Jacksonville Bold for 6.11.25: Board battle

Jacksonville Florida Downtown skyline by night with iconic Everbank and Vystar buildings - JACKSONVILLE, USA - OCTOBER 30, 2024

A former Jacksonville Mayor seeks legal redress after President Donald Trump’s administration removed him without cause from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Alvin Brown, a former Vice-Chair of the panel, is suing Trump, NTSB Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, and the NTSB itself after the change in administrations rendered the Democrat expendable and allegedly “undermined the NTSB’s historic independence and interfered with its statutorily mandated duties to investigate and report on certain aircraft accidents, highway accidents, railroad accidents, marine casualties, and transportation accidents that are catastrophic or recurring.”

The filing in the D.C. federal court further alleges “significant and damaging consequences for the work of the Board” have been caused by Brown’s removal. However, it stops short of specifically citing what those consequences might be.

Central to Brown’s argument is that the May termination notice from Trent Morse, the deputy director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, gives no reason for the termination.

The suit does cite Brown’s “long and distinguished career in urban planning, public administration, and transportation as a public servant.”

“He served as senior adviser to former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Vice President Al Gore’s Senior Adviser for Urban Policy, and executive director of the White House Community Empower Board. He was the first-ever Black person elected as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, and served from 2011 to 2015. During his mayoral tenure, he served as Chair of the Port and Exports Council and Vice-Chair of the Transportation Committee for the United States Conference of Mayors. He also served as senior adviser for community infrastructure opportunities at the United States Department of Transportation.”

Brown is represented by lawyers from the Democracy Forward Foundation and Justice Legal Strategies, PLLC.

The former group seeks to “bring anti-democratic actors to account,” while the latter “provides customized legal, management, and strategic assistance to those in the progressive movement and their allies.”

Brown was appointed through the end of 2026 and seeks restoration until his term was slated to end.

FIVE alive

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on a local bill (HB 4053) that will allow booze sales at a concert hall in Jacksonville’s Riverside area.

FIVE on Park Street, the replacement for the beloved Sun-Ray Cinema, is hoping to help revive the Five Points commercial strip, riddled in recent years by businesses leaving.

The bill establishes a new special zone for event centers, designated as the “Urban Transition Area North of Park Street,” which permits expanded alcohol service as long as more than half the revenue is generated from food and ticket sales.

The district will extend to Margaret Street. FIVE is the only event center in the space otherwise occupied by retail and restaurants.

Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan, the House sponsor, noted during a local hearing in Jacksonville before the Session that these special exception areas are created routinely for “greater opportunity for infill economic development,” with this one focusing on Five Points.

More Tallahassee Takes

Several legislative items earmarked for the First Coast received funding approval in the Florida Legislature Budget Conference in Tallahassee this week.

A combined $12.44 million was approved in the Budget Conference for road projects in the Jacksonville area. Those projects still need to be approved by DeSantis.

Some $6 million of that Transportation and Economic Development funding will go toward what’s being called a “regional corridor” from U.S. 1 in St. Johns County into Jacksonville at Butler Boulevard.

The funding aims to enhance pedestrian and bike paths on one of the busiest roadways connecting Jacksonville and St. Johns County, a major commuter route on the First Coast. Sen. Tom Leek, a St. Augustine Republican, sponsored it.

Meanwhile, Sen. Clay Yarborough, a Jacksonville Republican, sponsored a spending request of $5 million that was approved in the Budget Conference to fund a vehicle overpass for Wigmore Street, which would span a railroad.

Yarborough also sponsored a request that will ultimately provide a total of $2.5 million for the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History (MOSH). The funding is designed to support the final design phase of the project, as the museum is being relocated from the south bank of the St. Johns River to the north bank, near EverBank Field, where the Jacksonville Jaguars play their home games.

The entire project is expected to cost approximately $94.5 million, with the majority of the funding coming from local sources.

Sen. Tracie Davis, a Jacksonville Democrat, sponsored a plan to improve road travel at University Boulevard North and Edenfield Road with a new traffic signal and pedestrian crossing ways. That will involve a total allocation of $1.14 million. Some $240,000 of that tab will come from Jacksonville city funding.

Another $350,000 will go to Monument Road improvements after another allocation request by Yarborough. The Budget Conference approved the transportation funds to resurface that road from Atlantic Boulevard to Trednick Parkway with additional turn lanes and more bike lanes and sidewalks added from Regency Square Boulevard North to Lee Road.

A new pedestrian and bicycle safety improvement funding package was approved for Anastasia Island in St. Johns County. Lawmakers approved a funding request of about $350,000 for Leek.

The funding approved under the state Transportation and Economic Development will go to extend pedestrian sidewalks, bicycle lanes and add increased crosswalks near the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Anastasia State Park on the island.

There was one Jacksonville funding request denied during the legislative Budget Conference. Davis sponsored a proposal to bolster the local economy by funding the Jacksonville Entrepreneurship Education & Workforce Development Center. But that proposed allocation was passed over in the Budget Conference process.

Build back better

Two Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA) projects appear to be receiving more than a million dollars between them in the Transportation and Economic Development budget silo.

Some homeowners who need help from the state are closer to getting it, as the House has agreed to the Senate’s funding level for a project benefiting elderly and disabled people in and around Jacksonville.

NEFBA’s Builders Care project is in line for $350,000, assuming something doesn’t change later in the budget process and assuming, of course, DeSantis approves it in the end.

According to the appropriations request, “reroofing homes for low-income, elderly, veterans, and disabled individuals who are otherwise unable to afford repairs and eventually have to leave their homes due to condemnation” is the ultimate goal of the project, along with “home-access ramps for low-income, elderly, veterans, and disabled individuals who are otherwise isolated and unable to leave their homes.”

Justice at last

On Tuesday, the Governor struck a blow for young women victimized in the digital sphere.

“Brooke’s Law” (SB 700) would require internet platforms to develop and prominently promote a policy by the end of 2025 for removing deepfake images and videos of this type after the victim is identified.

The bill, which envisions the Florida Unfair Trade and Deceptive Practices Act as its enforcement mechanism, would expand on legislation championed by former Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book that imposed criminal and civil penalties by creating a law to require sites to remove objectionable images.

Republican Sen. Alexis Calatayud, who sponsored the legislation, said it “addresses the reality that there is no current avenue by which an altered sexual depiction posted on an internet platform can be removed by the individual whose image was used.”

The legislation was inspired by what Jacksonville’s Brooke Curry went through in the Summer of 2023, when a deepfake nude of her was posted to social media. The measure would conceivably create a mechanism to stop the victimization she suffered from happening to others.

Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan carried the House bill.

MOSH pit

The Jacksonville Museum of Science and History (MOSH) is poised to get another seven-figure sum from state legislators this year for a key project.

The most recent Transportation and Economic Development budget spreadsheet shows the Senate matching the House’s $2.5 million offer for the MOSH Genesis Project (HF 1828, SF 2847).

It follows $5 million appropriated in the current fiscal year, though $87 million of the project cost is paid locally and by private donations.

“The funds from the State will ensure the uninterrupted design and construction of an iconic and innovative museum of science and history on the North Bank of the St. John’s River in Downtown Jacksonville. It will be a hub for culture and entertainment, STEM learning and Florida storytelling. These funds will specifically move the project into the final design and construction phase,” the appropriations request from Rep. Duggan says.

The request from Sen. Yarborough notes that construction is expected to begin at the beginning of next year, with an eye toward completion by July 2028.

Museum money

The Legislature is ready to build a museum honoring Black history.

House and Senate negotiators agreed to direct $1 million toward Phase 1 of the Florida Museum of Black History, to be located somewhere in Northeast Florida. Sen. Tom Leek pressed colleagues to put the museum in his home district in St. Augustine earlier in the Legislative Session.

“The story of Florida cannot be told without telling the story of Black Floridians. This bill does just that,” Leek said on the floor of the Senate.

While the project won unanimous approval, the funding had to be negotiated in budget conferences in an extended Session this week. However, both the House and Senate included the funding and the last offers from the House Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee and the Senate Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development Appropriations Committee indicated that discussions had been closed out.

That means while plenty of issues were unresolved before budgets were bumped to the next level of appropriators, the funding for the museum is locked in.

Leek championed the bill in the Senate, while Rep. Kiyan Michael carried the measure in the House. The request came from the Foundation for the Museum of Black History Executive Director Alesia Wilbekin.

Mental help

Flagler Hospital’s BRAVE (Be Resilient and Voice Emotions) Program is, as of Thursday, in line to get $1.5 million for what the appropriations request calls a “youth mental health program to break down mental health stigma and to ensure that all students and families have access to mental health services.”

The project received $ 7.9 million for the current year.

Flagler touts the benefits of the initiative, which include more than 5,000 young people getting help, a 530% increase in mental health appointments and a 94% satisfaction rating.

According to the Senate appropriations request, the program will serve all counties in Florida, potentially helping 58,000 young people struggling with mental health issues.

Plane truth

DeSantis, who represented St. Augustine in Congress before running for Governor, has approved the renaming of the city’s airport.

On Monday, he signed off on Republican Rep. Kim Kendall’s bill (HB 4009) that would change the current Northeast Florida Regional Airport branding to St. Augustine Airport.

The move was presented as a return to historic roots by the St. Johns County Airport Authority, which pushed for the change during a meeting of the county’s legislative delegation back in January.

The name was initially changed to the regional branding 15 years ago, when it was called the Northeast Florida Regional Airport at St. Augustine. The locational descriptor was dropped in 2016, per Jacksonville Today.

Kendall advocated for the name change “based on location, identity and security reasons.”

As St. Augustine becomes more of a singular destination, it now has a namesake airport to help with its branding.

Manufacturing misgivings

Manufacturers on the First Coast are indicating there was more contraction in several sectors among industrial producers in May.

The University of North Florida (UNF) Jacksonville Economic Monitoring Survey (JEMS) indicated only three out of 12 sectors showed expansion last month among manufacturers in Northeast Florida. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) indicated a sluggish manufacturing picture on the First Coast in May.

“Jacksonville’s headline PMI registered 47.5, signaling a contraction in the region’s manufacturing sector. A PMI below 50 reflects declining activity and Jacksonville’s performance closely mirrors the national trend, with the U.S. PMI at 48.5,” said Albert Loh, Interim Dean of the UNF Coggin College of Business, which conducts the survey. “Companies continue to report weak demand, falling backlogs and cautious hiring strategies, often opting for layoffs or hiring freezes.”

The JEMS survey assesses manufacturers on the First Coast to evaluate their performance monthly. May was the fourth consecutive month that Northeast Florida manufacturers reported notable contraction in several areas.

Among the key factors contracting included new orders, which reported an index level of 42 in April, and that did not expand at all in May. Loh said that’s a significant indicator.

“This index measures the proportion of firms reporting an increase or decrease in new orders, so a reading of 42 suggests that far more companies are experiencing a drop in new orders than are seeing growth. This is a key leading indicator for the local economy, as new orders often precede future production, employment and investment activity,” Loh concluded in his report.

The April UNF JEMS report indicated that manufacturers are jittery over proposed trade tariffs by President Donald Trump, leading to a significant contraction in industrial production in Northeast Florida. Loh said that anxiety did not wane in May.

May mixer

The First Coast saw a mixed bag in terms of home sales figures in May. That’s according to the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR) data released this week.

The six-county Northeast Florida region saw 1,984 closed sales last month. That’s a 10% decrease in home closings compared to May 2024, when there were 2,204 closings. But the latest number was a 3.5% increase over the April 2025 figure, which was 1,917.

The median cost of a home on the First Coast came in at $388,995 for May. That’s a 3.7% decrease from May 2024, when that figure was $403,995 and a 0.2% decline from April 2025, when the median price tag was $338,173.

NEFAR officials say the numbers indicate the housing market is evening out.

“In general, we are seeing the shift to a more balanced market for both buyers and sellers,” said 2025 NEFAR President Mario Gonzalez. “These changes may continue to signal more sellers to choose to list their home before things shift more to potentially favoring buyers.”

One element of the monthly market analysis that favors buyers is the growing number of homes for sale.

There were 9,147 homes for sale in the Northeast Florida region in May. That’s a 20.1% increase over May 2024, when there were 7,616 homes for sale. It’s a jump from April’s number of 8,577, a 6.6% uptick.

While May’s inventory increase is notable, it’s not as dramatic as the spike seen in April, when there was a sharp 24.5% jump over April 2024’s figure and a 10.2% increase from March.

Individual First Coast county analyses were also mixed. Duval County, the region’s largest county by population, with Jacksonville as its key city, had 991 closed home sales. That’s an 8% drop from May 2024, but a 0.6% increase compared to April 2025.

The median home sale price was $329,990, representing a decrease in both year-over-year and month-over-month comparisons. It was a 4.4% decline from May 2024’s median price of $345,000 and a 1.5% drop from the April cost of $335,000.

St. Johns County, one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties, had a median home sale price of $550,000 in May, a 2.7% drop from May 2024’s price of $565,000 and a 3% decline from April’s sales price of $566,900. The number of closed sales in St. Johns was mixed, like the rest of the region, with 530 transactions last month. That’s a 19.8% drop from May 2024’s 661 sales but a 13.2% increase over April’s number of 468 closings.

Nassau County also had mixed results in May, with last month’s median home sale cost at $463,400. That’s a 9% increase from May 2024’s price of $425,000, but a 3.5% drop from April’s median cost of $480,000. There were 119 closings, a 16.8% drop from May 2024 and a 9.2% decline compared to April.

Atalla ascends

A former high school classmate of our own A.G. Gancarski is now one of the most powerful people in the city.

Helena Atalla Parola is officially the city’s planning director, after a brief interim stint.

“As Director, I look forward to working more closely with community members, developers and local officials to create a healthier environment through the policy and planning process,” said Parola. “I really love this city, and I want everyone who lives here to be proud to call it home.”

“I am looking forward to Helena continuing her long-standing service as the Director of Planning,” said Mayor Donna Deegan. “She brings a fresh perspective and a wealth of knowledge to the position, both of which will benefit her department and, in turn, our citizens.”

Cruisin’ craze

The prime cruise line serving Jacksonville expects a good and prosperous Summer.

Carnival Cruise Line’s sailings to Celebration Key in the Bahamas are anticipated to take a lot of passengers on the trip from July through Labor Day Weekend. Carnival will send about a dozen ships to the destination, including the Carnival Elation ship, which has the home port of JAXPORT.

The cruise operations could bring an estimated $21 million impact to the Jacksonville local economy this year, a press release said.

“As a key homeport for Carnival Elation and an important gateway to our popular Bahamas itineraries, Jacksonville has been instrumental in bringing the joy of cruising to thousands of guests each year,” said Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line. “Its strategic location and strong connection to the vibrant Southeastern U.S. market have made it an important part of our homeport network.”

Carnival officials say they’ll likely transport some 55,000 travelers from JAXPORT alone to the Bahamas this Summer.

“As one of Carnival Cruise Line’s valued homeports, Jacksonville plays an important role in our operations,” said Duffy. “Our homeport strategy focuses on making cruising more accessible and convenient, bringing the Carnival vacation experience closer to home and giving families and friends more opportunities to enjoy time together at sea.”

Looking forward to training camp

The Jaguars are on the field this week for the last time before training camp in late July. Mandatory minicamp is scheduled to conclude on Thursday.

What have we learned this offseason?

First, the new Jaguars’ leadership was not particularly impressed with last year’s roster. With a dozen players added in the first phase of free agency and more moves being made since the draft, general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen are going to continue to refine the roster at every opportunity.

In the past week and a half, the Jaguars have added linebacker Dennis Gardeck and brought back popular defensive lineman Dawuane Smoot, who last played for the team in 2023.

Coen was familiar with Gardeck, facing him twice a year in the NFC West when Coen was with the Los Angeles Rams and Gardeck with the Arizona Cardinals.

“Every time we would go play the Arizona Cardinals, he was on the game-wrecker board,” Coen said. “We would always kind of introduce the game wreckers to the players. And he was on there, whether it was originally for special teams, and then also for rushing the passer and creating some disruption. It just gives us somebody a little bit different kind of style rusher, special teams demon.”

Smoot began his Jaguars’ career in 2017. Between 2019 and 2022, he totaled 22.5 sacks before an Achilles injury sidelined him in 2023.

We also know several positions on offense will have real competition for starting jobs once training camp begins. Running back will undoubtedly be one of them. The offensive line has at least two positions without clear-cut starters. These are key positions to support Trevor Lawrence.

At running back, there was already competition with Tank Bigsby supplanting Travis Etienne last season. Etienne is trying to show he can be the gamebreaker he showed signs of being in his first two NFL seasons when he ran for over 1,000 yards. The Jaguars also used a fourth-round pick on Bhayshul Tuten and a seventh-round pick on speedy LeQuint Allen Jr. There will be competition, which should make the position group stronger.

Of course, the catchphrase this offseason has been for the Jaguars to find “intangibly rich” players. We won’t know how those intangibles benefit the team until the Jaguars begin facing pressure in training camp and especially the season, but we should start to see some hints of how they handle added scrutiny.

Finally, we know that the Jaguars are trying to “keep the main thing the main thing.” Again, that goal will not be challenged until the obstacles of training camp and regular-season losses arrive. Once they do, we will also learn how a first-time head coach and first-time offensive and defensive coordinators handle the obstacles. That could be the most significant factor in how the 2025 Jaguars perform.