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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>

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