Eye on Jacksonville

Month: May 2021

  • Just another day in Jacksonville – higher taxes again

    Mayor Curry’s video announcement of the passing of the gas tax sent spikes under my skin. I wanted to give him a little CEO Coaching on the delivery of the message. But, alas, as you have been informed, Mayor Curry’s Administration has no desire to hear from Eye on Jacksonville. And it appears he has…

  • Local Republicans teamed up with Democrats to tax and spend

    City Council does have Republican members, believe it or not. They even constitute a majority. Wednesday, when the council voted to double the local gas tax, it was hard to believe. If the vote had been split on party lines the tax increase would have been defeated. Republicans Danny Becton, LeAnna Cumber, Randy DeFoor, Rory…

  • Rebel Yell: In Praise of Confederate School Names

    Guest writer, Marcos Protheroe, is a teacher and a graduate of Robert E. Lee High School. We appreciate his thoughtful and well researched article on the truth behind Confederate symbols. ***** The fuss over Confederate symbols should have ended in 1995. That year, drag queen RuPaul sported a full-length, sequined, rebel flag dress on movie…

  • Different perspectives, different results

    There’s nothing politicians like better than to spend your money. They call this “investing.” But, somehow, profits never land in your bank account. You know what actually is investing? It’s Dun & Bradstreet coming to Jacksonville. It is the River’s Edge development on the Southbank. It is the purchase of the old Times-Union building by…

  • “The Great Septic Tank Mystery” by Lenny Curry

    Mayor Lenny Curry wants to be known as the Septic Tank Slayer. So, how’s he doing? Curry took office in June 2015. From 1/1/2015 to 5/25/2021, there were 2,739 new Onsite Sewage Treatment & Disposals System (septic tank) construction permits issued in Duval County, according to the Florida Dept. of Health. That’s more than one…

  • Filling your gas tank is about to get more expensive thanks to our city “leaders”

    Barring a miracle, it looks like the politicians are going to win and the taxpayers are going to lose. Mayor Lenny Curry’s proposal to double the local gas tax on top of the rising prices seems to have clear sailing in the City Council. Maybe. The vote to bring it to a floor vote was…

  • Sonny B takes on BLM and cops regarding confrontation in Plano, Texas

    ATTENTION: I AM BLACK; Therefore, I cannot be categorized, and dismissed as a racist against my on people by telling the truth. However, this letter is in response to the racist, Marxist Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement allowed to prohibit traffic flow. I call the BLM movement racism in reverse, how is this right? We…

  • Is the Mayor’s office feeding us a baloney sandwich?

    Mayor Lenny Curry has done a good job of holding down the number of city employees since he took office, but he might want to add one new position: A fact-checker. It is something the media should be doing all the time, but in this case they are uninterested, to a rather shocking degree. At…

  • Emerald Trail: Expensive Project among homes of sex offenders

    Probably no word has been employed by city boosters more often than “catalyst.” Every new project, from Riverwalk to Jacksonville Landing to the now defunct Lot J has been described as a “catalyst” for bringing downtown back to life. Here’s the latest: “The Emerald Trail has the potential to be a catalyst for social and…

  • Mayor playing defense on gas tax increase after poll setback

    Eye on Jacksonville managed to break through Mayor Lenny Curry’s Wall of Silence this week by attending a town hall meeting on the Billion-Dollar Plan. We got an answer – sort of – to one of the questions we’ve been asking. City Council Member Randy DeFoor – who said she had not made a decision…

  • Mayor’s lame sales pitch hasn’t yet convinced the voters to pay higher taxes

    If a new poll is accurate, Mayor Lenny Curry’s sales pitch for doubling the gas tax is not going over very well. By a large margin, Jacksonville residents said no thank you to the proposal to double the local option gas tax while gas prices are soaring. Curry is calling it a jobs program but…

  • From City Hall to the White House, the First Amendment is under attack and few seem to care

    In Washington, the Biden administration is beginning to chip away at not only the Second Amendment, as expected, but also the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That’s not a “crazy, right-wing conspiracy” claim. The New York Times says so. The Biden White House increasingly is demanding to see and approve quotes made by officials…

  • What do these three women have in common?

    Eye on Jacksonville discovered that a local city council member — a Republican — financially supported the campaign of Debbie Wasserman Schultz LAST YEAR in 2020. As most of you know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a rabid, liberal Democrat and has not been friendly to Republican policies. Leanna Cumber, a Republican Jacksonville City Council member,…

  • An amiable and able politician has moved on

    Ralph Turlington,  a longtime politician in Florida, has died at the age of 100. He was from Gainesville, served in World War II and Korea, and had a Harvard degree. Unlike some legislators who are always “busy” except when lobbyists want to talk, he would always sit  and chat at length, even with a reporter…

  • Fighting communism still is important

    [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Eye on Jacksonville is read in Sweden. We learned of this via a comment from an opponent of communism who lives in Sweden and reacted to this column on American vs. Communism. Bertil Haggman also was delighted that the Florida Legislature this year tried to require government schools…

  • Compost Jax: Passion and Education is key to changing a community for the better

    I met with Mike Kelcourse a few years ago. He was excited about an idea he had to reduce waste in our city and turn it into a renewable source. He was passionate about the subject matter. Passion is what leaders need to succeed and Mike was filled with it. He watched as waste from…