Curry’s Iron Curtain on information is beginning to be noticed
One local TV station seems to have awakened to something Eye on Jacksonville alerted its readers to months ago. First Coast News complained that it is difficult getting information from City Haul. Reporters were trying to find out the origins of a list of public...
After a change in testing methods, local schools seem to be doing better
Elementary and secondary schools in Florida have one job: preparing children for the next step in life, which in almost every case either is work or college. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask: Are students graduating from public schools prepared for college? Florida...
Another day, another crisis in local government
One thing about government: it never seems to lack a crisis requiring more government action. At a meeting of a special committee of the City Council Monday, another crisis was announced. According to a bureaucrat identified as Dawn Lockhart, there is a crisis in...
Rather than being accused of neglect, local taxpayers should be praised for their generosity
In 2000, Jacksonville citizens gave politicians the right to spend $2.25 billion of their money to reshape the city. Twenty years later, some local politicians are trying to convince the voters that little has been done to improve the city’s infrastructure, especially...
Parents are entitled to watch their children being educated
If teachers are not going to return to the classrooms, and only want to teach online, the teaching sessions should be public. Parents certainly should be able to watch their kids learning. And why not let the public watch, too? Education is being changed by the Red...
SonnyB isn’t happy with so-called Victory against Chick-fil-a
From SonnyB: This letter was written to the organization called Texas Values in San Antonio that was fighting a bill sent to their city council to vote on. That bill was to keep the Chick-fil-a from coming to the San Antonio airport. Well needless to say it went to...
Executive Privilege: The rise of the dark side in Jax politics
During testimony with the City Council committee investigating who was behind the JEA scheme, Brian Hughes, Jacksonville's Chief Administrative Officer, invoked Executive Privilege regarding some of the questions asked of him. It was an interesting play on the Saga of...
Political Fight: Council should put need over politics
It is clear that a special committee of the City Council is mired in a muddle over its mission. The Special Committee on Social Injustice and Community Investment met Monday, and some of the defects began to show. The first is that the committee was tasked with...
Local parents say: when parents become schoolteachers, pay them
Conservatives refer to public education as The Blob – and for good reason. Like the menacing mass of black goo in the film of the same name, it consumes everything and produces nothing, while moving at a snail’s pace. In the current environment, where everything is...
Put the ramps back up and investigate incompetence at the Downtown Investment Authority
The taxpayers of Duval County were sucker-punched yesterday by the big news that the $2.5 billion Shipyards Master Developer Agreement with Shad Kahn/Iguana was invalidated. Yes, invalidated by the DIA's leader, Lori Boyer. There was no warning about this big news....
Tracie Davis – Bad for School Choice. Bad for our Children.
The District 13 House of Representative seat between incumbent Tracie Davis and candidate Dr. Cynthia Smith is up for grabs. By choosing radical leftist incumbent Tracie Davis, you side with the teacher’s union, which is totally AGAINST school choice. On the other...
City needs roads? Not exactly a new problem
One hot topic in City Haul currently is spending on public infrastructure improvements. This is not anything new. In December 1882 – the same year pitchman P.T. Barnum bought his famous elephant Jumbo – the editor of the Daily Times in Jacksonville wrote: "Outside of...
Lift Your Voice about the naming of parks
Now that Hemming Park is no longer a racist entity in Jacksonville, we can all sleep better. But wait!! If that is the cure to racism -- changing names of parks -- why haven't we been sleeping better since 2015? Funny thing happened on the way to Mayor Curry's desk...
Confederate soldier missing in action stood guard in the city’s center for more than a century
One victim of the cancel culture is the bronze statue of a Confederate soldier that stood in what is now, after a vote by the City Council, James Weldon Johnson Park. The figure was spirited away to a secret location in the dead of night by politicians seeking to...
Many public dollars are slated to go into one section of the city
Any fair assessment of the mayor’s proposed budget shows the northwest quadrant of the city getting a large share of the spending during the next five years. It is alleged by City Council members representing four council districts that those districts have been...
Mush for the masses from a shrinking paper seeking to be relevant
Tone-deaf editorial writers at a small, liberal newspaper in the city are calling for higher taxes and spending as the nation stares into the depths of a depression. While eminently predictable because of the paper’s left-wing slant, and largely irrelevant because it...
Communist influence seen in school opening tussle
Local parents who want to see the public schools open are concerned that their opponents are supported by two organizations with communist connections. The well-organized effort had an entire week of activities scheduled, to conclude with a march in Tallahassee...
Big spending plans for the city will benefit mostly a few areas
If there has been neglect of some areas of the city as alleged, but not proven, apparently it may be rectified over the next five years. Closer examination of the city’s proposed Capital Improvements Plan shows $3 billion in spending on infrastructure is planned....
I’ve been black all my life. I qualify to speak about BLM
In a recent post by Eye's Sr. Editor, Lloyd Brown, he stated, "Politicians should show proof or stop slandering the people of Jacksonville." I agree with Lloyd and I am a black man. I am also extremely proud to be a resident of Jacksonville and a citizen of this great...
Necessary data on infrastructure spending in Jacksonville slowly is coming to light
Finally, a special City Council committee that is eyeing increased spending on infrastructure is beginning to collect some useful data. Knowing where you are before you start a trip always is useful. The committee is setting out to ensure spending is equitable...
Politicians should show proof or stop slandering the people of Jacksonville
Are the citizens of Jacksonville who are being accused of racism ever going to get a fair hearing? At City Haul, the drumbeat continues, but the specifics never come. Eye on Jacksonville has asked Council Member Brenda Priestly-Jackson for a list of the promises made...
There is information on infrastructure spending, but no one asking for it
Eye on Jacksonville still is holding out hope that someone will lay a predicate for what looks like a huge spending spree, and accompanying tax increase, on the horizon. We didn’t hear it in the mayor’s budget message and we didn’t hear it at the first meeting of the...
Local black American now writes for Eye on Jacksonville after stating he is no longer a Democrat.
(After receiving a copy of an email sent to the City Council and Mayor, Eye reached out to the writer, Sonny B, and spoke with him about it. We are pleased to announce Sonny B will be writing for Eye on Jacksonville when he feels led to do so and has something to say...
Special City Council committee on racism begins its work with a lack of information
The City Council committee of social justice warriors is off and running but is not yet clear where they are going. It held the first working meeting Monday and tried to find its bearings. Co-chairman Matt Carlucci sought to bring up some bills for discussion, but...
Results are inconclusive on the benefits of a new program intended to reduce violence in Jacksonville
Everyone wants to minimize violence, especially now when gangs of radicals are rioting in the streets of major cities. For years, various methods have been tried but none have worked. The latest fad is called Cure Violence. It is being employed in Jacksonville. Cure...
Monuments are just a piece of rock per “welfare to millionaire” black woman
Social media is blowing up with this video of Cathy Dotson from Wichita Falls speaking in front of her hometown's city council regarding the removal of monuments. She lived in public housing as a single mother on food stamps. She is now a millionaire and she is...
The City wants to Contact Trace you, pretty please
In a post on social media today, the City of Jacksonville asked you to please answer a phone number you don't recognize. The person calling will let you know you may have been exposed to someone with COVID19. This will prevent you from spreading it to others. They...
Voters and taxpayers need to know who among them are unfair to their neighbors
Eye on Jacksonville is issuing a challenge to City Council President Tommy Hazouri. Hazouri created a “social justice” committee on the council and set as its goal “to further equal access and opportunity for all citizens of Jacksonville and to strive to establish...
RNC canceled after Sheriff Williams goes public. We need an apology.
In a shocking turn of affairs, President Trump announced yesterday that the RNC in Jacksonville is off the table. My phone blew up and social media went crazy. The side that didn't want the RNC here is elated. The side that did was left with bewilderment but still...
The Florida Times Union did us proud
Four journalists from the Times Union sheltered down for a while and collaborated on the facts of the JEA scandal. The report they put together is long, filled with facts, diagrams, and information gathered from text messages, emails, meeting notes, and other sources...
Not news in Jacksonville unless it is critical of the police or the president
Once again, the local news media had a blackout on news that does not fit the liberal agenda. According to Facebook users, none of the local newspapers or TV stations provided coverage last weekend of the “Back the Blue” pro-police event in Jacksonville. This was one...
The tale of two sheriffs – Faith or Fear
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams told the world yesterday "we can't pull it off" in regards to hosting the RNC Convention here next month. The message he conveyed was vague and his appearance showed someone who had given up. That's not the look you want on your...
Local business owners petition to change street names across the country to include John the Baptist Blvd
John the Baptist Blvd is a grass roots, community driven movement founded in Jacksonville, Florida and gaining popularity across the country. The men behind this movement are John D. Arwood, President of Arwood Site Services, a nationwide waste management and site...
Protest in Jacksonville calls for defunding the police
All over the country there is a movement to defund the police. This certainly came out of nowhere for the majority of Americans but evidently it appears it was a planned strategy behind the scenes for BLM. Yesterday in Jacksonville, Northside Coalition president Ben...
One analysis shows the city slipping behind on infrastructure funding
One of Eye’s financial analysts has done an examination of the city’s finances and has concluded a case can be made that the city has not kept up with infrastructure needs. That is a key issue before the City Council right now, as it begins work on the mayor’s...
Heated battle being waged over opening of local government schools
With the School Board wavering on the re-opening of government schools, parents who favor opening school buildings to students see hanky-panky by those who don’t. The two sides are the online crowd vs. the “brick-and-mortar” crowd. While the administration in telling...
Taxpayers deserve an accounting if decades and dollars have been wasted
Politicians are notorious for taking a short-term view; doing just what is needed to get them by until the next election. Term limits exacerbates this problem. Mayor Lenny Curry’s proposed $3 billion budget for next year purports to try to catch up on work that he...
City Council committee could shrug off lawyer’s dubious advice and proceed with probe
Local lawyers still are scratching their heads over the strange ruling by the city’s general counsel that stalled the work of the City Council committee investigating the JEA fiasco. There is a good chance, some think, that the committee will overrule its own lawyer...
Could the DIA be our next JEA?
The Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) was formed in 2013 to revitalize Jacksonville's urban core. The DIA is the sole development and community redevelopment agency for Downtown. It is guided by a nine-member board of directors appointed by the Mayor and the City...
Call to Action: Southern Poverty Law Center publishes Hate Maps and is teaching Duval students “tolerance”
One of Eye's followers sent us a copy of a letter from Tia M. Leathers of the Duval County Public Schools. The recipient of the letter was not happy with the essence of Ms. Leathers' letter and her plans to hold workshops with parents every Wednesday to address...
