Month: October 2019

  • JEA Leadership and Board should be fired.

    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 him $524,000 per year!  As an owner of the JEA (and anyone who is a ratepayer…

  • 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 in doubt. It makes little sense. The matter of teacher…

  • North Florida goes to DC demanding Congress stop the impeachment of their vote.

    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 money out of their pockets to show up with others across the country to demand the left wing of the House stop the impeachment…and to stop impeaching their vote…

  • 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 So they devised a “sunset” law, which required laws to be repealed after a certain period…

  • 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 our neighbors are…

  • 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 finances to see if there are ways…

  • “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 about 10 years…

  • Mayor Curry speaks nonsense in eagerness to sell JEA

    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 nonsense and he knew it – or should have. His error was parroted…

  • Gov. Ron DeSantis veered off on the wrong track when he called for a new minimum wage for teachers

    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, saying that he will include in his budget next year a minimum wage for teachers…

  • One local legislator is taking on big issues, and isn’t taking no for an answer

    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 the Florida House, Fischer has been busy. He got special mention from Florida…

  • Keeping your Eye on JEA is a big deal – just ask Californians!

    [et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.22.3″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.0.74″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]          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,…

  • 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. Local politicians are licking their…

  • 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: It’s true, he didn’t do that yet he did what other politicians do — he had another way to do it. He used his influence and his hand-picked CEO to do it…

  • 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! Today Governor Ron DeSantis — a former local attorney, turned Congressman and now Florida’s Governor — announced that he would be pushing the Florida Legislature to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers…