Ya'll are so stuck up on fixing elected leadership and getting the "basics" done first, but seriously a few of you have been leading the good fight for quite a while now (to much time and effort and emotional drain). I think you can have both the grassroots change and see the benefit of $$$s at work.
I don't really know any city I would consider living in that doesn't have its set of sugar daddies or well capitalized development groups or eccentric business leaders (many of whom end up as the sugar daddies, obviously) who get things done. Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Austin are the prime examples of this. In the rising stars of the Sunbelt the voices of reason and the grassroots movements are paid attention to both by elected officials and business leaders. That much is very true. And each of those cities has at least one if not a few more sugar daddies (whether in individuals, corporations, or private equity funds). Heck...the same guy as Khan for Atlanta (Alfred Blank) has easily thrown up at least $200M of his own personal cash to things in the city, and has just committed to $65M personal cash to infrastructure and community improvements in a very depressed neighborhood next to the soon to be UC new Falcons stadium in Atlanta (which he has undoubtedly committed hundreds of additional millions of dollars to through his personal balance sheet and that of the Falcons, which he is the 90% ownership interest).
As we have all seen a unanimous rally around Khan and newfound home pride revolving around the Jags, a similar figure can gin up hometown support and pride of downtown by rising to the occasion. Doubt most in the city know who the richies are because they are so vanilla and behind the scenes, but put an eccentric developer in town (I guess like Cameron Kuhn, but someone with actual sense and experience and backing) and you'll see results, probably faster than grassroots. I hate to say it, but Jacksonville political mentality is neanderthal...it's the most backwards I can think of for any city that's >500,000 people. People get no say and elected officials only care about themselves and yet the general population hasn't put an end to it yet (so do they not care?).
I do hate to say this, as well, and while we have all seen the big houses and know some of the stories behind some people in the city, there really isn't that much wealth in NE FL. I'm sure I'll get arguments, but that is also a reality that faces and perhaps sets back the area. Wealthy in NE FL is $10M in highly liquid personal assets, which is enough to put a person in an oceanfront or riverfront home in the area and make a few $50K contributions here and there, but there aren't a lot of big bucks. Detroit, while a f**king shithole by all accounts, has BIG bucks remaining out in the N/NW suburbs (aka a bevy of billionaires and hundreds of people worth hundreds of millions still residing in the area). Even Nashville has some pretty darn big bucks, and it's evident nowadays...these $$$s are being thrown at the city right and left by individuals, some of whom are pretty eccentric and fun and well known by the general population and respected by all.
