What follows is the text of our new Governor’s inaugural speech: “Mr. Chief Justice, Senator and Mrs. Scott, members of the Cabinet and fellow citizens: I take the helm of the ship of state as a Florida native, a veteran of our nation’s military, conscious of my own deficiencies, mindful of the great trust that has been placed in me and thankful for so many of you who have prayed for...
Yesterday, the Florida Times-Union editorial called for local elected leaders to do the obvious in historic downtown, Jacksonville’s Northbank. TU’s editors lament one-way streets, narrow sidewalks, coin-operated parking meters, the lack of shade trees, and lack of parking signage (). In addition to these obvious — obvious — improvements, we should add a need to install recycle bins, periodic...
Changing Demographics and Economy Drive Homeless Numbers in Jacksonville About 1,869 people in Jacksonville will spend the holiday season living on the streets, but new trends in demographics and the economy obscure the extent of the homeless issue on the First Coast. Dawn Gilman of Changing Homelessness provided Jaxlookout with their report, The Streets Don’t Lie: 2018 August Surge (Link)...
In a November 2018 referendum, 73% of Duval County voters said they should get the chance to approve any sale of 10 percent or more of JEA. The vote was 256,511 in favor to 93,000 against. During his re-election campaign, Mayor Lenny Curry said that he would not introduce legislation to sell the JEA. His strongest opponent, City Council President Anna Brosche predicted JEA would be sold if...
Jacksonville FL, December 2, 2018 – Mayor Lenny Curry’s anti-crime report card is in, and the results don’t look good. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement tracks those statistics, and the comparisons of first half of of 2017 vs. 2018 show Duval 7.1% below the statewide average and as much as 16% below the achievments of other major metro areas in the state. On December 1...
Jacksonville FL, December 3, 20018 – City council defeated a transparency bill 16-3 at its November 27th Tuesday night meeting. Introduced by At-large member Anna Brosche, the bill called for: posting email and text messages between lobbyists and council members, reporting of campaign contributions by those seeking city contracts valued at $1 million or more, and disclosure of city officials’...
Jacksonville FL, December 1, 2018 – Last Wednesday, FloridaPolitics.com reported Congressman John Rutherford’s announcement that “JAXPORT’s dredging of 11 miles of the St. Johns River scored important financial backing Wednesday, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budgeted $46 million more toward it in its FY 2019 work plan.,” and that “TU.S. Rep. John Rutherford...
Jacksonville FL, December 1, 2018 – Local gun laws were a hot topic among the public who spoke at the Jacksonville City Council meeting held Tuesday, November 27, 2018, where many citizens repeated their mantra: “Close the gun show loophole.” During public comments, Northside Coalition leader Ben Frazier invoked this year’s murders of seven-year-olds Tashawn Gallon and Heidy Rivas-Villanueva, as...
Jacksonville FL, Monday November 19 – Yesterday we noted two very different points of view regarding the perceived performance and accomplishments of the Curry administration. On the one hand is The Florida Times Union (aka Jacksonville.com), and on the other, former Times Union columnist Ron Littlepage,* whose observations are now found at ronlittlepage.com. The disparity in these two...
Jacksonville FL, November 14, 2018 – The bail reform movement is gaining momentum around the country, with many states and individual jurisdictions turning to non-monetary forms of release in an effort to reduce jail populations and costs. In addition, there is a growing recognition that the money bail system has a disparate impact on minorities and the poor but does little, if anything, to serve...
In The Public Interest
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