Jason Tetlak Jacksonville City Council District 14 Candidate
Jason Tetlak, candidate for Jacksonville City Council, District 14 - including Riverside, Avondale, Murray Hill, & Ortega.
Biography
My family and I now reside in Murray Hill, and I’ve called the Riverside area home for several years. I love this part of town and look forward to raising my two daughters here. From the historic Avondale neighborhoods to the eclectic Five Points district, we enjoy spending time in the area’s many parks and playgrounds, and love discovering new local restaurants.
I’ve spent most of my life studying art and design, and currently work at a non-profit that focuses on bringing a variety of quality cultural experiences to town. I very much enjoy working for a group that not only provides access to music, theatre, and speaking engagements, but also helps to relieve the financial stress of individuals pursuing post-secondary opportunities at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
My previous work experiences have afforded me the opportunity to teach elementary school students in the Duval Public School System and also work with the Department of Defense on NAS JAX designing publications and support materials to assist in the ongoing War on Terror. Both of these experiences offer me a unique perspective that I am hoping to bring to City Council.
My wife, Alicia, is a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Ghana. Upon returning, she completed her Masters in Biology right here at UNF.
In my opinion, there are a few main issues that are integral to our great city finally reaching its nearly unlimited potential. I will be addressing these key points during my campaign.
- Revitalize Downtown - We need to make downtown a destination for our citizens, for visitors, and for businesses by creating a more exciting, vibrant downtown experience. This will benefit all the citizens of Jacksonville by enticing businesses to relocate, thus creating jobs and improving our overall public image.
- Showcase and preserve the St John’s River – Our beautiful, glistening river is the lifeblood of our city’s public image and a jewel that other cities just don’t possess. Keeping the river clean and healthy is absolutely essential to our existence as a showcase city.
- Clean, sustainable energy – With our landfill expected to reach its intake limit within the next two years, it is absolutely essential that we expand our recycling and renewable energy efforts. A green, eco-friendly identity will put Jacksonville firmly out in front of other similar cities in terms of attracting outside business interests.
- Equality - It should be a priority for our great city to provide equal protection to all of our citizens. No one should ever feel unsafe, unwanted, or excluded. We can’t ask people to buy into the idea that Jacksonville is a giving, prosperous community if they themselves feel as though they don’t belong. Expanding our current legislation to ensure equal rights to all citizens regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual identity is an absolute must. It will send a clear message to businesses and individuals considering relocating to Jacksonville that we are a strong community that’s proud of its diversity
- Focus on Small Business - We need to ensure that our small business owners have the support they need to succeed. An incentive program to encourage new businesses to open downtown will strengthen our urban core and our city as a whole.
- Enriching Education - Without question, we must do a better job educating our children. We should SUPPORT our teachers instead of constantly lobbying against them. To me, it also seems counter intuitive to punish schools that are struggling by taking resources away. Instead, we should provide those schools with the tools they need to improve and ultimately succeed.
- Reduce Crime - Crime is always an issue in any urban environment and Jacksonville unfortunately, is no different. One major way to reduce crime is to increase the overall options available to our citizens. Education incentives and job opportunities combined with an increased police presence will go a long way toward reducing Jacksonville’s crime rate.
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