Peter Schorsch
Donald Trump resistance emerges — A month into the Donald Trump administration, Northeast Florida residents are starting to manifest their opposition into action, reports Matt Soergel in the Florida Times-Union.
“Chapters of the Indivisible movement, which aims to pressure local legislators to resist Trump, have cropped up from Palm Coast through Nocatee and Clay County and up into Nassau County. Veterans of the Women’s March on Washington continue to meet to plot their next steps. Established progressive groups say their numbers are growing and their members are re-energized. Large crowds have swelled the Duval Democratic Party’s business meetings,” Soergel writes.
How meaningful will it be? That remains to be seen.
UNF Poli Sci professor Michael Binder says these actions matter. But the reality is that virtually every 2018 race has been decided by district maps.
On the federal level, Al Lawson and John Rutherford are locks to go back to Congress (assuming Lawson isn’t primaried). State House races are likewise locked down for eight years in most cases.
This tempest, in other words, may be sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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Fox News follies — The Fox News Channel wanted significant advance coverage for its immigration town hall in Ponte Vedra Tuesday.
But the channel didn’t want press inside, reports The Florida Times-Union.
The star power for the event: Rep. Ron DeSantis, whose district once encompassed Ponte Vedra, but was moved south in the latest round of redistricting.
The big takeaway from the event, reports FNC: that travel ban from seven majority Muslim failed states, a ban that outraged so many on the left will be back, according to Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
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Al Lawson talks HUD reform — U.S. Representative Al Lawson visited Jacksonville this week, and one of his stops was at Eureka Garden.
Lawson, who had described the troubled Section 8 complex as “that place Marco Rubio visited” during his campaign last year, was a bit more specific when on-site.
Lawson lauded the new management company for changes made, even as tenants complained about issues in their specific units, including mold problems that continue to plague residents.
Rubio was not far from Lawson’s mind.
Lawson asserted that Rubio, who said on many occasions that GMF had a “slumlord” approach to property ownership, committed to continuing work on HUD reform.
“We want to make sure that they take care of residents,” Lawson said, and “make sure HUD has proper oversight” by “working jointly with HUD to make some changes.”
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Lawson’s leaky ship — As we exclusively reported this week, Lawson dodged a scheduled public appearance with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry — and managed to create two weird news cycle days in a row for Curry and Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett Dennis.
On Monday, Lawson went to Eureka Garden — instead of Tuesday, when an advisory said he was headed to Eureka with the two Jacksonville politicians.
On Tuesday, Lawson said he would do a community walk with Curry in Arlington, but canceled on the Mayor with just hours’ notice — and no good reason for the cancellation.
Lawson needed this trip to work out.
Word is Audrey Gibson (mostly, Dennis’ patron) and Alvin Brown haven’t ruled out running.
Of course, Alvin has also said that if Curry becomes CFO, he’d be happy to be Mayor again.
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Sports Council supports HRO expansion — Though the Jacksonville Sports Council avoided public comment during the process leading up to the expansion of Jacksonville’s Human Rights Ordinance to include protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, after the fact they expressed relief that the deal was done.
Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union asserts that “the JSC knew its mission of bringing sports events to Jacksonville would be severely hampered without the HRO passage.”
“I don’t think it’s the NCAA’s job to take positions on social and societal issues, but we have to abide by their ground rules. It’s clear that would hurt our ability to bring sporting events here,” JSC CEO Rick Catlett said.
“Bidding for NCAA championships, there’s five boxes you have to check, and one of them is ‘do you have an anti-discrimination law in your city?’ I’m glad we can check yes.”
The Sports Council might be happy. But First Baptist Church is not.
They lay the blame at the feet of the mayor and the city council.
Meanwhile, Curry has been accused of flipping on the issue for not vetoing the super majority of the council, in a rare instance of the mayor skewing left of his base — and getting lit up for his trouble.
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Jax Council VP race is on — Jacksonville City Councilman Scott Wilson told us first about his run for VP of the council.
The VP role is typically a springboard for the presidency, and races for VP are often more contentious than those for the presidency.
2016’s race had as much drama as a season of Big Brother, with candidates flipping on each other and betraying each other, up until the deciding vote was cast.
Wilson, who never has a bad word to say about anyone, wants to keep the race clean and positive.
The next few months — and the inevitable competition that emerges — will tell the tale as to whether that comes to pass.
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No THC and SJC — St. Johns County has close to 200,000 people, yet chose the Podunk approach to medical marijuana.
Flouting the will of voters, who supported Amendment 2 resoundingly, the St. Johns County Commission waited until this week to issue a moratorium on MMJ dispensaries, Action News Jax reported.
SJC has seldom met a housing development project it didn’t like, yet caution is the watchword with the plant that once grew wild on reclaimed swampland.
“Commission members want to ensure that future dispensaries aren’t near children and they want to develop secure protocols before patients start buying their medicine. The board authorized staff to continue zoning implementation, researching regulations and looking into the cost associated with these new protocols.”
With plenty of unincorporated land in St. Johns County, one wonders how long this process can actually take.
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Changes at CSX — The Jacksonville railroad company is expected to lay off 1,000 management-level employees by the end of next month, yet the company is still moving forward with its CSX of Tomorrow strategy, a technological advance designed to make the railroad run leaner and meaner.
Moving into the presidency: Frederik Eliason, excited about the “dynamic and important time” at CSX.
Efficiency and savings are the watchwords, report the Florida Times-Union. With turnaround expert Hunter Harrison in a position to run the company, expect belt-tightening and force reduction.
The question now: how Jacksonville will the Jacksonville railroad be at the end of the process?
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JTA launches TryTransit Challenge — The Jacksonville Business Journal reported last week that the Jacksonville Transportation Authority is launching an initiative to promote an economical and sustainable alternative to driving in Jacksonville.
The initiative will feature will feature several campaigns and strategically positions advertisements designed to get customers to leave their cars at home try JTA.
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JAXPORT announces Auto Supply Chain panel members — The 2017 JAXPORT Logistics & Intermodal Conference announced the participants for its Complexity in the Finished Vehicle Supply Chain panel. The panel will be moderated by HUB Group EVP Steve Rand and will feature Scott Cornell of Hyundai Glovis, David Sellers of AVP Automotive, Charles Franklin of American Honda Motor Co. and Heather Gilhuly of Volkswagen of America. The panel will discuss challenges in the industry, including offering insights into current events surrounding the auto supply chain between the U.S. and Mexico. The JAXPORT conference is set for March 20 through March 22 at the World Golf Village Resort in St. Augustine.
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Jacksonville Police officer recognized for lifesaving technique — TraumaOne and UF Health Jacksonville honored Terrance Hightower of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for the correct use of a tourniquet after a shooting victim at the Downtown Jacksonville Art Walk suffered a life-threatening arterial injury. “It is almost without a doubt, that if it weren’t for the quick-thinking and heroic actions of Officer Hightower, this individual would have died at the scene or while being transported to the hospital,” said David Ebler, M.D., a trauma surgeon at UF Health Jacksonville. Sheriff Mike Williams said the office has supplied tourniquets to officers since 2012 and that he is “very proud of Officer Hightower for his heroic work.”
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Manatee Critical Care Center opens at Jacksonville Zoo — Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens announced this week that its Manatee Critical Care Center has opened after a year of construction. The $2 million center is the fourth of its kind in the state and will serve to rehabilitate manatees that become entangled, get cold stressed or are struck by boats. The center also includes a public viewing tank, though manatees will only be released into that portion of the center once they are stable enough to be viewed. Previously, injured manatees in the Jacksonville area had to be transported to Tampa, Miami or Orlando.
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Hospice of Northeast Florida picked to expand service — The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration picked Community Hospice of Northeast Florida to provide hospice services in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Putnam and Union counties. Currently, the group offers services in Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties. “Community Hospice looks forward to providing our high-quality hospice and palliative care to the communities in the service area,” said President Susan Ponder-Stansel. The decision could face appeals from other applicants or the two other hospice providers already operating in the area, Haven Hospice and Hospice of Citrus and the Nature Coast, though Ponder-Stansel said the group “will move rapidly” and set up offices once all barriers are cleared.
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Celebrate the world — The 25th annual World of Nations Celebration kicks off on March 3 in Metropolitan Park, 1410 Gator Bowl Blvd. The annual event gives visitors a chance to explore 30 counties in a single visit, without having to leave Jacksonville.
The three-day event kicks off at 6 p.m. March 3 with “Rock the Globe — A Global Dance Party” presented by iHeartRadio. The evening features a performance by Grammy Award-winning artist Shaggy.
The concert is open to adults 21 years old and older, and tickets can be purchased at RockTheGlobeJax.com. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the gate.
The event is open to people of all ages from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 4 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 5. Admission is $5.
Countries participating in the annual event include the Bahamas, Cambodia, China, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Turkey, U.S.A., Venezuela and Vietnam.
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UF Health program works to help prevent second heart attack — The Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at the UF Health Cardiovascular Center — Jacksonville is working to prevent a second cardiac event.
“Cardiac rehab is a comprehensive exercise and rehabilitation program for patients that have had a cardiac event like bypass surgery, stent placement, heart failure or heart attack,” said Ken Brannon, exercise physiologist and manager of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program.
The multidisciplinary rehabilitation team includes UF Health cardiologist and medical director Robert Percy, M.D., registered cardiac nurses, exercise physiologists, registered dietitians, pharmacists and a diabetes educator.
“The main focus is risk factor management and then prevention of a second attack,” Brannon said. “A lot of it is exercise, but much of it is behavior modification.”
