Jax

A.G. GancarskiDecember 31, 2015

In November, FloridaPolitics.com reported on the people behind Illuminate Jax seeking buy in from the Lenny Curry administration to move forth with plans to light up the Jacksonville skyline. In January, they will get the meeting they sought in November. Margie Seaman of Illuminate Jax will get a long-awaited meeting with city officials in January, including […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 30, 2015

In Jacksonville politics in 2015, the game changed … perhaps for good. Big money went into campaigns: over $10 million, including soft money, in the mayoral race. Close to $2 million in the sheriff’s race. And even some City Council candidates who raised close to a quarter of a million dollars did so in vain. […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 30, 2015

The theory of recurrence is something not unique to Jacksonville politics. In this list of five people who likely will be in the headlines, there are some familiar names. Alvin Brown: The one-term Jacksonville mayor took some time off after his narrow defeat in the May election. He surfaced on very rare occasions, through media […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 30, 2015

There’s no doubt 2015 was an amazing year in Jacksonville politics. A new mayor, 11 new members of City Council, and intrigue in Corrine Brown’s redistricting saga were among a few top-level highlights. While we have a reasonable sense of what happened in Jacksonville politics in 2015, the next question is what happens in 2016. Hence, a […]

Melissa RossDecember 30, 2015

Just as Jacksonville’s battle over its human rights ordinance heats up (again), North Florida same-sex couples are preparing to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversaries in a public downtown event. On January 10, 2015, Jacksonville attorney Carrington Mead married more than 60 same-sex couples in a mass ceremony in Hemming Park following the Supreme Court ruling […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 30, 2015

In 2014, Jacksonville had the sixth-worst divorce rate in the country. One might think, in that context, that an effort to “defend Jax families” might include marriage counseling or other assistance to couples conquering the rocky shoals of matrimony. One would be wrong. According to the good folks at DefendJaxFamilies.com, an adjunct of Florida Family […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 30, 2015

Laveranues Coles wants to open a strip club. This has now resulted in a lawsuit, and national publicity, revolving around the stated purpose of “opening a club that would feature dancing that would be ‘performed before a consensual audience, all over the age of 18 years, who are desirous of receiving and enjoying the message […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 29, 2015

Everyone wants good schools, but getting people (and politicians) to pay for them is a different matter. In St. Johns County, they may have found a way forward … despite the resistance of powerful politicians and “civic leaders” who stood in their way. In November, a referendum passed resoundingly in St. Johns County. It was […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 29, 2015

In late October, Jacksonville public officials trumpeted Google considering Jacksonville for Google Fiber implementation. In the past two months, meetings between public officials and Google representatives have laid out terms, point by point, and a review of city emails reveals a potential sticking point: the pole attachment agreement. Paul Cosgrave, PIO for JEA, lays out […]

Melissa RossDecember 29, 2015

The North and Central Florida nonprofit Ability Housing has received a $150,000 grant from the Florida Blue Foundation to support The Solution That Saves, a statewide pilot providing Florida-specific data on the effects of providing permanent supportive housing to high users of crisis services. Examples of that include arrests and/or involuntary commitment to mental health facilities. […]

Jax

Illuminate Jax moving forward?

A.G. Gancarski’s Top 10 stories of 2015 in Jacksonville politics

A.G. Gancarski’s 5 people to watch in Jacksonville politics in 2016

A.G. Gancarski’s 12 predictions in 2016 for Jacksonville politics

Email insights: Jax same-sex couples to celebrate one-year wedding anniversaries in Hemming Park

“Defend Jax Families” warns pro-HRO pols: “Your political careers will be over”

Laveranues Coles sues Jacksonville: Why now?

St. Johns County school tax referendum: the most overlooked NE Florida story of the year?

Could Jax Google Fiber deal fall through?

Florida Blue gives Ability Housing $150K to house homeless, study issue