Candidate Name: Bill Bishop
Age: 62
Family: Married to Melody Bishop, son - Bill Bishop
Education: Master of Architecture and MBA from University of Detroit-Mercy; Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Lawrence Technological University
Occupation: Vice President of Akel Logan Shafer, PA; Architect
Political Experience: Served 8 years on the Jacksonville City Council; 2007 to 2015
Campaign Website: www.billbishopforcitycouncil.com
What are the three biggest issues facing the citizens of Duval County?
The following are presented not necessarily in priority order. They are all important.
A. The perception of high crime and actual high crime rates in certain parts of the city. There is a perception that crime rates are rising in our community. While overall this is not true (the actual statistics show this), perception is reality and that narrative can have a negative effect on Jacksonville's reputation. Our murder rate is, however, extremely high and we must get control of that.
B. Education and the condition of our public schools is a major issue. In order to maintain a growing economy and attract and retain the types of businesses we need, we must have a well functioning school system and a diversified system of post-secondary education. UNF, JU, and FSCJ along with numerous private institutions are filling that roll well. Unfortunately, our public school system in Jacksonville is lacking in many areas. Even though we have three of the highest ranked high schools in the country, they only cover a small percentage of our total student population. We have some excellent private and charter schools but private schools are extremely expensive and both offer access to small overall numbers of students. Our public school infrastructure is close to if not the oldest in the state and will require several billion dollars to upgrade. For many people with school age children and companies with employees with school age children looking to relocate, the condition of the local school district is very important.
C. The condition of our transportation system is very important for a healthy business climate and overall quality of life. Over the past few years FDOT has spent and is continuing to spend great sums to improve our highway network and to expand into the growing areas of our community. This certainly helps people move around better and opens areas to further growth but it will not solve all of our needs. We also must invest in modern transit. It is simply impossible to build enough roads to handle all of the traffic and even if it was, this is very wasteful land utilization. JTA is doing some very interesting work with autonomous vehicles but under the best of circumstances it will be many years before a truly functioning autonomous vehicle system will be in place.
If you secure a victory, what are your primary goals for your term in office?
To use my knowledge and experience as an architect to help guide development in a resilient and sustainable fashion in Arlington in particular and the city in general. We, as a community, must take into account the affects of storms on our heavily concentrated coastal, low-lying, and riverfront development. As we saw during the recent hurricanes, we really don't have any immunity from storm damage and storm surge. There is some very creative work being done in other cities regarding coastal development for resiliency that we can learn from that will protect communities without significantly reducing development rights.
What makes you the best candidate to help the citizens of Duval County?
One of the biggest areas that city government deals with is infrastructure. As a practicing architect, I deal with this on a daily basis. Also, through my past 8-years experience on the city council and experience as council president I have a thorough understanding of how the city works and how the council functions.
Would you support the privatization of JEA?
No. JEA is too important of a community asset to sell.
What is the last book you read?
The 14th Colony by Steve Berry. I enjoy spy novels especially if they have a historical influence. This one is interesting especially considering the current "Russia" angle in the news.