At the January 11th board meeting, the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County adopted the following resolution:
A RESOLUTION OF THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY IN OPPOSITION TO CITY COUNCIL BILL 2009-0940
Whereas City Council Bill 2009-0940 exempts the Gerdau Ameristeel steel plant located near Baldwin from paying the public service tax on electricity for five years; and
Whereas the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County supports low taxes but only when they are applied equally to all businesses and individuals subject to the tax; and
Whereas the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County opposes City Council legislation that is clearly tailored to providing a benefit to an individual business thereby ensuring city government a role in determining the winners and losers in the local economy;
Now therefore be it resolved that the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County opposes City Council Bill 2009-0940.
The resolution was read to City Council members at their January 12th meeting.
The title of this post is from the song Downtown sung by Petula Clark in the mid 1960s. The song was inspired by composer-arranger Tony Hatch’s visit to New York City in which he extols the vibrant atmosphere of Broadway and Times Square. Having been to New York City, I would agree with this characterization of Manhattan. With its museums, nightspots and Central Park, New York City truly is the city that does not sleep!
If you read the recent Florida Times Union series on downtown Jacksonville, you get a sense that Jacksonville’s political leaders really want to transfer some of that vibrancy to Jacksonville’s city core. According to the Florida Times Union, downtown Jacksonville is essentially dead in the weeknights and weekends and is short on residents and workers. What city leaders envision is a walkable downtown full of shops, restaurants, condominiums and lots of people frequenting and living in them. As usual, this vision requires tax money and city government planning.
Before we go flying off the cliff in our enthusiasm to keep moving forward with this vision, let us pause for a second and ask why we need a vibrant downtown. Even if we agree that the downtown area should be different from what it currently is, is it possible for realize this new vision for downtown? How should we realize this vision? How much taxpayer money are we willing to sink into downtown to realize this vision?
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