‘Revenge on the vision’ led to the failure of Lot J’s business

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. Hours after Jacksonville City Council voted against a proposed settlement to build a large entertainment complex in the shadow of the Jaguars’ stadium, Mayor Lenny Curry said personal revenge against him and his government was to blame.

“You had a vengeance for your vision last night,” Curry said Wednesday morning on the 1010XL sports radio. “You had board members with personal problems with me who voted no. You have one who told the organization yesterday that he was a yes, and then he said no ”.

Curry appeared to be referring to his ongoing public discussion with Councilman Garrett Dennis.

Dennis was one of three board members, including Joyce Morgan and Randy DeFoor, who voted last week to move the project out of the committee and take it to a plenary vote just to vote against development on Tuesday night, surprising some.

Morgan told News4Jax that he regrets that the deal has not been closed.

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

“How are we going to move forward when you have people voting because they want to be mayor, or want to run for office for the next 10 or 15 years, or have personal vendetta against me,” Curry said. “We will have to figure out how to navigate through this, or this city is going nowhere, the center of the city.”

Later, Curry spoke to reporters on Wednesday afternoon about his disappointment.

“Anyone who attended that meeting last night can see that it is quite clear that there were some negative votes about personalities, and that is really unfortunate,” he said. “It is a loss for Jacksonville. It is a loss for what would have been a transformational project at the center. “

During an interview on Wednesday on “The Morning Show”, Dennis placed the business failure directly at Curry’s feet.

“I think there will have to be an olive branch spread on both sides, but this business ended because of the mayor, nobody else,” said Dennis. “I mean, he negotiated a bad deal and took him to the board. And so we had to act in the best interest of taxpayers. And therefore, I don’t regret my vote, and I don’t think the other six who voted against this agreement will regret it. “

Dennis said he supported the idea of developing Lot J, but said the deal was bad from the start – that it was shrouded in secrecy, hurried and that “screwed” taxpayers. He and other board members also made comparisons between Lot J and JEA’s failed sale attempt.

“Council members said it was negotiated in confidence. This is a lot of nonsense, ”said Curry. “The Executive negotiates business and brings business to the City Council to discuss. If you follow the logic that you need to negotiate in public, we will never bring another company or job expansion into our city. “

When asked if he was concerned that voting against the deal would cause Shad Khan and the Jaguars to leave the city, Dennis said that was always at stake.

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

Jacksonville Jaguars president Mark Lamping said the team will now focus on negotiations involving the development of the shipyards.

“We are going to go through the process for the Shipyards who will go through the [the Downtown Investment Authority] and then we’ll see how it goes, ”said Lamping Tuesday night.

This surprised Dennis.

“Sir. Lamping started talking about shipyards when, you know, the big elephant in the room is the stadium,” said Dennis. “[Lamping] officially said about a month ago that, in 2023, they will return to the city to talk about renovating or building a new stadium before talking about the extension of the rent. So, in my opinion, I think we need to take care of the stadium before taking care of the shipyards or any other undertaking. “

Curry used an analogy with sports to say that it is not over yet.

“A real test for an individual and a real test for a team is what you do when everything doesn’t go your way,” he said. “I told my team last night that I was incredibly proud of the work they did and the business they set up. They struggled to make it across the finish line, but it didn’t. “

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