JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The voices from the streets protests are being heard in Jacksonville's City Hall.
"We are going to roll up our sleeves and get the job done," said Tommy Hazouri, incoming city council president.
Even before he begins his term as the next city council president Hazouri is responding to the message heard in the cacophony of loud chants.
"We are past due in getting things done," he said.
He has created a city council social justice committee, which includes members Sam Newby and Brenda Priestly-Jackson.
"This is a top priority for me as president," Hazouri said. "The mission is this, social justice, law enforcement, economic development."
He said that includes jobs and infrastructure. Unfortunately City Hall has made promises in the past, promises that were only partially fulfilled or broken.
"Ain't going to happen with me. Not going to happen," he said.
Pastor Lee Harris, a voice in the black community, remembers the protests of 1989 and the promises made then.
A black city council member after a very vocal disagreement with the lack of funding in the city budget for Northwest Jacksonville.
"I have seen Band-Aid approaches put on and as soon as the band aid comes of we go back to the same thing," Harris said.
Harris said City Hall needs to understand that whatever happens to one part of the city affects the other part of the city.
He said it is time for city hall to seriously address the needs of Jacksonville's black community.
"Tell them to be serious about they are seeking to do and not just a Band-Aid approach or a pacifier in the mouth of those who are crying out," he said.
Hazouri begins his term in July and said his goal is to find meaningful solutions as quickly as possible; he calls it the era of enlightenment.
Harris said the era of enlightenment should have taken place with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He said it is time to stop talking and start doing, he fears in two years, if nothing happens, the community will be right back to the summer of 2020.