JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – These days you can spot Ken Amaro addressing the issues at Jacksonville city hall, or out and about in District 1. But for decades, he was the guy people in Jacksonville turned to when they had a problem.
Amaro was a well-respected consumer investigative reporter at First Coast News, working to get to the bottom of scams and rip-offs. He still remembers the day his former news director offered him the job.
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“I said I want my slogan to be, ‘Don’t get mad, just say I’m telling Ken'”, Amaro said. “And he said, I like it.”
Amaro’s broadcasting career included radio, television, and multiple Emmy wins. There was one thing he noticed: a lack of African American representation in the Jacksonville TV news market.
“When I moved to the market, Ben Frazier was a noon anchor, if I remember correctly,” Amaro said. “Joyce [Morgan] was at Channel 17, but before that, there was very little representation. The diversity on television was not there.”
As Amaro will tell you, when it came to matters pertaining to race, there were some incidents that stand out in his mind. He said one occurred as he was conducting an interview with a family at a home in St. Augustine.
“Sitting there in the living room, cameras rolling, getting their concerns,” Amaro. “And a black Rottweiler walked in. The guy without taking a breath, called the Rottweiler by the ‘N’ word and says, ‘Get out of here’. And then he continued talking like I was persona non grata, like I didn’t exist.”
After decades of fighting for the voiceless, Amaro retired in 2021. It wasn’t long before he set his sights on city hall, saying the transition into public service felt natural. One of his priorities is helping to bring Blue Cypress Park to the next level.
“One of the nicest parks in the city,” Amaro said. “I’m not just saying that because I live in the district, but you can see the capital investment there, and it’s almost to the gravity of the regional parks.”
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Even though he sometimes still hears that famous slogan, for Amaro, he has but one goal: make things better.
“I read some anonymous philosophy, philosopher said something, ‘just imagine if everyone swept in front of their own front door, just how clean the world would be,’” Amaro said. “We can make a difference. We don’t have to change the world. You can change the person.”
