Jax

A.G. GancarskiMarch 22, 2017

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Before Wednesday’s meeting of the Duval County School Board, Chair Paula Wright cautioned that “no news” would come out of the conclave. However, with the real possibility that Superintendent Nikolai Vitti may leave Jacksonville for Detroit, a city “in his DNA,” the board needed to have a sunshine discussion to discuss next steps. Notable: Vitti was absent, […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 22, 2017

Thus far, there’s been slow progress on Jacksonville City Council bills (2017-68 and 2017-69) that may close the book on an issue that first emerged during the Alvin Brown administration. To recap: in 2014, Ability Housing set out to renovate an apartment building in Springfield to create 12 units of housing for the chronically homeless and […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 21, 2017

In the end, everybody in the U.S. House of Representatives agreed that Rep. John Rutherford‘s first bill needed to become law. As the 408-0 vote in the House Tuesday reflected. H.R. 1294, the Reducing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acquisition Cost Growth Act, seeks to stop wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars by agencies like the Transportation […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 21, 2017

The Eureka Garden complex has been a focus of politicians in the last couple of years, with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, Sen. Marco Rubio, Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett Dennis, and Rep. Al Lawson all demanding rehab of the facility and reform of the HUD process. A new management group, which is looking to buy the property, promised changes. That group promised […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 21, 2017

A bill to impose a 90 day moratorium on block parties in Jacksonville (and not the rest of Duval County) cleared its two city council committees Tuesday. The legislation (2017-196) posits “a legitimate public purpose in imposing a temporary moratorium on permitting recreational street closings … ‘block parties’ within the City, to allow the City time to […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 21, 2017

February ended with Jacksonville City Council VP John Crescimbeni storming out of the gate in the race for the council presidency. A group of councilmen — Gulliford, Crescimbeni, Greg Anderson, Jim Love, and Tommy Hazouri — signed on very quickly, giving Crescimbeni a real leg up. Rhetoric was pitched in the councilmen’s conclave: lots of talk about “council tradition” dictating […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 21, 2017

The Naples Daily News isn’t a usual go-to source on northeast Florida politics, but it dropped a blockbuster story about Sen. Aaron Bean on Monday. The claim: “Bean helped secure a $1 million special appropriation in this year’s budget for an early mental health screening program run by Catherine Drew, the wife of Nassau County Tax Collector John Drew. Bean and John Drew […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 20, 2017

The Florida Delegation to Washington may not agree on all things. But in a Monday letter signed by all members, they urged Defense Secretary James Mattis to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, or CVN, at Mayport. The case the delegation made was for “spreading out” America’s Naval assets. “As you continue your work on the fiscal […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 20, 2017

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After making the case for Enterprise Florida in Jacksonville Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott addressed other issues in a gaggle, including JAXPORT. Scott’s new budget has $176 million for ports, and — crucially — $31M for the long-delayed dredging of the river to deepen the channel for bigger PANAMAX ships. In Jacksonville, Scott addressed the near-term […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 20, 2017

When Gov. Rick Scott comes to your town to hold a “Fighting for Florida’s Jobs” round table, that means your GOP State Representatives crossed him on an incentive vote. Scott started off March in Rep. Travis Cummings‘ district, where he repeatedly jabbed at Cummings and Rep. Paul Renner for opposing Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida. Cummings was just one […]

Jax
Image via FPL.

Duval County School Board mulls post-Nikolai Vitti era

Jacksonville housing discrimination settlement legislation stalls in council

John Rutherford Homeland Security spending reform bill clears House 408-0

Failed Eureka Garden HUD inspection: whose fault is it?

Block party moratorium to be voted on by full Jacksonville City Council

Crunchtime for John Crescimbeni in Jax Council President race

A look at Aaron Bean’s accuser, Carlos Slay

Florida Delegation to Sec Def: Bring nuclear carrier to Mayport

Rick Scott is ‘committed’ to JAXPORT dredging

Rick Scott harangues Duval Delegation, pushes incentives in Jacksonville