Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 27, 2018

Not for the first time in recent months, Jacksonville City Council members again discussed septic tank woes in the Northwest Quadrant. This time, however, a potential legislative remedy is in play. Budget hearings in August saw multiple members, including Council members Katrina Brown and Reggie Brown, lament the slow pace of septic phaseout. $6 million a year […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 23, 2018

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry took office in 2015, and even before he officially took over in July, there were discussions of reforms of government services. His transition committees discussed some concepts, and by the time Curry’s team settled into office, explorations continued on a conceptual level of privatizing or otherwise reforming the way services were […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 22, 2018

For the second straight week, Jacksonville City Council members mulled ongoing efforts to privatize JEA. The narrative has gotten rockier for the administration of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry in recent weeks, with poison pills preceding each Council conclave. Just as the meeting to discuss the valuation report was presaged with the Council President saying Curry’s chief of […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 22, 2018

Did the mayor’s office move toward a sale of Jacksonville’s utility before Council had a chance to weigh in? And what does that mean for the process going forward? A profound rift has emerged between Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and the City Council on the question of JEA privatization. And, say some Councilors, existential questions loom […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 20, 2018

Privatization of JEA, which could net the city $3 to $6 billion, is still a hard sell to the Jacksonville City Council. That’s why a special committee was formed Tuesday by Council President Anna Brosche, who roiled tempers in the Mayor’s Office and the Florida Times-Union editorial page when she didn’t allow Curry to speak “out of turn” […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 19, 2018

Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett Dennis might have been considered by some to be a political “walking dead man” after his showdown at the Soul Food Bistro with Mayor Lenny Curry. But Dennis sees it differently. “That was a wake-up call for our mayor,” Dennis said. As he told a crowd of Jacksonville Democrats Monday evening, the Duval Democrats […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 19, 2018

Reimbursements will come sooner or later for the city of Jacksonville from the federal government for Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. Until then, however, the impact of the storms will be felt in the city’s general fund budget. The Jacksonville City Council Auditor’s quarterly report for the final three months of 2017 puts the figures in […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 17, 2018

Jacksonville politicos are currently talking about a poll in the local market asking about two weighty political matters. The first series of questions has to do with Mayor Lenny Curry and a number of politicians that are being discussed as potential political competition for him on the 2019 ballot. Among those would-be candidates: City Council President Anna Brosche; Council […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 14, 2018

In what has been one of the roughest weeks in the tenure of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, his administration presented to a skeptical City Council — and a more skeptical overflow crowd — a controversial report outlining the benefits of the sale of the local public utility. Profits could be up to $6 billion, the report […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 13, 2018

Save JEA now. That’s the rallying cry of a political committee (Florida Committee for Infrastructure Investment) designed to stop the exploration of selling Jacksonville’s utility in its tracks. The charge: “Mayor Curry and his buddies are trying to sell JEA behind your back. He has already been caught giving misleading statement to the media about the […]

Tag: JEA

Jacksonville City Councilors link septic woes to business relocation, blight

For Lenny Curry’s team, privatization of public resources is not a new concept

Jacksonville City Council moves to ensure voter input into any JEA sale

Latest JEA sale revelations roil Jacksonville City Council

Privatization skeptics fill out Jacksonville JEA special committee

Garrett Dennis talks ‘bounty’ on Jax Council members, filing JEA straw ballot bill

$130M+ hit for Jacksonville from hurricanes, as financial storm clouds loom

Jacksonville poll pushes JEA sale, probes weaknesses of Anna Brosche

Jacksonville City Council pushes back hard against JEA sales pitch

Committee messages against JEA privatization