A CAMPAIGN ADDRESS TO JACKSONVILLE · PRIORITIES · 40 CORE ACTIONS
The Jacksonville Covenant
One City. One Mission. One Future.
My fellow Jacksonville neighbors: our city is crying out for practical hope—and I am answering with a plan. I am Fitz Desprez. I am running for mayor because every delayed repair, unanswered call, unsafe block and family squeezed by rising costs deserves more than another announcement. It deserves leadership that names the problem, publishes the solution and stays until the work is done.
“Jacksonville will not be measured by the height of its skyline, but by the distance between a neighbor’s need and our city’s answer.”
[Pause.] If City Hall has ever made you feel invisible, tonight I want you to know this: I see you, I hear you, and your address will never determine the value of your voice.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”— Abraham Lincoln
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”— Martin Luther King Jr.
“Give me liberty, or give me death!”— Patrick Henry
A CLEAR LOCATION COMMITMENT
One riverfront building proposal
The World-Class Performing Arts Center is the campaign’s only proposed new building on Jacksonville’s riverfront. Other new campaign construction concepts would be studied for suitable Westside or Northside sites. Existing public buildings elsewhere may still be maintained, repaired or responsibly reused.
Read the closed-schools revival planOne website. One connected plan.
Neighborhood Action Plans
Distinct, measurable commitments for Jacksonville communities under one citywide service standard.
Read the full plan →Day One Delivery
Preparation, lawful authority and public reporting turned into visible work from the first day.
Read the full plan →Monumental City Plan
A disciplined first 100 days, first two years and four-year scorecard for Jacksonville 2027–2031.
Read the full plan →World-Class Performing Arts Center
The campaign’s only proposed new riverfront building: a feasibility-first cultural and education landmark.
Read the full plan →Sports, Athletes & NBA Jacksonville
A responsible case for major sports, athlete development and a future professional basketball opportunity.
Read the full plan →Budget, Business & Jobs
Method, precision, transparent incentives and simpler service for responsible employers and small businesses.
Read the full plan →Government Transparency
Appointments, salaries, debt, contracts, projects and decisions presented in one understandable public view.
Read the full plan →Youth, Learning & Opportunity
Sports, arts, careers, civic learning and practical pathways from school into work and service.
Read the full plan →Veterans & Community
Accessible navigation, health, employment and belonging for veterans, seniors, families and neighbors.
Read the full plan →Health, Hope & Suicide Prevention
Exercise, mental wellness, crisis support, dignity and stronger pathways to qualified help.
Read the full plan →Community Safety
Prevention, trained first responders, constitutional enforcement, infrastructure and neighborhood trust.
Read the full plan →Culture, Music & Belonging
Jacksonville traditions meeting through artists, education, neighborhood stages and shared celebration.
Read the full plan →Closed Schools Revival
Work with the Duval County School Board to study reopening or repurposing suitable closed campuses for education and community opportunity.
Read the full plan →THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
A promise to the great people of Jacksonville
My fellow residents of Jacksonville and Duval County: I stand before you as a neighbor, a father, an entrepreneur, a Haitian-American, and a disabled United States Army combat veteran. I have known service, hardship, faith, teamwork and the obligation to get back up. I am asking for the privilege of serving as mayor because this city’s potential is too large for small expectations. Together, we can make government answer faster, streets safer, opportunity wider and hope more practical.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Our common ground
Our faiths use different words, yet they repeatedly call us toward responsibility and compassion. The Torah teaches love of neighbor. The Christian scripture asks us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. The Quran describes peoples and tribes created so that we may know one another. Other traditions teach service, duty, self-control and care for life. City Hall must not choose a citizen’s faith; it must protect every resident’s freedom and convert our shared civic values into honest service.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Method and precision
I would begin with a baseline: response times, staffing, vacancies, project schedules, pavement condition, drainage risks, permit delays, contract performance, debt obligations and resident complaints. Department leaders and frontline employees would be asked what blocks delivery. Council members, constitutional officers, unions, businesses, nonprofits and neighborhoods would be part of the work. We would publish the measure, assign responsibility, set the milestone and report the result. Military preparation taught me that urgency without method becomes confusion; business taught me that a plan without cash flow and accountability becomes a wish.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Safe neighborhoods
Safety is both enforcement and prevention. Jacksonville needs well-trained police, firefighters, paramedics, emergency communications and modern equipment. It also needs lights that work, streets that drain, young people with constructive places to go, mental-health response, addiction treatment and neighbors who trust that reporting a problem will produce a fair response. We will support honorable first responders, insist on due process and professional standards, and remain very clear that violence, exploitation and repeat serious crime will meet lawful consequences.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Lower costs and better services
Local government cannot set every household price, but it can examine fees, permitting delays, procurement, lifecycle maintenance and how recurring dollars are spent. In the proposed FY 2026–27 budget presented by the current administration, public safety represents more than half of the General Fund, while the capital plan identifies major road, drainage, sidewalk and septic work. Those numbers show the scale of responsibility. My administration would distinguish one-time capital dollars from recurring operating dollars and would not call a ribbon-cutting a success if the city cannot afford to operate and maintain what it builds.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Roads, water, traffic and pollution
A pothole is small on a budget page and enormous when it damages a tire on the way to work. A clogged drain is an entry in a work order until water reaches a family’s door. Traffic is a statistic until a parent loses hours every week. Pollution is an abstract word until litter, runoff or failing infrastructure damages a neighborhood. We will map conditions, rank risk, coordinate utility and road work, publish schedules, enforce contracts and report what was completed—not merely what was announced.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Business is a partner
All my life I have been around business, property, service, sales, risk and the effort required to keep an organization alive. Jacksonville should welcome responsible employers with clear rules, predictable review and less unnecessary interference. Incentives must be performance-based and visible: jobs, wages, training, local purchasing and investment should be measured before benefits are earned. Small businesses deserve a government they can understand without a lobbyist. Our message will be simple: build here, hire here, train here, keep your word, and Jacksonville will work with you.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Youth, seniors, veterans and families
The future is youth, but a city of the future does not forget the people who built it. We will widen access to sports, arts, training, apprenticeships and civic learning. We will support seniors with safer mobility, fraud prevention and community connection. We will make Jacksonville easier to navigate for veterans seeking benefits, housing, mental-health care, jobs and purpose. A family-friendly city is not created by a slogan; it is created when a parent can reach work, a child can reach a safe park and an older neighbor knows someone will answer.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
A monumental city
Jacksonville is often described as the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States. Our size is a possibility and a management challenge. The goal is not to chase spectacle while neighborhoods wait. It is to connect essential service with responsible ambition: a world-class performing arts center feasibility process, stronger parks, major sports and cultural events, visitor infrastructure, an NBA market study and community spaces that create belonging. Every major project must pass legal, financial, environmental and public tests.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
July 1, 2027 and the first 100 days
If entrusted with office, the work beginning July 1, 2027 would be preparation made visible: department briefings, a public baseline, emergency service reviews, delayed-project triage, neighborhood listening, contract and vacancy inventories, pothole and drainage prioritization, permitting measurement and a public dashboard. We will not pretend a mayor can lawfully complete years of construction on day one. Day One means that responsibility begins immediately and that residents can see who owns the next action.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Four years of measurable progress
By 2031, residents should be able to compare results: faster service where feasible, safer infrastructure, clearer procurement, more visible capital projects, more youth opportunity, stronger veteran coordination, predictable permitting and public reporting that survives campaign season. Some measures may improve quickly; others require years, partners and sustained funding. I will not promise perfection. I promise to show the work, tell the truth about obstacles and change course when evidence proves we should.
THE CHALLENGE · THE CURE
Together, we win
Abraham Lincoln’s enduring phrase—government of the people, by the people, for the people—reminds us who City Hall belongs to. Athletes know that talent matters, but shared preparation wins championships. Soldiers know that no mission is carried by one person. Neighbors know that a block changes when people stop walking past the same problem. Our differences do not have to disappear for cooperation to begin. Respect is not weakness. Compassion is not surrender. Accountability is not hostility. They are the disciplines of a strong city.
FOUR THEMES · FORTY CORE ACTIONS · ONE ACCOUNTABLE CITY
The 40 Core Actions
Every action below is governed by the same implementation rule: verify the need, identify legal authority, listen to the neighborhood, publish the cost, secure the approvals, assign responsibility and report the result. These are campaign proposals—not appropriations, permits, contracts or guarantees.
- Publish a Day Zero city operations and service baseline
- Create a public 100-day delivery dashboard
- Launch an emergency pothole, sidewalk and dangerous-intersection review
- Map drainage, flooding, septic and clean-water priorities
- Set department response-time and resident-service standards
- Publish contracts, change orders and vendor performance in one portal
- Create an appointment, salary and ethics transparency register
- Conduct a line-by-line efficiency and duplication review
- Protect essential public-safety staffing, training and equipment
- Expand neighborhood prevention and police-community problem solving
- Develop six proposed transitional or halfway-home partnerships
- Develop six proposed licensed substance-use treatment partnerships
- Plan six supportive centers for pregnant and parenting teens
- Plan six neighborhood mental-health clinic partnerships
- Create a 12-step veteran and resident suicide-prevention strategy
- Establish three homelessness-prevention and rapid-stabilization hubs
- Recognize 33 qualified food-distribution and soup-kitchen partner sites
- Build Jacksonville as America’s most veteran-friendly city
- Improve senior access, fraud prevention and community connection
- Create business–first responder–community service partnerships
- Renew parks and playgrounds in underserved neighborhoods
- Expand youth sports, swimming, dance, arts and mentoring
- Advance the campaign’s only proposed new riverfront building: a world-class performing arts center
- Create small-business and workforce hubs through suitable Westside or Northside construction and responsible reuse of existing facilities
- Speed clear, lawful and predictable permitting
- Support first-time homebuyer and credit education
- Recruit employers with performance-based, publicly reported incentives
- Grow skilled-trades apprenticeships and youth employment
- Improve transit connections, safe bicycle routes and emergency mobility
- Work with the Duval County School Board to study reopening or repurposing suitable closed schools, prioritizing viable Westside and Northside campuses
- Hold a Citywide Trash Pickup and Beautification Day
- Create a voluntary Citywide Board Game and Neighbor Day
- Create a voluntary Mental Relaxation and Wellness Day
- Invite private wellness partners to a responsible Community Spa Day
- Plant, clean and maintain gateways, corridors and public spaces
- Strengthen pollution prevention, litter enforcement and water stewardship
- Pursue major sports, convention and cultural events responsibly
- Study an NBA franchise opportunity and lawful ownership alternatives
- Measure city performance against transparent peer metrics
- Report results quarterly and let residents inspect the evidence
Thirteen pledges to Jacksonville
- Tell the truth about cost, authority and schedule
- Publish measurable goals before asking for credit
- Serve every ZIP code fairly
- Protect due process and equal treatment
- Listen outside election season
- Respect public employees and demand performance
- Use competitive, transparent procurement
- Keep essential services dependable
- Treat veterans, youth, seniors and families with dignity
- Welcome responsible business and reduce needless delay
- Correct mistakes openly
- Never confuse a proposal with an approved project
- Report progress to the people every quarter
Six measures · six actions · one goal
Six measures
Safety outcomes; household cost pressure; service response time; jobs and wage growth; infrastructure condition; resident trust and satisfaction.
Six actions
Listen; verify; publish; fund responsibly; deliver with accountable partners; measure and correct.
The closing promise
Jacksonville, I ask you to believe in disciplined hope: hope with a budget, hope with a schedule, hope with a responsible person’s name beside every task. Let us build a city where safety and liberty strengthen one another, where business can move and families can breathe, where veterans are remembered, youth are prepared, seniors are respected and public employees are empowered to deliver.
We are not waiting for another city to define what greatness means. We will define it in repaired streets, cleaner water, honest records, safe homes, strong businesses, full theaters, active parks and neighbors who know one another. Together is not a decoration at the end of a sentence. Together is the method. Together is the standard. Together is how we win.
TOGETHER! We win.
Scripture references are brief paraphrases or public-domain wording presented as expressions of shared civic values, not government preference for any faith. Budget references describe proposals or public records and remain subject to adoption and revision. Political advertisement paid for and approved by Fitz Desprez, Republican, for Mayor.
