Mission Accomplished: The Peyton Years
Duval County Courthouse - Not Started
Laura Street Lighting Plan - Not Started - No intentions
Jacksonville Landing Redevelopment - Not Started
Friendship Fountain Repair and Redevelopment - Not Started
Northbank Riverwalk - Closed and in disrepair for a year
Southbank Riverwalk - $800,000 study to determine state of rotten wood
Homeless Issues - No resolution. Key figure resigns.
Illegal City Contracts to friends - Complete
Budget Overruns - Complete
Parking Garage Contracts guaranteeing a profit - Complete
Snyder Memorial Church - Empty and future victim of Demolition by Neglect
FSU Medical Center - Unaware and Not Pursued
Cecil Field - Boeing Promised - Tire Warehouse landed for this prime industrial site
Main Street Bridge pedestrian walk - Not StartedHold taxpayer funded "Day of Faith" and get sued - Complete
Greening of Main - Under Construction (including ill-advised pocket park)
Metropolitan Park converted to flex space for "next Super Bowl" - Not Started
Establish new fees to cover budget problems - In Progress
Place unqualified friends at the head of every city department - Nearing Completion
Destroy old Fuller Warren Bridge and its public pier potential - Complete
Convert parks from Biggest to Best - Increased size of park system and fired the Parks Director.
Allow city departments to spend money without oversight - Complete
Let's take a short trip back in time to April of 2006.
The Cast:
Alan Mosley, City Chief Operating Officer
Ron Barton, JEDC Executive Director
Mike Saylor, Planning Department Director
John Peyton, Mayor
Their roles:
Peyton: Plans to move the planning department and JEDC -- located at City Hall Annex several blocks from City Hall -- under one roof at the old Haverty's building adjacent to City Hall. The building is undergoing extensive renovations.
Mosley: Within the next 30 days, Mosley said a new public works director should be chosen. The applicant pool has been narrowed to one out-of-towner and two locals.
Barton: Will be busy updating the Downtown master plan and implementing the changes. Four task forces led by JEDC commissioners or industry experts will focus on different areas of the master plan for Downtown and will have six months to outline a comprehensive approach.
Saylor: Is focusing on mapping out the next five years -- every week of them to help prevent the group from jumping too far too fast with their ideas for Downtown development. A true engineer, he said planning Downtown development needs to be approached like building a tall structure: build the base first, understanding everything that goes into development and matching it with budget constraints.
The Script:
"We're evolving out of that start-up mode," Barton said. "We're about to hit our stride in terms of executing. That's the fun part anyway."
"We came together out of necessity," Saylor said. "We just formed this little tribunal -- the 'Alan, Ron and Mike Show.' "
Saylor's open mind, Mosley's sense of humor and can-do personality and Peyton's goal of getting the best people and letting them do their jobs helped them immediately gel as a team, Barton said.
Peyton keeps the team moving. He is aggressive in maintaining momentum and implementing change, Saylor said.
Mission Accomplished.