Jacksonville’s problems with flooded streets go way back, before Cowford, before there were streets to flood.
The Jacksonville Metro area was mostly wetlands at one time. The St Johns River flows north, toward the Atlantic, after collecting water and runoff from tributaries all over the state.
The St Johns has a very strong current but the Atlantic Ocean is stronger, as such the only time that water can flow from the St Johns to the ocean is at low tide.
The rest of the time, on a good day, that water just sits there. But during high tide not only does the Atlantic not lower that water level, it increases it, pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into the St Johns.
When you toss in a few variables, such as the moon, a nor’easter, a hurricane or all the above, you get flooded streets and homes.
The fact that many areas of our city saw record flooding as a result of Hurricane Irma’s storm surge is not surprising. What is surprising, nope, I can’t even type that. I was surprised at the ineptitude of Jacksonville’s local government when I first moved here, 30 some years ago.
Surprised is no longer a valid description; annoyed, disgusted, aggravated, saddened, disappointed, would all work to describe my feelings toward the Mayor’s office and the City Council in general, and specifically with regard to flooded streets.
How can we expect our government to keep our streets from flooding during a hurricane when they can’t manage to keep our streets from flooding during an afternoon thunderstorm?
Hans Tanzler was Jacksonville’s last mayor before consolidation and it’s first mayor after. He is most famous for almost getting his eye poked out by Actress Lee Meredith in the risque ladder/Bold New City of the South photograph. The closest Mayor Tanzler came to fixing Jacksonville’s flooding problems was an effort to clean up the St. Johns River. He implemented sewage treatment and other environmental regulations toward that goal.
The streets still flood.
Jake Godbold was appointed Mayor and assumed the last six months of Tanzer’s term when Mayor Tanzler resigned to run for Governor. How about that! A politician who gives up their government paycheck while running for election!
Back to Jake. The citizens of Jacksonville loved him so much he was elected to two more terms. He initiated the efforts to secure an NFL team, started the Jacksonville Jazz Festival and provided funding and support for the Jacksonville Fire Department;
Fire Chief Larry Peterson asserted that Godbold had “brought this fire department to one of top fire departments in the nation”
Mayor Godbold accomplished many other things, alas the streets still flood.
Tommy Hazouri ended toll roads and bridges and removed “odor” from descriptions of Jacksonville, but didn’t fix the flooded streets, with one notable exception. Grand Park.
Flooding after a rainstorm in early Fall 1989 claimed the lives of two residents in Grand Park. Grand Park is a predominately black neighborhood. Three city council members walked out of a council meeting to protest lack of funding for drainage improvements in the black community.
Under orders from the council president JSO forced them back into the meeting, one in handcuffs.
Citywide protests ensued, culminating with a group of about 200 residents all but surrounding Mayor Hazouri at a community open house. He promised to fix the problem. He didn’t, the streets still flood, but they don’t flood in Grand Park.
All it took was bold action by city council members, support of the local community, action by the mayor, and about 50 million dollars.
Ed Austin. Mayor Austin resigned his position as State Attorney to run for mayor of Jacksonville. Seems to be a theme of Jacksonville’s early (after consolidation) mayors, a tradition I wish more politicians would follow.
His biggest achievement as mayor was River City Renaissance. River City Renaissance was a $235 million bond issue which funded urban renewal in some of downtown’s most rundown sections. But the streets still flood.
John Delaney Mayor Delaney launched the Better Jacksonville Plan, a massive, billion dollar package of projects for municipal improvements funded by a sales tax increase, as well as the Preservation Project, a series of land grants for parks. With regard to flooded streets he is on record as saying; “I think everybody, including me, sorta passed the buck,”
Mayor Delaney didn’t pass the buck as much as most of Jacksonville’s mayors before him did. Delaney proposed two bonds, one in 1997 and another in 2001 which financed drainage projects in 33 areas of the city.
But the streets still flood.
John Peyton Mayor Peyton was one of the youngest mayors serving a major city in Florida at the time of his election. One of his achievement was The River Accord. The River Accord created, The Water and Sewer Expansion Authority (WSEA). WSEA provided low cost financing for homeowners to connect to city sewer. His most popular program was an early literacy program RALLY Jacksonville!, aimed at educating four-year-olds.
Under his leadership the Jacksonville Stormwater Utility was formed. It’s purpose was to collect a stormwater fee from businesses and homeowners to generate the revenue needed to maintain and improve our city’s drainage system. This fund generates over 20 million dollars a year to be used for drainage improvements.
Mayor Peyton did not fix the flooded streets but he gave the Mayor who followed him the tools to start.
Alvin Brown Mayor Brown won the closest mayoral election in Jacksonville history, winning by 1,648 votes. He was the first African American ever elected Mayor of Jacksonville.His main projects included downtown development and sports and entertainment development.
What he failed to do was to fix the flooded streets. His was the first administration to fully benefit from The Jacksonville Stormwater Utility. He was in office for 4 years, 20 million plus a year, over 80 million dollars for drainage projects and the streets still flood.
If you’re thinking something’s not right there, you’re not the only one. The city council had concerns as to where all the money was going and admitted they couldn’t be certain it was being spent on relevant drainage problems.
Now the fund is audited annually.
So, between the city council and Mayor Brown they managed to mishandle over 80 million dollars earmarked for drainage and the streets still flood.
Lenny Curry Mayor Curry is our current mayor. Thus far he has fixed one other problem that had vexed all mayors before him for almost as long as flooded streets, pension reform.
Mayor Curry has stated that infrastructure and public safety are of top concern for his administration.
He has the funds from the Jacksonville Stormwater Utility and he has the incentive of Hurricane Irma. The only question remaining is whether he has the will to end Jacksonville’s history of flooded streets and soggy promises.
Unfortunately, maybe we already have that answer. As Jax Examiner reported in February 2016;
The city of Jacksonville is no longer participating in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative. The program, which awards cities around the world $1 million in cash and services to address extreme weather, crime and sea level rise, was applied for by former Mayor Alvin Brown.
The Mayor’s Office has been mum on any reason(s) why Mayor Curry chose to quit the initiative. After all extreme weather, crime and sea level rise all remain major concerns for our city and it’s not often we’re offered one million dollars to address those concerns. And the streets still flood.