One of our readers sent me this picture. Eye thanks our readers for keeping us in the loop on news worthy items. We can’t be everywhere so having your “Eyes” out there helps us.
When we saw this picture and posting by City Council Vice President Tommy Hazouri – our Eyes raised and we gasped at a photo op gone bad.
What the heck is going on here? Eye has so many questions about this photo op. Here are a few:
How many times do we see members of the City Council standing behind the Mayor while he signs legislation? Answer: Hardly ever that Eye can remember.
And do we see pens inside cases to be handed out to people? Answer: Yes and they are wooden pens engraved with Office of the Mayor on them. What? Why? Who decided to do that?
Was this photo op necessary? Answer: Depends on who you ask and the agenda behind it. Seems silly, over the top and a play right out of Nancy Pelosi’s playbook.
Does this piece of legislation warrant such a photo op? Answer: No. This piece of legislation is a band aid on a horrible, deep, dark and dangerous problem Jacksonville is dealing with. This legislation is the baby of City Council Member LeAnna Cumber who just a few months ago fast tracked the closure of Adult Arcades because of the danger they were to our city. Yet here she stands behind the Mayor waiting for her wooden pen while allowing “Gentlemen’s Clubs” to remain OPEN for business. And these clubs are some of the worst offenders of Sex Trafficking in the city. Why let them stay open and demand the closure of Adult Arcades???????? Ms. Cumber, if you had the courage to shut down Arcades with a fast and furious attitude, why not use that same attitude for these clubs? Can you write “Hypocrisy” with that wooden pen, Ms. Cumber?
We wrote about this legislation yesterday and you can read our post here for more clarification: Is Justice fair in our city government. You decide.
This piece of legislation does not help ANY one under the age of 21 who might be caught up in sex trafficking. And aren’t the youngest among us the most vulnerable? So this is what they did: They raised the age to dance erotically from 18 to 21. It allows these clubs to remain open and gives a “license” to be an exotic dancer. Now the girls of the night must have a license to dance — Must be registered to dance erotically. Okay what does that do? This legislation will “fine” the clubs too. No worries, they have a ton of money so a little fine doesn’t change anything for them. A new requirement for hotels to include signage about sex trafficking in all hotel rooms is included. Okay that’s a good thing. There will be training requirement for employees to make them aware of sex trafficking. Okay that’s a good thing too.
Someone commented on our post yesterday and stated, “It’s a small step to fix a big problem.” That’s the problem with this city. We are small steppers. Small stepping will not change crime in Jacksonville. It’s too big to take small steps and there is no reason to do this slowly. Fix it like you fixed the Adult Arcades and call it good!
We can only hope the next Mayor’s race will find a powerful, influential person who has a heart for the city and a plan to take big, drastic steps to fix Jacksonville and make it the best it can be. We have so much to offer and we deserve a city that is safer than it is right now.
Another small minded “leader” is not what this city needs. We’ve had enough of them. A big, bold, bright vision for the City of Jacksonville is what we are hungry for. We need implementation of big strategies to fix crime and sex trafficking and improve our city as a whole. Lite legislation and photo ops with little wooden pens do nothing to move Jacksonville forward.
