the GOP will have ammunition against him. But with Gingrich, who is this week’s tea party favorite, in the lead, it is hard to stay silent. Romney is having to respond to attacks from Newt on the right and Obama on the left, which is leaving him vulnerable and weak as a candidate.

But Romney is the GOP’s best chance. The tea-party radicals are more likely to turn out for a bad GOP candidate (in their opinion) than the moderate wing of the party is for a tea-party backed candidate. But unless Romney is allowed to start moving back toward the center soon, it is likely that he will have done irreparable harm to his standing with moderate Republicans and Independents. The longer this primary season drags on, the more he will need to pretend to be a radical conservative, the more he risks blowing it in November.

If the other GOP primary contenders knew what was good for their party, they would get out of Romney’s way. Allowing him to begin moving toward the middle soon would assure victory for the party over Obama in November. The more he is forced to pander to the tea-party base, the more of a flip-flopper he will look like during the debates against Obama as they race for the middle.

Meanwhile, the President is continuing to build his credentials as a moderate and bank on an improving economic forecast over the coming months. As Romney continues to descend into self-destructive sound bytes, the President is hoping that Gingrich’s momentum will carry him through the primary and set up November to be an easy choice for Independent’s between acidic has-been Newt Gingrich and the proven leader Barack Obama.

As the cycling of potential contenders has scraped the bottom of the barrel, there seems to be no viable candidate ready to give Barack Obama a challenge in the fall. Each candidate has had their opportunity to take the lead in this primary, and each have failed to form a message that can capture the interest of both tea party and neo-conservatives alike. Each of these extremes make up a sizable portion of the party, yet no one has been capable of finding a way to unite the two poles.

This is not to say that these neo-conservatives will vote for Obama in 2012 (although some certainly will), but it is hard to see the GOP mustering enough energy to beat the incumbent President Obama if they only have half of their base excited for their candidate. Should Gingrich get the nod, these institutionalist Republicans will likely stay home on election day out of sheer frustration over the direction of their party.

Similarly, if Romney takes the party’s nomination, it is likely that the tea-party will rationalize taking four more years of Barack Obama and then facing an open election with Chris Christie or Jeb Bush at the helm in 2016, than have to defend Romney for eight years. Whoever gets this nomination, it is clear that they will have a lot of work to do before general election day.

While the conservatives are pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, President Obama has been able to position himself in the middle. He is already running against Romney and Gingrich, but without the need to pander to his Democratic base, the President has the unique opportunity that only incumbents enjoy of pandering to the middle. 

We need not look too far back in history to find a comparable election season. In 2004, John Kerry faced a tough election. He was considered a moderate and a flip-flopper (much like Romney) heading into the primary against Howard Dean (the former party chairman and liberal stalwart). Bush’s approval ratings at the time of election day were in the low 30% and it seemed that the Democrats could beat him with any candidate.

But John Kerry’s weak political knowledge and inability to bring independents and moderates to his base was thwarted by Bush’s early campaigning from the middle. This year, the incumbent has a much higher approval rating, the economy is showing signs of improvement, and the Republicans are more divided over the direction of their party than the 2004 Democrats were. Not to call it early for the President, but all conventional wisdom points toward a tough uphill battle for whoever the GOP candidate will be.

The pundits would have you believe that President Obama is feeling very uncomfortable about his chances of reelection in 2012. If you look at historical analysis of Presidents facing reelection during similar economic climates, he might have reason to. But if you take a dive into the electoral numbers that truly determine the Presidential election, Mitt Romney (the likely GOP nominee) has a long battle ahead of him.

The vast majority of states are already decided. Texas and Oklahoma will inevitably go for the GOP candidate, while states such as California, New York, and Massachusetts will undoubtedly go blue in 2012. With these political realities calculated, the electoral college divides to about 201 votes for Obama in the bag, and 191 going to the GOP nominee by default (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html)

The magic number in the electoral college is 270 electoral votes to ensure victory. So, just as in past elections, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan will determine this election. These are the states that are up for grabs this season with the highest number of electoral votes. Historically, these states have swung our presidential election for the past several cycles.

Each of these states might seem as distinct from the others as states can possibly be, except for one thing they all have in common. Each of these four states elected a tea party supported governor in 2010, and each of these governors are polling lower than President Obama. Much lower.

With 2012 right around the corner, not a day goes by that you do not here of Gov. Kasich (OH), Scott (FL), Walker (MI) and Corbett (PA) in the news, working hard to strip state benefits for public employees. In Michigan, a recall election has rallied both Union and liberal support for Democratic candidates in ways that the Obama campaign could have never done on their own. Ohio voters are heading to the polls tomorrow to decide if Kasich’s anti-union laws will stay in place. (Current polling shows support for the laws at around 20%)

Similarly, in Florida, Rick Scott has come under immense fire for his lack of job creation. Solantic, a company that he owned prior to being elected Governor, decided last week to leave the state of Florida, laying off their workforce. In Pennsylvania, Governor Corbett is experiencing equally low approval ratings after letting down PA voters on job creation promises as well.

So what does all of this mean for President Obama? None of these candidates will be on the ballot in 2012, which means that they will continue to sour their constituents for another two years after the President election. But with few defending them, it is likely that Democratic voters will coalesce around their candidates in opposition of their tea-party Governors’ policies. The polarizing effect that the Tea Party platform has on Democrats (founded or not, I’ll leave that up top you to decide) cannot be ignored. And liberals across these swing states are furious at their state leaders for what they are doing to state employees, public goods, and education.

In 2012, these Governors are Obama’s secret weapon. His campaign, if they are smart, will put these candidates on the ballot in the form of whoever the GOP nominee is. And if done effectively, will usher in four more years for President Obama.

What makes Rep. Walsh’s comment interesting is that regardless of his adamant disapproval of the bargain, he still believes that the bill is a win for Republicans and a loss for the President and Democrats. If you are confused by his reasoning, you are not alone.

This type of faulty logic runs rampant amongst the “Tea Party” caucus in congress. The delusional idea that you can oppose a bill, and still benefit from it’s passage is one symptom of everything that is wrong with this group of far right freshmen.

The bottom is, this is in fact a bargain. Americans love divided government because it forces our leaders to compromise. But when you have a fringe group of partisan extremists who do not understand their obligation to make government work, government doesn’t work. After all, they were elected on the premise that government is the source of our nation’s problems. It is like having an umpire calling your baseball game that doesn’t believe in the rules of the sport. It cannot function.

Americans have learned a hard lesson about electing these types of people to Congress. When the “Tea Party” was ushered in by the 2010 elections, they promised to represent their constituents. Instead, they have proved that they have no interest in voting according public opinion, which overwhelmingly supported both spending cuts and revenue increases. Instead, they have continually voted in the interest of the nation’s wealthiest individuals and corporations.

This bill is ultimately a wash. You can go online and read the 75 page bill if you would like, but here are the highlights:

1) $800 billion in immediate cuts to discretionary and defense spending (+- $400B to each)
2) Raising the debt ceiling by dearly $1 Trillion
3) Establishing a bi-partisan commission to identify an additional $800 billion in spending cuts over the next decade

The immediate cuts are all that is certain to take affect. Republicans are already bellyaching about the defense cuts, even though they are the first military cuts since the early 1990s.

Cuts to discretionary spending affects all congressional leaders looking to bring pork home to their constituents as a means of winning reelection. This is a political wash impacting both parties equally.

Raising the debt ceiling should be in the shared interest of both parties, but has suddenly become a partisan issue. Getting the full raise, which is needed to pay for what we have already spent on our wars and entitlement programs, seems to be a win for the President and congressional Democrats.

The bi-partisan commission is the only part of this bill that is uniquely a GOP idea. Senator McConnell wants this commission as a means of making cuts to entitlements in the future. If agreement cannot be made amongst these committee members, an across the board budget cut will be established in order to cut the additional $800 billion. With the big three (Medicare, Medicaid and social security) totaling 40% of the budget, this inevitable stalemate in this committee will affect these programs most.

Ultimately, the bargain does nothing for either party but allows our nation to continue operating and borrowing money, while proving to the American people that our leaders have issues with compromise. In this type of scenario, we have to look at the glass half full. While it came down to the wire and caused for some unrest amongst our citizens and leaders alike, this exercise in democracy proves that even the radical “Tea Party” is unable to bring our nation crumbling down. Democracy proves to us again to be as Winston Churchill once described it, “the best worst system of government.”

The bill has yet to be voted on, but it is unlikely to fail at this late hour. Unfortunately, the “Tea Party,” which forced this issue, has announced it’s unwillingness to vote for it, proving that in the face of compromise, these radicals are unwilling to to do the right thing. Luckily our American system is stronger than their caucus, and will prove strong again in 2012 when they are voted out of Congress.

Mike Haridopolos, who is running against U.S. Senator Bill Nelson in 2012, has continuously blasted Nelson for cutting program benefits such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as aired commercials blaming the Senator for voting to increase spending programs. Now let us take a minute to digest these allegations. According to Haridopolos, Senator Bill Nelson is a bad Senator for simultaneously decreasing spending on social programs and increasing spending on social programs. The math here does not add up.

This is just one example of the crumbling Republican platform. For decades, GOP politicians have had the opportunity to leave social spending to the Democrats while taking some of the credit for the success of such programs. Unfortunately, the tides have changed for Republican Party, especially in the House of Representatives.

With the “tea-party’s” strangle-hold on what use to be a viable political party, its leaders are having to bow to the radical wing of their party. In hopes of maintaining their credibility, Republicans like Haridopolos are trying to play both ends of the field. To pander to the functionally-conservative traditional Republicans, these politicians beat on Democrats for any changes they make to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but at the same time, they attack Democrats for being “tax and spend” liberals.

I have news for your, the American people are not going to be fooled by this. The two-faced Republicans hoping to pull a fast one on the American voting public might get away with it this election cycle, simply because of the flat-lined economy. But in the long-run, Republicans have zero answers to tackle the problems that our nation is faced with today.

Let’s take a look at the performance of the Republican Party since they have been given the House in 2010. Not one single jobs bill has been brought to the floor of the House of Representatives. The closest thing the GOP have to a successful economic bill is the highly partisan and aspirational “Ryan Budget,” which did not even receive unanimous Republican approval in the House and failed miserably in the Senate.

And with the current debt ceiling talks, we see the two Republican identities waring with each other through Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority leader Eric Cantor. Unfortunately for America, this stalemate is leading us closer and closer to the edge. Boehner, willing to discuss a “grand compromise” of broad spending cuts and minor tax increases in 3 years, has been put in his place by Cantor. Cantor has been described as constantly interrupting the President during talks and contributing nothing constructive to the discussion. We need a compromise, and Cantor (and the Tea-OP in general) has yet to put anything on the table.

Who will come out on top of the GOP civil war? It is hard to know. One thing is for certain though, there is no compromise in sight for the current debt debate and no end to the GOP’s identity crisis on the horizon.

Upon watching the recent debt ceiling debates, three things have become obvious. 1) John Boehner has proved that he has little to no control over his own party, 2) The Republican Party is truly undergoing a civil war between its more moderate, level-headed wing and the newly elected “tea-party” caucus in the House or Representatives, and finally 3) no one is quite sure who is holding the cards in these discussions.

Earlier this month, when the President and Speaker played a round of golf, it was obvious that compromise could be found. Throughout our nation’s short but meaningful history, Congress has never failed to raise the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, America just learned the repercussions of electing unexperienced and uncompromising radicals to our federal government.

John Boehner has completely lost control of his party in the House, which became clear when he quickly back-peddled from his position of compromise on raising taxes and cutting spending. Since Cantor entered the room, the GOP has had no choice but to bow down to this newly elected radical wing of their party. Typically, I would allow such Republican infighting to settle itself, but not when it threatens to drive our nation’s economy off the edge of the fiscal cliff.

The world is getting restless and impatient with the U.S.’s threat of default. Even China, especially China, is becoming wary that their investment in the world’s superpower might have been a bad idea. With our full faith and credit in jeopardy, it is hard to understand how congressional Republicans are able to brush off the concerns as “overblown scare tactics.”

Interesting how it was the same person (Michelle Bachmann) making these claims, that initially alerted us to the nation’s debt. According to her calculations now, the President has plenty of money to pay the interest on our debt, he is simply trying to scare the American people into raising taxes. Funny how the debt is out of control when it favors her position, but plenty under control when the idea of raising revenue is put on the table.

Then there is Mitch McConnell. Republicans everywhere have to be scratching their heads wondering what he is thinking. Stating that there will be no deal on the debt ceiling so long as Obama is President is nothing short of extortion. He wants to kick the can down the road until after the 2012 elections, when he suspects a Republican will be elected, and the debt ceiling can be raised at the expense of seniors, poverty stricken citizens, and students alone. His shameless political tactics are not going unnoticed, and the President has expressed an unwillingness to sign such a stop-gap measure.

At the end of the day, President Obama is doing the politically courageous thing. He has taken on both parties in order to tackle our nation’s debt. With both parties in congress hesitant to take on their “sacred cows,” it is unclear how it will all pan out. But one thing we know for sure, the President has nothing to gain from this maneuver (politically speaking) and everything to lose. On the other hand, our nation has everything to gain from this debate, and nothing to lose.

Mayor Alvin Brown
FY 2011/2012 Budget Address Jacksonville City Council Chambers Friday, July 15, 2011 Good morning. Mr. President, members of the

“City Council, distinguished guests and citizens of Jacksonville: I am honored to stand here today to share my inaugural budget and lay out a vision for where I want to take Jacksonville in the coming year.

I want to offer a special thanks to Council President Stephen Joost for his welcoming spirit over the past few weeks and his leadership.
I also want to thank Council Vice President Bill Bishop and Finance Committee Chairman Richard Clark. I look forward to working with each of you in the coming weeks.

On May 1st, Jacksonville faced a projected budget deficit of nearly $58 million. Today, that deficit stands at zero. I campaigned on a pledge to deliver a balanced budget that streamlines government, focuses on job creation without raising taxes or fees or tapping our reserves. This budget delivers on that promise.

I’ve met the challenge with a combination of precise cuts that ensure essential city services will continue
and a reduction in the city’s labor force that brings government in alignment with today’s economic realities. Government can – and must – live within its means. Around this great city, families have struggled to meet the financial challenges of everyday life.

Our unemployment rate is much too high. Far too many of our citizens are out of work. Thousands more are underemployed. And many families are struggling to stay in their homes.

Now is not the time to grow government. These times call for shared sacrifice and my administration has risen to the challenge.
My office has not been spared. I promised to take a 20 percent pay cut during the campaign. I’ve done that. I’ve sat down with the directors of every department in city government to identify savings. I have eliminated numerous middle management positions in an effort to stream line government. The council has agreed to make sacrifices. The sheriff’s office has trimmed its workforce. The fire department has done the same. And we’ve accomplished it all without compromising our public safety.

This budget reduces the city’s workforce by more than 220 positions, including nearly 50 that were
mayoral appointees. Some of these positions were vacant, some were filled and others will be identified through our next initiative – a major reorganization effort that delivers a government that is more effective and efficient.

Assisting us in this process will be the newly-created Office of Public-Private Partnership. The goal of this new initiative is rather simple. We’ll identify areas where the private sector is better positioned to deliver key services and work to develop partners to make it happen.

The newly-created Education Commissioner is the perfect example of the partnership we’ll be working
to build. I’m proud to have Donnie Horner, a graduate of West Point, MIT and Stanford on loan from Jacksonville University to lead this effort. But while we are making tough choices to trim city government, we recognize that we simply cannot cut our way out of our current financial crisis.

I want to focus on putting Jacksonville back to work. I’ve partnered with the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Council to assist us in developing a public-private partnership to attract businesses to Jacksonville.
Jerry Mallot and Don Shea will lead that effort.

We will spark entrepreneurship. We will link our small businesses with the access to capital and credit that they need to expand. We will send a loud and clear message – JACKSONVILLE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS. In my first week in office I welcomed our governor to our port. He was followed by the United States Transportation Secretary, and days later, lawmakers from around our state. Our port symbolizes our future. It serves as the key to diversifying and growing our economy.

Under my administration, we will fix mile-point. We will dredge our channel. We will position Jacksonville to compete in a global economy.
Today, I’m announcing a number of initiatives that will take Jacksonville to the next level. First, I’m announcing my intent to create a Downtown Community Empowerment Corporation. IT’S TIME TO PUT DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE BACK ON THE TAX ROLLS. We’ve invested more than $1.2 billion dollars in taxpayer money in our downtown. I will leverage that with private sector investment to build a vibrant downtown that will become THE HEARTBEAT OF NORTHEAST FLORIDA. I’m also creating the Jacksonville Sports and Entertainment Corporation.

This entity will build on our previous successes to bring sporting events like the Florida-Georgia game from around the world to the river city. Can you imagine an ESPN Sports Zone in our downtown to capitalize on these initiatives? I can.

I can’t do this alone. I’ve had more than 200 people serve on 18 transition committees. They’ll deliver reports in the next week that will make recommendations for where we want to take Jacksonville in the future. I’m going to ask many of these same individuals — our best and brightest — to serve on nine mayoral advisory councils that I intend to create.

But their help is not enough. I need each of you – every resident, every taxpayer, ever stakeholder – in this city to rise to the challenge. The future of our children, our nieces, our nephews and our grandchildren is at stake.

We can deliver a quality public education to every child in this community. We can build a transportation system equipped for the 21st century.

We can foster an environment where every family has an equal opportunity to seize their own piece of the American dream. We can partner with the private sector to put this city back to work.

This budget accomplishes that. One vision, one city. Opportunity for all. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The TRUE NEIGHBOR will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of OTHERS.”

To whom much is given, much is required. We have been granted blessings immeasurable. It’s now our time to rise to the challenge. Thank you. God bless each of you and God bless Jacksonville.”