Gainesville leaders hesitant to remove Corrine Brown's name from RTS facility after guilty plea

Gainesville leaders say they don't mind having former Congresswoman Corrine Brown's name remain at its transit headquarters for her contributions to the facility despite her recent guilty plea in a federal fraud case.

The sign naming the bus system headquarters at 34 SE 13th Road after her has been a topic of controversy dating back five years, when the former House representative was charged with using more than $830,000 from her charity meant to benefit kids as a personal slush fund for shopping sprees, vacations and parties.

Elected leaders have kicked the can down the road about the naming issue multiple times throughout her case.

After her conviction in 2017, some city commissioners said a decision whether the building should continued to be named the "Corrine Brown Transit Facility" should wait until the appeal process is finished.

That happened last week, when a majority of the Gainesville City Commission stated they have no objections to continuing to honor Brown.

“If we want to remove her name, then I think then we need to look at how we can return the money, the appropriation to Congress that she fought for,” said Gainesville city commissioner Cynthia Chestnut.

Plea deal: Ex-U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville icon, taking plea deal on federal fraud charges

Readers comment on name change: Today's letters: Readers comment on changing the name of the RTS facility, ransomware attacks, distributing COVID-19 vaccines and more

More: Gainesville commission to once again ban drinking on public property after split vote

In 2014, the city named the 113,600-square-foot building after Brown after she helped secure federal funding for the $35-million facility.

The new structure allowed the city to grow its fleet to nearly 120 buses, provide space for about 300 employees and more than doubled the size of the old facility.

Brown, who in 1992 became one of the first African Americans elected to the U.S. House from Florida since the Reconstruction era, has deep ties to the region.

Her supporters say that shouldn't be forgotten, especially when the work helps some of the area's most disenfranchised residents.

“She fought very long and hard for Gainesville, the University of Florida, our neighborhoods and RTS," Chestnut said.  "When she chaired the transportation subcommittee, she was responsible for getting the appropriation to build the RTS building.”

Brown's name has remained on RTS building since 2017 conviction

But in 2017, the longtime Democratic powerhouse was first convicted on 18 fraud-related charges after prosecutors said she used $833,000 from her charity, One Door for Education, for personal use.

Brown was convicted on charges of fraud, lying on her taxes and lying on her congressional financial disclosure form and sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Following the conviction, Commissioner Harvey Ward had urged commissioners not to take immediate action.

“I would hate for us to take her name off the building then have her win her appeal,” he said in 2018.

Ward said last week he "wasn't inclined" to have a public discussion about taking Brown's name down.

In December of 2020, the city’s RTS advisory board voted unanimously to recommend that the city remove the congresswoman's name from the sign outside of the RTS headquarters, though others called for the removal years earlier.

Commissioner David Arreola said when the issue of taking down the sign first came up, he asked employees what they thought.

“I don’t recall one of them wishing to change it,” he wrote in a text message. “So for me, it’s a closed issue.”

Mayor Lauren Poe, likewise, said in a text message last week that removing the name “is not a priority" for him.

He previously stated Brown's situation serves as an example for why buildings shouldn't be named after living people.

He previously suggested the facility be named after the late Rev. T.A. Wright of Mount Carmel Baptist Church.

“If the majority of commissioners want to take it up, we will,” Poe said in his message. “Otherwise, it will be the next commission’s decision.”

Brown, 75, was released from prison after serving 27 months before being moved to home confinement in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19.

An appeals court threw out her conviction in 2021 and ordered a new trial, which is now canceled due to her plea deal.

As part of her agreement with prosecutors, Brown admitted to "endeavoring to obstruct and impede administration of Internal Revenue Service laws."

For her acknowledgment, Brown will be able to continue to receive a pension and won't serve any more prison time but will be required to pay the Internal Revenue Service $62,650.

'She did obtain funding to build the building'

Evelyn Foxx, chair of the Gainesville chapter of the NAACP, said Thursday that the congresswoman of 24 years should continue to have her name recognized outside the headquarters, adding that taking down the name accomplishes nothing.

"It would anger people," she said. "When she was in Congress, she did an excellent job. She was the drum major for the RTS bus station, so I think her name should remain there."

Former commissioner Harvey Budd, who was on the commission when Brown was convicted and considers Brown a friend, said he is not sure what it would accomplish to remove Brown's name from the building.

"The reason it is difficult is she did obtain funding to build the building,” he said. “The question is she now is a convicted felon. And she was a convicted felon three and a half years ago, and she continues to be a convinced felon, so they could have (taken sign down) three and a half years ago.”

Budd, who previously said the dilemma is "awkward," once proposed to remove the name from the sign — a process that takes about 15 minutes due to it simply being vinyl wrap — but commemorate Brown inside the facility with a plaque. His fellow commissioners, however, balked at the idea.

“She is going to have to make restitution and she spent time in prison," Budd said last week. "She’s paid a heavy price. She is a very flamboyant person, and she has a great personality. She has a lot of really close friends in Gainesville. They have rallied around her for years.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gainesville officials: Corrine Brown's name at RTS facility should stay