Oddly enough, the Mayor's office said yes to a conversation.

I wanted to start this off by saying this project has taken a few turns and I am still not sure where I am heading with it. Sometimes it is simply a conversation, sometimes it feels like a personal journal, and sometimes if I do my research, it feels a bit editorial.

One of the first things I wanted to ask him was how he got into politics. I knew he had started off in the non-profit sector, from fundraising at WUFT, to the Holy Trinity Episcopal. During his time doing work with the church he got more involved with the homeless downtown and felt that the systems simply were working as well as they could. At this point he decided to make the move to commissioner and try to improve the system from the inside. Back then you would have roughly 100 people sleeping at Bo Diddley Plaza at night. He admits that there is still a lot of work to be done, but the city has made some great steps forward.

The Mayor also highlighted that there are a lot of different kinds of homeless. It's not just the stereotypical guy on the street corner, but it’s families that couch surf and don’t have steady places to stay. There is somewhere between 5-10% of kids going to Alachua County Schools that are functionally homeless. He continues to point out that when it comes to supporting homeless families, traditionally there is not a lot of help for them and that's one area he wanted to work on.

The harsh and sad answer for what to do about homelessness is as he puts it, the least satisfying answer there is: money. People know what to do, there is not a great secret to be discovered or hidden truths to be found. It simply comes down to money. While every person’s needs are different, it simply comes down to funding. As Ward says “People can’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps if they have no boots.”

I also wanted to talk to him a bit about politics in general. I have long held the opinion that since President Obama took office, the art of compromise has died in the Government. Not to say that President Obama was at fault, but this is when McConnell said proudly "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." At that moment they stopped doing their jobs and adopted a policy of total opposition.

Mayor Ward said he believes it started before then, all the way back to the ‘90s with Newt Gingrich who made a career out of being divisive to grab power, for the sake of having power. Also during the ‘90s talk radio got to the point of being pretty ‘ugly’.

As we were wrapping up the conversation, I always ask if there is anything they want to put out there or if there is a takeaway they want people to have from the conversation. Mayor Ward said “ Number one, I’m glad that they’re here, whoever it is. If you call Gainesville home, I am glad you call it home. No matter where you grew up, no matter what you look like, no matter whose hand you choose to hold, none of that. I’m glad that you’re here. I want you to feel welcome.”