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A.G. GancarskiOctober 24, 2017

Tuesday evening was, by and large, a typical legislative agenda for the Jacksonville City Council. Not a lot of drama, even on the one bill they voted down. Pension tension: That rejected bill mentioned above; legislation from Danny Becton that attempted to sock more money away for the city’s $3.2 billion unfunded pension liability. Becton’s bill would […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 24, 2017

Among Jacksonville City Council agenda items this week: moving forward on a lawsuit against Big Pharma for opioids and a study of the future of the Hart Bridge’s off ramps. (Not on the agenda, but worth watching: whether a move to censure two Councilmembers happens or not.) ____ Opioid action: Resolution (2017-674) would allow the city’s general […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 17, 2017

Last November, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry made an audacious ask of the Duval County Legislative Delegation: $50M to remove and replace the Hart Bridge offramps. “The ramps were originally designed to bypass the industrialized waterfront,” Curry said in 2016, a purpose outmoded in the half-century since the original construction. Curry’s ask: “To knock the [current] ramp […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 11, 2017

Tuesday night was rough for Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche. Her attempts to stall out a vote on Mayor Lenny Curry‘s children’s program reform, the Kids Hope Alliance, failed. And her allegations of Curry Administration attempts to keep the bill from public view, by having a Councilman introduce a substitute in committee earned a sharp rebuke from […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 5, 2017

Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche took a chance in the wake of Charlottesville violence this summer when she requested an inventory of the city’s Confederate monuments, followed by a potential removal of the monuments. Brosche got hate mail and harassment, and her proposal catalyzed public comment at a number of Council meetings, along with grousing […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 3, 2017

Monday saw a Jacksonville City Council committee move Mayor Lenny Curry‘s children’s program re-orginization — the Kids Hope Alliance (KHA) — through by a 6 to 1 vote. Discussion of the bill to replace the Jacksonville Children’s Commission and Jacksonville Journey was brutal. It took over three hours, and it became clear that one primary skeptic of the bill […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 2, 2017

Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Brown has became a point man on Mayor Lenny Curry‘s push to boost after-school program funding this year. However, Brown’s 2016 financial disclosure form reveals that he has received secondary income of almost $10,000 from one of those organizations tasked with running after-school programs. Brown says there is no conflict of interest because the […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 2, 2017

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry‘s Kids Hope Alliance bill cleared the first of three City Council committees Monday. And he was on hand, at least at the outset of a discussion that sprawled for almost three hours, to make sure that happened. The bill, which seeks to consolidate functions and programs of the Jacksonville Journey and Jacksonville Children’s […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 2, 2017

On Monday, the Jacksonville City Council Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee mulled a local bill requiring the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to station crossing guards at elementary and middle schools. But a lack of specifics and data led to a motion for deferral. The bill, to be carried in Tallahassee by Rep. Kim Daniels, […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 2, 2017

To those not looking at the Jacksonville City Council budget process closely, the end result Tuesday night was clean and uncontroversial. A unanimous vote for the city’s $1.27 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, one with $131M in capital improvements, and 100 new police positions. However, a closer look at the budget process reveals that — after a summer […]

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Buccaneers QB Teddy Bridgewater. Image via AP.

Jacksonville City Council rejects added pension payments

Opioid lawsuit, Hart Bridge study await Jacksonville City Council Tuesday

Hart Bridge ‘design criteria project’ cleared for Jax Council vote

Anna Brosche talks Confederate monuments, censure for Council colleagues

Momentum stalls for Jacksonville Confederate monument removal

Panel defers Lenny Curry’s ‘Kids Hope Alliance’ proposal

Reggie Brown rejects conflict of interest charge

Despite pushback, ‘Kids Hope Alliance’ bill clears first Jax City Council committee

More crossing guards for Jacksonville schools, if local bill passes Tallahassee

How Lenny Curry won the Jacksonville City Council budget vote