Part of the city’s EverBank “stadium of the future” deal includes a “historic” $300 million Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). The idea is to force the Jaguars and all of us, to pay for the mayor’s pet projects of workforce development, homelessness initiatives, affordable housing and to revitalize poor minority neighborhoods, mainly the core of pre-consolidated Jacksonville, better known as the Eastside.

The Jags offered to fork over $150 million in the deal. Mayor Donna Deegan pledged $150 million from the taxpayer. Jacksonville’s City Council recently passed $56 million in city dollars to fund CBA projects in Metro Park, Riverfront Plaza, Shipyards and the Jags practice field.

The council baulked at handing over $94 million dollars of the mayor’s deal asking for more time to study the CBA.

Now, after a few special committee meetings, we have a better understanding, albeit a very vague understanding, of how $150 million of taxpayer money will be spent.

The final agreement is just a smidge different than the initial deal with the Jags, but who cares, right? As long as money is being spent, history is being made.

The CBA special committee agreed to spend $40 million on the Eastside.

Countywide, $40 million will be spent on ending homelessness, affordable housing and workforce development spread out over 33 years.

Each of the 14 members of City Council will receive $1 million to spend on whatever they want in their district.

Also, a new, even more specialer (sic) special committee will be created to try and figure out how to create a “special taxing district” benefiting only the Eastside neighborhood.

Another separate board will be created for the mayor, special committee members, even more specialer special committee members, community members and “advocates,” to “determine the best uses for Eastside funding,” according to reports.

They were given until Sept. 10 to figure it all out.

After all the press conferences and praise for a job well done by Team Deegan in reaching a “historic” deal to build the “stadium of the future,” I decided to do a little digging.

I quickly figured out what should be blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention. Deegan and her administration concocted a plan to force us to fund her campaign promise of promising to undo all the “broken promises” of Jacksonville’s original racist sin of consolidation in 1968.

It is a Democrat myth that supporters of consolidation promised to give people free septic tank removal and hookups to city sewer lines and welched on the deal.

The CBA is an outline of her administration’s plan, (and I would argue, her legacy as mayor), to reverse racism throughout the city and create a healthy & wealthy revenge utopia called OutEast free from the “barriers” of Jacksonville’s systemic white racism, unemployment, expensive housing, homelessness and broken promises for those “left behind” after consolidation.

You don’t have to take my word for it.

During Deegan’s monthly segment “Ask the Mayor,” on WJCT’s public radio program no one listens to called First Coast Connect, she pleaded her case for the need to spend hundreds of millions of city dollars rebuilding the most dangerous and run-down neighborhood in the city.

“This is the very community that was largely left behind by the promises of consolidation. So, not only do we owe it to that community, but this makes perfect sense as we are continuing to redevelop that area to make sure that not only are we taking care gentrification doesn’t happen that is in a way that isn’t good for that community, but to make sure they are brought along and they can be a part of that economic rise that will come out of that whole area, Deegan said.” She continued, “so, it makes perfect sense. And goes right along with those promises I have made. Promises of consolidation were addressed and I think the council largely sees that as well.”

Oh, I see it too boo. Probably not in the same way though.

The CBA is Deegan’s political promise to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars to black people because she believes it is her duty, as mayor, to fulfil every perceived political promise Democrat politicians made to those living in the area since 1968. Those non-existent broken political promises are the evidence our mayor says proves Jacksonville was built upon deep-seeded systemic racism, purposefully impoverishing an entire area of town for decades. Deegan and her team believe they can rebuild the community by creating a centrally planned economy via the CBA fabricating a quasi-dictatorship of the Eastside proletariat. 

For those of us who grew up attending public school in Duval County, a centrally planned economy is a major tenet of Marxism.

Mike Weinstein was the city’s lead negotiator on the stadium deal.

A juicy detail we learned recently about Mike is his value to Team Deegan. Apparently, we are paying him an annual salary of $292,006 potentially for the next five years for his contribution. One council member asked what Weinstein’s work actually entails to be one of the highest paid city employees. The mayor was asked. The information wasn’t provided. 

Addressing the City Council in June, Weinstein pitched to council members the benefits of the CBA and how it came about. And as always, no one noticed but me.

Weinstein told the council during the negotiations the Jaguars showed interest in investing money in the Eastside neighborhood of Jacksonville. The mayor saw an opportunity.

“The mayor saw the Community Benefit Agreement as really the sort of icing on the cake. That we shouldn’t just do the stadium. We should take advantage and do something bold, something big,” Weinstein explained to the City Council. He continued, “That’s when she offered the Jaguars, that if we were to put in some dollars, would they agree to up their $100 million that they originally talked about. We very quickly got to $150 million from the city and $150 million from the Jaguars. That’s sort of how we got to where we are,” Weinstein said.

There are three elements to the CBA. Workforce development, affordable housing and homelessness initiatives. All are a vague undefinable form of “crisis” a political term used to spark emotion with the easily swayed.

The mayor’s top negotiator tells the council the city needs skilled workers. The mayor’s team claims a majority of people in Jacksonville are not “talented” enough to work the jobs promised by the CBA and they are also prohibited from working potential hypothetical jobs because of “barriers.”

Weinstein tells the council, “We need to have people get upskilled in the areas we need.” He says people need the CBA to help them get over “barriers” of trying to get “upskilled.”

Upskilled? Barriers? One must learn a whole new language to understand these people.

Deegan tried to explain the made-up issue during the radio segment. “We are really talking about making sure that all of these projects we are lining up to get done in the city of Jacksonville, have a local workforce. Right now, that’s not the case. We just don’t have enough local talent, in terms that folks are trained up to do these jobs to make sure we can get everything done without bringing in a whole lot of people from elsewhere. And we don’t want to do that. We want to give the people the opportunity to be able to do that themselves.”

Is the mayor really telling us our city, of more than a million people, is populated by adults who are not capable enough to work a job? The mayor also told us we are simply not smart enough to understand what her administration is trying to do on our behalf.

“I think it’s very easy for people to not really understand what workforce development is,” Deegan said.

Listen to the full segment here: https://news.wjct.org/show/first-coast-connect/2024-08-12/on-tuesdays-show-mayor-donna-deegan-takes-your-questions

The only way to figure out what she is talking about is to spend countless hours researching this stuff. There used to be a job like that. Journalism, perhaps? Sadly, journalism as well as outdated concepts like critical thinking, logic, and rationalism all disappeared in 2020 along with the flu.

Going back to Weinstein’s statement to the City Council, he explained how workforce development cash will remove everyday responsibilities from potential employees, known as “barriers,” and provide/pay/do it for them because the original construction of the stadium caused the neighborhood to decline.

Again, you don’t have to take my word for it.

Weinstein said, “Workers not being able to get to the location, doesn’t have the right uniform or doesn’t have the childcare. All those barriers that are in the way of people trying to move up into a livable wage and a better career,” Weinstein said.

He goes on to tell the council CBA cash will also go towards the countless city programs and race-based nonprofits currently operating throughout town that still haven’t figured out how to end homelessness and or create so-called “affordable housing.”

“These dollars will continue to move forward all the programs and initiatives the mayor has already put forward,” Weinstein said.

The CBA allocates $40 million dollars specifically for the Eastside. Weinstein says we need to rebuild the neighborhood physically and socially because “there is a uniqueness to this particular area” and because of “impacts.” He said when the sports complex was created, some of the houses in the area were “taken away, literally” causing the neighborhood to have “impacts, not necessarily positive, that have come from the complex being built basically south of them.”

Weinstein explains to council members the mayor wants the public to view the CBA as not only our philanthropic responsibility because “the area deserves it,” but also as an “investment. That is the key.”

Understand, the messaging surrounding the CBA is important. Team Deegan does not want us to figure out this entire deal is based on the mayor’s silly idea that white people owe hundreds of millions of dollars in unaccountable reparations to black people living on the Eastside because life isn’t fair.

The City Council is already doing its part to make sure they don’t miss out on their cut of the deal as well as making sure they won’t be responsible for whatever does or doesn’t happen involving the cash, by playing right into the mayor’s hand.

I’ll explain.

Deegan originally proposed creating two new boards and allowing them to figure out what to do with $150 million dollars. However, the council settled for their plan of action.

Why only have two boards deciding on how to spend other people’s money when you can have an unlimited number of groups fighting over millions of dollars of other people’s money. 

According to the Times-Union, City Council seemed concerned over “too many boards,” being involved. So, members decided it is more efficient for local nonprofits “to award and distribute the funds.” Oh, it gets better.

In the beginning of negotiations, the wording of the Jag’s portion stated their contribution would go towards the vague and undefinable concepts of, “affordable housing, reducing homelessness and economic development in the Eastside, along with affordable housing, reducing homelessness and workforce development for countywide programs”, according to the original proposal.

However, when came time to vote, the council voted on a revised agreement stating the Jaguars’ portion of the CBA will fund “programs and initiatives that advance the development and well-being of the Jacksonville community and its residents.”

Just a smidge different.

The TU reports the language change was so that three City Council members could still vote on the legislation without having to abstain “because they work for non-profits that might seek grants for programs in the categories in the original community benefits agreement.”

Pay no attention to that. There is for sure nothing nefarious about elected City Council members making sure they will be able to financially benefit from legislation they are voting on. Wink. Wink.

And, of course, the million-dollar allocation to each district is not pork-barrel spending either.

Going back to that council meeting, Mike Weinstein carefully explained why the administration would like members to rely on a CBA between the city and the Jaguars to fund the mayor’s plan of reversing consolidation’s racism rather than the city’s budgetary route requiring transparency and accountability.

They want us to believe, as Weinstein told council members, “if we do it with the budget communities will be left behind like they have in the past.”

What he is saying, without saying it, voters nor elected representatives can be trusted when it comes to the mayor’s legacy of eradicating pretend systemic racism by completing every line item of Mayor Deegan’s Fulfilling Broken Promises of Consolidation Checklist Act.

Just kidding. There isn’t really a Mayoral Act, but I am pretty sure there is a checklist.

For more on Eye on Jacksonville’s reporting on consolidation click here: https://eyeonjacksonville.com/black-jax-advisory-board-now-accepting-applications/

Weinstein attempted to explain why council members should relinquish their constitutional power and hand it over to Team Deegan. He said, “There’s been a lot of discussion about well let’s do it in budget, let’s do it in a budget. The difference in this process is if we do it here with an agreement with the Jaguars, we’re under a contract. Those dollars are dedicated to do these things. If ya wait and do it in the budget, then you have the same issues that you have every year with the budget. And communities will be left behind as they have in the past. There’s no real commitment. This locks it in to do it in the way the Community Benefits Agreement was established. That’s the difference between let’s push it and let’s do it now. This locks it in.”

It all comes back to Jacksonville’s original sin: consolidation.

“We will again, do what we have done for decades… not taken care of the original promise of, of, making sure these neighborhoods are taken care of,” Weinstein said.

Another highlight of Weinstein’s speech, no one seemed to notice, is when he tried to make an insulting joke aimed at city government.

It did not go well.

“When I first came here, Jacksonville, we were called, ‘Jacksonville the new bold city of the South’. Somewhere along the line we changed our name to First Coast… or… what-have you… and we haven’t really been bold ever since.”

Yikes Mike.

Anyone who has been here a minute knows the slogan is “The Bold New City of the South.” Jacksonville is also known as “The First Coast.”

Weinstein wrapped up his pitch to the council by comparing race-based spending required by the CBA to a Renaissance.

“This is an effort like the Better Jacksonville was, like getting the Jaguars, like the Renaissance was, um, to really make an impact and be a change agent. And um, I think it culminates in a pretty good offer,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein has been around since forever but must have forgotten that we already had a Renaissance. The River City Renaissance was a 1993 bond issue of $235 million that not only moved City Hall but also rebuilt the football stadium. It also – ahem – “revamped the city’s historic downtown neighborhoods, especially LaVilla and Brooklyn.”

In fact, Wikipedia says, the program was controversial because most of the money was spent on inner city projects while other needs around the city were ignored.

You read it right. Most of the money 30 years ago went into the supposedly ignored inner city.

By the way, Weinstein was the city’s chief financial officer at the time. Oopsies.