Urban Jacksonville

Be careful with the not smart enough. It dillutes the real argument. Plus he is smart. He’s not qualified.

Its easy to show that one could hold an appointed office and not be smart enough. Its a whole nother ball game to change the law regarding qualifications.

The real stoooopid thing is that they didn’t conduct a search. What the f have they been doing. Why do they let him bungle so?

also, is the folio not MSM? lets discuss…

back to the mud pit

Make no doubt about it, Brad Thoburn is a bright guy. Also, in my experience he is accessible and humble.

I’m disappointed that an appropriate search wasn’t undertaken. However, I want to see how Brad does in the job (over a fair amount of time). It is totally reasonable to criticize the administration, but I’m giving him a fair shot.

He doesn’t deserve a shot, the city of Jacksonville deserves someone who will actually know what they are doing. He may be a great guy, but we need someone with credentials who can get the job done.

While it seems the Growth Managment Task Force he was a part of did a good job, to me it looked like a lot of the findings were things everyone knew already.

http://www.coj.net/Mayor/Growth+Management+Task+Force+Reports.htm

My Comments from MetJax.com about this issue:

“I gotta be honest. I think the mayor failed in the regard of following the letter of the law, and vetting all qualified candidates. Those are the Mayors failings, NOT Mr. Thoburns.

I am willing to give Brad a chance. I have heard time and again he is a dynamic guy, and SC might have a good point. If Brad is able to surround himself with good planners, and be a good leader/organizer this actually might work.”

LOL, my 5 year old son is a very dynamic kid for is age. In fact, he’s as smart as a whip. I’d like to hook him up with a job at the planning department because I could use the extra money.

I have nothing against Brad, I’m sure he’s a swell guy, but at the very least the residedents of this city deserve to know why a search for qualified planners was never conducted, as well as what does Brad bring to the table to reinforce the notion of not bothering to even look at promoting experienced planners already working for the city.

Personally, I’d be pissed if I worked for someone, who didn’t have a clue about the profession I was educated in, it’s terminology or basic day-to-day operations. It would be like Delta hiring me to be it’s lead flight captain for 747′s leaving JIA. I think I’m smart in what I do (urban planning/architecture), but how many of you would be willing to take a cross country flight with me (with no basic flight experience) running the show? I guess, considering the circumstances, it shouldn’t be a suprised that the planning department is seeing a lot of turn over right now.

why do people keep confusing the issue….

that a search was never done and should have been.

it has nothing to do with your kid or airplanes. thats sort of weak and polarizing. all that kind of talk does is allow generalizations which are easy to dismiss, you are now anti brad. I am not anti brad, i’m amazed that the mayor makes these types of decisions and his handlers let him do it. it all seems like a set up.

“Personally, I’d be pissed if I worked for someone, who didn’t have a clue about the profession I was educated in, it’s terminology or basic day-to-day operations.”- um welcome to working in america

also, how about a planning director that is not for sale or planners that can’t be taken to the club seats? i mean if brad came in and said “this office is not for sale! anyone has the same amount of influence as the top 3 land use attys in town!” I’d say brad for MAYOR!

Realist, you missed the heart of my entire comment….

“I have nothing against Brad, I’m sure he’s a swell guy, but at the very least the residents of this city deserve to know why a search for qualified planners was never conducted, as well as what does Brad bring to the table to reinforce the notion of not bothering to even look at promoting experienced planners already working for the city.”

That’s basically the same thing you just stated.

not really.

i still think that brad could probably run the dept, maybe even well. it shouldn’t be about him. it should be about whomever one the mayor’s team is failing him miserably by putting LEGISLATION forth that counters what the damn mayor himself said a few weeks ago.

Just to clarify, I only brought up the Thoburn issue because I don’t want folks to lose focus of the main underlying problem. In this situation, the problem is in the St. James Building, not the Florida Theater.

I’m skeptical. Land Planning isn’t as easy as everyone thinks it is. The poor condition of our city’s infrastructure and land uses today should be a prime example of this. Its a field, like law, medicine or architecture, that under most (99% of the time) circumstances background knowlegde of the subject is needed, if someone is expected to do a decent job.

Nevertheless, I think we all agree that this isn’t about Brad Thoburn, it’s about City Hall completely bypassing a job search for qualified candidates. Its one thing if you search and no one bites, but its another when you skip the process altogether.

good points laker. if the times union covers it they will back track. if not he is in. carl cannon, what say you?

There are highly qualified people in all walks of life who have no degree. And in contrast, there are absolute idiots with a string of degrees after their names. We’ve all worked with those. If the proper protocol wasn’t followed, then that needs to be looked into. But don’t say someone isn’t qualified just because he doesn’t have the proper papers hanging on the wall or some flowery former job title on his resume. Maybe the guy should be given a chance – he might actually be able to do the job! And if not, well, after all, it’s politics. What do you expect?

I shouldn’t have said Brad Thoburn. was “not smart enough”, but hey, I like inflammatory headlines. So I’m at fault there. Intelligence is, as many people stated above, not the issue. Its the failure to meet to qualifications of the position.

I don’t think Brad Thoburn should be given a chance, because there is a chance he will do poorly. Granted, there is also a chance that someone well educated in the field could do poorly too. But I think a well conducted candidate search could have netted us a planning director who would have a better chance at doing a good job than someone without the right qualifications. Follow me?

Isn’t that what qualifications are for? Would you let an unqualified high school math teacher instruct your child on Algebra? Why would you let an unqualified person plan your city? The issue is pretty black and white to me. I think the point is, there should have been a search for a well qualified candidate.

On the issue of Folio being MSM. If Folio is main stream media in this city then they are unlike every other MSM new outlet. They don’t seem to have the fake glossy sheen like all the other media: Times Union, Daily Record, every local news station (except WJCT). Sometimes I feel like these news outlets are writing so they don’t piss people off. Folio seems like they write to piss people off.

The TU has picked up on the story: Planning pick lacks experience. It even lacks the glossy sheen! There is no bright spin put on the story.

Was Harry Truman qualified to be President of the United States? I agree with UTurn!

well, truman was a judge, then senator for 4 years, then the VP until FDR died.

not that being president and having a city planning job have that much in common.

While I understand the concerns over giving someone who does not appear to have the planning degree the reigns to a prestigious and important role here in Jacksonville may tick off a few people, I say good. Its about time the people of this town got some backbone and fought the Mayor over some issues. Mr. Thoburn should not be the issue here, the Mayor should be the issue, plain and simple.

Mr. Thoburn possesses the abilities and knowledge to run the Planning department, and can do it without the attitude and showmanship of previous directors, MS, not withstanding. MS left to make a run at a council person’s seat, and I wish him well. The previous director was a tyrrant and tyrrants do not mesh well with developers or administrators. Many good people left the Planning department under this former tyrrant and they should have been consulted with before Mr. Thoburn was placed in this situation.

There are many good, qualified, competant people who could be the director of planning, but there was only 1 in the eyes of the mayor. Right or wrong, the mayor needed someone he could trust and whom he knew could do what City Hall – 4th floor wanted done in Planning. If Mr. Thoburn is able to streamline and get projects done that took his predecessors too long to complete, I am all for the appointment. It’s my tax dollars at work too.

Face it, Beach Blvd is screwed up, Atlantic takes forever due to traffic lights and JTB has yet to get all the lanes it needs. The developers have screwed up this city and it will only get worse without someone who knows the city, its limitations and who has the balls to draft a plan with good people around him to carry it out. I think Mr. Thoburn can do an excellent job. I wish him well and I hope he can succeed where others have failed!

Mtraininjax, sounds like you have some unique insight into the issue. Do you work in City Hall?

Mtraininjax, must be delusional. Take it from someone that works there, Mr. Thoburn has no backbone or experience and is all about keeping the status quo. This is nothing more than the good ol’ boy network in operation. Ironically a number of staff members were told they did not qualify for several positions, so what does he do? Rewrite all the job specifications to match the resumes of his cronies. As for experience from what I see on a daily basis the guy has none. His previous work hardly is relevant to the work planners do here. Most of the upper management are idiots and are pushing their own agendas, which believe me, they do not have what is best for Jacksonville in mind. Point blank, Jacksonville should be VERY concerned about someone with no experience and who does not meet the qualifications being put in charge of a department that is so critical to the growth of the city. To sum it up there is a reason why there are requirements in place in order to become Director. It is to insure that the city employs the most qualified person for the job. Call me old fashion, the more qualified an applicant is the more likely the chances are for success for the city.The city failed us when they did not bother to look for qualified applicants and the Mayor failed the city when he decided to place his best “buddy” in charge over what was really best for the city.