By JAVIER MANJARRES
The drama in Jacksonville, Florida, regarding the potential move of an early-voting location in a predominantly black neighborhood continues, as a lawsuit has now been filed to prevent the move.When this story first broke, Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown, who “strongly supports” the suit, stated used the seemingly ubiquitous race card to draw attention to what she believes is a move to suppress black votersThe owners of Gateway Shopping Center asked a federal court Monday to strike down legislation Jacksonville’s City Council approved this month to move the elections center out of the Northside mall.
The council “acted arbitrarily and capriciously and in violation of its code” when it approved a lease with the owners of One Imeson, a warehouse on Imeson Park Boulevard, the suit by Gateway Retail Center LLC argues.
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The suit argues that a 10-year lease Gateway offered would have totaled about $2.8 million, or $83,000 less than a lease with Imeson. Either deal represented a savings of more than $3 million.-FTU
It is a racial issue, its Jacksonville its regular racist self.-Rep. Corrine Brown(D) (Read more here)
Now both sides of the argument are making their cases for, and against the move. The owners of the current location, Terranova Corp., is also echoing Brown’s claims that the move would “disenfranchise African-American voters.”
Of course he is.
Holland also made his case, saying that the new location would be more practical for what the main role of the location would be, warehousing.“There’s never enough effort to protect the right of a voter to vote,” Bittel said. “Our country passed the Voter Rights Act to do just that.”
But here is the rub. According to Holland, the new Imeson location was considered “politically neutral” considering that Representative Brown had opened and operated one of her campaign offices at the Gateway Shopping Center, which also featured Brown’s image on a billboard.
While both sides may have some standing in this case, could the real reason for Brown’s outrage over the move be based on political expediency, and nothing more?
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