An Agenda for Change and Growth

I have been fighting for causes my whole life. When you see clearly the problems in the world and realize that it takes effort to change things, and if you have it in you to want to change the world, to make it a better place, you develop within yourself a responsibility to act that your conscience demands you follow. If you don't, your life is a lie.
I've been in Jacksonville 20 years now, and here are some of the things I think need to be changed, and some of my suggestions. They are presented with a humble heart and a fervent and passionate arrogance, because if you know something is wrong and fail to act, then you are lying in the worst manner possible....

Education

The problem in Jacksonville starts with the overall attitude of the populace and the quality of the society. Our children are our foundation, and the world, and way families and values are, has changed much in the past years. Children need their childhood, need to see hope, and retain and enjoy their childhood, and know they are loved....

1. Change the way elementary, middle, and high schools work. There is a reason why the Florida Class Size Amendment was implemented. Student/teacher ratios need to be low so teachers can control and direct their classes.
A. DCPS must follow the intent, spirit, and directives of the Class Size Amendment. They are moving to eliminate small schools, like they did to Normandy Elementary and now are trying with other schools. Currently they are seeking to close West Jacksonville Elementary, which went from an "F" school to an "A" in five years. While that school is small, a school that is producing an "A" grade is the most important thing. They closed Normandy and it was an "A" school, and sent the kids there to a "C" school, and as a result they damaged the social network of the neighborhood once served by Normandy. These closing may seem to make some short term savings, but when you close performing schools that are small, where children can get the attention they need and deserve, you cause more children to eventually fail, which costs society in the long run by drug use, crime, and a lack of skills that get created by the short term budget gains attained years before.
I suggest retaining and reopening as many small neighborhood schools as possible, with emphasis on art, music, gardening and environmental awareness, and other cultural aspects that grow the imagination, which creates the thirst for knowledge. Keep elementary school populations between 200 and 600 children, and foster parental involvement and accountability.
B. Return 6th grade to elementary schools or reinstate 6th grade learning centers. By placing kids in 6th, 7th, & 8th grades together kids who are 11 & 12 are being exposed and being influenced by kids who are 14 & 15. They lose their childhood early, and are forced into social situation, exposed to violence and influences, including drugs and sex, that they are not ready for. This distracts them from education and makes them harder to educate.
C. Make middle schools 7th & 8th grade only. Make discipline a focal point, and hold parents accountable for attendance and discipline issues. target student populations between 600 and 900 students. Place cameras in all classes and hallways.
D. Favor in school detention over suspensions, having a zero tolerance for class disruptions and violent behavior.
E. Create regional "boot camp" schools for students who are discipline problems and/or have learning difficulties. Keep the two types of problems students in different classes and have them in grade level classes, so if a 7th grader who is on a 5th grade reading/English level and a 8th grade math level, that student will be in a class structured to meet their needs. These specialized schools will have a school uniform requirement, and all schools should have a strict dress code with "casual" day options. Students who maintain a 3.0 GPA should be excluded from this code as a reward, having instead a relaxed dress code. (ie:all students must wear a blue or white button up or polo shirt and tan or blue slacks, and for girls skirts can be added, or each school can set colors related to their individual school. Students who perform may dress in any color as long as their clothing is in good taste.

The River

Jacksonville should build a water desalination plant and create a regional water grid. The Water Management District wants to extract water from the St Johns to "sustain growth" in Central Florida, and any further extraction of water from the river will further damage it. The value and price of potable water will only rise, and with strict conservation and reclamation efforts, coupled with desalination production, Jacksonville would get a profitable return on their investment. The technology is there, using solar pre-heating, reclaimed heat (from electric production), and a reduced pressure distillation system cost effective water production is not only possible, but something that should be desired and sought out. A pipeline could then transport water to Central Florida at a profit.

Mass Transit

Using mostly existing railways and right-of-ways, electric self-propelled passenger cars can shuttle commuters from Orange Park and along Hwy 17, Marietta and along I-10, Mandarin and along Phillips Highway, and Northwest and North Jacksonville, including a Main Street/Oceanway spur directly into a downtown station that can be connected to an expanded Skyway and bus lines. These Park & Rides would be often faster and cheaper than commuting, and the parking spaces saved downtown could be then developed for business interests. Spurs and shuttles could then be directed to business, industrial and professional parks as demand requires.

The cost for a profitable root system would run between 150 to 210 Million dollars of initial investment. With the every growing limitations on the availability of fossil fuels and the expected rise in costs of fuel in years to come, once this artificial decline in price vanishes when the economy rebounds, it is prudent to take this undertaking now.

Adult Education

Our adult population is drastically undereducated and unskilled. Using corporate and union partnerships, vocational training and adult education would serve to make our workforce a more desirable asset to businesses that may wish to start up or relocate to Jacksonville. This would build and enhance the general tax base and wages of all workers, which would boost the economy and cause prosperity, having residual benefits in the reduction of crime and drug use, and overall taxation on systems that have to compensate for those problem areas.

Green Businesses

Special tax and development incentives should be given to companies that are in the "green wave" that will, by necessity, have to come from somewhere. Jacksonville can be ahead of the curve by meeting this challenge before it comes to fruition. This will also boost the economy in the same manner as described above.

Give special property tax advantages to fuel stations that install and operate E-85 & B-20 fuels. Waive all permit and inspection fees associated with building or zoning for any stations that upgrade or retrofit to accommodate these fuels.

Alternative & Nuclear Power & Energy Conservation

Special incentives should be given to allow and promote nuclear power, which actually is one of the best sources of clean energy. Jacksonville should subsidize low income residents in weatherproofing their homes, including insulation and window replacement, and give incentives for solar hot water and home production of energy, such as solar and wind. This will create a service industry that will install and maintain these systems, employing area residents, which also will boost the tax base and economy. These measures should also include "green roof" incentives, such as white roofing which reflects solar radiation, saving cooling energy and reducing global warming while producing savings.

The incentives for windows, solar hot water heaters and wind and solar units, and contractors used should and must be limited to Duval County produced and located businesses. (ie: You can give an incentive for a solar hot water heater or replacement windows ONLY if those things are made here in Jacksonville and installed by a company home based in Jacksonville, which means while dollars are lost to subsidize these needed improvements, the profits made by manufactures and installers stay in Jacksonville, and the savings retained by those who benefit from this will boost their available disposable income, which will be spent in Jacksonville, and reduce the stresses that cause some social ills.

Public Health & Medical Insurance

Due to a lack of medical insurance, too many residents use emergency rooms for primary care and clinic care. Free clinics should be funded and staffed by all area hospitals and the Duval County health department, in cooperation with nursing and medical schools and providing internships for lowered cost labor, at Jacksonville city owned facilities. Jacksonville would provide the facility and the hospitals could staff it. Corporate support and underwriting should also be sought, and vision and dental and extended term care can be provided within a barter system after a degree of service has been met.

This can be done like this. A person without medical insurance who does not qualify for social services can get initial care, and then "owe" a set number of "community service" hours that can be performed by doing anything from road and park clean up to volunteer work, and once that it signed off on and completed, continued or additional services can then be rendered. (ie: A working man needs dental work, and comes in and gets it, and is then asked to "pay" with 20 hours of community service/volunteer work. He does that commitment three months later, then say he gets sick with a cold and fever nine months later. He is seen as a "reliable" client, and services and credit is extended again. Businesses and sponsors can also sign off as long as they are providing "support" for the clinic.)

It is a proven fact that healthy workers are more productive and miss less work, making their situations stronger and costing less loss to our economy.

Fire Rescue, Police and Other City Services

Township Creation

A. Police and Fire Rescue are undermanned and underfunded. An example is the current need for additional rescue units needed on the Westside, just ask any fireman there. Police take hours to respond to calls, "stacking" calls often, and cost saving measures like taking police reports over the phone are justr plain disregard for the citzenry.

Also, what city services there are seem very directed to providing the best services and care to areas that are more affluent. Look at how parks are developed and maintained in Ortega and Riverside and Avondale, and then the Westside and Northside.

The disparity is sickening, There is little real recreation areas for our citizens and a lack of quality public spaces. The problem goes down to things as simple as not having sidewalks in many neighborhoods, and a lack of neighborhood stores that foster communial gathering. Jacksonville is urban sprawl turned into urban blight, and the design needs to take what is best of small town and urban areas and incorporate them into a redesign that allows for a feeling that as citizens we all matter.

Also, police and firemen should LIVE IN the area they serve. What matter is a problem area to a cop who lives a half hour away? That disconnection hampers the ability for them to do their job and doesn't give them a vested interest or accountability.

Jacksonville needs to rezone service areas with LOCAL police forces, by the creation of "township" areas, even down to differently painted and labeled police cars and uniforms. Lines should be drawn using traditional pre-consolidation boundaries, school districts, development and economic pocket data among other things. We should retain JSO as countywide, and draw from them to create "township" police forces and make small city halls, with tax collector, zoning, lower court, police, health, school, and other city services located within it.

This would get citizens back involved in their community because they will have something to belong to. If all you've ever known is Jacksonville then the concepts and realities of what I'm speaking about might not make sense to you, but when you make a community focal point you wind up with a better society.

Summary

This is a basic outline of some of what I would have been fighting for had I been in a position to do so. Those of you who who don't know the story by now may visit:
http://electskot.blogspot.com/
then:
http://politicalsadness.blogspot.com/
to see how my efforts to get on city council were derailed.

Personally I honestly believe there is a dishonest group of shakers and movers who abuse their power and authority in Jacksonville and are very adept at getting away with even outright violations of law.
I also believe there is a lack of real insight and integrity by many in positions of power, in and out of government in Jacksonville.
I also believe there are a great many people who understand that things are not what they should be here and who work to make the world a better place and change things. I hold those people in the greatest of respect.
I hope my ideas, most of them my own, some of which adopted by great things I have seen elsewhere, some from talking to enlightened people who have insight and understanding, and some and this revision all my own, take root, or inspire others.
The mayor's office listened to my proposal, actually his former chief of staff Steve Dibenow, about alternate of the side of the street watering to conserve water, and they adopted some of those ideas, drafted and submitted a bill which passed. Their version didn't have the teeth my proposal did, but hell, it's a start.
I have other ideas, like many of us do, but sadly I am not in a fiscal position to do or promote those things and these that I would like to be in. As long as we all do what we can, where and how we can, there is hope.

Skot David Wilson
619-8324
472-9980
skotdavidwilson@yahoo.com