The Jacksonville Transportation Authority kicked off the holiday season by telling us how glad they are to not be poor, while handing out gift baskets to the homeless.
JTA’s top brass, including Chief Executive Officer Nat Ford, gave away 65 baskets to women and children living at the Sulzbacher Village. The baskets were filled with items needed to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal as well as a gift card to buy whatever meat they choose. Cameras captured a few gracious recipients receiving their basket. It was a sweet moment. The emotional scene would make anyone watching appreciate what JTA did for those women. That is until they explain their motivation for giving back with other people’s money.
“We are very fortunate and very blessed that we are not on the receiving end of these baskets. So anytime we have an opportunity to give back to the community, that is what we are all about,” Terri Smith, JTA’s events manager, unemotionally said.
During the event Ford told the homeless recipients he is more than willing to give them free food paid for by taxpayers, because he has more money than them.
“We have been very blessed as the JTA, and we want to pass that on to other members of our community and make sure you have a healthy, successful Thanksgiving celebration yourself and your families,” Ford said.
Even the guy representing the Sulzbacher Village, Brian Snow, reminded us he isn’t like the people he humbly serves. Snow told the camera JTA’s donated meals “enables” those living at the Village to “have the same Thanksgiving that we are going to have at our house.” No doubt eating donated food inside public housing is exactly like Thanksgiving at the Snow’s. And the Ford’s.
Watch the video here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7267522644428656641/
This is the sixth year in a row the authority paid for gift baskets “lovingly prepared by a JTA Cares volunteer.” Hmmm, JTA Cares? I am a daily consumer of local news and one of the few who listen to local public talk radio. I have never heard JTA Cares mentioned before. I searched all the local news station’s websites and, still, nada. Which is strange considering the obscene amount JTA spends on marketing. It is almost like they don’t want anyone who isn’t involved to know.
As per usual, I must figure this out on my own.
According to the authority’s website, JTA Cares is an employee-based initiative for planning “charitable, community-focused and sustainable activities.” The events “engage employees” and “strengthen JTA’s corporate social responsibility footprint in the community.” Corporate social responsibility (CSP) is the socialistic idea corporations have a greater responsibility to society other than making profits, like socioeconomic/race-based philanthropy or saving the planet from future hypothetical weather patterns. JTA is a public funded independent agency, not a private corporation, or a charity.
The only corporate social responsibility it has is providing reliable, efficient public transportation.
Other than handing out baskets of food, the JTA Cares Social Responsibility Team also runs the JTA Career Closet inside the Sulzbacher Village. The Career Closet provides professional clothes for those living in public housing looking for work. During the Career Closet’s ribbon cutting event Ford didn’t waste the opportunity to remind everyone he gives them free rides because they are needy. “Ford noted that although we already provide much needed transportation for those less fortunate, this was a way for the JTA to directly and personally help our community thrive,” JTA’s website bragged.
JTA Cares Team also “looks after the families of our employees!” The team gives care packages to “freshman students living away from home,” and deployed spouses or children of staff as a way to say, “Good Luck” and “Thank you” to “important extended members of the JTA family.”
I read through JTA’s 2024 budget as well as its “Strategic Plan” called MOVE2027, to find out how much these philanthropic endeavors cost taxpayers. JTA is labyrinth of bureaucratic divisions, departments, and initiatives. A house of cards, if you will. Figuring out how they stacked the deck is quite time-consuming. Again, it’s as if the authority doesn’t want anyone checking what’s under the hood.
Each year JTA puts out an annual budget. It is a vague document. Pretty basic stuff. As with everything, the devil is in the details. MOVE2027 is the details.
Public records reveal highly paid consultants came up with the Mobility Optimization Through Vision and Excellence 2023 – 2027 (MOVE2027) Strategic Plan on behalf of JTA’s leadership.
The 86-page document tells the world how spending $794 million and some change keeps the Authority at the “forefront” of the “mobility landscape.”
MOVE’s mission statement begins with an excuse to fail because JTA is still recovering from the Wu Hu flu. “As the JTA and the region recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the time to think boldly about seamless mobility solutions for Northeast Florida,” according to the website.
Move2027 features seven Initiatives with silly titles designed to make us think each program works in favor of all taxpaying citizens living within city limits. Spoiler alert. They don’t, despite all the expensive brochures, promotional videos, and fancy marketing campaigns compelling us to believe they do.
Admittedly it could be a total coincidence, however, it must be noted after I sent several emails asking specific questions regarding the plan, JTA updated MOVE2027 document online to the new “1.2 version.”
MOVE2027 shows JTA Cares is part of the $5.7 million CommunityWorks Initiative. Of that $5.7 million, JTA Cares has a $700,000 budget. Out of that, $200,000 is designated for a “Public Health Partnership Initiative,” and $500,000 is slated to “Leverage JTA’s Fleet for Community Partnerships.” Whatever that means. And I truly do not know. I have asked JTA. Still no word.
The CommunityWorks Initiative needed $750,000 to fund the Arts on Transit Program. The program allocated $250,000 for commissioned art on “JTA Assets,” and $250,000 for an Artist in Residence Program. Another $250,000 was set aside for an employee art program. There is a question mark in place of a dollar amount for the “Art at Bus Stops” line item. So, we have no idea how much taxpayers are spending for commissioned art on local bus stops. I emailed JTA for another explanation and got no reply.
There are four other sub-initiatives listed in the CommunityWorks budget no one seems to care about. I’ll save those for another time, because we must discuss the millions of dollars MOVE2027 spends on its own employees.
The CommunityWorks division and the others; TransitWorks, MobilityWorks, CustomerWorks, RegionalWorks, and InnovationWorks all take a back seat to the authority’s top priority of taking care of itself with its TeamWorks initiative.
Who needs a village, when we have JTA?
TeamWorks makes JTA’s redistribution of wealth and DEI dreams work. Appropriately, it is listed as “Initiative 1.”
TeamWorks “ensures” staff are “furthering equity,” and are “well positioned to realize the MOVE2027 vision.” Meaning, employees are reeducated into believing taxpayers owe them the things listed in the document via expensive DEI training, awarding lucrative financial perks, and promising to keep it all in the family with enhanced “internal processes.”
Item 1.01, forces employees to participate in a $130,000 DEI pilot program called the Pilot Racial Equity Commitment Program. The program was created by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Ford is an honorary member of APTA’s board and his wife, Jannet Walker-Ford, is an executive board member. Featured in MOVE2027’s updated version is a photo of what appears to be the participants of the race-based indoctrination pilot program. Notice the almost complete lack of diversity amongst the group of 23.
JTA wants the public to know it is committed to “advancing racial equity,” because apparently there is so much racism amongst staff, “tools, programs, and resources,” are needed to “engage all levels of the organization (board, executive, and staff) on the meaning and importance of racial equity.” The authority forces “all members of the JTA team,” to “contribute to the goal of equity,” which should be achieved by the end of 2027 thanks to JTA’s five-year strategic plan.
JTA allotted $982,000 on its own employee retention programs. Out of that cash, $30,000 was needed to find “internal equity” in JTA’s “pay philosophy.” $882,000 for a new “Human Capital Management Platform,” which is a fancy way to say HR computer program. And $30,000 was set aside so the authority could sway and or prevent disgruntled employees from ratting them out, by updating “succession plan and procedures” ensuring “the loss of any staff person does not threaten core functions or capabilities at the JTA.” Why does JTA need an employee retention Stasi? Again, I ask, what the LERP is going on here?! Occam’s razor tells us, If JTA needs an intimidation squad there is a reason why.
$100,000 was budgeted so JTA could “strive” for some meaningless award from the U.S. Department of Commerce. JTA needs $50,000 to teach its employees how to eat, exercise, balance their checkbook and develop “new life skills.” Apparently, they didn’t know how to do those things before being hired.
$458,000 will be “invested” into changing how “the JTA does business, operated internally, and communicated with the public,” including $150,000 on “AI and Machine Learning,” so computers can do the work taxpayers pay the authority’s human employes to do.
The line item that should have made local headlines is the $7.5 million price tag for assistance in “overcoming barriers to employment.” Hmm, sounds vaguely familiar… Anyways, according to MOVE2027, the “Employment and Support Services” money is for “housing subsidies or allowances, childcare assistance, transportation assistance, and other employment related special needs.”
Out of the $7.5 million, $2.4 million is for JTA employees to live in “20 units of subsidized workforce housing.” $600,000 is for “transportation assistance.” And JTA wants Duval’s taxpayers to spend $4.5 million on daycare so JTA’s employees do not have the barrier of paying for it themselves. WTL?! (See what I did there?)
A majority of the MOVE2027 plan seems to be nothing more than a massive taxpayer funded redistribution of wealth scheme orchestrated by JTA’s top brass.
The people of Jacksonville are owed an explanation. Ford, the City Council and Mayor Donna Deegan, we are waiting…
