Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Phil AmmannApril 14, 2017

Does Al Lawson ‘get’ Jacksonville? Questions still remain as to whether Congressman Lawson understands Jacksonville, as his visits to the Jacksonville City Council Tuesday, and town hall Wednesday indicate. On Tuesday, one could sense among certain council members (specifically, those representing districts that overlap Lawson’s) a grating irritation over Lawson’s constant use of Eureka Garden […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 12, 2017

A Wednesday afternoon meeting of the Jacksonville City Council was intended to facilitate deeper inquiry into Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry‘s ambitious pension reform package. However, the big news was the downward impact of adjustments to payroll growth projections and COLA calculations after Monday’s meeting of the Police and Fire Pension Fund. “We still save a lot. […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 12, 2017

U.S. Rep. Al Lawson made some time Tuesday evening for the Jacksonville City Council, attending their regular meeting. Lawson, from Tallahassee, has had an interesting time navigating Jacksonville’s political world since he began his race to unseat local Corrine Brown last year. With questions and concerns about how engaged Lawson is with Jacksonville issues, and the very […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 10, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council is currently mulling a raft of bills that could change the way the city handles pensions forever. 2017-257 creates a new ordinance section: Chapter 776 (Pension Liability Surtax). Bill 2017-258 affects the general employees and correctional worker plans, closing the extant defined benefit plans to those hired after Oct. 1, 2017, and […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 10, 2017

What happens when the Americans for Disabilities Act meets a Jacksonville zoning overlay? A headache, some litigation, and, eventually, attempts by all parties to arrive at a workable compromise. Emphasis on the word “attempts,” as seemingly everyone outside of the lawyers who reached the compromise found something at which to balk. A bill that would […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 10, 2017

Thursday saw FloridaPolitics.com offer up three stories on discussions of Jacksonville’s pension reform pitch to the Jacksonville City Council. If you are looking to read reportage of Mayor Lenny Curry‘s remarks, long-form presentation of Curry’s chief lieutenants, reaction of the Jacksonville City Council, use the helpful hypertext links below. However, if you’re looking to read analysis of […]

Phil AmmannApril 7, 2017

You may notice a running theme with this issue of Bold: much of it deals with crossroads situations (to borrow a phrase from 90s rappers Bone Thugs-N-Harmony). Will the city dredge JAXPORT? Or will years of deliberation and consternation lead — as they so often do — to nothing? Will Corrine Brown beat the rap […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 6, 2017

Mayor Lenny Curry offered his presentation of pension legislation on Thursday afternoon, leaving it to the Jacksonville City Council to hash out. They were helped along by CFO Mike Weinstein and Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa, who helped to explain the pension situation to the legislators. The short version: if pension reform passes, the city could see big […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 6, 2017

After weeks of speculation as to hard costs and real benefits of the Lenny Curry approach to Jacksonville’s pension reform, the first-term Republican Mayor talked it out with the Jacksonville City Council Wednesday afternoon. The Curry administration feels the fierce urgency of now. With pension costs, already $290M in the current fiscal year, slated to be […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 5, 2017

A Wednesday meeting of the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee moved the council one step closer to a resolution of support for the beleaguered state incentive program Enterprise Florida. Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s Office of Economic Development offered its own take on Enterprise Florida, and incentive programs in general. _____ The pro-Enterprise Florida resolution cleared the Rules […]

Tag: jacksonville city council

Jacksonville Bold for 4.14.17 — My city was gone

‘Slight adjustments’ drive City Council pushback to Jax pension reform projections

Al Lawson addresses Jacksonville City Council

Jax City Council auditor’s office raises pension questions

Springfield Overlay zoning change legislation draws scrutiny in public notice meeting

Critics ‘chirp’, while Lenny Curry surges to the end zone

Jacksonville Bold for 4.7.17 — See you at the crossroads

Lenny Curry’s team sells big pension savings to Jacksonville City Council

Lenny Curry frames pension-reform push as ‘new beginning for Jacksonville’

Drumbeat for Enterprise Florida thumps in Jacksonville’s City Hall