‘Vendetta on vision’ led to the failure of the Lot J deal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Hours after Jacksonville City Council passed a proposal to build a large entertainment complex in the shadow of the Jaguars Stadium, Mayor Lenny Curry said personal vendettas against him and his government were to blame.

“You had a vision vendetta last night,” Curry said Wednesday morning on sports radio 1010XL. ‘You had councilors with me who had personal beef who voted no. You have one who told the organization yesterday that he was a yes, and then he went no. “

Curry seemed to be referring to his ongoing public beef with Councilman Garrett Dennis.

Dennis was one of three councilors, including Joyce Morgan and Randy DeFoor, who voted last week to remove the project from committee and bring it to a full city council to vote against the development Tuesday night, which surprises some.

Morgan told News4Jax she regrets the deal was not finalized.

Councilors Danny Becton, Matt Carlucci, Al Ferraro and Council Chairman Tommy Hazouri also voted against the deal, which fell 12-7. A minimum of 13 votes was required to approve the project.

“How do we move forward when people vote because they want to be mayor, or they want to run for the next 10 or 15 years, or they have personal vendettas against me,” Curry said. “We’ll have to figure out how to navigate that, otherwise this city isn’t going anywhere, downtown.”

Curry later spoke to reporters about his disappointment on Wednesday afternoon.

“Anyone who watched that meeting last night could see that it’s pretty clear that there were some voices that were about personalities, and that’s just a shame,” he said. “It’s a loss to Jacksonville. It’s a loss to what would have been a transformational project in the city. “

During an interview on Wednesday on “The Morning Show”, Dennis placed the deal’s failure right in front of Curry.

“I think there should be an olive branch on both sides, but this deal fell apart because of the mayor, no one else,” Dennis said. “I mean, he negotiated a bad deal and he brought it to the council. And so we had to act in the best interest of the taxpayer. And so I don’t regret my vote, and I don’t think the other six who voted against this deal regret their vote. “

Dennis said he supported the idea of developing Lot J, but said the deal was bad from the start – that it was secret, rushed, and it “ screwed up ” the taxpayer. He and other councilors have also drawn comparisons between Lot J and the sunk attempted sale of JEA.

Council members said this was being negotiated in secret. That’s a lot of bullshit, ”Curry said. “The executive negotiates deals and they bring deals up for discussion in the city council. If you follow their logic of negotiating deals publicly, we will never bring another company or new jobs to our city. “

When asked if he was concerned that declining the deal would result in Shad Khan and the Jaguars leaving town, Dennis said this is always on the table.

What does that say about the Jaguars? A field, a certain development is their decisive factor in leaving the city? Dennis said. “But then again, I don’t think this one deal will be an indication of whether they are leaving or not.”

Jacksonville Jaguars president Mark Lamping said the team will now focus on the shipyard development negotiations.

“We will go through the Shipyards process that will go through [the Downtown Investment Authority] and then we’ll see how it goes, ”Lamping said on Tuesday evening.

That surprised Dennis.

“Mr. Lamping started talking about the shipyards when, you know, the big elephant in the room is in the stadium,” said Dennis.[Lamping] said about a month ago that they will come back to the city in 2023 to talk about renovations or (building a) brand new stadium before talking about renewing their lease. So, in my opinion, I think we should tackle the stadium first before dealing with the shipyards or any other development. “

Curry used a sports analogy to say he’s not done yet.

“A real test of an individual and a real test of a team is what you do when everything is not going well,” he said. “I told my team last night that I was incredibly proud of the work they did on the deal they put together. They fought to get this across the finish line, and it didn’t happen. “

.Source

Share this:

Related