Downtown Vision Inc., released their Annual State of Downtown report for Jacksonville’s up and coming downtown.
The nonprofit’s mission is to entice businesses and people to invest or make downtown their new home. They are doing a great job.
What we didn’t know is this: They are also in charge of cleaning up human waste on a daily basis in downtown. More than 1,400 cleanups this year! That is a job no one wants but thankfully they have taken it on.
A recent report by Channel 4 news will turn your stomach. One business owner mentioned he has never seen so many homeless in the downtown area. They are growing in numbers and impacting the vision for downtown.
There must be a way to deal with the homeless issue. There are many cities across the country who have found a way to fix the problem. There are others such as San Francisco who ignored it for so long and now the homeless have taken over and businesses and people are leaving the city. Events and money from large conference groups have been lost to the homeless issue. The homeless issue drastically impacts tax revenues.
We applaud Downtown Vision for what they are doing and we hope they and the city leaders will find a way to keep us from becoming a San Francisco. We’ve invested too many tax dollars in downtown and we expect to see those dollars used to bring people here.
Until this issue is fixed, it will be a hard sell.
See the interviews of those dealing with human waste in downtown Jacksonville here:
Downtown Vision cleaning up human waste
Check out the report from Downtown Vision here: Downtown Vision Annual Report
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://eyeonjacksonville.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Billie-Tucker-1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Billie Tucker has worked in the CEO world for more than 30 years and was the Chief Operating Officer of Vistage Florida, a think tank for CEOs. She started her own consulting practice, CEO Service Bureau, in 2001 and earned a reputation for her keen understanding of the motivations, challenges and goals of people and became a life-long student and teacher of leadership principles. She craved anything leadership related and enjoyed being around the world of entrepreneurial CEOs. She watched as they made decisions; pondered how they would make payroll when cash flow was tight; and appreciated how they created career opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people. Because of her experiences, she has emerged as a key resource for the media and others who want to understand important insights about executives, management teams and board dynamics. In 2008, Billie became discouraged as she watched some of her clients struggle with the political economic impacts on their businesses. The same CEOs who mortgaged their home and charged up their credit cards to make ends meet to build a business and keep others working, now watched as their government bailed out the big banks who had mismanaged their resources. She cringed as most of her clients laid off employees for the first time and she vowed she would help them… somehow…someway. That somehow…someway showed up in the Tea Party Movement in America. She formed one of the largest tea party group’s in America (more than 9,000 members strong) and helped bring attention to America’s debt problem, out of control spending, over taxation and regulation strangulation on companies. With her background in working with leaders and her influence in the political and leadership world, Billie has continued her dream to help CEOs navigate these troubling waters that permeate the world of capitalism in America. She has been an active participant in the media as a guest on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, Bott Family Network Radio and co-hosts a political/financial radio show in the Northeast Florida market entitled, Smart Money. She was the first speaker at the House of Representatives Tea Party Caucus inaugural event and was invited by Heritage Foundation to speak at their prestigious annual Heritage Resource Bank, and on their National Security Panel live broadcasts. She spoke at the Congressional Republican House Retreat in Pennsylvania in 2012. She was also the co-host and co-producer of the CNN Tea Party Express Debate in the 2012 Presidential Election. She is a firm believer that America needs more entrepreneurs and more opportunities for people to use their God-given talents and passions to better themselves, their communities and America. Her favorite quote has become her mission to help CEOs succeed: “Vision without execution is hallucination.” – Thomas Edison[/author_info] [/author]
