JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This week marks one hundred days since Mayor Donna Deegan took office becoming the first woman to serve as Jacksonville's mayor and only the second democrat in three decades.
“In a lot of ways, it's been what I expected. You know, you've got a lot on your plate, most of it was budget. You come in and in two weeks, you have to have a budget. So that was extremely busy,” Deegan said. “Then getting all the transition teams together and getting all the legislation together in the budget and all that, that has been a lot. And then of course, you add on to that some of the crises that we had on top of it.”
From preparing for Hurricane Idalia to responding to the mass shooting at the Dollar General in New Town to getting her $1.7 billion dollar budget passed unanimously by the Jacksonville City Council, Deegan has stayed busy.
One of things she says she is most proud of is carving out time to listen her constituents all across the city.
“To have 14 community meetings that also partnered with each council person and each one of those districts where literally we just stood there for an hour and a half listening to people's concerns, I think sets a tone for this administration that I hope sets a bar for everybody else,” Deegan said. “If you are going to be effective, first, you have to hear from people about what they feel you're doing right and what they feel you're doing wrong and what you can do to make their lives better.”
Crime is one of the biggest concerns for Jacksonville residents. In the month of September alone, two young children were killed in separate shootings in the city.
“On the city side what we can do mostly is to do those things that will impact crime from a prevention, intervention, perhaps even a reentry position for folks that are coming back from being in jail,” Deegan said. “So, the sheriff is on the enforcement side. We are trying to rejuvenate the Jacksonville Journey program and things like our literacy program."
Deegan says the city is investing millions of dollars to try to improve literacy in the community.
“70% of the people in our jails cannot read at a fourth-grade level. And that should tell you a lot about how much literacy impacts outcome in terms of quality of life, and really the future of young people,” Deegan said.
She is optimistic a deal with the Jaguars to renovate the stadium will get done, but says negotiations are just in the beginning phases. She has brought in an outside firm to negotiate. To those who aren’t in favor of potentially spending $1 billion of taxpayer money on stadium improvements, she said she wants them to know she is going to negotiate the best possible deal for the city.
"You ask those same people, and this has been every single community meeting we've had… and the first thing they'll say is we don't want to spend this money. Now I'll say, okay, raise your hand if you want the Jaguars to leave. Nobody. So, it's, as I've said, 80%, don't want to spend the money. 80% don't want the Jaguars to leave. Those two things are mutually exclusive. The NFL has made that clear, there's going to have to be some sort of a deal that is made here. So, our goal, our job, our work is to come up with the best deal we can for the taxpayers. And that's what we're working on.”
Looking ahead her priorities as mayor include infrastructure, health, economic development, and small business development.
“I think that’s what city government really is supposed to do is make sure that people are safe, make sure they have lights and sidewalks and those sorts of things. Make sure that they have good jobs and good schools. And those are the things that I think Council and myself are doing a good job of working together on, and I'm excited about that.”
Full Interview