Inaugural celebration kickoff for Mayor-Elect Donna Deegan

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Mayor-elect Donna Deegan held her Mayor Inaugural Celebration kickoff event Friday night, it brought over 100 people and supporters to the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Jacksonville. Deegan addressed the crowd saying love and unity are the answers and that there’s no place better positioned than Jacksonville Florida.

The Mayor-elect will be sworn in Saturday morning and there’s a lot on her plate. One is what’s been talked about for years: Downtown Development. There are a few empty lots around Downtown Jacksonville, like the old Landing site, and tearing those buildings down is some of the work from the previous administration and outgoing mayor, Lenny Curry. Now, it’s up to the next administration to put something in its place and continue development.

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“Infrastructure doesn’t sound all that sexy to people but it was the number one pillar of my campaign. I think you really have to take care of the fundamentals of the foundation before you can actually see everything else rise. That’s really my number one priority, I want to make sure we take care of that crumbling infrastructure and hopefully very intentionally open that downtown, that riverfront and see a thriving city we all want,” Deegan said.

Outgoing mayor Lenny Curry was part of demolishing the old Landing site, the Berkman II eye sore, the old courthouse, and the city hall annex. With many begging to see a thriving downtown, Action News Jax asked mayor-elect Deegan her vision for downtown by the end of her first four years.

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“My hope is we get the Riverfront parks done, I want to make sure we fully fund the Emerald Trail, open up the riverfront, make sure we bring people downtown, and start to work on that some of the workforce housing and other things that bring people downtown,” Deegan said. “I think it really starts with opening up the riverfront.”

Action News Jax John Bachman sat down with outgoing Mayor Lenny Curry, who said his successor faces two big issues right away, the Jaguars stadium deal and ongoing violence.

“The perception outside of Jacksonville is that it’s very dangerous and very violent everywhere in the city. And that’s simply not true. So, the next mayor is going to have to deal with the real crime that exists, but also the issue that I’ve dealt with, which is the perception issue,” Curry said.

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In response to that, Deegan told Action News Jax said she’s looking forward to the challenge.

“I come from your world and I know how things can get presented and I think it’s my job to make sure we are lifting the good in this community, that we are shining a light on the good things that are happening and I think part of it, is changing the perception that things that really are good that are happening here that don’t always get lifted,” she said.

As far as the stadium goes Deegan said she’s still very optimistic that they’re going to get “yes” on it.

“I think both sides really want to, we’re just now getting to the point where we’re getting all the information we need to come up with different options that we will take back to the Jaguars and do exactly what they’ve done and have some town hall meetings, get some input from the public and come up with something that we hope will be workable,” Deegan said.

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