In this post, our second in a series, Tracy Rigdon was joined by special guest, the talented writer and journalist, Stephen Dare, who is also a consultant to the campaign to elect Democratic candidate for Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, Donna Deegan.
Donna Deegan is an incredible individual who has accomplished so much in her life, and we were excited to dive into her campaign and what she stands for.
“Proud Jacksonville native, award-winning local television news anchor, philanthropist, author and marathoner, Donna Deegan is the founder of The DONNA Foundation, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance and support to families living with breast cancer and funds groundbreaking breast cancer research. The three-time breast cancer survivor also created 26.2 with DONNA, The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, an event that brings millions in economic impact to Jacksonville.
She has received the Jacksonville Business Journal Women of Influence Award, the Enterprising Women’s Leadership Award, the Florence Davis Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Florida Times-Union’s EVE Award for volunteer service.”
Donna Deegan, Democrat, for Mayor of Jacksonville
Rigdon and Dare discussed the challenges that small businesses face in Northeast Florida. Dare talks about how it has been 20 years since either the Republican or Democrat candidate reached out to young business owners in the area. He notes that there are too many regulations and red tape, making it difficult to open a small business. They mention the change of use requirement, which mandates that a private engineer certify older buildings, costing business owners upwards of about $10,000.
Dare is in favor of the idea of creating more business improvement districts. They talk about how such a district could help small businesses in the community by providing them with a funding source that they could use for entertainment, repainting the streets, or adding trees. The district would also provide support and membership groups to small businesses without the need for the city’s support.
Dare believes that small businesses are the backbone of the economy, as does Candidate Donna Deegan, and need more support from the city. They also talk about how cleaning up small businesses would improve the community by creating walkable neighborhoods with thriving little areas and pockets of town. They discuss how this concept has worked in other neighborhoods, such as San Marco, and how it could work in other areas that have empty buildings. Overall, they believe that the idea of creating a business improvement district could be a useful tool for helping small businesses in the community thrive.
Dare talks about the importance of planning and zoning in cities and mentions that a portion of the units developed in a city, such as Jacksonville, should be workforce housing. He suggests breaking up the idea of segregating the poor and the wealthy and building affordable housing units along with luxury housing to create a safe environment for everyone. Dare mentions that the current plan of building in floodplains is not viable, and the city should instead invest in building things now that will benefit the city in the future.
Rigdon agrees with Dare’s vision and adds that Donna Deegan has future vision and wants to leave each part of what she does in a better place than she found it. The conversation then moves to the topic of creating tech hubs in the city, with the recent news of a 500 million dollar pot of money from the feds. Dare talks about the Robotics Place and mentions that Jacksonville has a spaceport that the city has ignored for 25 years, which could be an excellent opportunity to attract someone like Elon Musk. Rigdon suggests that the Cecil Commerce Center is a perfect place to set up high-tech businesses.
They discuss the challenges of staffing the different positions and finding the right people to work with Donna. The outgoing administration does not have to provide space for the new team, but it has been common courtesy to do so. They also talk about the negative attack ads against Donna and her alleged plan to defund the police, which she has denied publicly.
Stephen Dare:
“I mean, you beat the shit out of each other during the campaigns, but then you need to get your shit together because you have to run the city. So the plan is, you know, when she wins, have the meeting with the sheriff and let’s get started on trying to improve public safety, both for the cops as well as for the public. I mean, that’s the plan. What else are you going to do? You know, it’s like Jacksonville has unfortunately our history of these between a couple of dinosaur-like older guys just hating each other till the day they freaking die and making everybody suffer as a result of it? Come on. Come on. Let’s grow up.”
#ChangeForGood
** Music Tracks for this Podcast by Alex Grohl on Pixabay
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