Troubling signs about our guns. Pay attention.
There are troubling signs that local politicians may be inching towards gun control under pressure from one rich and powerful gun-grabber and others of like minds. Jacksonville, and Florida, have been until now staunch supporters of the rights enshrined in the U.S....
Jacksonville: A city without a vision
So far - as of yesterday - Jacksonville's local elections have a pathetic voter turnout. Only about 75,000 people have cast their vote which is a measly 12% of the population of Jacksonville. Check out the statistics here:...
Jax harbor deepening is a good thing but naysayers spoiling progress
Jacksonvillle’s port has taken a major step with a 25-year, $238.7 million contract to expand facilities at Blount Island, linked to the harbor deepening project. But, incredibly, there are naysayers. Under the agreement, SSA Marine LLC's 50-acre International Gateway...
Guest Writer: My vote for Mayor and why.
Eye recently gave an opportunity to use our platform for anyone who wished to explain why they were voting for their candidate for Mayor. We reached out to all candidates and suggested they have someone write about them. We wanted to be fair and give everyone a...
Mayor’s Debate: Underdog Hill had the best line of the night.
All of the candidates in the mayoral debate at Jacksonville University this week acquitted themselves well, but underdog Jimmy Hill may have surprised a few with his grasp of the issues. Incumbent Mayor Lenny Curry spoke of his “bold, decisive leadership” and cited...
Government BINGO? When will the madness stop?
I thought it had to be a joke. Jacksonville At Large City Council Group 5 candidate Ju'Coby Pittman is advocating for the city to fund BINGO in senior citizens facilities. It wasn't a joke. See the interview here with Ms. Pittman:...
His name’s not on the ballot; yet, is he already the Mayor?
Someone recently asked who I thought should be the Mayor of Jacksonville. My answer: "I propose we write in Shad Kahn’s name and skip the middleman." He's already pulling the strings behind the curtain anyway. Might as well make him Mayor. That's my opinion. What's...
Jax Mayor’s Race: Where do the candidates stand on the 2nd Amendment?
The Second Amendment is the ultimate protector of rights, and therefore the most important of our civil rights. As General Counsel of Florida Carry, Inc., one of my jobs is to inform our members where candidates stand when it comes to our right to keep and bear...
Demolishing the Landing. Why???
For the life of me, I can’t follow the wisdom of city officials regarding the Jacksonville Landing. When first built in the late 1980s, it seemed as if it would be the crown jewel of downtown, much like Baltimore’s popular Inner Harbor, which was built by the same...
Can we arrest our way out of a murder problem?
One problem with politics is the nonsense it generates. Take, for example, crime. Shame on Mayor Lenny Curry and his opponents, and the media, for giving Jacksonville residents the impression that the mayor of a city can control the number of murders in a city. Also,...
Collusion in Jax Politics? Nope says State Attorney.
It landed with a thud, but a recent report from the State Attorney’s Office pointed out how politics prevails in City Hall, which is not exactly a startling revelation. Prosecutors wasted an entire year and who knows how much money investigating another collusion...
Not a good ole boy in Jax? Fuggetaboutit
The ideas about "What to do with The Landing" were everywhere. The local radio station had a place for you to call in with your ideas. Some were great. Some were a little strange. Articles by all the local papers were asking the same thing. Some well known people in...
Breaking News: Letter to Gov. DeSantis asking for National Guard on Jacksonville streets
State Sen. Audrey Gibson and State Rep. Tracie Davis, both Democrats, representing Jacksonville in Tallahassee have sent a joint letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis requesting help to fight crime in Jacksonville. They cited the number of murders since 2019 began and they...
BREAKING NEWS…The Landing: A deal is reached. She has served us well.
The Landing Christmas Tree Lighting 2018 It's breaking news today in Jacksonville and finally the heart of our city - The Landing - can rest. She served us well throughout her lifetime on the St. Johns River. It was just announced Jacksonville Landing Investments...
Chicago in Jacksonville to help solve crime problem??
Yes you read that right. A group from Chicago is here to help Jacksonville decrease it's crime. The City of Jacksonville has hired a firm out of Chicago to the tune of $7,500 to help us figure out how to reduce crime. Cure Violence met with Sheriff Williams, Mayor...
JEA Deserves a Wink for this one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDmBma_lTKI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0HRSCDb7LBMUkHEMc1YA7LMhUV5Rxb5HP4_XdHXcx46I34vSuWgf6_Mk0 What are you flushing down your toilet? We love JEA's public service announcement about flushing "stuff" down our toilets. It's...
RIP: Pat Caddell, Bishop Kenny High Alumni
Pat Caddell, the legendary pollster and pundit who died this week at the relatively young age of 68, had roots in Jacksonville. The son of a member of the Coast Guard, Caddell moved several times as a child but was in Jacksonville when he attended high school. As a...
JEA Contribution: It’s just another pocket of yours.
City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend for four years the agreement the city has with the JEA for an annual contribution to the city general fund. The contribution “in lieu of property taxes” currently makes up about 10 percent of the revenue to the city’s...
Local News touts: Trump’s wall will cause catastrophe here
I read this article at First Coast News and wondered if what they reported could be true. They stated, "Naval Station Mayport could lose more than $100 million in the contentious border wall fight." Read the article here: http://Border wall fight could cost Mayport...
Jax Politics: A Trojan Horse or a Dark Horse? What say you?
Local Republicans want to give one GOP candidate a loyalty test. Dean A. Black, chairman of the Republican Party of Duval County, issued the following statement: “As Chairman of the Republican Party of Duval County, I've watched the unfolding of Anna Brosche's...
Local Democrats supporting Republicans in Mayor’s race. What’s up with that?
Lifelong Democrat politician Tommy Hazouri’s appearance in a TV ad supporting Lenny Curry raised a few eyebrows, and inevitably provoked much speculation. But Hazouri says people make too much of it. His take is that Curry has worked with him for the past four years...
How to report problems with city issues that affect you. There’s an App for that!
One of Eye's followers sent us a request for help. She said, "One of the walking crosswalks at the corner of San Jose and Old St. Augustine is out. I just had to jaywalk to get across. Not sure who to contact. Any ideas." I was happy to report, there's an App for...
Mayor Curry’s Wall of Silence vs Veterans Memorial Wall
Normally, I don’t offer advice to politicians but if I were Mayor Lenny Curry, I’d be patching up my relations with military veterans while heading into an election. Whether through ignorance or whatever, Curry – who has no military service background- – has...
Crime. Check out your neighborhood here.
I live in the San Marco area of Jacksonville. It's a nice neighborhood and one of my favorite things to do is take a walk on the Riverwalk located across from my condo. I'm becoming too fearful to do that anymore. This past week, we have seen crime flowing rapidly...
Is JEA a political pawn for Mayor Curry?
It's unfortunate when trust has been broken...because it's hard to trust again. And the trust between the JEA Board, the Mayor and the rate payers is badly broken. It started when Mayor Curry put cronyism into play with asking for resignations of JEA board members and...
Eye on Jacksonville Teenage Reporter gives us great hope for the future!
This article was written by Dailey Jackson, Eye’s Teenage Reporter. She wrote it for her high school friends. Yet – it could also apply to adults too. Dailey is running for Ms. Bishop Kenny and we will be cheering her on. She’s a lovely, sweet, smart...
Jacksonville: Does the border wall debate affect you? Yes!
U. S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Jacksonville Too many people are missing the real issue that has Congress and the White House in a stalemate, U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Jacksonville, says. Everyone in the media talks about the $5.7 billion at issue as being for a wall...
“Oldest school buildings in Florida?” That sounds like a tax increase.
Duval County School Board We just saw a posting from the Duval County School Board. The headline caught our attention. They are claiming the school buildings are the oldest in Florida. Hummmm Maybe they are. We don't know. But one thing is certain. That's a warning...
Politicians throw money at issues their policies make. Yep, local politicians do it too!
The 1960’s ushered in a myriad of government programs designed to help low-income families. Fast forward to 2019 where crime, violence, drugs, and poverty is flourishing in most of our nation’s inner cities along with the explosion in the growth of single parent...
Old City Hall tumbles down but Mayor Curry’s wall is still up.
Mixed feelings from seeing the old City Hall turned into dust. I spent many hours in that building, day and night, covering local government as a reporter. In 1970, the Jacksonville Journal took a new approach to covering local government. It created the “governmental...
A well-deserved WINK to the Florida Times Union’s Nate Monroe.
It's not often we see the media writing well-done, well-researched articles these days so we are happy to report, there is one in town with the mainstream media. Nate Monroe at the Florida Times Union. Nate Monroe's twitter description states: "Florida Times-Union...
BREAKING NEWS: 0% Loans available for Federal workers YET Mayor Curry hands out FREE money! WHY???
The breaking news was stunning. It's only been 5 days since Federal Workers were affected by the shutdown. Five days. You would think the world has gone into a new Depression and bread lines are every where. And could our Mayor be using this historical event to win...
Do you believe crime is down in Jax? What say you?
Mayor Lenny Curry says crime is “down” in Jacksonville. Curry’s claim apparently relates to criticism from City Council Member Anna Lopez Brosche, who has filed as a candidate for mayor in the spring elections. His claim is impossible to fact-check. If you look at the...
Transparency, the lack thereof: Why opponents to Mayor Curry are running.
Friday Anna Brosche was talking "transparency" in our local government -- the lack thereof that is... (Read more about Anna's challenge to run for Mayor here: https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190111/anna-brosche-challenges-mayor-lenny-curry) and... Today Jimmy...
Mayoral Candidates ready to go. Already seeing new levels of mud-slinging.
At the last minute, City Council Member Anna Lopez Brosche filed to run against Mayor Lenny Curry, setting up an interesting race to be decided in this spring. Just by mentioning she might run and criticizing Curry recently, Brosche had unleashed Curry’s attack dogs,...
May the best man or woman win!! Local elections underway. Be nice!
The Duval County elections are now underway. Truthfully, I'm not looking forward to them. I've been involved in many campaigns -- especially in the last ten years when we started the tea party. The one thing I understand about campaigns is this -- "Blood bath." The...
Will new City Council President spend large amounts of money on a problem that is shrinking?
City Council President Aaron Bowman is continuing to push for a strategic plan that will focus on crime and safety as the No. 1 priority, he said at a meeting of former council presidents Monday. Since taking office, Bowman has been advocating a longer-term vision by...
COJ politicians resent employee, reduce his pension. Legal battle/fees mount. What do you think?
If you are a fan of court cases with political overtones, one to keep an eye on is the effort by a former city employee to get back his full pension, which the city took away from him. The plaintiff is John Keane, former deputy, former firefighter, former union...
So it begins: Upcoming local elections. Prepare for negativity instead of solutions.
I knew it was coming. It's now officially the season of Negativity in Duval County. The upcoming local elections will begin with the primaries in March. Ugh. Here is the first ad for the Mayor's race. It isn't pretty. It isn't motivating. It's the same old garbage...
Curry’s Wall: Stonewalling information to the City Council???
One member of City Council may have gotten a wake-up call after asking for public records. Garrett Dennis asked the administration for some information and got a note from a bureaucrat advising him that it would cost $3,000 to compile the data. At first the councilman...
