J Magazine Winter 2019
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When Nat Ford looks<br />
at this town, he sees<br />
things differently from<br />
you and me.<br />
Where we may see our<br />
aged and mostly empty<br />
Skyway as a white elephant,<br />
he sees a valid original concept<br />
and a great foundation for updating<br />
and expansion.<br />
Where we might see an old lady sitting on an overturned<br />
grocery cart as a pathetic homeless person, he sees a bus stop<br />
that needs development.<br />
Where we did see the Mayport ferry as an expensive<br />
problem no one wanted<br />
to take on, he saw<br />
an essential public<br />
service that actually is<br />
more self-supporting<br />
than buses.<br />
Where we see a college<br />
or medical-center<br />
campus with a parking<br />
and mobility problem,<br />
he sees a technology<br />
opportunity.<br />
Where we see urban<br />
sprawl that will<br />
demand more expensive highways, he sees the potential for<br />
new transit stops that will generate smarter housing to take<br />
advantage of easy, modern transportation.<br />
And where we may see an automobile culture that feeds<br />
traffic, parking, safety, pollution, global-warming and expense<br />
issues, he sees a systemic challenge.<br />
Now, hitting his stride in his seventh year as the CEO of<br />
the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Ford envisions<br />
changing the very personal<br />
relationship you<br />
have with your car. He<br />
NAT FORD<br />
From: New York City<br />
Lives: Near the beaches (on the First Coast Flyer Red Line)<br />
Education:<br />
• Jacksonville University, executive MBA<br />
• Mercer University, bachelor of applied sciences<br />
• Golden Gate University, associate of arts<br />
Family: Wife Jannet Walker Ford, vice president of<br />
Government Relations for Cubic Corp. and JU Board of<br />
Trustees member. Six children, 2 grandchildren.<br />
wants you to have a<br />
choice of transportation<br />
modes, including<br />
making more use of<br />
your feet.<br />
He is working on a<br />
system of quiet autonomous<br />
vehicles moving<br />
people efficiently<br />
in, around and out of<br />
Downtown from all<br />
over the core city, and maybe even on college campuses and<br />
St. Johns Town Center.<br />
He sees two major Ultimate Urban Connector corridors<br />
Downtown — a Bay Street innovation corridor from the stadi-<br />
20<br />
J MAGAZINE | WINTER <strong>2019</strong>