A picture is worth a thousand words or millions of incentives for Friends of the Mayor?
Tear down of the Landing This picture taken by Sky 4 today says exactly how I feel about our Mayor's Administration. A mess. No words can explain about another bad deal on the banks of the St. Johns River. I've grown up here and the ONLY time anything ever finalized...
Downtown making a U turn?
After decades of trying to make traffic move quicker and smoother, local officials apparently have decided to make a U-turn and slow everything down. In the 1950s, many downtown streets and streets leading to downtown from the suburbs were changed to one-way traffic....
Curry botched the job of selling the idea of selling the JEA — but maybe he can get it back on track
Maybe the most remarkable thing about the JEA sale controversy is how big a mess it has become. Credit Mayor Lenny Curry. He made Aaron Zahn head of the independent authority – over more qualified people – for the purpose of leading the sale effort. Then he pretended...
Calm down: Another take on the JEA frenzy
There are a lot of calls in social media and elsewhere to “stop the process” of determining how much the city-owned utility JEA is worth. Why? What possibly could be wrong with determining its value? The city’s property appraiser doesn’t know. Neither does anyone...
Should we pardon the Mayor or send him a message, “We beg your pardon Mayor!!”
President Trump pardoned two turkeys yesterday at the White House. He had the power to do so. Jacksonville residents have the power to pardon our Mayor and others when they do not do what is in the best interest of their constituents. Today's question is this: Are you...
Florida Gun battles heat up in courts and legislature
Gun grabbers in Florida are pedal-to-the-metal in their attempt to disarm victims and make life easier for criminals. Fortunately for Floridians, those who believe in the Constitution are fighting back and a Jacksonville man is among them. Channel 4 has reported that...
Local moms seek to delay 5G wireless technology they believe poses health hazards
Local citizens are joining with others around the nation and the world to oppose a new form of wireless technology. Currently, they are opposing two bills pending in the City Council that will be considered by a council committee this week. The bills concern the new...
Is JEA taking lessons from DC Swamp?
The headlines about JEA seems eerily similar to the headlines coming out of DC. For example... Zahn vs. Biden: Could the CEO of JEA be our Hunter Biden? Aaron Zahn, friend/'supporter of the Mayor is the CEO of JEA and was recently appointed as CEO by the Board. He is...
Climate Change: Local effort to increase the cost of government is under way but Curry should heed Canute
Environmental alarmists are pestering Mayor Lenny Curry to spend more money and increase the bureaucracy in order to save Jacksonville from climate change. Precisely how climate change, which has been happening some 4.5 billion years now, is to be eliminated they...
An old discredited claim is revived again by a former First Lady
Michelle Obama, who never was proud of America until it elected her husband, continues to show her hatred for the nation even after leaving the White House. “Y’all are still running from us,” she said recently, voicing the theory of “white flight” that liberals have...
Salute (and a WINK) to Operation New Uniform (ONU)
ONU Team with Lt. Colonel Oliver North A business partner invited me to attend the Fundraising Gala for Operation New Uniform™. It was a wonderful experience and the guest speaker was Lt. Col. Oliver North. (A lovely patriot with huge battle scars, a war hero and a...
Are we too late? Can we fix politics?
I've only been involved in politics since 2008 when President George Bush bailed out the banks while my entrepreneurial CEOs were fighting to stay in business. That was when I "woke." My personal awakening about the political world changed my world. Somehow doors...
Eye Declares: Jax residents do have a seat at the JEA table!
Eye on Jacksonville wasn't created to ONLY focus on JEA. In fact, JEA wasn't on our radar at the time we started Eye. But...since we start in early 2018, JEA has become one of our biggest stories and it just keeps getting bigger. If you want to catch up with all the...
Civic leaders are not buying the JEA doomsday scenarios
As Mark Twain might say, reports of JEA’s death are greatly exaggerated. The Jacksonville Civic Council just gave the JEA and Mayor Lenny Curry a big pie in the face, accusing proponents and JEA of being secretive, uncooperative and misleading. In essence, the council...
Opportunity to be patriotic: Lay down a wreath for those who laid down their lives
Wreaths Across America is an organization that honors the fallen who have served our country and given their lives for our freedoms. Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, their mission is to Remember, Honor and Teach others about the ultimate sacrifice...
Jacksonville Civic Council – some of Mayor Curry’s biggest donors call out JEA debacle
Eye on Jacksonville is pleased to give a BIG FAT WINK to the Jacksonville Civic Council for the great research and final product of their work regarding the potential sale of JEA. For those of you who do not know about this group, you can find out more about them...
Big talk by Jags owner is unrelated to reality
Comments by Jaguars owner Shad Khan the other day were worthy of note. First was the notion that nothing has been done downtown for 50 years. “This has been like a 50-year objective in Jacksonville to do something downtown,” Khan allegedly told local reporters. “I’ve...
Closing a grocery does not constitute a crisis
How much longer will city officials continue to throw money at a problem they can’t fix? For years, untold millions of dollars have been poured into the Northwest Quadrant of Jacksonville, in a vain attempt to stimulate economic activity. It has had about the same...
JEA Leadership and Board should be fired.
Aaron Zahn, CEO of JEA My father taught me that if you thought you could do something, or you thought you couldn’t, you were probably right. Aaron Zahn, JEA's CEO, publicly says he can’t successfully manage our utility. Well then...it's time to stop paying...
Local numbers don’t support a minimum wage for teachers
The putative justification for setting a minimum wage for government school teachers does not seem to apply in Jacksonville. Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing the policy, at a cost of $600 million. Whether he is serious or whether the Florida Legislature will go there is...
North Florida goes to DC demanding Congress stop the impeachment of their vote.
Carrie Ann Gaines and other North Florida residents March on DC October 17, 2019 to Stop the Impeachment of Pres. Trump This week North Florida residents drove, flew and took trains to DC to support our duly elected President. They took time out of their lives and...
Back to the Future: DeSantis proposes sunset laws to remove regulatory burdens
Occasionally, politicians come up with good ideas. Usually, they merely find unworkable solutions to problems that either didn’t exist or already were solved. However, in the 1970s, the Florida Legislature decided that there were too many laws and regulations. So they...
City Council gambles no one will research the loss of 2,700 jobs & a possible tie to campaign contributions.
Candidly, I had not paid much attention to the adult arcade debate in our city. But a phone call to Eye on Jacksonville from someone who has worked in the arcades for more than 15 years, brought it to my attention and to the people who just lost their jobs. 2,700 of...
Many eyes are looking at the JEA sale proposal
Are other options being ignored as the JEA Sale Red Ball Express roars down the tracks? One wonders. An interesting bit of intel picked up by Eye this week: A few local experts on finance – investment banker types – are for their own amusement examining the city’s...
“Water is the new oil.” JEA selling our water to Water Barons? Don’t laugh. It’s happening.
I recently had a chance to speak with City Council Member Randy DeFoor. She was not happy with JEA fast-tracking a potential sale -- and she was most disturbed by the potential sale of our water. And I could not agree with her more. As a consultant to the board of JEA...
Mayor Curry speaks nonsense in eagerness to sell JEA
Mayor Lenny Curry We understand that Mayor Lenny Curry is pedal-to-the-metal on dumping the JEA, but his use of obviously bogus information in that quest is puzzling. Did Curry think no one would fact-check when he claimed JEA’s rates had shot up 71 percent? That’s...
Gov. Ron DeSantis veered off on the wrong track when he called for a new minimum wage for teachers
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Republicans think – and rightly so – that minimum wage laws are not good public policy. So why would the Republican governor of Florida propose a minimum wage for teachers in government schools? Gov. Ron DeSantis has done just that,...
One local legislator is taking on big issues, and isn’t taking no for an answer
State Rep. Jason Fischer An old saying goes, “There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.” Jason Fischer didn’t go to the Florida Legislature to sit and watch. Since being elected to...
Keeping your Eye on JEA is a big deal – just ask Californians!
California wildfires Californians are living in a horror movie and their utility and politics are to blame. The news is reporting ... due to the effects of "Climate Change" and the possibility of sparking fires, the electric grid...
JEA suddenly finds itself being courted
Often maligned JEA has suitors – 16 of them. That many companies made bids to buy all or part of the local utility company. The next question will be: how many are serious and how many are simply bargain hunters. Some think the company could be worth about $7 billion....
Politicians: We’ve lost trust in you
When Mayor Curry was running for re-election he stated, "I will not be introducing legislation to sell the JEA." Hear him speak here: https://youtu.be/5veZY0UMUm4 It's true, he didn't do that yet he did what other politicians do -- he had another way to do it. He used...
Jacksonville Good Guys care about our schools!
It's always nice to hear good news coming from politicians and especially when those politicians are from your neck of the woods! Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Today Governor Ron DeSantis -- a former local attorney, turned Congressman and now Florida's Governor --...
Local teacher is being punished for defending American values – let’s support him!
Is the School Board going to punish a teacher for being proud of being an American? Daniel Goodman was pulled from his teaching job at First Coast High School because of something he wrote on a chalkboard in his classroom. The offending statement? “THINK: We had about...
A BIG WINK TO FORMER MAYOR JAKE GODBOLD FOR HIS BOLDNESS
Godbold being bold! In Sunday's Florida Times Union, former Mayor Jake Godbold was boldly transparent with his thoughts and feelings about the potential sale of JEA. A bigger wink goes to his description of the CEO at JEA! Mayor Godbold stated, "Shortly after Aaron...
The Jacksonville Landing: “Want a piece of me?”
Do you have a desire to own a piece of The Landing? Here's your chance. DHG Wrecking has set up a facebook page to sell articles they have rescued from the wrecking ball. You can join it and inquire about the specific articles you are interested in securing. You never...
Rep. John Rutherford: How’s he doing?
Rep. John Rutherford John Rutherford, former sheriff of Jacksonville, has been in Congress two years. How’s he doing? According to the ratings of the American Conservative Union, so-so. The ACU, like its left-wing counterpart Americans for Democratic Action, rates...
Public is wary of new laws that allow the police to seize guns
Red flags you say? I don't see no red flags. Local police are using a variety of new tactics in an effort to stem violent crime, but one of the new techniques is troubling. Using the state’s “red flag” law, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is taking guns away from...
Mayor Curry: Tweeting instead of governing. You’re killing us!
You're killing us, Mayor! When I read the tweet, I thought, "He can't be serious?" But he was. Here you go friends. The Sunday night tweet from the Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida to teachers in Duval County Schools: Lenny Curry@lennycurry Please get me your classroom...
Fragmentation of government services is a problem
Potential changes in the consolidation charter were suggested recently that might have provided a different way to resolve the impasse between the School Board and city over a sales tax referendum. The Charter Revision Commission heard a presentation from Mike...
Is JEA hiring or not?
Just curious. JEA advertised on LinkedIn and stated, "If you're looking for a rewarding career with a team that values growth, excellent benefits and training, check out JEA. We are always looking for candidates with a variety of skills and backgrounds." I decided to...
