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A.G. GancarskiJanuary 25, 2016

An interesting narrative has been the decline in utility of the Jacksonville City Council Neighborhood Improvement and Community Enhancement (formerly Blight) committee. When Denise Lee was on City Council, Blight was a long meeting, but generally an effective if powerless committee. Since Lee has moved into the mayor’s office, NICE has gotten nasty. Clashes between Lee […]

A.G. GancarskiJanuary 5, 2016

On Monday, the Jacksonville City Council Neighborhood Improvement and Community Enhancement Committee kicked off 2016. The ad hoc committee has become a source of consternation for many on Council, who note that it is unable to take action, and is just a deliberative committee. Some highlights included a further discussion of Land Bank issues and […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 4, 2015

Does the old saying “money-back guarantee” apply to campaign contributions? One Lenny Curry donor thinks so, and said as much in an dirt-dishing, ad hominem-riddled email to General Counsel Jason Gabriel, in which he had unkind words for many members of the City Hall staff. “Please inform the Mayor that I would like my $1000.00 campaign contribution refunded and […]

A.G. GancarskiNovember 16, 2015

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Terry Fields has filed to run in House District 14 to succeed Mia Jones, running against Leslie Jean-Bart. Fields finished third in the District 8 first election in March, just 2 points behind runoff finalist Pat Lockett-Felder, who ended up losing the election to Katrina Brown. Fields, a Democratic Party stalwart, was the leading fundraiser in […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 26, 2015

As FloridaPolitics.com wrote last week, there are some existential questions about the Neighborhood Improvement and Community Enhancement Committee, and at least one regular has had enough, getting nasty about NICE in an email to Mayor Lenny Curry and Council President Greg Anderson. Saying that the “NICE Committee is ineffective” and “leadership needs a change,” the […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 19, 2015

One of the interesting things about the current permutation of the Jacksonville City Council’s Neighborhood Improvement and Enhancement Committee is how many complaints there are about it from the regulars. Not enough items on the agenda. They don’t do anything anymore. If you scratched the surface, you might hear similar complaints from those on City […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 8, 2015

Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford has long been concerned with what he calls “neighborhoods in decline.” Thursday afternoon’s Jacksonville Housing Roundtable, which convened stakeholders from the business, policy and non-profit sectors, was an attempt to bring together new perspectives on best practices related to abandoned property and blight. With about 30,000 abandoned properties on the Duval County registry, the […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 6, 2015

The slogan of the Jacksonville Block by Block event, put on by the Jessie Ball Dupont Fund and the Reinvestment Fund, is a simple six word declaration. Our homes. Our neighborhoods. Our opportunities. On Tuesday morning, a cavalcade of Jacksonville civic leaders converged at the Jessie Ball Dupont Center (formerly the Haydon Burns Library) in […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 5, 2015

At Monday’s NICE Committee meeting, the ongoing public information campaign regarding blight was discussed. Seemed innocuous enough on its surface. In practice, though… The city of Jacksonville’s Director of Blight, Denise Lee, presented the administration’s position regarding the importance of public information, even as committee members, such as Councilman Tommy Hazouri, wanted to know more […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 29, 2015

Jacksonville Democrat Leslie Jean-Bart so far is running unopposed in the state House District 14 race, though there have been rumblings regarding how much longer that will last. With Councilman Reggie Brown, former Councilwoman Kim Daniels, and even the name of former City Councilwoman and current Director of Blight Denise Lee being linked to the race, questions have also […]

Tag: Denise Lee

Has the Jax NICE Committee failed?

Jax NICE Committee kicks off 2016, discusses “Spring Clean Jacksonville”

Lenny Curry donor wants his money back

Terry Fields enters House District 14 race

Jax resident gets nasty about NICE Committee

Jax NICE Committee, against all odds, passes a bill

Jax Housing Roundtable addresses “neighborhoods in decline”

Jacksonville Block by Block validates city housing, neighborhoods policy approach

Sparks fly in Jax NICE Committee

Jax Democrat Leslie Jean-Bart debuts her HD 14 campaign Thursday