[00:00:02] Mikes on Mic, a conversation about politics, government and Jacksonville.
[00:00:08] With 50-year opinion leaders Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, an award-winning broadcaster
[00:00:13] and longtime political observer Mike Miller.
[00:00:16] Once again to another episode of Mikes on Mic.
[00:00:19] Mike Miller, nice to have you with us.
[00:00:21] Mike Hightower of course is with us here in studio.
[00:00:23] Mike Tolbert is back at his farm and we've got a special guest joining us today and
[00:00:28] we're delighted to have her with us.
[00:00:30] This is Mari Koriayishi.
[00:00:31] I hope I got that correct.
[00:00:33] President of the Jesse Ball DuPont Fund and thank you so very much for joining us and coming
[00:00:38] here today.
[00:00:39] We appreciate it.
[00:00:39] Thank you for having me.
[00:00:40] Before Mari had moved to Jacksonville to join the fund, she co-founded the crowdfunding
[00:00:46] Philanthropy Global Giving.
[00:00:48] Do us a favor, give us some background on that a little bit because I understand that
[00:00:53] that really had some bearing on you moving to Jacksonville, correct?
[00:00:56] Can we do that?
[00:00:57] How about a quick bio?
[00:00:58] Give us a little idea of where you started, how you got there.
[00:01:02] OK, I am Japanese, born in Japan.
[00:01:08] I happened to my parents moved around.
[00:01:12] So I grew up in Italy, Japan and Germany before landing here, came here for college,
[00:01:21] became a Sovietatologist.
[00:01:24] I went that dates me.
[00:01:30] I went to graduate school, studied Soviet history, Soviet politics, Soviet economics.
[00:01:36] And then in the midst of my degree, the Soviet Union fell apart and political
[00:01:41] science failed to predict that that was going to happen.
[00:01:44] And I was like, I think it's time for me to get a job.
[00:01:48] I went and got a job at the World Bank, which was I knew nothing about the World
[00:01:54] Bank, but they were looking for Russia specialists.
[00:01:56] And I showed up there and got to have an amazing career working on Russian
[00:02:03] liberalization, privatization, democracy.
[00:02:08] It was Russia country officer and then ended up doing some corporate strategy
[00:02:14] work for the World Bank, at which point we, my co-founder and I sort of figured
[00:02:20] out that there were ways in which the international development industry could
[00:02:26] innovate and it wasn't going to happen in the World Bank.
[00:02:30] So we should leave the World Bank and start this crowdfunding platform.
[00:02:34] And that was in at the end of 2000.
[00:02:38] Seemed like a good time, right?
[00:02:39] That was the first dot com boom followed very shortly by the recession
[00:02:45] course by the dot com bus.
[00:02:48] Timing is everything.
[00:02:50] But we had started global giving by then.
[00:02:53] There were a couple lean years, but we made our way through it and it is now
[00:02:59] a crowdfunding platform that has delivered over $900 million to 175 different countries,
[00:03:09] 30,000 plus organizations around the world from million donors and up.
[00:03:19] And that was premised on the idea that there were lots of great ideas in the world,
[00:03:30] but not always a resources to realize them.
[00:03:32] And so we wanted to come up with a platform to figure out how to get
[00:03:36] resources there and we figured that the internet would provide a way for
[00:03:42] people to become as familiar with the orphanage in Rwanda as they would be
[00:03:51] with the Boy Scout troop down the street.
[00:03:54] And by leveraging people's sense of proximity through the internet, we could
[00:04:00] get resources there.
[00:04:02] And so what global giving does is it vets these organizations, make sure
[00:04:05] that they're so legit, promotes the communication between donor and recipient
[00:04:12] and gives donors a lot of choices about where they can put their money.
[00:04:17] How is that part determined?
[00:04:20] They choose where they want to put the money and you facilitate it.
[00:04:23] Yeah. Wow.
[00:04:25] So that's global giving.
[00:04:27] That's global giving and it's still going strong today.
[00:04:30] And are you still a part of it even though you're on the board?
[00:04:33] Okay.
[00:04:34] And then you got from there to here?
[00:04:36] Yes.
[00:04:37] I was recruited to head up the Jesse Ball DuPont fund and thought it was
[00:04:43] a interesting gig.
[00:04:45] It is an interesting gig.
[00:04:47] Thank you.
[00:04:47] Mr. Tovert.
[00:04:49] Yeah, let's start with some basics.
[00:04:52] Tell us who Jesse Ball DuPont was and tell us a little bit of the
[00:04:57] history of the fund.
[00:04:59] Sure.
[00:05:00] Jesse Ball DuPont was the third wife of Alfred I DuPont.
[00:05:05] And Alfred I DuPont is part of that famous DuPont family gun powder
[00:05:12] chemicals that company.
[00:05:16] She got married to Alfred when she was 39.
[00:05:20] By that point, she was the vice principal of a high school out in
[00:05:25] California.
[00:05:26] She had been supporting her family.
[00:05:29] And the ball in her name refers to the ball family of the northern
[00:05:34] neck of Virginia.
[00:05:36] You may recall that George Washington's mother was a ball,
[00:05:41] married ball Washington same ball family.
[00:05:45] So, you know, Mayflower, Blue Blood, you know, daughter of the
[00:05:51] American Revolution, the ball family has a long lineage.
[00:05:59] She and Alfred did not have children.
[00:06:04] And she became his business partner and confidant.
[00:06:10] And as you can see from the fact that she was, you know, for the
[00:06:13] vice principal of a high school, by the time she got married to
[00:06:16] Alfred, she was, you know, a professional woman.
[00:06:19] And by then, even though she didn't have a whole lot of
[00:06:23] money had developed habits of philanthropy, she got into the
[00:06:26] habit of supporting students that came through her schools to
[00:06:30] go to college.
[00:06:31] And so she had been doing what she could to support students.
[00:06:36] She believed strongly that education was an escalator for
[00:06:40] social and economic mobility, and that this was an important
[00:06:44] thing to do.
[00:06:45] Now when she married Alfred, she had access to a lot more
[00:06:47] funds.
[00:06:48] And in her lifetime, she gave away more than, you know,
[00:06:52] what in today's dollars should be $100 million.
[00:06:54] So she was a generous philanthropist, a woman who, you know,
[00:07:03] took part in business decisions alongside her husband as well
[00:07:06] as her brother at ball and practiced philanthropy in her
[00:07:11] lifetime and set aside money upon her death to set up that
[00:07:15] what is now the Jesse Ball DuPont fund.
[00:07:19] She was also a committed segregationist.
[00:07:25] And she in her philanthropy made choices that indicated she
[00:07:32] gave to many of the institutions that she thought would hold
[00:07:36] the line against integration.
[00:07:39] And she felt very strongly that, you know, if integration
[00:07:47] was followed through the world, the world would fall apart.
[00:07:50] Can you tell us what years we're talking about here?
[00:07:52] Because obviously that was certainly a period of our
[00:07:54] history, but what years are we talking about here when it
[00:07:57] comes to Brown versus Board of Education in 1954?
[00:08:02] The her will states that we can give to the organization
[00:08:05] she gave to between 1960 and 1965.
[00:08:09] Right.
[00:08:10] So that's 300 plus organizations on that list.
[00:08:14] And many of especially in the educational space, they
[00:08:19] represent her judgment about how important it was for white
[00:08:23] children to go to schools with only other white children.
[00:08:26] Not only were there higher ed institutions on the list,
[00:08:31] there were segregation academies, which it's a sort of
[00:08:36] term of art.
[00:08:38] Academies that were set up in the wake of the Brown versus
[00:08:42] Board of Education decision to allow white families to
[00:08:47] continue to send their kids to schools that were limited
[00:08:51] to white students.
[00:08:53] Those are segregation academies.
[00:08:55] And so one famous one is in Prince Edward County in
[00:09:00] Virginia, the Fuqua School today it's called.
[00:09:03] Then back then it was known as Prince Edward Academy.
[00:09:06] She was one of the funders who helped stand that
[00:09:09] school up.
[00:09:11] And in Prince Edward County, they close the public schools
[00:09:15] rather than integrate them.
[00:09:17] You know, the 64 Civil Rights Act must have really
[00:09:19] thrown a wrench into that whole thought process.
[00:09:23] Yeah.
[00:09:24] I mean, because even as private institutions, you could no
[00:09:26] longer correct.
[00:09:28] Yeah.
[00:09:29] It's segregation.
[00:09:31] And so this is one of the things we are, you know,
[00:09:36] sort of digging into trying to understand the parameters
[00:09:39] of her grant making and the extent to which she may
[00:09:43] have harmed people in her grant making not withstanding
[00:09:45] the incredible generosity.
[00:09:47] Some of it was designed to exclude and trying to figure
[00:09:52] out what we can do to repair some of those harms.
[00:09:55] What's been interesting is that sure, you know, those
[00:09:59] institutions at the time were holding fast against
[00:10:01] integration that included institutions like the
[00:10:04] University of the South.
[00:10:06] Today, fast forward decades later, the University of
[00:10:10] the South is having his own reckoning.
[00:10:13] Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, which
[00:10:16] she also played a very major hand in rescuing, was a
[00:10:22] institution that originally was designed to sort of
[00:10:25] glorify Robert E. Lee and his family, Harry Lightfoot
[00:10:30] Lee and Robert E. Lee.
[00:10:32] Today, it is a place where you can learn about everyone
[00:10:38] who set foot in Stratford Hall, not just the Lee family.
[00:10:44] And for many years there were far more African
[00:10:46] Americans who went through Stratford Hall than the
[00:10:49] white owners of Stratford Hall.
[00:10:52] So each of these institutions that she picked back
[00:10:55] then is on its own journey around unpacking its
[00:11:00] legacy. And you know, we're lucky to be able to
[00:11:03] support those organizations as they sort of come to
[00:11:06] terms with it because we're trying to do the same thing.
[00:11:09] Yeah.
[00:11:12] I'm still just taking back what she said.
[00:11:16] All right. So given what you're attempting to do
[00:11:21] with the Jesse Ball Fund and given what what her
[00:11:25] priorities were and then given all the neat things
[00:11:29] that you're doing now, how have you thread that needle?
[00:11:34] I mean, when you got here, I mean, speaking as I shared
[00:11:38] with you earlier, I'm one of those folks who when I
[00:11:42] got to Jacksonville or when we finally heard about
[00:11:44] Jesse Ball, it was like talking about Mother Teresa.
[00:11:48] And I don't mean that to be disrespectful, but all
[00:11:50] the things she did.
[00:11:51] But now, given your background, given what you
[00:11:54] have accomplished before you got here and now in
[00:11:58] charge of this, have you been able to thread that
[00:12:01] needle so successfully?
[00:12:02] Because I know we're going to be asking you about some
[00:12:04] of the things that the fund has done.
[00:12:06] How have you been able to thread that needle?
[00:12:09] You know, shows great leadership, but how have
[00:12:11] you been able to do it?
[00:12:13] You know, there's a narrative through lying to
[00:12:16] this. She cared very much about where she came
[00:12:21] from. She was a proud Virginian.
[00:12:23] Right.
[00:12:26] When in addition to the organization she gave to
[00:12:29] between 1916 and 1964, there's another clause in her
[00:12:32] will that says we can give for the temporary
[00:12:34] relief of people in need in Florida, Virginia
[00:12:37] and Delaware.
[00:12:39] Now, she could have chosen to write a will
[00:12:41] that says I care about higher ed.
[00:12:43] I used to be a vice principal of a high
[00:12:45] school and I think, you know, education is
[00:12:48] a path to prosperity.
[00:12:49] She didn't do that.
[00:12:51] She made reference to the states of Florida,
[00:12:54] Virginia and Delaware.
[00:12:57] And I think it shows a real attachment to place.
[00:13:00] Well, you know, when I first went to the
[00:13:02] northern neck to sort of visit grantees up
[00:13:04] there, the northern neck of Virginia, that is,
[00:13:07] you know, we drove through Epping Forest.
[00:13:10] Now, for those of you who live here in Jacksonville,
[00:13:12] you know, Epping Forest is the
[00:13:15] is the mansion on the St.
[00:13:18] John's River that used to be her house,
[00:13:21] her and Alfred's house.
[00:13:23] That is now a club and all that.
[00:13:26] We know Epping Forest as that beautiful
[00:13:29] house on the river.
[00:13:31] She remembered Epping Forest as this
[00:13:34] location up in the northern neck of Virginia.
[00:13:37] And that in turn, of course, refers to
[00:13:39] a place in England.
[00:13:40] But so she believed very strongly
[00:13:45] that place mattered.
[00:13:50] Take that and take her commitment
[00:13:54] to philanthropy and generosity.
[00:13:57] And I think our mission today makes sense.
[00:14:00] We build communities of belonging
[00:14:04] in the places and institutions that Jesse loved.
[00:14:07] So our intent is to
[00:14:12] double click on Jesse's commitment to place
[00:14:16] her but to say that we create communities
[00:14:19] of belonging in an attempt to redress
[00:14:23] her exclusionary tendencies that were
[00:14:27] manifest through racial segregation
[00:14:29] and her opposition to integration.
[00:14:31] Because we today believe firmly
[00:14:35] that everyone has something to offer,
[00:14:39] but they don't bring solutions to the table
[00:14:42] unless they feel included.
[00:14:44] I mean, why should you get together to
[00:14:47] try and solve, you know, problems like homelessness?
[00:14:51] If you don't feel like you're included in the community.
[00:14:53] Well, let's do what we can to make people
[00:14:57] feel included and we will leverage
[00:15:00] everyone's talent and creativity towards
[00:15:02] solving some of the, you know, problems
[00:15:05] that we have in our communities.
[00:15:07] And that to me is like the best way
[00:15:11] we can honor Jesse's love for the communities like Jacksonville.
[00:15:18] Interesting. Mr.
[00:15:20] Talbert.
[00:15:22] Well, speaking of communities,
[00:15:24] Maury, I'd like to talk about LaVilla.
[00:15:29] LaVilla, we all know the world.
[00:15:31] We know the name LaVilla.
[00:15:32] We've heard it for years and years and years,
[00:15:34] but mostly we talk about it in the context of its history
[00:15:38] and then hope for promise.
[00:15:42] For people who don't know, LaVilla is adjacent to downtown
[00:15:46] and really part of downtown.
[00:15:48] It was it was a place where enslaved people
[00:15:53] escaped to and moved there at one point.
[00:15:56] And another time in its history, it was
[00:16:00] it was where it was the Harlem of the South.
[00:16:04] It was where considered the Harlem of the South
[00:16:06] and it was where incredible musicians like Rachel Orles
[00:16:10] and Dizzy Gillespie and you can go on and on
[00:16:13] where they could form.
[00:16:15] Yes.
[00:16:16] And how is how is the DuPont fun involved in LaVilla
[00:16:21] if you are?
[00:16:22] We are involved in LaVilla
[00:16:24] and it came about through a request from the city
[00:16:29] fairly early after I came here, the city said,
[00:16:32] can you help us make sure that this park
[00:16:37] that we're thinking about
[00:16:39] on the site of the Johnson Brothers Homestead
[00:16:44] where they were born and grew up
[00:16:47] is a success and happens in the right way
[00:16:51] in a way that includes the community
[00:16:55] in the decision making process.
[00:16:57] So we said, yeah, that sounds great.
[00:16:58] We're committed to placemaking.
[00:17:00] We think public spaces where diverse people
[00:17:04] can come together and learn about each other
[00:17:06] is one of the ways in which we create communities
[00:17:09] of belonging.
[00:17:10] So that's straight up our alley.
[00:17:12] The city is a grantee so we can do this work.
[00:17:17] And as I got engaged in the work
[00:17:20] and lift every voice and sing
[00:17:22] and when Parks and Rec identified Walter Hood,
[00:17:26] MacArthur Award winning genius urban landscape designer
[00:17:32] to design the park.
[00:17:34] We held a lot of conversations around
[00:17:38] what should be in the park.
[00:17:39] We made sure to include Lloyd Washington
[00:17:42] who was the person who pushed for decades
[00:17:46] to have this park come to life.
[00:17:50] We also went in fundraise for it
[00:17:53] but what was so amazing about getting involved
[00:17:57] and lift every voice and sing is that history
[00:17:59] that you make reference to.
[00:18:01] Like it was the Harlem of the South.
[00:18:04] It became that because during the Civil War
[00:18:09] the Union soldiers, many of whom were escaped slaves
[00:18:16] were bevwacked in La Ville at Fort Hatch.
[00:18:20] And when the war was over
[00:18:22] notwithstanding the fact that there were, say,
[00:18:24] part of the Massachusetts 54th
[00:18:26] they weren't gonna go back to Massachusetts
[00:18:27] to cold up there.
[00:18:29] Okay?
[00:18:30] They wanna stay South.
[00:18:32] And they're like, well, we're demobbed here in Jacksonville
[00:18:35] so let's go back to where we were bevwacked
[00:18:38] Fort Hatch which then becomes La Ville
[00:18:42] and ultimately the railroad station
[00:18:45] comes right into La Ville for a while.
[00:18:48] It was the southernmost point of the Eastern Seaboard Rail.
[00:18:53] So you even see that story in James Olden Johnson's novel
[00:18:58] you know, autobiography on Next Collar Man.
[00:19:02] He sort of ends up in Jacksonville
[00:19:04] because it's the end of the line
[00:19:05] and he rolls out and gets a job being a lecturer
[00:19:09] at a Cuban American cigar factory, right?
[00:19:15] He learns to read Spanish
[00:19:16] and he's reading the news
[00:19:17] and the Cuban cigar factory
[00:19:19] which is to say that part of town
[00:19:22] in addition to all the artistic format.
[00:19:24] You know, I have Cubans,
[00:19:25] I had Chinese railway workers
[00:19:28] I had the formerly enslaved
[00:19:32] the first synagogue in Jacksonville
[00:19:34] went up in La Ville before it moved to Springfield
[00:19:38] and then ultimately down to Mandarin.
[00:19:40] So it was this multicultural hub
[00:19:44] that became, you know, the Harlem
[00:19:48] it had attracted all sorts of artistic people
[00:19:52] Augusta Savage, you know, Ray Charles from St. Augustine
[00:19:56] and the idea that when you drive through La Ville
[00:20:02] it's like a whole bunch of grass lots, right?
[00:20:06] There's not much there because urban renewal
[00:20:10] did away with a lot of the built environment in La Ville.
[00:20:14] How can we not lose the memory,
[00:20:19] the collective consciousness that this used to be
[00:20:23] this incredibly vibrant place?
[00:20:25] How can we recreate that feeling?
[00:20:27] The La Ville School of the Arts being there is great.
[00:20:30] You know, I can attest my son went there
[00:20:33] their jazz bands are amazing
[00:20:35] and, you know, leveraging that talent
[00:20:39] leveraging the fact that Lift Every Voice in Sing Park
[00:20:43] is going to be there
[00:20:43] and then JTA's headquarters is right there
[00:20:46] and the Ritz of course
[00:20:47] and the Ritz Museum and theater is there.
[00:20:51] And now, you know, we're beginning to see
[00:20:54] the model mile of the Emerald Trail going through there.
[00:20:59] Can we make sure that and Stanton High School
[00:21:02] the old Stanton High School is still there
[00:21:05] and there are plans to renovate that too?
[00:21:08] Can we make sure that as the area revives
[00:21:13] we retain that sense of history
[00:21:16] so that we don't forget
[00:21:18] that some of the most illustrious people
[00:21:20] who lived in Jacksonville live right there in La Ville
[00:21:24] and, you know, we want to recreate Augusta Savages
[00:21:27] the harp which she pulled together for the World's Fair.
[00:21:31] There is no living sculpture left of the harp
[00:21:36] because she didn't have enough money to turn it into bronze.
[00:21:39] She just had a plaster version 16 foot tall
[00:21:42] and then the end of the fair
[00:21:43] they just like bulldozed it
[00:21:45] because, you know, you can't move a plaster statue
[00:21:49] without, you know, potentially damaging it.
[00:21:52] So wouldn't it be amazing for Jacksonville
[00:21:55] to recreate that and set it up somewhere in La Ville
[00:21:59] so that we can remember Augusta Savages
[00:22:02] sort of passage through La Ville
[00:22:06] and, you know, there's just so much we could do
[00:22:10] to it should be a source of pride for us.
[00:22:15] You teed it up so I'm going to go ahead and jump in on it
[00:22:18] but as long as we're talking about statues for just a moment
[00:22:22] can you tell us how does the fun get involved?
[00:22:25] How did they get involved
[00:22:26] in the whole Springfield women of the South Memorial
[00:22:31] and with the money that was donated privately going through you
[00:22:35] and I know forward, how did that all come about?
[00:22:39] We actually have been in conversations
[00:22:41] with a number of city council presidents
[00:22:44] about the statue and what to do about it.
[00:22:49] Sam Newby, Terrence Freeman, you know
[00:22:52] and this was in part as the fund
[00:22:56] but in also part through my involvement to the civic council
[00:23:00] because the city council turned to the civic council said
[00:23:03] so how should we do deal with the statue?
[00:23:05] And we said why don't you hold some conversations?
[00:23:08] We could, we the fund could pay for facilitated discussions
[00:23:13] and we have some people from some universities
[00:23:16] that have done this and, you know, we'd be happy to do it.
[00:23:20] In the event, you know, sort of life got in the way
[00:23:23] of having these conversations
[00:23:25] and so when we were having the conversation
[00:23:28] with city council, you know
[00:23:33] the mayoral elections were going on
[00:23:36] and in fact, you know, Mayor Deegan had said
[00:23:40] she was gonna take him down.
[00:23:42] That was one of her planks of her platform.
[00:23:45] Daniel also said that he wasn't gonna use public money
[00:23:49] to take down the women of the Southland.
[00:23:53] So he wasn't as explicit about taking them down
[00:23:56] but it wasn't entirely clear
[00:23:58] that he wasn't going to take them down.
[00:24:01] And so when we had an administration
[00:24:03] because we had, you know, been in conversations
[00:24:07] with the Korean administration which then said,
[00:24:10] hey by the way, the money is now under control
[00:24:12] of city council so talk to city council
[00:24:14] which is why we were talking
[00:24:15] to the president of the city council.
[00:24:17] Right.
[00:24:18] So when that happened and the mayor said,
[00:24:24] yes, I do intend to take it down
[00:24:26] and I like Daniel don't wanna use public funds for it.
[00:24:29] Then we said, okay, then we will ask our trustees
[00:24:34] if we could take a role in funding
[00:24:40] the removal of this statue.
[00:24:45] You know, it's, you know,
[00:24:49] I think it took to somewhat answer Mike
[00:24:54] even though we're supposed to only give observation
[00:24:56] besides the perceptions.
[00:24:58] It's really hard first not to editorialize on that
[00:25:00] but it kind of goes back to
[00:25:03] good when you go back and talk about the vision
[00:25:06] or what Jesse Ball was trying to do about place.
[00:25:09] All right, you had the quote legislative
[00:25:12] and the executive saying, well,
[00:25:14] the money and they're going back and forth.
[00:25:16] To me it was there you all were.
[00:25:19] You took a vision and the mission
[00:25:21] and you threaded the needle, it's about place.
[00:25:24] You found a way to take it off the table.
[00:25:26] I think when it's all said and done,
[00:25:28] I think Donna and the private sector
[00:25:31] who's helped you with this.
[00:25:33] They've done the city and incredible.
[00:25:36] I think they've done them a favor
[00:25:38] because as our good friend Pam Paul
[00:25:40] who's a great friend of the three of us
[00:25:43] said build a bridge get over it and move on.
[00:25:45] We got more important things to do
[00:25:48] and you can Monday morning quarterback
[00:25:54] and Mike Talbert and I have been around
[00:25:56] 50 some odd years and watched this back and forth.
[00:25:59] But at some point you gotta say, let's move on.
[00:26:03] And you can always say
[00:26:05] would it could have showed her the way it happened?
[00:26:07] But at the end of the day, it's moved on.
[00:26:10] There was a reason and what we're gonna do
[00:26:12] is come together and move on, move forward
[00:26:15] because some of the other projects.
[00:26:17] I love Pam too.
[00:26:20] Yeah.
[00:26:21] She is a wonderful friend of us.
[00:26:26] She's just been fantastic.
[00:26:28] She'll be glad to hear all this.
[00:26:29] Yes, she really will.
[00:26:31] She will be.
[00:26:31] Can I change the subject quickly?
[00:26:33] Yes, that's a favorite line of his.
[00:26:35] If he doesn't say it at least once or show
[00:26:37] we're in trouble.
[00:26:38] Go ahead buddy.
[00:26:39] Well, Mari would you spend a couple of minutes
[00:26:42] telling us about the riverfront activation plan
[00:26:44] that you guys had put together?
[00:26:46] How did that happen?
[00:26:47] And what do you think the promise of that is?
[00:26:50] Sure.
[00:26:50] So that's another instance where the city
[00:26:53] came to us and said, can you help us?
[00:26:56] We have a lot of public land on the riverfront.
[00:27:01] We believe that a good part of the riverfront
[00:27:06] is private.
[00:27:07] There are private houses, clubs, whatever
[00:27:09] along the riverfront.
[00:27:11] But a good part of the land on the river
[00:27:15] in downtown is public.
[00:27:20] So we plan to have a number of signature parks
[00:27:25] along the river.
[00:27:27] We would like you, your help in figuring out
[00:27:31] what people wanna do on the river.
[00:27:34] So we said great again.
[00:27:36] It fits into what we believe around public spaces
[00:27:40] and creating the conditions for inclusion.
[00:27:45] So we worked with a couple of design consultants.
[00:27:51] We worked with Groundwork Chats
[00:27:54] who helped us reach out into the community.
[00:27:56] We ran surveys, we did events like walks
[00:28:00] along the river and river taxi rides
[00:28:03] where we solicited people's opinions about what to do.
[00:28:09] And in the process, I too went out
[00:28:12] into church basements on Wednesday evenings
[00:28:14] and sat down with the people and said,
[00:28:15] what would you like to do on the river?
[00:28:18] And there's a thick report that covers all our discoveries
[00:28:26] but there are a number of challenges.
[00:28:28] People want to spend time on the river.
[00:28:31] They don't spend time on the river
[00:28:34] and there's a question there to be unpacked.
[00:28:36] Is it because it's not easy to get to?
[00:28:39] Is it because the spaces that currently exist
[00:28:42] don't let them do what they want to do?
[00:28:45] I think it's a combination of all of those things.
[00:28:49] And what we ended up pulling together
[00:28:52] is a bunch of these insights
[00:28:56] and DIA has adopted them as part of its overall plan.
[00:29:01] And it wasn't like this park should have these amenities.
[00:29:05] It was, these are the things people want to do.
[00:29:07] Let's ensure that some combination of all the parks
[00:29:11] allows people top on the list, for instance, was
[00:29:14] we want to eat on the riverfront.
[00:29:17] And it came from four-star dining
[00:29:21] to I want to be able to grill some hot dogs and
[00:29:29] hamburgers to have a family reunion on the river.
[00:29:32] So obviously we need to design for four-star dining
[00:29:37] down to bring your own barbecue stuff
[00:29:40] and have it on the river.
[00:29:42] To, we want to be able to exercise on the river.
[00:29:46] We want to be able to meditate
[00:29:48] and just sort of absorb nature on the river.
[00:29:52] We want to bring our kids to the river
[00:29:55] and to bring kids, it has to be safe.
[00:29:58] There has to be something for them to do.
[00:30:00] Older people said we want access to the river.
[00:30:03] So then we need to make sure that
[00:30:05] it's not dangerous for people on a wheelchair
[00:30:08] to try and get to the river.
[00:30:10] So all of these things are included
[00:30:12] in the activation plan.
[00:30:16] And I've been very pleased to see them integrated
[00:30:19] into the different plans that are coming together
[00:30:22] for Shipyards West, for Riverfront Plaza
[00:30:27] and for the little music park
[00:30:29] that's near the Performing Arts Center.
[00:30:31] So a lot of different places
[00:30:33] are beginning to integrate that all
[00:30:35] and when they can be all connected
[00:30:37] from Memorial Park to Metropolitan
[00:30:41] with an actual river walk.
[00:30:43] It'll be an amazing amenity for the city
[00:30:47] and for those of us who aren't literally on the river.
[00:30:50] It'll be a way for us to enjoy the incredible river
[00:30:54] that is the St. John's River.
[00:30:56] That's awesome.
[00:30:57] We're running out of time here.
[00:30:59] So I'm going to tell us about the last question.
[00:31:01] First, I think both the other two minds go,
[00:31:04] thank you for what you're doing.
[00:31:05] I mean, thanks for being here
[00:31:07] and this has been enlightening
[00:31:09] and it's really good to see how you've brought this leadership
[00:31:13] and what you have done
[00:31:14] and to be a full partner both with the governmental,
[00:31:18] the private sector and the nonprofit.
[00:31:20] Thank you.
[00:31:21] That's true leadership.
[00:31:22] So having said that, put you on the spot.
[00:31:26] Where do you see Jacksonville in the next five
[00:31:27] or 10 years and why?
[00:31:31] I think Jacksonville is going to continue
[00:31:33] to be on those listicles that say,
[00:31:37] 10 best places to move to or live in.
[00:31:41] I lived in Washington DC for 30 years
[00:31:44] when I showed up to Washington DC,
[00:31:46] the sidewalk rolled up at 5 p.m.
[00:31:50] There was, you could count the number
[00:31:53] of good restaurants in town one hand.
[00:31:56] I mean, look at it today, right?
[00:31:57] It is an amazing vibrant city
[00:31:59] and it all happened while I lived there
[00:32:03] and I moved to a neighborhood in DC
[00:32:07] that had like a crack house next door.
[00:32:09] By the time I left, there was a Warbeek Parker
[00:32:11] and a Trader Joe's
[00:32:12] and it completely transformed.
[00:32:17] I think that transformation is possible here.
[00:32:20] I think the fact that work is increasingly hybrid
[00:32:26] means that people can choose to live
[00:32:29] wherever they want to live
[00:32:30] and still do the work they want to do.
[00:32:34] But I think if we create the conditions for people
[00:32:39] to be attracted to Jacksonville,
[00:32:42] for affordability, for the arts,
[00:32:44] for the Emerald Trail,
[00:32:48] for kayaking on the river, right?
[00:32:51] For all of those things, when the talent shows up,
[00:32:54] the jobs will also show up.
[00:32:57] So, we invest in place,
[00:33:02] people will come to place
[00:33:04] and then once we have the people,
[00:33:07] capital will follow
[00:33:08] and we will see this virtuous cycle take off
[00:33:11] that Jacksonville really has the potential
[00:33:14] to become amazing.
[00:33:16] And I say this in part because when I showed up here,
[00:33:19] there were amazing things in Jacksonville
[00:33:22] like the Riverside Arts Market,
[00:33:25] like Porch Fest.
[00:33:28] It's one of those amazing music festivals
[00:33:31] that is free to the public, it's homegrown,
[00:33:35] had one of the most integrated audiences
[00:33:37] I've seen at a musical event
[00:33:41] and gems like Sunray Cinema
[00:33:44] or bakeries like Community Loaves.
[00:33:47] And the amazing thing was these places weren't mobbed
[00:33:50] the way those places would be mobbed in other cities.
[00:33:54] So, somehow we're not quite getting the information out
[00:33:58] but when we begin to align all of that
[00:34:03] and people discover how there are so many gems here in Jacksonville,
[00:34:09] I think the front gates will open.
[00:34:11] So, when the talent shows up, the capital will follow.
[00:34:15] I hope you brought your magic wand with you
[00:34:18] from Washington when you moved here.
[00:34:19] Mr. Tolbert, you get the last word.
[00:34:21] Yes, sir.
[00:34:24] My last word is simply thank you so much,
[00:34:26] as Mike Hightower said,
[00:34:29] number one for being here,
[00:34:30] but most especially for what you and the fun do.
[00:34:33] And on that note, ladies and gentlemen...
[00:34:37] ...Mari, thank you.
[00:34:38] Thank you, Mari, very, very much.
[00:34:40] Take your staff and your board for all of this to do it.
[00:34:42] Absolutely.
[00:34:43] Every day you have it.
[00:34:44] My team is amazing
[00:34:45] and they're the ones who make all this happen.
[00:34:47] Well, it's about leadership.
[00:34:48] Starts at the top.
[00:34:49] Come back and see us.
[00:34:50] Come back.
[00:34:51] Yeah, we have a lot to talk about.
[00:34:52] Really?
[00:34:53] Thank you all very much for joining us
[00:34:54] with this episode of Mike's on Mic.
[00:34:56] We hope you'll catch us again next week.
[00:34:58] Once again too,
[00:34:59] we want to thank our good friend, Alan Bliss.
[00:35:01] And you know, I'd love to have a conversation
[00:35:03] with Mari and Alan between their knowledge of history
[00:35:07] of this community.
[00:35:08] It would be a fascinating conversation.
[00:35:10] Particularly if they were to listen last week
[00:35:12] when he was talking about Jacksonville,
[00:35:14] what is...
[00:35:15] What's our identity?
[00:35:16] Right.
[00:35:16] Given this, Mari's just done...
[00:35:19] That's right.
[00:35:20] Put the two of you all together.
[00:35:21] We need to do that.
[00:35:22] I think we need to do that.
[00:35:23] Happy to do that.
[00:35:24] We'll see you again soon.
[00:35:25] Thanks for joining us.
[00:35:26] Thank y'all.
[00:35:26] And have yourself a good week.
[00:35:28] Y'all have a great time.
[00:35:29] Thank you, Mari, for being here.
[00:35:30] Mike's on Mic.
[00:35:32] With Mike Tolbert,
[00:35:33] Mike Hightower
[00:35:33] and Mike Miller can be found
[00:35:35] on your favorite podcasting platform,
[00:35:37] Facebook and YouTube.
[00:35:39] Visit the website at mikesonmic.com.
[00:35:42] Join us next time
[00:35:43] for more conversation with Mike's on Mic.