Creating a Carlucci clan dynasty
Joe Carlucci would get a kick out of the fact that his grandson Joe Carlucci may serve on the City Council. The original was a character. A businessman who was fed up with the corruption in City Haul, Carlucci got involved with the Local Government Study Commission in...
New health service in schools needs a checkup!
The government schools in Jacksonville have adopted a health care service for students that has aroused suspicion in other parts of Florida. Hazel Health is a Silicon Valley telehealth company that provides primary, urgent, and mental health care services to...
Insurrection, anyone?
Guest Writer, Kenneth Timmerman, lives in North Florida after retiring here from a professional career in the days of real journalism. He continues to stay involved by keeping an eye on political developments and recently published his latest book, The Election Heist....
Local State House Candidate needs to know the rules of the game
Emily Nunez, a local political activist, declared she was going to run against State House Rep. Cord Byrd (R) in a primary last week. See her website here. She has been highly engaged on her social media platforms and is well known in the Republican activist world in...
Millions in federal funds were distributed by local government
Like many state and local governments, Jacksonville was showered with cash by a federal government eager to run the national debt up as high as possible. This always is the end game of tax-and-spend Democrats when they are in power, in the hope that a crushing debt...
Auditors blame faulty city computer system for late financial report
Finally, the long-delayed annual financial report of the city is available – and it contains scathing criticism of the local government’s new financial system software. The report hysterically is renamed the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report rather than the...
The power of the political purse prevails again
As always, there were many political twists and turns during 2021. One was the jockeying for position in the mayor’s race coming up next year. Three people got in and one of them dropped out. Others seem to be waiting in the wings. The dropout was Matt Carlucci, an...
Local man volunteers to raze Epstein’s Orgy Island
One local businessman with a demolition business has offered to knock down the palatial estate of Jeffrey Epstein – at his own cost. John Arwood John Arwood, owner of Arwood Waste & Demolition in Jacksonville, does demolition work nationwide and says he could...
Another poll confirms: people don’t like taxes
According to a new poll, property tax reform ranks high among the concerns of Florida residents, along with school choice and health care costs. This is a bit puzzling. The median property tax in Florida is $1,773.00 per year for a home worth the median value of...
Steaming ahead with plans for a naval center in downtown Jacksonville
Plans to dock a Navy vessel in downtown Jacksonville are producing solid results, at last. The USS Orleck, a Navy destroyer built in 1945, will be docked on the Northbank near the site of the old courthouse, now demolished. It was approved by the City Council last...
Ashes in your stockings, Jacksonville taxpayers
Scrooges in City Hall had a chance to give the people of Jacksonville a nice Christmas gift Tuesday, but instead they said, “Bah, humbug.” Only five members of City Council voted to repeal the recent local gas tax hike. Those heroes are Rory Diamond, LeAnna Cumber, Al...
City’s need for an inspector general should be re-examined
As the city inspector general’s office devolves into a flurry of lawsuits, claims and counter-claims, someone should be asking: why do we have an inspector general anyway? The new office was not a result of consolidation and had not been recommended by any other body...
Unity proposal seeks to end senseless squabbling about history
Local conservatives want to be inclusive, rather than dividing people. The issue is statues and monuments reflecting the city’s history. Those on the Far Left seek to rewrite history by removing any trace of the Confederacy. Conservatives want to show the nation’s...
Heavy effort by local GOP brought out conservative voters
In the last hour of voting Tuesday night, Dean Black got word from a member of his team that the substantial Democrat lead in voting had been cut – to 32 votes. Black was exultant. This was a big win. For decades, Democrat voters have outnumbered Republicans in...
Local government access is available to “some”
Our story on media access to local government brought an interesting response from a long-time reporter for a local TV station. Jim Piggott of News4Jax said, “I've been covering City Hall for 35 years and, yes, I remember when things were much more open.” Yet, he says...
“Freedom” of the press means little in Jacksonville
The hoary story about the frog who was placed in a pot of cold water on a stove and stayed there contentedly while the water was raised to boiling seems relevant in the case of Jacksonville’s media. Over the years local newspapers and television news outlets have...
Council member wants another shot at the local gas tax
One member of the City Council has stepped up to protect the city’s residents from a rapidly growing tax burden being heaped on them at all levels of government. Council Member Leanna Cumber told Eye on Jacksonville she will file a bill seeking to rescind the local...
Using the Governor for photo shoot is a sign of Mayor’s race heating up
Governor Ron DeSantis was in Jacksonville yesterday announcing his plan for gas tax relief. Good job Governor! (Luv the Guv!) Standing behind our Governor was the President of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Daniel Davis. Mr. Davis is said to be the "anointed...
Once again, the size of the police force is debated
The perennial argument about the size of the police force has come up again. This go-around, it is about making it bigger, rather than smaller. At a meeting of the Taxation, Revenue, and Utilization of Expenditures (TRUE) Commission Oct. 7, there was a discussion of...
Eye on Jacksonville’s latest Citizen of the Month is a man on a mission.
Blake Harper says his mission is to do what he says all Americans should be doing. Politicians are public servants, Harper said, and the job of citizens is to manage them, providing them with guidance. Harper does that, in spades. He is everywhere. You have seen him...
Deegan is in the race, and is a threat to conservatives
As expected, former TV talking head and liberal Democrat Donna Deegan has announced she will run for mayor in the 2023 elections. She has no experience in office. She ran for Congress in 2020 and was slaughtered by former Sheriff John Rutherford. Anything can happen...
Cameras in the classrooms – parents need an eye on Jacksonville schools
Most Americans would agree that the greater danger facing the nation today is not “white supremacy” but the teaching of racism in government schools. It is being done under the guise of “Critical Race Theory” and it was the major issue in the governor’s race in...
School Board: Much ado about nothing
Tuesday’s School Board meeting produced unanimous agreement on words written on a piece of paper that seemingly said nothing, meant nothing and accomplished nothing. That’s progress, perhaps, although it left a lot of observers puzzled. On the board’s consent agenda...
News4Jax story didn’t fool the viewers
Another hopeful sign for Jacksonville: the local media’s pathetic bias is becoming evident to readers and viewers. See this piece from News4Jax. To begin with, this is not an investigation. The Florida Highway Patrol compiled the database, in an effort to be...
Council members finally are bucking the cancel culture
There may be a backlash forming in the City Council against the unending demands from the Far Left. The local signs mirror what may be major turning points nationally. The first of those is the Republican win in Virginia, a clear repudiation of the liberal agenda. In...
Think policing is easy? Find out for yourself and ride along
After a lapse related to the Red Chinese virus, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is once again offering the city’s residents a chance to ride with officers while they are at work. I took one this week and I highly recommend it for others – especially those who...
New bill by Councilman Dennis may not be a “hit” with the taxpayers
Another bill has been tossed into the legislative hopper by Council Member Garrett Dennis, who has gained a reputation for championing utterly useless ideas. Apparently there has been an overlooked outbreak of people beating children in City Hall, because Dennis wants...
Committee with a loud voice wants to be louder
In an unintentionally hilarious “news story,” First Coast News is supporting the efforts of a group of local liberals seeking to hamper law and order in Jacksonville. The so-called Jacksonville Community Action Committee held a demonstration to urge the city to...
Schools keep child’s gender confusion secret from parents
Government schools in Jacksonville are using a pamphlet on “gender identity” that specifically directs employees to withhold vital information from parents. This latest assault on parental rights was confirmed for Eye on Jacksonville by an administrator who said the...
Newby shows leadership as council president
City Council President Sam Newby deserves a big Wink for ending a series of meetings that were counter-productive to law and order in Jacksonville. Called “Safer Together” workshops, they were held over the past year by two council members, Joyce Morgan and Michael...
City Council members hide political party affiliation
For some reason, local politicians on the City Council don’t want you to know what political party they belong to. Nowhere on the city’s Web site are the council members identified by political party. Republicans enjoy a majority, and could change this in an instant,...
Anti-police meetings serve no useful purpose
Council Member Michael Boylan’s abrupt departure from a council assignment that serves no constructive purpose should give the council president ample reason to disband a so-called “committee.” It isn’t really a committee. The former council president just named two...
Sonny B’s Rant: The case for ‘Right to Try’ for Covid-19
This letter may come across like I’m ranting or rambling, but the lunacy of a totalitarian rogue Biden administration is conjoined chaos leading to a communist agenda, set out to destroy our freedoms under the constitution. Examples are: Blocking, demonizing,...
City’s way of disbursing extra dollars needs a tune-up
Clearly, the city's process for donating your money to charity is out of kilter. It was on display when the City Council voted Tuesday to give away $4.6 million to local non-profit agencies. It was passed as an emergency although the council had a year to decide how...
Citizen of the Month – Quisha King
One Jacksonville mom has become a national hero for bucking government school indoctrination of America’s children. Quisha King has been featured in national publications this week for her work, which culminated with a plea for a mass exodus from government schools....
Jacksonville parents concerned with their rights don’t view themselves as terrorists
An astounding announcement by the federal government demonizing parents who care about the education they get in government schools is galvanizing Jacksonville families. Attorney General Merrick Garland is diverting the resources of the Department of Justice to focus...
Rally to Save Women of the Southland Monument – your big mouth is needed
Your voice is needed to honor the Women of the Southland Monument on Tuesday, Oct. 12 during public comments of the City Council Meeting. This monument has become a target of the Northside Coalition led by Ben Frazier. Mr. Frazier has become a big mouth piece for...
Sonny B: My journey to become an information warrior
I retired as a Fireman of Jacksonville. It took courage, determination, commitment, proper planning and hard work to finally get to the point of retirement. While employed with the JFRD, I became interested in food and found out I really enjoyed cooking. I became so...
Divisive efforts to revise history continue in the city
Ben Frazier, head of a group known as the Northside Coalition, is continuing his quest to remove all traces of the Confederacy from Jacksonville but like other Democrats he may be overreaching. Frazier seems to think he has Council Member Matt Carlucci, a candidate...
Local reporters can’t read or don’t care what local government costs the taxpayers
Jacksonville’s city government has a new budget for the fiscal year beginning Friday that calls for spending nearly $3.5 billion just on the core government functions. Once again, the local media are misleading their viewers and readers by telling them the budget for...
