Students should be allowed to take time off to protest, School Board member thinks
One local politician has come up with an idea that is so bad it deserves to be shouted down before it goes anywhere. Elizabeth Andersen, a member of the School Board, thinks kids in the government schools should get a day off so they can go out in the streets and protest. The only thing […]
Wrong-headed decision demonstrates the point: Every shack is not worth saving
Taxpayers should be outraged that the plans of First Baptist Church to continue improving downtown Jacksonville were thwarted, at least temporarily, by the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. By a 5-2 vote to deny a necessary permit, the church’s plans to tear down a crumbling building downtown were halted. Commissioners Jack C. Demetree III, Andres Lopera, […]
Food deserts and other neighborhood problems are the result of individual actions, not a failure of the free enterprise system
There is more to the “food deserts” story than meets the Eye on Jacksonville. Eye addressed this alleged problem recently, questioning whether it made sense for the city to hand $850,000 to Winn-Dixie to replace a Publix in Gateway Shopping Center. We subsequently heard from a reader who was a high-ranking member of one of […]
JEA: Manipulation. Deception. Lies. Justice must be served.
Here are a few JEA headlines that sucker punched me as they pushed their way into my inbox in the last few days: Attorneys tell JEA investigative committee that executives misled board about utility’s financial picture Councilman Diamond Says JEA Attempted ‘Swindle’ With ‘Biggest Lie Ever Told’ JEA gets a credit downgrade by Wall Street […]
Jacksonville hopes to have a new Tide Czar. What?
Jacksonville politicians want to go along with the crowd. Because almost every other county in the state has jumped on the bandwagon, the City Council now is considering a bill to create a “resiliency” office, at an initial cost of $300,000 a year. The new “tide czar” will do…. What? South Florida newspapers are panicky […]
Jacksonville’s voting process is secure
One of the reasons foreign nations are constantly trying to hack into computers in the U.S. that contain elections data is to sow distrust in our voting process and election integrity. The entire Russian Collusion Delusion was based on this false premise. There are thousands of voting jurisdictions and millions of voting machines using many […]
Mired in Scandals, Mayor Curry is Riding the GOP Mascot Again After Ignoring it for Years
By the way he has behaved over the past few weeks, the casual observer would think that Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry was a dyed-in-the-wool, MAGA hat wearing Trump supporter. In a tweet just this weekend he said he was “pinching himself” that he saw President Trump at the Daytona 500. The Mayor even dawned a […]
Black History Month: A big Wink to our hometown hero, Former Lt. Jennifer Carroll
North Florida is the home of Jennifer Carroll and we could not be more proud. Jennifer was the first woman and the first black person to be elected to the position of Lieutenant Governor of Florida. She is one of our heroes and we salute her during Black History Month. In recognition of Former Lt. […]
Food deserts, Camelot, Bigfoot and other flights of fancy
It has gotten way too easy for politicians to lead the media around by the nose. There are plenty of examples at the national level but there are some in Jacksonville, too. One classic example: Local media faithfully report on the mythical phenomenon of “food deserts,” as if they actually existed. City Councilman Reggie Gaffney […]
Eye Scoop: Former JEA money manager on the colossal blunders & the pot of gold left on the table
It is possible the taxpayers missed out on a big opportunity when they nixed the sale of the JEA, based on an analysis of the situation by a former employee of the city-owned utility company. In his estimation, the sale could have produced big bucks. The question that would remain is: What to be done […]
Part 2 – $56 Million Tax Dollars: Are city officials to blame for the mounting cost on the downtown parking garages?
It appears that the parking garage fiasco may have been brought on by city officials many years ago. As usually is the case in government, those who created the mess are gone, leaving the taxpayers to clean up. Three parking garages were built about 16 years ago, two at the sports complex and one near […]
Thanks for the memories Jacksonville. I’m needed across the pond. xoxo Jaxson
In January 2017 when the Jaguars took a knee in London and the city went crazy-mad over it, a well-known politician reached out to me. He was trying to understand why Shad Khan would do that. He was confused because he’s also a businessman and he thought the customer should be king! He’s old school […]
Finally, someone is taking action on a sweetheart deal city officials made 16 years ago
Differences over financial information related to the operation of downtown parking garages may land the city in court with its partners, Metropolitan Parking Solutions. The company operates parking garages near the county courthouse and the sports complex. Lori Boyer, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority, cut off loans to the company after it failed to […]