City's Legal Shenanigans Laid to Rest; First District Court of Appeal Orders Cecil Field Referendum Back on the November Ballot

The First District Court of Appeal ruled today that a referendum on the future of Cecil Field will go before voters on the November 7th ballot. The decision sent shockwaves through City Hall and the Mayor's office who spent countless hours around the clock the past several weeks in a failed attempt to block Jacksonville voters from exercising their referendum rights.

The VoteJacksonville.com grass roots coalition hailed the decision as a victory for "democratic principles that many Americans have fought and died to protect" and showed that, "even in the face of long odds, our system works."

"The District Court granted our appeal, as we hoped, because they simply followed the rule of law. They saw past the City's legal shenanigans and erroneous allegations by vindicating the 38,000 Jacksonville voters who signed petitions for the Navy's return to Cecil Field," said VoteJacksonville.com co-founder Ken Underwood. "We are confident that those voters and thousands more who care about our national defense and believe in providing our Navy pilots with the best training environment in the world will carry the referendum to a resounding November victory."

Even though the Court ruled in favor of the citizens, Underwood expects the Mayor's office to continue their push to block the will of the voters by filing an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court.

"Despite the 31,000 plus jobs and the $2.6 billion economic impact that will come with the Navy's return, the Mayor has made it abundantly clear that he's going to do whatever he can to prevent it from happening -- even going so far as to participate in raising a million dollars to fight our efforts," Underwood said. "This is going to come down to a fight between what's in the best interest of our nation's defense versus what's in the best interest of Cecil Field area developers who seem to be pulling the strings at City Hall.

When asked about the City's allegation that the Navy's return would be costly, Underwood said, "Their cost estimates are upside down. For example, they say that it will cost $2 billion to give the property back to the Navy. But how can it cost anything to give it back when the $2 billion property was given to them for free? If they raise the property value to $10 billion tomorrow, will they then claim that it will cost them $10 billion to give it back? Voters in Jacksonville are more sophisticated than that."

"The good news is that because of the First District Court of Appeal's decision, the Mayor and City Council have now lost a great deal of credibility with the voters who will decide this issue," Underwood concluded.

"While returning the Navy to Cecil Field would have a tremendous economic impact for the region -- including safeguarding 3,300 jobs at the Naval Aviation Depot -- the Cecil Field question is even more important from a national perspective," said Capt. David Van Saun, Senior Team Leader to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

"Cecil Field is important because it provides the best training environment in the world to our Navy pilots who defend our freedom," said Van Saun, who is also a co-founder of the VoteJacksonville.com grassroots organization. "Despite the best efforts of area developers, a hundred or so residents, and local politicians to maintain the pilot training deficiencies that currently exists in Oceana, the voters now have an opportunity to say 'No!' We demand that our young men and women pilots be trained properly before we send them into harm's way."

"And with the our community's largest capital asset, the JFK, going away, this provides us with our only opportunity to get a replacement carrier," added Van Saun, former Commanding Officer of Mayport Naval Base.

According to a University of West Florida Study, returning the Navy to Cecil Field will create more than 31,000 jobs that pay over $50,000 dollars a year and boost the area's economy by $2.6 billion a year.