Homelessness Solutions, Budget Battles, and Jacksonville’s Quest for an Iconic City Identity

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Mikes on Mic, a conversation about politics, government, and Jacksonville.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: With 50-year opinion leaders Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, an award-winning broadcaster

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and longtime political observer, Mike Miller.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_04]: Welcome once again to another episode of Mikes on Mic.

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm Mike Miller along with Mike Tolbert who is actually sitting next to me in the studio.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_04]: It's a delight to have him with us as always.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Mike Hightower is back of course at his place in North Carolina but he's joining us remotely

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_04]: and it's good to have all three of you here.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_04]: There are a lot of things that we want to talk about here in this episode of Mikes on Mic.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_04]: We thought we'd talk about the contentious feud that's going on between the certain council

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_04]: members in the city council and the mayor's office over the proposed budget.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_04]: I also want to take a look at Jacksonville's long quest as an identity and a moniker

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_04]: that fits, that people are not going to laugh at as they seem to be doing with the current

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_04]: leverage.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_04]: Mark Woods talked about last week on the show where welcome to the free state of Florida.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_04]: But first, Mr. Tolbert let's talk about one of those contentious city council members,

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Rory Diamond, and seems to be at the center of this storm.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, let's talk about Rory for a minute.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_05]: We're probably going to spend more than a minute talking about Rory.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_05]: Rory, if you don't know this, Rory represents the beaches, the three-beach communities in

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_05]: west, the west side of the intercoastal waterway.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_05]: I remember the first time I met Rory Diamond was the night he was sworn in to the Neptune

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_05]: Beach City Council.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_05]: He was a young guy.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_05]: I was very impressed.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_05]: Later on I took a tour of K9's lawyers that he gave me and once again I was

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_05]: extremely impressed by what they were doing out there.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_05]: But right after that and after he got elected to the city council, Jacksonville

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_05]: City Council, his impressiveness went away for me, frankly.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_05]: It has several factors dealing with policy, if not attitude and personality.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_05]: But when we tried to put the referendum on the ballot to raise a half penny for school

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_05]: construction, new schools, renovated schools.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_05]: He was one of those who tried to block the school board letting it go to a vote.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_05]: And then when it finally got, they lost the case and it had to go to a vote, he

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_05]: also voted against it in the council.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_05]: Still, continued to do that.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_05]: He did the same thing with the next issue for teacher pay.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_05]: And then my favorite of all was his support of Lot J.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_05]: He was strongly behind the Lot J thing and he's been contentious ever since.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_05]: And it's no surprising, not surprising to me that he is doing everything he can

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_05]: to try to stop the mayor, to hurt the mayor or hurt the city.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_05]: I'm not surprised at all.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_05]: He represents the beaches out there.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_05]: He wants to run for Congress when Rutherford steps down.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_05]: That's where his brain is right now.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_05]: And he's playing to that narrow niche and not doing what's right in right

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_05]: for the community. Other than that, I don't have another observation.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_04]: Now, there was a folio weekly article that came out back in March of 2022

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_04]: that focused on Mr. Diamond and Mr.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Hightower, can you want to go into that a little bit with us?

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_04]: And what are you found?

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I want to pick my words very because Mr.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_06]: Tolbert is doing a great job of threading this needle.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_06]: I'm going to use the word disingenuous, as opposed that will be my

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_06]: observation, as opposed to a judgment.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_06]: Picking up on what my Tolbert said, we were all very impressed when he ran

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_06]: for the beaches and everybody had great hopes at him.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_06]: And he came in as a conservative.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_06]: I appreciated that.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_06]: But then what happened was when you go back to this folio article,

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_06]: which was March 21 to now you do is Google it.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_06]: And the name of the article is doldon.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_06]: And he goes into great detail about his one about what he did at

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_06]: Canines for Warriors, that I'll leave that for people to make their own

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_06]: judgment. But the part that I have found just as a burn, my saddle,

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_06]: the whole thing is about candidly is how he is stretched.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_06]: I wouldn't say the truth.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_06]: He's just been totally disingenuous with his resume.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_06]: And when you go online right now, if you go to the city is bio and you

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_06]: read his bio, it floors me about how he has just added to it.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_06]: And when you read about all the things that he has accomplished,

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_06]: I have to just say, you read the article and there's a little bit of stretching.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_06]: Fudging.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_06]: I got just quote some of this stuff in his resume.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_06]: He said he was an alumni of the White House and he was a deputy

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_06]: associate director for President George W. Bush during 9 11.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_06]: He asserts he asserts that he helped in quote, founding the U.S.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_06]: Office of Homeland Security and watch two wars unfold.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_06]: He said he was briefed that he worked for Governor

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_06]: Schwarzenegger in California.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_06]: He said he became a federal prosecutor for the U.S.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_06]: Department of Justice from 2011.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_06]: When you go back and look at this is really what it ended up.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_06]: During that time that he was at the quote White House, he was an unpaid intern.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_06]: He didn't do anything about creating Homeland Security candidly.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_06]: And he wasn't there when the two wars, it was in a different state.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_06]: What he did for Governor Schwarzenegger and Cal on you is up for again,

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_06]: up for real judgment.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_06]: And he was never a prosecutor and that.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_06]: And I think what's happened is if you will remember correctly.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_05]: Mike, wait a minute.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_05]: He was an intern just like he was in the White House.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_05]: Correct. Yeah, exactly.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_06]: And he was unpaid in all these jobs.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_06]: He was an unpaid intern.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I even saw a document from the Justice Department

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_05]: that responded to a question about whether or not

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_05]: he did what he claimed to have done at the Justice Department.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_05]: And the answer was a very emphatic note

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_05]: that he was an he was an unpaid member of staff member,

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_05]: which is quite to me being an intern or being a practice teacher.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_06]: My understanding from the polling that we've heard from Dr.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_06]: Mike Bender and all to the biggest issues that we're talking about in Jacksonville

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_06]: is affordable housing and homeless.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_06]: Both those are issues that the beaches area are confronted with.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_06]: And yet he votes against that and he's voting against it.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_06]: He has never ever voted in favor of the city budget.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_06]: Even during the couries, he always voted no.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_06]: This is a no guy.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_06]: And so what he's really trying to do is just be

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_06]: to the left to the right of everybody else

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_06]: so they can run as a conservative in the future.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_06]: And I think when we start talking about where we want Jacksonville to be

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_06]: and what we want there to be, it's about a quality of life.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_06]: That's what we want in Jacksonville.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_06]: We've got young people and two of the biggest issues here

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_06]: in Jacksonville is the homeless, which I think we're going to talk about,

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_06]: which is a safety issue in downtown Jacksonville and affordable housing.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_06]: My understanding is that there are

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_06]: thirty five hundred units of affordable housing needed in Jacksonville,

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_06]: which means there are twenty six thousand three hundred and fifty two

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_06]: people waiting for low income housing.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_06]: This is two of the things that Rory is against.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_06]: So when we talk about the quality of life and where we want our city to be,

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_06]: we have this person for only my observation.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_06]: Political reasons is saying no to the mayor

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_06]: about two issues that are important for the quality of life in Jacksonville.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_05]: So let's let Miller, let's let Mike, let's let Miller

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_05]: get in here and talk about these three issues, the homelessness,

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_05]: the workforce preparation and the third one.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_04]: And as all three of those areas were part of the CBA,

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_04]: the community benefits agreement that we did with the Jaguars,

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_04]: where the Jaguars were willing to give the city one hundred and fifty million

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_04]: dollars if we if we match that with the same

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_04]: hundred and fifty million dollars for the CBA.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_04]: As people probably know through this budget

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_04]: per props process that we've seen,

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_04]: the city council, including Lori Diamond, decided to carve out

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_04]: the CBA from the overall program of the of the

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_04]: stadium enhancements.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_04]: And as a result of that, we don't know if we're going to be ending up losing

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_04]: fifty million dollars from the Jaguars that they were willing to put in.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_04]: Let me just focus, if I can, on the homelessness for just a moment

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_04]: because there's an important issue with many people

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_04]: may have forgotten about or never known about.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_04]: Our state legislature back two years ago

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_04]: voted in favor of House Bill 1365.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_04]: 1365 says that homeless individuals are prohibited

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_04]: from camping on city streets, sidewalks and parks

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_04]: and instead placed in temporary shelters monitored by law enforcement agencies.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_04]: The state of Florida has enforcement tools needed to ensure local governments

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_04]: comply with that.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_04]: The interesting part about this is another one of those unfunded mandates

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_04]: where the state is saying you've got to do this,

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_04]: but we're not going to give you the money to do that.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_04]: What the mayor has done, and I haven't seen this publicized very much,

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_04]: and I'm just going to show this to the audience so they can see it.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_04]: This is it's called a new day homeless plan to address the passage of state law

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_04]: 1365. And this goes into great depth about some

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_04]: fourteen different points that the mayor feels must be addressed

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_04]: if we're going to get a handle on this homelessness issue.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_04]: The total cost for it 13.6 million dollars.

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_04]: But let's talk a little bit and hear for ourselves what this riff is between

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_04]: Diamond and a few other of the Republicans on this on the city council

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_04]: and what the mayor has to say. She's not going to take this down,

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_04]: take this sitting down and listen to this as you as we roll this tape.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I think you have individuals who spend a lot of time,

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_02]: frankly being part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's remember Rory Diamond disagreed.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: That's a piggy bank. I hope we never touch the mayor who's expected opposition

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_04]: from the Republican majority on the council, however, believes it's all politically motivated.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like starving your family so that you can keep more money in the bank

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_02]: than you really need.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And so I don't really understand it beyond the fact that I think some of it

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_02]: is simply politically motivated.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Honestly, it's an insult to the voters who put me into office.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_02]: People put me here because they trust me to do what I believe is best for the city.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: It is wildly fiscally irresponsible to transfer anything close to that.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_02]: At the end of the day, let me do my job.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_04]: And with that, we'll move on from the homelessness issue, but it's a very important issue.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_04]: Since it's not important.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_04]: I do hope we get some more play on this because it's a very good plan

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_04]: that really has not seen much publicity at all in the media.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_05]: A couple of things, Mike, when we drove into town today from Brooksville,

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_05]: you can't miss the homeless. They're everywhere.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_05]: And when we go over and visit our friend, Alan Blister, the historical society,

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_05]: we have to ride through and evade or an avoid

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_05]: people of the homeless all over the place over there.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_05]: And something's got to be done.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know that what the legislature has done is the right thing to do.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_05]: But it's been done and something else.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_05]: And something's got to be done about the homeless.

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_05]: There's no question about that.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_05]: And part of the squabble between Diamond and Deegan has to do with

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_05]: spending reserve funds.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_05]: And Donna talked about that when she was on our show,

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_05]: which reserve funds have always been

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_05]: sacrosanct and that started with consolidation.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_05]: Two when the first years of consolidation with Mayor Tansler,

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_05]: there were two or three things that you couldn't touch.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_05]: One of them was you can't you cannot touch reserve funds.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_05]: Another one was you could not raise the ad valorem.

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_05]: In fact, for years, the mayor bragged about every budget year,

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_05]: reducing the ad valorem and cutting employees.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_05]: And of course, as good as it sounded back then,

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_05]: we saw what happened, what it caused later on.

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_05]: Deegan has taken the approach that we need.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_05]: She's over. They've overfunded the reserve fund.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_05]: They put they got plenty of money in there.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_05]: We've got these needs to move the city forward.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_05]: And she wants to use some of those funds.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_05]: And all of a sudden, Mr. Diamond says, no,

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_05]: because he's not going to let that happen.

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know how he by himself stops that unless

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_05]: as other conversations been going on,

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_05]: they're not supposed to happen about law anyhow.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_06]: Mike, on that point, on the reserves,

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_06]: my understanding is that in reserves, we have three hundred

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_06]: and forty five million dollars in operating reserves

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_06]: and another hundred and twenty five thousand for emergency

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_06]: reserves, and which is almost so when you add this up,

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_06]: this is twice what we in order for the miss out to be

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_06]: for our rating. And by the way, our rating said now

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_06]: quite has gone up from Fitch.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_06]: Now, the amount of money that the mayor wants to use

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_06]: on these issues that we've talked about

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_06]: is forty forty seven point two from the reserves.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_06]: And you know what that amounts to is two point five percent

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_06]: out of the reserves for a quality of life, something

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_06]: that we need to move our community forward.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_06]: So to underscore what Mike over and what we're saying,

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_06]: being an obstructionist for the sake of being an obstructionist

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_06]: is not good for our community to move it forward.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_04]: I guess the question that we do have, our river,

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_04]: is that where do we think this is all going to take us?

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_05]: One of the problems that the mayor Dighan has is she

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_05]: is from the beaches.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_05]: And under a lot of normal circumstances on the mayors

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_05]: that we've known, if a councilman who represented the district

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_05]: was doing what Diamondwood is doing,

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_05]: that mayor would pop a whip and say your potholes

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_05]: are not going to get filled in your constituents

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_05]: are going to be calling you about it.

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_05]: But Donna, I don't think can do that because she's a

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_05]: so she's between a rock and a hard place, I believe.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_05]: That's got to be maybe some other things she can do,

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_05]: but I'm not sure what that would be.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_05]: But somebody needs to pick up a stick and get his attention.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_06]: One of the things that is we've talked about in the mayor

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_06]: is very good is that she is a great communicator.

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_06]: And what Mike Talbert has said on more than one occasion,

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_06]: you can never over communicate with the voter.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_06]: And I believe that she won.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_06]: She has a message in number two.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_06]: They're going to push her.

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_06]: And I think that, as we all know, she is very good in the media.

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_06]: And I would not take her on on something.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_06]: And also, as I remember what John Thrasher said,

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_06]: always tried to be the most reasonable person in the room.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_06]: And that will get you nine times out of ten.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_06]: You'll get there.

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_04]: Let's change the subject for a minute.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Flip it over.

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_04]: I got to tell you before you start this,

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_04]: I know where you're going to go with this thing.

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_04]: I must have received eight phone calls from friends

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_04]: who are out of state who have come to Florida

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_04]: for one reason or another.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_04]: And they have all said without exception,

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_04]: what the hell is that sign about?

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to the Free State of Florida.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_04]: I immediately refer them to Mark Woods's appearance

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_04]: on our show last week just to say if you really want to hear

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_04]: our absurdities, listen to what Mark Woods had to say.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_05]: This is not necessarily this is not necessarily

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_05]: about the Free State of Florida, but it is about slogans

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_05]: and logos and identification.

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_05]: On our last trip to Jacksonville,

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_05]: the previous trip to Jacksonville,

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_05]: we went to dinner at the Beach Bowl,

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_05]: a newly renovated Beach Bowl restaurant.

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_05]: How was that?

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_05]: It was wonderful.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_05]: Wasn't it really?

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_05]: Service sucked.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_05]: That's fresh.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_05]: That's getting used to it.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_05]: But when we walked in the door,

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_05]: we were greeted by at least a 30 foot tall photograph poster

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_05]: that was Mayor Tansler and Lee Meredith,

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_05]: the actress Lee Meredith,

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_05]: putting the city moving the city limits sign all the way out.

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_05]: And there was a sign that said right there,

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_05]: welcome to the bold new city of the South.

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. Now.

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_05]: What concerns me is people to this day,

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_05]: all these years later, even though we've gone through slogan

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_05]: after slogan after slogan,

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_05]: people still refer to Jacksonville as the bold new city

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_05]: of the South.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_05]: At the time they put that sign up there and created that slogan.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_05]: It was all about a new consolidate government,

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_05]: but it was not real.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_05]: It was not applicable to a lot of things

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_05]: that were going on negatively in Jacksonville.

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_05]: Today, I really believe Jacksonville is the bold new city

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_05]: of the South instead of tinkering around

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_05]: with all these damn logos and slogans.

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_05]: Let's let me find the list here.

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_05]: River City.

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_05]: River City, Florida's first coast.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_05]: Where Florida begins.

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_05]: It's easier here.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_05]: And now we're the flip side of Florida.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_05]: And I had to get this out of my crawl.

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_05]: You get a burr, I got a burr.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_05]: Because I've been in this business for a long time

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_05]: and what we don't, what we miss understanding is

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_05]: there's a difference between an advertising campaign

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_05]: for tourism and an identity for the city.

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_05]: A lasting identity for the city.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_05]: I love New York.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_05]: Think about it, the windy city.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_05]: Virginia is for lovers.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_05]: Virginia is for lovers.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_05]: But you got all these cities that have these names that have stuck.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_05]: And we keep fishing around here.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_05]: And when we, I think we got one in our lap

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_05]: that was a gift to us 60 years ago almost.

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_05]: And we ought to take advantage of it.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_05]: That, now I'm off my soapbox.

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_04]: Do you know what the official slogan is

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_04]: for the state of Florida guys?

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_04]: You know what it is?

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_04]: It's in God with trust.

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_04]: Really?

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_04]: That is the official slogan of the state of Florida's in God we trust.

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_04]: I want to go.

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_04]: Let's go back.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_04]: We had Michael Corrigan, the CEO.

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_04]: By the way, the reason they have that

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_04]: is because everyone who comes here leaves all their money here.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_04]: We're taking it from the dollar bill and putting it on our slogan.

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_05]: When Michael Corrigan, the CEO of Visit Jacksonville

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_05]: was our guest recently

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_05]: and he started talking about this new slogan, the flip side of Florida

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_05]: and why they were going to why they were making this change.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_05]: What this was all about.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_05]: And let's play that tape.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_03]: That's 100 percent the challenge that we face every single day.

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_03]: The good news is Jacksonville's 840 square miles.

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_03]: The bad news is Jacksonville's 840 square.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_03]: And we obviously do a lot of research on who comes to visit us,

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_03]: why they come to visit us and everything else.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_03]: And the reality is there is no one thing.

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_03]: There is no one reason people come to Jacksonville.

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_05]: Again, I said one of the end with this

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_05]: iconic identifies for a city

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_05]: are very different than a slogan for an advertising campaign.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_05]: And somehow we got to figure that out and get on with business.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_04]: Let's have some fun.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_04]: It's obvious that we three happen to be

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_04]: of the senior citizen genre.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_04]: OK, that's obvious.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_04]: I may not be to some of you who've seen our faces and think,

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_04]: no, they can't be that old.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_04]: Actually, most of you are looking at us and say, really?

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_06]: Those are the those must be the ones you need glasses.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_04]: And it's obvious that we as seniors and a lot of water has flowed

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_04]: underneath our bridges over the last several decades.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_04]: We've all done different things in our lives

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_04]: and had reasonably successful careers, I think.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_04]: But when we were young and we were growing up,

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_04]: the question always comes from our family.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_04]: My father used to be the one.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_04]: What do you want to be when you grow up?

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_04]: What do you want to do when you grow up?

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_04]: I'll end it, but you guys go ahead and start.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_05]: I'll start it when I was a kid

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_05]: and play in Little League Baseball.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_05]: I wanted to be a Yankees outfielder.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_05]: Ah, that was my goal.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_05]: And then when I found out I couldn't hit the curveball,

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_05]: it was vanished.

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_04]: You and Mickey Mantle.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_05]: But I always like to write and I can remember

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_05]: when I think I was in junior high school

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_05]: and I was working for the city recreation department

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_05]: during the summer at a particular park,

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_05]: I created a column for the daily newspaper

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_05]: called Nicky Northside.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_05]: When I would write weekly about what went on the park

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_05]: that was kids.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_05]: And about that same time, I was babysitting

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_05]: at neighborhood kids.

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_05]: And so I put together a Memeograph newsletter

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_05]: for parents telling them what their kids did

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_05]: and how much fun they had

[00:21:17] [SPEAKER_05]: and all those kind of things.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_05]: So that kind of got me into business.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_05]: And so I made a great choice.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_05]: I went to Alwin University that did not have a school,

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_05]: a journalism school or writing school.

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_05]: So everything I did was just hands on.

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_05]: I ended up in Little Rock, Arkansas in college

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_05]: and as a sports editor, sports reporter

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_05]: put the newspaper right there.

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_05]: And one thing led to another

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_05]: and then when I got to Jacksonville

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_05]: shortly after getting here, I got into politics.

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_05]: So who the hell knows what you're gonna be

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_05]: when you grow up?

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_05]: That's true.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_05]: What about you, hi, Tower?

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_06]: Believe it or not, goes back to high school.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_06]: All I really wanted to do

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_06]: because of the teachers I had

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_06]: was want to be a history teacher.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_06]: That's really what happened.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_06]: And then I got bitten by the political bug.

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_06]: And as you all know from the young Democrats

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_06]: working for Jimmy Carter

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_06]: and then being taken across to the Republican line

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_06]: by Ronald Reagan and then spending the last,

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_06]: I don't know, Mr. Talbert has been doing it 55 years.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_06]: I guess I've been doing it 53 years

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_06]: and just been involved.

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_06]: And then from that, it's just from the folks

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_06]: of the people who helped me along,

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_06]: wanted to take it back

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_06]: and try to be a mentor and a coach

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_06]: or get people to be coaches for the next generation.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_06]: And I guess that's just using all the good things

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_06]: that these people have done

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_06]: and then their historical life's journey

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_06]: is sharing that with the mentoring program

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_06]: all the emerging leaders programs.

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_06]: But coming full circle, having met Talbert in 1972

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_06]: and here we are back here when we're still youthful.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_06]: Maybe not looking for youthful.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_06]: And here we are back here on this thing

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_06]: talking about one history at Jacksonville

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_06]: and talking about what's gonna be happening in the future.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_06]: Unbelievable how it comes full circle.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_06]: And then Mr. Miller come to find out,

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_06]: you and I were on the same road with Jimmy Carter

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_06]: and all the times we spent with Larry Delaney with Talbert.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_06]: You think about Jacksonville,

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_06]: the two degrees of separation

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_06]: and that's what really makes those back to what Talbert said.

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_06]: But it's a unique city with the bold new city.

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_06]: We got a lot going for us.

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_06]: We need to build on them, break new things we got

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_06]: and the friends we got.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_04]: My growing up and my ultimate vocation came from my father

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_04]: when I was about 12 years old.

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_04]: We used to watch the Tonight Show all the time.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_04]: At that time of course, Carson was still on.

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_04]: And I never forgot my dad once looking at me

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_04]: and saying someday Michael,

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_04]: I want Ed McMahon to say here's Mike

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_04]: instead of here's Johnny.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_04]: And that just stuck with me ever since then.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_04]: And of course here's Mike.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_04]: Exactly.

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_04]: And here's right now.

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_04]: There it is.

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, my father always saw me

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_04]: and he always thought the epitome would be

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_04]: if I starred on the Tonight Show.

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_04]: That's what he wanted.

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_05]: I was gonna say, I hope your dad has not pissed off

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_05]: that instead of hitting up with Johnny Carson,

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_05]: you ended up with us.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_06]: You gave what you paid for, unfortunately Mr. Miller.

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, this has been fun guys.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you so much.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_04]: That's good.

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_04]: Always good to have you all here.

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Mike Tolbert and EYE TOWER.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_04]: We'll see you when you come back in.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_04]: And we want to thank all of you for joining us.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_04]: And once again, of course remind you

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_04]: that we wouldn't be able to do this program

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_04]: if it weren't for the generosity of our friends

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_04]: at the Jacksonville History Center

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_04]: and the Historical Society.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_04]: Our thanks to Alan Bliss and the donors

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_04]: who keep the cameras rolling and keep the lights on.

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_04]: We'll see you again next week everybody.

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_04]: Have a good week.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Mike's on EYE.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_00]: With Mike Tolbert, Mike EYE TOWER

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and Mike Miller can be found on your favorite

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_00]: podcasting platform, Facebook and YouTube.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Visit the website at mikesonmike.com.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Join us next time for more conversation

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_00]: with Mike's on Mike.