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POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR WINTER 2016 INFLUENCE | 131 Gov. Rick Scott — a political ally and friend of Curry’s going back years — was a “fantastic” resource, Curry related, with communication before, during, and after the storm. “The ability to call him and say ‘this is what I’m going to do’,” Curry said, was invaluable. “I need someone else — even though he’s on a much bigger stage — who is in a room, as alone as I am. I’ve said this before — leadership is a lonely place,” Curry continued. “In the end, you own the decision. Period. No one else does. “It’s comforting to be able to call the governor, who’s alone on a statewide stage, and say ‘this is what I’m going to do,’ and get a reaction,” Curry added. Curry, a believer in “modeling success,” sees similarities between himself and Gov. Scott. “He’s about accountability. He’s about metrics. He’s about using data to get things done. He is about results … from being around him, it gives me more clarity and certainty for sticking with that approach,” Curry added. Storm preparation and recovery offer a unique set of challenges. However, Jacksonville faces a more recurring pressure: the need to foster downtown development. “It’s coming,” Curry said. By the end of his first term, Curry expects Jacksonville to take advantage of a “really unique opportunity” in terms of developing Jacksonville’s downtown. exactly will make every single person happy,” Curry continued, “we’ll be having the same discussion in four years, eight years. I’m not prepared to do that. “By the end of my term,” Curry said, “I want people to look at downtown and say, ‘He was about action and getting things done.’” Curry’s prediction: by the end of his first term, there will be serious movement on the long-deferred goal of downtown revitalization, including the Shipyards project, which will have “development and greenspace,” the mayor added. “There’s a really unique opportunity for that area to be the entrance into a vibrant downtown,” Curry noted. Moving beyond the issue of infrastructure to social legislation, Jacksonville has wrestled with the question of expanding its Human Rights Ordinance to include LGBT people. This has been an issue on which proponents and opponents have sought a clear position from Curry. And, thus far, they have been frustrated. Curry said earlier in 2016 that HRO expansion wouldn’t be “prudent” saying, “I’m not going to use any of the options The “bigtime private sector” — specifically “investors who have the ability to drop hundreds of millions of dollars into projects and have the liquidity to see it through” — will play a key role, the mayor said. Jaguars owner Shad Khan and investors he can attract will play a role, as will Peter Rummell, who is developing an ambitious project on Jacksonville’s Southbank called The District. “There’s an opportunity here to rethink downtown,” Curry said. “Let’s have an entry that comes in right through and around the stadium, where you can see high-end hotels, food, residences all the way from the Shipyards, Metropolitan Park all the way down to Berkman Plaza, all the way up and around the old City Hall, the old courthouse. Tremendous opportunity there. Because the private sector is ready to go. And they’ve been ready to go for some years.” “For whatever reason,” Curry added, “the downtown debate has gotten stuck in the debates of the past. We have the opportunity to leverage private dollars that are ready to move and ready to move now.” “If we continue to sit around and debate what exactly is the perfect plan, what Relationships. Resources. Results. Boca Raton | Fort Lauderdale | Fort Myers | Gainesville | Jacksonville | Key West Lakeland | Melbourne | Miami | Naples | Orlando | Tallahassee | Tampa www.gray-robinson.com | 800.338.3381 “ What a political operation does for me is it allows me to take bold initiatives and ideas and communicate those ideas outside the policy sphere to people and share the ideas with them and engage them.” — JACKSONVILLE MAYOR LENNY CURRY


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