Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Phil AmmannJune 23, 2017

The two most powerful people in Jacksonville politics starting in July: Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Council President Anna Brosche. The two have similarities: introverted personalities, CPAs, Republicans in their mid-40s. And they have differences — which will soon need resolution. There are those who lined up with Brosche in the Council presidency race who […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 20, 2017

Just months ago, Jacksonville passed its pension reform package, which will give the city approximately $150M of budget relief from costs of its unfunded pension liability in terms of next year’s budget. While raises for city workers, to be phased in over the next three fiscal years, will consume a lot of that relief, rest […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 19, 2017

Jacksonville’s opioid crisis, as is the case around the country, is taking lives and resources from the budget all at once. Is a turning point imminent? Months back, Councilman Bill Gulliford began sounding the alarm about the increased casualty rate and the increased burden on emergency services from the crisis. Multiple meetings followed, then a bill […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 16, 2017

As part of our continuing coverage of the budget process in Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s office, we were on hand for Friday’s consideration of non-departmental expenditures heading into the next fiscal year. The biggest news? A potential increase of the city’s emergency reserve level, something that was discussed in Jacksonville City Council committees months back. The city […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 6, 2017

A Tuesday morning Jacksonville City Council committee saw an update on the city’s ShotSpotter program from Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Homeland Security Chief Robert Connor. This much-ballyhooed anti-crime tool does what its name suggests: it identifies, via sound, where a bullet’s origin might be. For law enforcement, this provides an important tool; for those married to […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 1, 2017

Last year, Hurricane Matthew cut a swath of destruction through Duval County, just as it did the rest of the East Coast. In Northeast Florida alone, the storm caused $1B in property damage, despite the storm having lost strength and having had the eyewall veer east as it approached Duval County, which itself took $50M […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 30, 2017

Memorial Day weekend in Jacksonville was brutal for the expected reasons, with at least a dozen people shot and four of them killed over the holiday. In a city where virtually every politician who ran for office in 2015 messaged on the theme of public safety, what’s clear is that there is still work to […]

Phil AmmannMay 26, 2017

The sun rises, as we are told, every day in downtown Jacksonville. But for the City Council class of 2011, slated for term-limits in 2019, those sunrises are beginning to fade. Chosen Tuesday, the Council officers — who first took office in 2015 — show that the balance of power has shifted, the baton has […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 23, 2017

On Tuesday night, the Jacksonville City Council passed a trio of bills designed to close the books on a conflict between neighborhood activists in Springfield, disability rights groups, and ultimately, the federal Department of Justice. Two Jacksonville City Council bills (2017-68 and 2017-69) closed the book on an issue that first emerged during the Alvin Brown […]

Phil AmmannMay 18, 2017

The ongoing Corrine Brown drama pushed our legislative roundup back a week — but given the drama that ensued this week regarding what the Duval Delegation accomplished, that’s just as well. Boils down to this: the legislators think they brought home the bacon, and some in City Hall believe that they brought home crumbs. As […]

Tag: Jacksonville

Jacksonville Bold for 6.23.17 — New blood rising

Hard choices loom for Lenny Curry’s staff in Jax capital budget

Is a turning point imminent for Jacksonville’s opioid crisis?

Jacksonville considers raising emergency reserve level

Jacksonville’s ShotSpotter identifies ‘when, where, and what’ of gunshots

Jacksonville gears up for 2017 hurricane season

After weekend of gun violence, Jax Sheriff to take ‘crime prevention walk’

Jacksonville Bold for 5.26.17 — Sunrise, sunsets

Jacksonville closes book on disability rights dispute with settlement bills

Jacksonville Bold — 5.19.17 — It was a very good year?