Jacksonville Bold for 12.11.24: Tackling trafficking

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Kudos to Mayor Donna Deegan for continuing a quest begun by her cousin, the late former Mayor and City Council member Tommy Hazouri.

Last week, she and other stakeholders met at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium to consider the ongoing problems of human trafficking.

Last decade, Hazouri sought signs in restrooms, restaurants, and hotels to let people know they had recourse. But there’s much more to do.

To close out 2024, the first-term Democratic chief executive is tackling the same plague.

“Human Trafficking is a dark reality that affects millions globally, stripping individuals of their basic human rights and dignity. And sadly, Jacksonville is not immune – we rank 48th in reported cases of all U.S. cities, while Florida ranks third among all 50 states. That shows how much work we must do,” Deegan said Friday in an event closed to the press due to survivors of the scourge being on hand.

Deegan hopes to “raise awareness about the signs of trafficking and possibly create a ‘No Trafficking Zone’ at our sports and entertainment venues,” similar to what is being done already in Houston.

She believes this “crucial first step” can show “how our businesses, government, law enforcement, and nonprofits came together to make it VERY CLEAR — NOT IN OUR CITY!”

The issue is particularly salient in Jacksonville, where two major interstates meet, and efforts to protect some of the most vulnerable and exploited people in the country are a matter of public safety like few other initiatives.

Location location location

Where will Jacksonville’s latest institution of higher learning land?

That’s the question likely to be resolved by the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees this week as they consider what an agenda calls a Jacksonville Campus Update in meetings starting Thursday.

“As outlined during the presentation to the Committee, through productive discussions between the University and the City of Jacksonville, the parties have identified a site that they believe to be ideal as the site for the University’s Jacksonville campus. The University and the City are ready to immediately begin the work necessary to complete the conveyance of the site,” the packet notes.

The question is where that ideal site is.

The state approved $75 million in each of the last two budgets, which is in addition to $50 million in commitments by the Jacksonville City Council and $60 million from private donors.

The location is still being determined, but the Jacksonville Jaguars are willing to cede 14 acres adjacent to the stadium sports complex the team wants to be built out before 2030. They also are willing to front $5 million of the private contribution.

UF is expected to open administrative offices in the JEA building in the Fall. Classes would begin in that same space in Fall 2025, ahead of the build.

The project actualizes the vision of former Mayor Lenny Curry and UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini, a regional power broker.

Nine with Fine

More marginal candidates will join multiple Republicans and Democrats in the battle to replace former U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, currently slated to be President-elect Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser.

The qualification deadline of noon Saturday has passed, and the field is finalized for the Special Election in East-Central Florida’s 6th Congressional District.

Of the nine candidates in the mix, three are Republicans, and one in particular has the most significant advantage in the Primary.

Aaron Baker of Sorrento and Ehsan Joarder of Brooksville will face off against state Sen. Randy Fine of Brevard County.

Fine, elected in November after serving four terms in the Florida House, has earned endorsements from Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Rick Scott, and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, among others.

He has the advantage against his two opponents, who are comparatively unknown and inexperienced politically.

Multiple Democratic candidates are also presenting themselves for voters.

Daytona Beach’s Purvi Bangdiwala, Elkton’s George Selmont, and Orlando’s Josh Weil are all on the ballot.

Selmont has run for Congress before.

In 2018, he lost to Rep. John Rutherford in Florida’s 4th Congressional District, getting 32% of the vote in a heavily Republican area that included much of Duval County and part of St. Johns.

Other candidates will advance automatically to the General Election ballot.

Chuck Sheridan of Merritt Island will be a write-in, while 2024 presidential candidate Randall Terry will run as a no-party candidate. Andrew Parrott will run under the Libertarian banner.

This race will likely be decided in the Republican Primary. Nearly 46% of the electorate is registered to the Republican Party. Meanwhile, according to the most recent L2 voter data, fewer than 27% of voters are Democrats.

The Primary is on Jan. 28, with a Special General Election scheduled for April 1, a day after Fine’s last day in the Senate.

Not giving up

While Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris got just 26% of the vote in Nassau County last month, Chair Suzanne Sapp is striking a defiant pose in an email this week.

“A lot of what I feel like I saw in the aftermath of 2016 was retreat. Retreat isn’t inherently bad if we’re doing it to reassess and strategize. But accepting powerlessness is not an option for me, and we should not allow it to be an option for our movements. We are NOT powerless,” Sapp claims.

Befitting a party that just lost atop the ticket by 47 points in the county, Sapp says the path is uphill and will require commitment and tactical flexibility.

“I don’t think there’s a simple answer to what’s going to get us through the next four years, or what kind of institutions we need to be strengthening or building. We can’t just say that it’s going to be rooted in any one single issue or tactical intervention. The dialectic here is that folks mobilize when they feel like they have access to meaningful work. The more that we create low bars for entry, to be able to reach masses of people and plug them into meaningful work at the intersection of their skills and their desires for community, the less likely we will see demobilization and people just being frozen in despair and grief. We must create multiple entry points and meet people where they are.”

Curry’s conversion

Former two-term Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry has reevaluated his relationship with God, and he’s sharing his thoughts with anyone who will listen.

Curry, who has been interested in theological issues for many years, has converted to Catholicism. And he discussed it during a recent fireside chat at a Jacksonville church.

To watch the conversation, please click the image below:

The time impact on his current faith journey is considerable. Curry tries to go to vigil mass Saturday night, yet attends Episcopal Church with his wife Sunday morning.

“This road started so many years ago,” Curry noted.

As a child, he attended church on Wednesdays, too, but first, he went to Catholic Church on Sundays, even in high school, on days he went surfing, planting the “roots” in the “tradition.”

Curry’s father, who recently died, was raised Catholic. In one of Curry’s last conversations with his father, his dad told him that he “missed the eucharist.”

“I want to always be pursuing what is truth,” Curry said, and the journey to Catholicism has brought the Holy Spirit back to his life.

Curry put his children into Bishop Kenny after that for “virtue and character” and found himself pulled toward the faith, discussing his journey with Catholic priests and others in the video, which is more than 38 minutes long. But it’s a must-watch for those who want to understand the Mayor’s faith journey to the “one true church,” which he believes is especially salient given “corruption” in the civic culture and the need for “renewal.”

Curry wishes he’d had the touchstone of mass, including daily masses, given the “executive decisions” he had to make while serving as Mayor.

“I think I would have been more at peace if I’d been able to be in the presence of Christ at the moment,” Curry said.

Road ragers

Northeast Florida is being recognized for its unique contributions to a quintessentially American art form.

Per First Coast News, “A new show from A&E, “Extreme Road Ragers” features a Jacksonville woman and Palm Coast man on an episode that aired Dec. 3, the fourth of the series.”

In case you missed it, here’s how reporter Nick Blank describes the driver duo.

“Bill, from Palm Coast, has a handlebar mustache and sometimes drives shirtless. He bemoans drivers with ‘privilege’ who speed. He is liberal with the horn and will roll his window down to have an angry conversation. He lists his three pet peeves as older drivers, drivers on their phones and people who don’t use their turn signals. The show plays footage from a 2021 incident after a fight with a motorcyclist in his neighborhood,” the report notes.

Meanwhile, “Jacksonville woman Rachel swears profusely, and the show’s intro calls her ‘out of control’ though she contends she is the “ultimate driver.” She also drives for a company and has an adorable rottweiler she usually gives free roam of the car. She says items from her personal life trigger her road rage.”

To see the episode, please click the image below. Don’t watch it while you’re driving.

Gas and grub

Speaking of drivers, a Georgia convenience store chain is offering reasons not to get mad behind the wheel.

“Jacksonville’s fast-growing population, robust economy and growing retail market make it an attractive region for expansion,” said Amanda Thompson, Parker’s Kitchen senior director of real estate and development, as reported by the Jacksonville Daily Record.

The goal is to have four locations in Northeast Florida by the end of 2026.

These include 7481 Wilson Blvd. on the Westside, 11205 Alta Drive on the Northside, Blanding and Tanglewood Boulevards in Orange Park and 76010 William Burgess Blvd. in Yulee.

The food on offer includes biscuits, burritos, fried chicken, and something new to this market: the pepperoni roll, familiar to those transplants to Florida from West Virginia, where it was a staple of coal miners’ lunches.

Who We Play For

Seventeen Duval County public high schools now have access to heart screening machines to evaluate student-athletes through the first athletic training heart screening initiative in Florida led by Who We Play For and supported through a $100,000 investment by Simply Healthcare Plans to purchase the electrocardiogram (ECG).

The Who We Play For initiative aims to prevent sudden cardiac arrest, a leading cause of death among student-athletes.

“Detecting underlying heart conditions can ensure prompt medical attention, preventing cardiac arrest and saving the lives of Florida youth,” said Dana Gryniuk, Medicaid President of Simply Healthcare. “Simply Healthcare is honored to join forces with Who We Play For to support the groundbreaking first in Florida athletic training heart screening initiative in Duval County. Together, we are equipping high school athletic trainers with the tools and instruction required to protect our young athletes.”

“This initiative is a significant step in ensuring every young athlete has access to life-saving screenings,” said Evan Ernst, Executive Director of Who We Play For.

Bowled over

The Gator Bowl matchup is set, and it’s something new for Northeast Florida.

Duke and Ole Miss will tangle at EverBank Field on the evening of Jan. 2.

“The opportunity to host two top-tier teams in Duke vs Ole Miss as well as their players, coaches and fans to our city for a great week of activities celebrating both programs’ successful seasons,” said TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Chair Andy King.

Both teams have nine wins coming into the contest. Ole Miss lost to Kentucky, LSU and Florida. Duke lost to Georgia Tech, Miami and Southern Methodist University.

If the prior performance of these teams is any indication, it will be interesting for bettors.

“Ole Miss is 2-10 covering the over and 7-5 ATS. Duke is 8-3-1 ATS,” notes Garry Smits of the Times Union.

Ole Miss is a heavy favorite, by as many as 14 points in early action.

Jags’ win drops draft slot

The Jaguars entered the weekend with the inside track on the first pick in the draft. The win in Tennessee dropped them to the fifth slot in the first round. How much did that change the Jaguars’ draft options for 2025?

Substantially.

Three of the four teams in line to pick ahead of the Jaguars are likely looking for a quarterback.

The Las Vegas Raiders would hold the #1 pick if the season ended today.

Raiders placed Gardner Minshew on Injured Reserve and have played Aidan O’Connell at quarterback with Desmond Ridder as the backup. Minshew can become a free agent at the end of the season; the others are not viable starting quarterbacks in the NFL.

The New York Giants would hold the second pick if the season ended today.

They released quarterback Daniel Jones last month and certainly need a new starter. The New England Patriots drafted Drake Maye last April and will likely stick with him, while the Carolina Panthers, currently in the fourth position, must decide on former #1 overall pick Bryce Young. Young has thrown seven touchdowns and seven interceptions while in and out of the starting lineup this season, his second in the NFL.

Why do the quarterback needs of the teams picking ahead of the Jaguars matter? Because after signing Trevor Lawrence to one of the biggest contracts in NFL history, the Jaguars will not draft a quarterback this year. At least, not in the first round.

Two quarterbacks will likely go in the top five: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward. If the Jaguars pick in the top two, they can leverage their draft position to gain more draft capital via a trade. If they pick third, they will likely have their choice of the best non-quarterback in the draft (most think Colorado’s cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter is that player).

With four games remaining in the season, the players and coaches will try to win as many games as possible. With the 3-10 New York Jets, the 2-11 Raiders, the 3-10 Titans, and the 6-7 Indianapolis Colts remaining on the schedule, the Jaguars could potentially finish with as many as seven wins, which would place the Jaguars’ round pick somewhere in the mid-teens.

For example, the current difference between the third and ninth picks in the draft is one win.

Then again, nobody would be shocked if the Jaguars lost any or all of the four remaining games. Currently, the Jaguars’ draft needs include defensive line, safety, cornerback, wide receiver, interior offensive line and, perhaps, running back.

The best-case scenario is that the Jaguars wind up with one of the top two picks and the team with the third pick needs a quarterback. Then, the Jaguars could trade down a pick, add additional draft selections, and still pick the best available player, Hunter or someone else.