Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiJanuary 9, 2018

2017 ended with bodies piling up in Jacksonville’s morgue. 2018 brings something approaching a solution via Ordinance 2018-005. A bill slated to be introduced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting on an emergency basis will offer what Medical Examiner Valerie Rao called last week a “proposed space solution,” which includes “office and refrigerator space”: a walk-in cooler […]

A.G. GancarskiDecember 28, 2017

Two consecutive years have seen hurricanes strafe Duval County shorelines. And Jacksonville leadership wants $10 million in federal help. Last week, Jacksonville’s Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa emailed Susie Wiles, a City Hall veteran and Ballard Partners lobbyist who ran the stretch run of President Donald Trump‘s Florida campaign. The subject: getting federal movement on beach renourishment funds. […]

A.G. GancarskiOctober 17, 2017

The office of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry believes it is done with pension reform. Yet Council President Anna Brosche and other allies, including the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee, disagree. That conflict set the stage for the latest skirmish related to a bill introduced months back by Councilman Danny Becton. The bill, brought back yet again recently, […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 18, 2017

Monday’s Jacksonville City Council meeting saw local officials address the body regarding Hurricane Irma. Expect a big budgetary hit from this year’s storm, with infrastructural damage that is still being tallied. That cost was buried in the mix of a few speakers on Monday, but will be the long-range policy impact of the storm. The city’s […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 11, 2017

A walk through Jacksonville’s Avondale neighborhood Monday morning revealed the destruction Hurricane Irma had wrought. But even as the storm was headed out, more danger follows Monday afternoon, via record high tides. Avondale, along with Riverside and Downtown, got the worst of the flooding; Avondale also got some of the most brutal winds, the kind […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 7, 2017

One of the many discussions that enlivened Jacksonville City Council budget hearings in August was the city’s surfeit of minority engineers. Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa noted that some categories — such as “African-American engineers” — are “difficult to find.” “Most African-American engineers graduate from Northeastern universities and stay in the [Northeast],” Mousa added, explaining a shortfall […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 25, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee put Sheriff Mike Williams through the wringer during this year’s budget process. They pushed back against budget asks two weeks ago, compelling the Sheriff to return Friday morning, where he spent roughly an hour answering questions related to a poll his political committee ran. Among the items in suspension: 100 […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 25, 2017

Friday saw the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee move toward wrapping up budget deliberations. However, there was still some unfinished business with various departments. And the most interesting bit of business was political business — not budgetary. — The big enchilada: the 100 new police officers and other proposals from JSO, which were not approved […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 24, 2017

Thursday morning’s Jacksonville City Council budget review included a deep dive into improving workforce diversity in city employment. Council members discussed ways to fulfill the letter of the equal opportunity/equal access law, relative to ensuring that Jacksonville’s labor force reflects the city’s demographics. “It’s about priorities. Whatever the Mayor wants to do in that fashion, […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 23, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council located money via leftover fund balance from the current fiscal year, leading to discussions on Wednesday of how to spend the roughly $5 million on capital projects. One big project — Ortega Hills land acquisition — may help to solve a long-standing problem in the neighborhood, which sees ingress and egress […]

Tag: Sam Mousa

Jacksonville City Council mulls morgue money Tuesday

Jacksonville seeks $10M from feds for beach renourishment

Jax Council panel bucks leadership, votes down controversial pension bill

Jax Irma costs: ‘Equal or a bit more’ than Matthew

Jacksonville riverfront residents face new threats from record high tide

Garrett Dennis wants answers on Jacksonville’s minority engineer shortage

After venting about poll, Jax Council panel gives Sheriff 100 new cops

Jax Councilors feel ‘targeted’ by Sheriff’s poll pushing 100 new cops

Jax commitment to workforce diversity: just ‘words on paper’?

Solution emerges to stalled train problem in Jacksonville’s Ortega Hills