UP FROM THE ASHES

By C.D. Young

During lunchtime on May 3, 1901 in Downtown, Jacksonville, Fl. a spark from a near by kitchen ignited Spanish moss to be used in the production of mattress furniture, on this day the Great Fire of Jacksonville was born.

The smoke from this great fire could be seen as far away as Savannah, Ga. The fire destroyed over 2300 buildings and 146 city blocks.  The Governor at the time was William Jennings. Jennings declared martial law and the state militia were sent to Jacksonville to keep things in order. 

The fire was finally under control on May 17, 1901 and the city was returned to local authority. By 1912 Downtown Jacksonville had been reconstructed and made its way in American History yet again.

 The City of Jacksonville has its fair share of contributions to American history such as the largest city in area in the contiguous 48 states, home of the Afro- American Insurance Company and the Timiquanan Preserves that takes position in seven land masses. One of which happens to be American Beach.  Jacksonville has contributed The Ritz Theater, The Lavilla Museum which features a permanent display of African American History or how about one early map which shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville.

 On May 17, 2011, 110 years after the great fire of Jacksonville which nearly destroyed the heart beat of Jacksonville, Alvin Brown rose up from the troubled ashes of Duval County as Jacksonville’s first African American Mayor.  It was a tight run-off.  The official count was updated May 27, 2011.  Mr. Brown was the obvious underdog to 95,645 voters in the 2011 Mayoral race against the long time career politician Mike Hogan. 

 Mayor-Elect Brown ran an unusual campaign with precision and methodology. Mayor-Elect Brown took a step outside the box of traditional campaigning with efforts such as meeting his constituents on their turf.  The Pub, First Friday need I say more?  Mayor-Elect Brown’s fresh but not new ideas about campaigning are the fresh not new ideas the City of Jacksonville needs to turn this city in a new and fiscally positive direction. 

 Under the watch of Mayor Peyton we have seen reckless spending such as the downtown court house which was 160 million over budget in 2008. 

Mayor Brown has his work cut out for him and won’t be an easy task however 97,307 voters have confidence in Mayor-Elect Brown. Mr. Brown’s victory comes at a troubled time for Jacksonville residents.  

 Mayor- Elect Brown will have to face issues such as the $660,000 the tax payers just spent on ONE soccer park in Mandarin, Losco Regional Park. There are currently three soccer parks in that district already.  You can thank Councilman Art Shad for this one folks!  City Councilman Gaffney expressed his outrage because the recreational areas in his district are in despair. It’s my opinion that Mayor-Elect Brown may need two terms to make a difference here.

 One of the issues on Mr. Brown’s agenda is development for Downtown.  Now the commercials leading up to the election by the Hogan campaign portrayed Mr. Brown as the candidate who wanted to spend more money on the courthouse. For the last 10 years there has been over 1.1 Billion dollars spent on Jacksonville development yet business downtown struggle to keep the doors open.  Eight of those 10 years were under the leadership of Mayor Peyton. Mayor-Elect Browns’ ideas are rational in attracting people and businesses downtown. 

 We have a convention center that isn’t used to its full potential. Mayor-Elect Brown speaks of a world class convention center he wants to develop which could lead to jobs and attract business, thus leading to a thriving Jacksonville. Mayor-Elect Brown’s plans to develop this new site for a convention center are to use existing city property such as the current courthouse.

 Jacksonville faced troubles in 1901 and overcame that era with faith, conviction, leadership and an economic plan to revitalize this great city’s heartbeat.  Mayor Brown will need to continue the out of the box politics to make the difference this city is long overdue to receive.

 Mayor Brown, good luck. Up out of the modern day ashes of 1901, you arose.

 “Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk. It must be a thing of action and sincerity (1 John 3:18).”