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Robin LumbCandidate for City Council Group 5 At Large

FTU Questionnaire

1. In recent years, the mayor and City Council have used a mix of revenueincreases and cuts in expenses to balance the city budget. Do you agree?If not, what would you do differently?

I do not agree with this approach and will not support property tax hikes or increased fees. When times were good City Council effectively raised taxes andspending by taking advantage of rapidly increasing property values. Now whentimes are bad City Council raises taxes by increasing the millage rate. The truthis that times are very bad right now and our City Council needs to recognize thisfact. Unemployment remains near 12% and is unlikely to decrease substantiallyuntil the housing market recovers, a process that could take a number of years(some experts believe that housing prices could continue to decline by as muchas another 15-20%). Foreclosures are at a record high, 44% of homeowners withmortgages are under water and we’re second in the nation in bankruptcy filings.

If this isn’t the time for an austerity budget when will that time ever come?

If the city had been prudent in managing its finances in the years leading up tothe current crisis perhaps we’d be able to weather this storm without too muchdisruption. Unfortunately, years of mismanagement driven by politically expedientdecision making have left the city’s finances in shambles. Now it’s time tobalance the budget without raising taxes.

2. Do you support the Jacksonville Journey? Explain your answer.

I was a committee member on the Jacksonville Community Council’s 2006 study(“Reducing Violence: A Community Response”) which was the impetus for theJacksonville Journey. (I was recognized by the Times-Union as one of only four study participants who attended all 17 committee meetings.)

I support the objectives of the Jacksonville Journey but some of its methodologyis difficult to justify. We’re spending $500,000 to demolish crack houses anddeteriorated structures when this is primarily a failure of our Code Enforcementsystem; a system that now has $160 million in uncollected penalties, levies and

fines. And while sending young people to college is a worthwhile goal, I don’tunderstand how 85 scholarships at a cost of nearly $1 million per year will doanything at the margin to affect violent crime.

3. What endorsements have you received?

I’ve been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police.

4. How much civic activity do you perform outside work?

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I’ve been actively involved in our community since arriving here 30 years ago.Among other things, I served as President and Chairman of the Board of theJacksonville Junior Chamber of Commerce / Jacksonville Jaycees. I also servedon the Board of Governors of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and on theboards of the Clara White Mission, the Suicide Prevention Center, The Civic

Roundtable and the Jacksonville Jaycees Community Foundation. I recentlycompleted a term on the Board of Directors of Riverside Avondale Preservationand served as Chairman of its first ever Public Safety Committee. In 2004 I waselected to the Duval County Republican Executive Committee as a PrecinctCommitteeman and was re-elected in 2008. In 2009 I was the Republican leader who actively rallied opposition to ObamaCare, organizing Town Hall meetingsand speaking at public forums across North Florida. In 2010 I served as CountyManager of the Republican Party where I responsible organizing grassrootsvolunteers in support of Republican candidates. In December of 2010 I waselected to a two-year term as Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of DuvalCounty.

5. How do you intend to comply with Florida¹s public records andgovernment in the sunshine laws? If you saw an elected official breakingthe sunshine law, what would you do?

I plan to comply completely and fully with Florida’s public records andgovernment in the sunshine laws. E-mails sent and received via an official e-mailaddress will be available to anyone who wishes to see them as will all officialcorrespondence and memoranda that I send or receive. I will not hold anymeeting with any other City Council member without first advertising the date,time, place and purpose of the meeting. .Although I’m not sure how you can“see” someone breaking the law, if I had a reasonable and good faith belief that

someone had broken the law I would report it to the city’s Ethics Officer and tothe General Counsel’s Office.

6. What can you do to help support the clean-up of the St. Johns River?

The is an area where the Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection andthe EPA would likely take the lead since they have jurisdiction over the entireriver and operate under a broad mandate to protect water quality. It would beappropriate to continue to support the work of the St. Johns Riverkeeper and tolook reasonable ways to for reducing nutrient run off and fecal contamination.The City of Jacksonville also has legal standing to protect the river from theadverse actions of any entity upstream that materially harms the river.

7. How can you become engaged in the city¹s high murder, infant mortalityand suicide rates?

Our high murder rate: In 2006 I served on the JCCI study committee thatissued the “Reducing Violence: A Community Response” report. While the reportcontained many thoughtful suggestions, the most salient were those involvingstepped up law enforcement, better community policing and targeting illegal gun

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possession. We also need to address security issues in high-crime apartmentcommunities where a disproportionate amount of violence occurs. There is onenotorious apartment complex on the Westside where nearly 20 murders havetaken place over the last four years. Police officials I’ve spoken with suggest thisapartment complex could be secured with the right kind of perimeter fence,

reducing the number of entrances/exits to a maximum of two, installinggatehouses and registering everyone who enters or leaves the property. As amember of City Council I will look for ways to require high-crime apartmentcomplexes to implement tighter security.

Our high suicide rate: I served on the Board of Directors of the SuicidePrevention Center when it was still in operation. While crisis intervention isimportant, the best way to reduce the suicide rate is to diagnose and treatchronic depression. Nothing else would have a greater effect on our suicide rate.

Our high infant high mortality rate: In my work on health care reform I spent agreat deal of time reviewing the literature on infant mortality. Paradoxically,

Hispanic women, who traditionally have the least access to health care, have thelowest rate of infant mortality when compared to Caucasians and AfricanAmericans. Although adequate prenatal care is essential to the overall health andwellbeing of the mother and her infant, there does not appear to be a direct linkbetween prenatal care and infant mortality. The complication most closelyassociated with high infant mortality is low birth weight resulting from prematuredelivery which itself appears to be strongly influenced by behavioral factors suchas smoking. When the data is adjusted for birth weight, the infant mortality rate inthe U.S. is comparable to that of other western nations. My recommendationwould be a significant public education campaign to encourage certain behavioralchanges in expectant mothers.

8. Has consolidation been a good or bad deal for Jacksonville? Pleaseexplain your answer.

I believe that consolidation has been good for Jacksonville and is part of whatmakes our city so unique. By combining the government of the City of Jacksonville with that of Duval County, citizens committed themselves to ashared fate. It meant that the residents of Mandarin and Arlington were investedin Lackawanna and East Jacksonville and that “white flight” wouldn’t be thecontrolling dynamic in determining Duval County’s future. I also believe thatconsolidated government creates certain efficiencies and economies of scale. Asa consolidated city we are more dominant regionally, can act more decisively in

addressing community problems and are better able to control our destiny.

9. What is the role of a council member? As mini-mayor? Or as legislator?

The City Council is primarily a legislative and deliberative body. Increasingly,however, voters expect those in the legislative branch to take the lead and tospeak out on issues of major importance. When dealing with major issues itwould be a mistake to always defer to the executive branch in forming policy. At

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certain times taking on the role of a so-called “mini-mayor” would be appropriateprovided the council member is knowledgeable, limits his/her involvement to afew select issues and doesn’t adopt a governing style that tries to compete withthe Mayor. To the greatest degree possible City Council and the Mayor’s Officeshould work cooperatively. Provided there is input from City Council, allowing the

Mayor to take the lead on key issues is probably the best way to build communitysupport for a policy initiative..