Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiOctober 10, 2017

On one side, there’s the Mayor. Lenny Curry asserts that his proposed Kids Hope Alliance bill is the “real reform” Jacksonville children’s services need. On the other side, there’s Council President Anna Brosche, who asserts the process needs to be more deliberate and transparent. And there’s also Council Finance Chair Garrett Dennis, who has his own bill for […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 10, 2017

Budget meetings of the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee were rocked in August by a well-timed poll from the political committee of Sheriff Mike Williams. The poll, released to make the case that Jacksonville voters backed Mayor Lenny Curry in his push for 100 new police officers, was rare, in that Council members called it out as […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 6, 2017

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry has invested a lot of political capital into the Kids Hope Alliance, a proposed reform of Jacksonville children’s services. The reform bill, which now has 13 of 19 people on City Council as co-sponsors, would replace the Jacksonville Journey and Jacksonville Children’s Commission with the KHA. While the bill cleared two of three […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 3, 2017

Monday saw a Jacksonville City Council committee move Mayor Lenny Curry‘s children’s program re-orginization — the Kids Hope Alliance (KHA) — through by a 6 to 1 vote. Discussion of the bill to replace the Jacksonville Children’s Commission and Jacksonville Journey was brutal. It took over three hours, and it became clear that one primary skeptic of the bill […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 2, 2017

To those not looking at the Jacksonville City Council budget process closely, the end result Tuesday night was clean and uncontroversial. A unanimous vote for the city’s $1.27 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, one with $131M in capital improvements, and 100 new police positions. However, a closer look at the budget process reveals that — after a summer […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 27, 2017

Late Tuesday night, the Jacksonville City Council passed the city’s $1.27 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, one with $131M in capital improvements, and 100 new police positions. The $131 million capital improvement budget: a cornucopia of one-time spending designed to take advantage of budget relief created by pension reform, fueled by the confidence created by Jacksonville’s strong position […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 7, 2017

One of the many discussions that enlivened Jacksonville City Council budget hearings in August was the city’s surfeit of minority engineers. Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa noted that some categories — such as “African-American engineers” — are “difficult to find.” “Most African-American engineers graduate from Northeastern universities and stay in the [Northeast],” Mousa added, explaining a shortfall […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 31, 2017

Wednesday afternoon saw Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and City Councilman Reggie Brown slated to visit an after-school program. Brown, in the end, did not go — even as he gave us a quote after the fact as if he had. Brown and Curry collaborated earlier this month on a measure to boost after-school funding, a measure that undercut […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 25, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee put Sheriff Mike Williams through the wringer during this year’s budget process. They pushed back against budget asks two weeks ago, compelling the Sheriff to return Friday morning, where he spent roughly an hour answering questions related to a poll his political committee ran. Among the items in suspension: 100 […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 25, 2017

Friday saw the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee move toward wrapping up budget deliberations. However, there was still some unfinished business with various departments. And the most interesting bit of business was political business — not budgetary. — The big enchilada: the 100 new police officers and other proposals from JSO, which were not approved […]

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Jax Council bucks President, moves Kids Hope Alliance to vote

Controversial poll highlights Jacksonville Sheriff’s Sept. cmte. spending

Lenny Curry’s Jax Kids Hope Alliance bill gets 13 Council cosponsors

Panel defers Lenny Curry’s ‘Kids Hope Alliance’ proposal

How Lenny Curry won the Jacksonville City Council budget vote

Jacksonville City Council approves $1.27 billion budget

Garrett Dennis wants answers on Jacksonville’s minority engineer shortage

Political context looms over Jacksonville Mayor’s after-school program visit

After venting about poll, Jax Council panel gives Sheriff 100 new cops

Jax Councilors feel ‘targeted’ by Sheriff’s poll pushing 100 new cops