TU: Guest columnist: Mayor Alvin Brown, City Council should build on New Town success

[Patricia M. McBride]

I don't think I can ever see JCCI without remembering they are part of a group in St Augustine with an Agenda 21 philosophy related to a non existant global change policy (that is purely meant as a tool to redistribute income).  What they propose for Mayor Brown to do seems to be fine on the surface, but I would question if our city government is about doing this sort of thing or if it might best be left to not for profits and some of the groups suggested (as in the police and their programs for high crime areas).   I also think , knowing what we do now, the JCCI  proposals need to be watched very carefully in the future. 

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April 9, 2012

In the fall of 2010, Peter Rummell spoke to JCCI volunteers beginning a  community study about ways the Jacksonville region might recover from the global  recession.

Rummell had returned from a chamber-sponsored trip to Indianapolis and  praised that city for its many achievements. Key to its successes, said Rummell,  was the continuity of its mayoral leadership over 40 years, whether Democratic  or Republican.

Jacksonville has not been so lucky. Too often mayors have chosen to make  their own mark, regardless of what has gone before. One clear example was the  dumping of John Delaney's neighborhood enhancement efforts by his successor.

Yet John Peyton had his own successes. Current Mayor Alvin Brown might look  to perpetuate them. Several programs stand out as worth continuing. Among them  is the New Town Success Zone.

The program began in 2007 with a trip to see how the Harlem Children's Zone  worked with impoverished inner-city youth.

Read more at Jacksonville.com:  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-09/story/guest-columnist...