Mayor Brown signs economic development legislation

Mayor Alvin Brown signing the economic development legislation Thursday morning.

Mayor Alvin Brown on Thursday signed into law the first part of his economic development legislation that Jacksonville City Council approved Tuesday.

?This represents plans for Jacksonville?s future,? Brown said at a news conference in his office.

This part of the economic development legislation abolishes the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission and establishes the city?s Office of Economic Development. Current JEDC employees will be folded into the Office of Economic Development.

Economic development and business growth were key parts of Brown?s campaign. He said he and his transition team started overhauling the city's economic development process as soon as he took office on July 1, 2011.

?Doing it all within a year says a lot,? Brown said.

He unveiled the economic development legislation in March.

The next step, Brown said, will be focusing on the creation of the Downtown Investment Authority. He said there is ?great momentum? Downtown, citing the 1,500 employees EverBank Financial Corp.? ? EverBank Financial Corp. Latest from The Business Journals Everbank joins Russell Global Index EverBank's Clements among the lowest paid bank CEOsEverBank adds 75 from mortgage banker Aurora Follow this company (NYSE: EVER) is in the process to moving Downtown from the suburbs and the IBM Smarter Cities grant the city received.

He said he?d be meeting with city council members in the next few weeks to discuss the DIA. The legislation that creates the DIA is in committee.

When asked how long it would be before the DIA was formed, Brown said, ?We?ll see,? citing the meetings and the legislative process.

Ashley covers real estate, sports business, hospitality and health care

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