Are We Ready to Take the First Steps in The Jacksonville Journey.

A couple weeks ago, Nat Glover wrote a letter to the City Council of Jacksonville begging them to approve the budget for the Jacksonville Journey.   I applaud him for taking a stand, and writing a letter that holds our city council accountable for their actions.  I believe if Nat Glover had been elected Mayor in 2003, we’d have a real chance at this kind of legislation getting passed. 

I have always believed that this program was little more than lip service from our current mayor.  I have been involved in meetings with members of the city council, and even the mayor’s staff who don’t really seem too interested in actually getting anything done with this proposed plan to decrease crime in Jacksonville.  It seems like more of a public relations exercise.  After all, its been more than nine months since the initiative was announced, and now the funding is in question.  I doubt it was ever seriously an option. 

Here is the text of his letter:

August 25, 2008

The Honorable Ronnie Fussell
2008-2009 President
Jacksonville City Council
117 West Duval Street, #425
Jacksonville, Florida 32202

Dear Mr. President:

There are very few times in our lives when we have an opportunity to do something that can truly reshape and redirect the lives of others, and in doing so, make a tremendous difference in securing the future of this great city.

I believe, as a member of the City Council, your time is now as you consider Mayor Peyton’s proposed Jacksonville Journey budget. I am writing to implore you to seize this opportunity and take the fate of thousands of young people and the future of Jacksonville into your hands and do what is right.

This should not be difficult. It should not be a dilemma.

Mayor Peyton and Sheriff Rutherford— along with the 140 of us who served for six months as members of the Jacksonville Journey team—have laid out in very clear terms the severe crisis we face. We have made a compelling and irrefutable case for what needs to be done now to save lives and rid Jacksonville of the shameful distinction of being the Murder Capital of Florida.

We have explained this crisis very well.

And now, sitting in front of you is a solid plan of enforcement, education, prevention and intervention to begin the journey that will take back our town.

I see us standing on the edge of a stream that is flowing down from the top of a mountain. As the water runs down the mountainside in front of us, we can clearly see that the stream is polluted with the bodies of murder victims.

For too long we have been content to pull out the bodies from the water and bury them somewhere out of sight and out of mind.

Now, the Mayor, Sheriff and this community have said that is not good enough. Let’s go upstream and up the mountain and see how all of those bodies are getting into the stream in the first place.

Let’s address the causes.

Let’s stop the killing.

Let’s save the children, and let’s save Jacksonville.

That is exactly what the Jacksonville Journey does.

It takes us up stream and up the mountain to address the causes of violent crime.

It lets us use education and proven prevention and intervention programs to rescue these children and give them opportunities to live as contributing citizens. Then we will see children grow as positive members of society instead of criminals, or worse, young corpses.

What is so powerful that it is holding some council members back from doing what is right?

There are those who have suggested the reluctance of some is because of where a great majority of the murders and violence is taking place.

Surely that is not the reason. It could not be the excuse because it implies that some folks place less value on the dying kids on one side of town than they do on the value of kids who live in other parts of Jacksonville.

I have always believed that when a child is killed on the Northside, the mothers on the Southside should weep. And, when a child is killed on the Southside, the mothers on the Northside should weep. These children belong to all of us, and it is up to each of us to act now on their behalf. Race, social and economic status should not be a consideration.

Besides, it is only common sense and proven fact that this is a “pay me now or pay me later” deal. “Pay me later” always means the price is much higher. It is far cheaper for taxpayers, no matter where they live, to pay for proven programs that give children opportunities to succeed, than allow them to parade into the criminal justice system.

Why wouldn’t we do everything in our power to help these young people get an education and become working adults and good citizens who pay taxes and produce revenue rather than troubled people who depend on the government for subsidies like food stamps and public housing?

It is much more cost effective to intervene and assist returning felons with offender rehabilitation rather than ignore and enable them to return to crime. Police, prosecution, court and incarceration costs are gigantic when compared to the costs of education, proven prevention and intervention.

For too long, we have taken a single-minded approach that emphasizes law enforcement. No one questions the importance of a strong police presence. We must make arrests and make the community safe. And, pushing a strong police presence is good political rhetoric. But, if we continually do just the enforcement without the strong partnership of education, prevention and intervention, we are only perpetuating the failing cycle that returns thousands of ex-felons to our criminal justice system.

As a member of the City Council, I am hopeful that you will push through the politics of this grave issue and perform as a statesman by doing what is right.

I implore you to look to the future of Jacksonville.

Be willing to go up stream and climb the mountain so we can all face and fix the causes of this crime.

Sincerely,

Nathaniel Glover
Special Advisor to the President
and Ambassador for Higher Education

cc: Clay Yarborough, District 1
William Bishop, District 2
Richard Clark, District 3
Don Redman, District 4
Art Shad, District 5
Jack Webb, District 6
Dr. Johnny Gaffney, District 7
E. Denise Lee, District 8
Warren A. Jones, District 9
Mia Jones, District 10
Ray Holt, District 11
Daniel Davis, District 12
Art Graham, District 13
Michael Corrigan, District 14
Stephen C. Joost, At-large

It seems as though Jacksonville hasn’t really grown up.  We want to be a big city, but we’re just a bigger Jena, LA.   Sure we have the highest rate of murder in the country, but it’s mainly happening on the north side, and some areas of the west side.  By the way, that’s where we have the highest rates of disease, the lowest levels of education, where jobs are the scarcest, and oh yeah, where 95% of the population is black.

So let’s not spend all this money to improve those areas of town, let’s hire more police, build more jails, and keep the criminals out of those parts of town where the rich, white, taxpayers live.  While we’re at it, lets cut taxes some more so that we can do away with any and all of the social programs serving our needy population.  We don’t care if you’re white, black, hispanic, asian, or anything else, if you come to Jacksonville looking for a helping hand, get back on the bus, and keep moving, we don’t want your kind around here…

All this from one of the major buckles of the bible belt.   WWJD?  He sure as hell wouldn’t agree with what we’re doing as a city.