The audit reinforces what we have been saying all along.  The promises made by the advocates of corporate welfare in the form of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission are often not delivered.  With over a decade long track record of corporate giveaways, handouts and bailouts, taxpayers have little to nothing to show for millions of dollars that have been “invested” .

We applaud the new mayoral administration’s proposed elimination of the JEDC but are skeptical of the dubious effort to re-brand corporate welfare as “public private partnerships” or P3s or PPPs.  Unfortunately the P3s being touted bear no resemblance to the Navy aircraft flying over the city.  Instead, P3s are just another euphemism for corporate welfare schemes where taxpayers bear all the risk of capital financing for a project and private individuals benefit when there (rarely) is a profit.

Now Mayor Brown has promised to reform the concept and focus on Downtown.   Haven’t we heard the broken promises before? Lavilla Redevelopment?  ? Lavilla BistroRiver City Renaissance?  Courthouse?  Genovar Hall?  Shipyards?  Skyway People Mover? Our own John Winkler has performed his own investigation to summarize the just a few of the failed promises of the sages at city hall.  The investigation is featured on our November show.

We do not doubt the sincerity of those who would like to see the urban core thrive.  In fact, we would like to see downtown turn into a prosperous area where people actually enjoy going.   Unfortunately, taxpayers can not afford to lose any more money on risky giveaways disguised as “investments” for some unquantifiable and intangible public good.

We urge Mayor Brown to reconsider the public dollar giveaway to the aspiring robber barons camouflaged as philanthropists.

• The Candidate Committee headed by John Winkler interviewed several dozen candidates as well as obtaining their input from our questionnaire. This information was used by the committee to formulate recommended endorsements for the organization.

• The video interviews of the Candidate Committee were placed on the internet for any and all people to view and form their own opinions. This resource was praised by those in the community was being valuable and informative making voting decisions.

• We printed and distributed a combined 150,000 voter’s guide for this year’s local elections. This was a monumental effort never done by any organization. Although everyone did not agree with our endorsements, his literature was well received by nearly everyone who I spoke with.

• As part of the funding and distribution effort, we reached out and built coalitions with many members in the community that share our values in protecting the interests of Taxpayers. This has allowed us to share our message to a larger audience.

• CTDC has joined as a plaintiff to a lawsuit filed by our own pension expert and member Curt Lee. The suit seeks to stop the Police and Fire Pension Board and the City from continuing to illegally conduct negotiations in violation of state labor and open meeting laws. Recently a favorable ruling to allow the suit to continue forward was rendered by the judge in this case. This project is in need of generous member contributions to see it move forward effectively.

• The Trail Ridge lawsuit is still in the court system. With the new mayoral administration in place, we expect to have some movement in this case when the timing is most advantageous. Other groups have expressed interest in joining this cause as well. Please consider a donation to see that the Taxpayers can have their day in court to avert the injustice of this over $400 million no bid contract.

• Our website has been redesigned and streamlined with web analytics to track traffic to monitor effectiveness in getting people to read our position and educate the Taxpayers of Duval County.

• The focus on new media outreach on Facebook and Meetup has allowed us exposure into new markets that were previously unexploited. Several new members have joined through these venues. We are researching other means such as Twitter and Linked In to leverage new media most effectively.

• The new “hotline” phone number to report waste, fraud, abuse and tomfoolery is being actively used by the public and media to contact us to report issues and obtain our own in depth analysis.

• The JEDC audit is being conducted by the City Council Auditor Kirk Sherman is nearing its conclusion. This would not have happened without the hard work and dedication of our members lobbying council members Clay Yarborough and Glorious Johnson. This effort is being spearheaded by long time member Odile Gracey.

• This year our outreach to the media was the most aggressive and responsive. In many instances, members of the press contacted CTDC members of their own initiative to find out our position on the issues and to learn more about intricate legislation without spin from City Hall.

• We continue to air our cable access program on Thursdays at 7:30 PM on Comcast channel 25 with fresh content and engaging hosts and guests. Our Youtube channel is viewed frequently and we are researching ideas to bring the show to new venues. If you have any suggestions for topics or guests, please feel free to share them with us.

• Our membership continues to attend key meetings to make your voice heard. One of the high priorities has been an ethics reform with the restoration of an ethics code back into the City Charter.

• We are developing new marketing and outreach material, particularly large poster boards or displays for public outreach at civic events, trade shows and political gatherings.

WE CAN NOT DO THIS ALONE! Now more than ever your help is desperately needed. Please consider attending the annual General Membership meeting on Monday January 9th 2011 beginning at 6:00 PM at the Piccadilly at Lane and Ramona. This is the annual meeting of the general members where the leadership team is selected. Even if you cannot attend, please consider sending in an updated membership application with the minimum dues renewal of $15 so that we can continue to work for you.

Your organization is hard at work. With your help, next year will be our most productive. Two of our major goals will be the successful litigation of the Trail Ridge and Pension lawsuit. These projects are in desperate need of financial contributions to see them move forward. Any contribution toward this effort will go a long way. We are also looking for groups to partner with to sponsor either case financially.

This year I am challenging those who can afford it for a commitment to renew at a higher level so that we can more effectively fight for the Taxpayer. Your generous contribution of $20, $50 or $100 will help us to continue to fight on your behalf.

Please also remember that CTDC is a volunteer organization. We have no paid staff and rely on the spirit of community service of our volunteers. Your help is needed today for challenges that are too numerous to name in this letter. Please consider attending our next meeting and seeing how you can renew or strengthen your involvement or by using your financial resources to volunteer for you. Information on our meeting locations as well as directions can be found on the website at:

www.jaxtaxpayers.com

and

www.meetup.com/ConcernedTaxpayersDuvalCounty/

The bureaucrats and career politicians know that the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County are always watching their every move standing ready to call attention to their tomfoolery and chicanery. We will relentlessly pursue and prosecute the interests of the Taxpayer in this county with every fiber of our being and every resource at our disposal. Join the fight today with your generous contribution and membership renewal.

If you have any suggestions or input on how we should proceed as an organization, please feel free to contact me personally or attend the next meeting.

Best regards,

Victor Wilhelm Jr.
Immediate Past President
Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County
904-351-8126

A RESOLUTION OF THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY IN SUPPORT OF ELECTED POSITIONS FOR DUVAL COUNTY

Whereas, it has not been demonstrated that the appointment of representatives of the People by the mayor creates a more efficient or responsive municipal government versus their election.

Whereas, history has demonstrated that the consolidation of the People’s representatives into fewer executive, legislative and judicial offices erodes accountability and responsiveness of governments.

Whereas, residents in Duval County have not expressed a desire of the appointment of offices that are currently elected.

Now therefore:

Be it resolved that the Concerned Taxpayer of Duval County supports the continued election of City Council, School Board, Sheriff, Clerk of Court, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector and other offices as necessary.

A RESOLUTION OF THE CONCERNED TAXPAYERS OF DUVAL COUNTY IN SUPPORT INCLUDING AN ETHICS CODE INTO THE DUVAL COUNTY MUNICIPAL CHARTER

Whereas, the original municipal charter of the consolidated government of Duval County included a code of ethics.

Whereas, the ethics code was removed from the charter in 1972 and Duval County government has operated without an ethics code since that time.

Whereas, the residents of Duval County deserve an ethical government whose elected and appointed officials as well as employees behave in a manner that avoids impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.

Whereas, the legal framework only provides remedies for criminal acts and not unethical acts.

Whereas, the residents of Duval County deserve to have the agents of the Duval County government be accountable to a code of ethics.

Now therefore:

Be it resolved that the Concerned Taxpayer of Duval County supports the inclusion of an ethics code in the municipal charter of Duval County to be determined and enforced in an accountable and transparent fashion that does not burden the Taxpayer with increased bureaucracy.

A PROPOSED RESOLUTION FOR THE CTDC:

To the Honorable Members of the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate:

Whereas, Article I, Section 21 of the Florida Constitution guarantees to every person access to the courts for redress of any injury, and that justice shall be administered “without sale, denial or delay;” and

Whereas, under present law, dating back to an act of the Territorial Legislature of December 11, 1824, foreclosure of a mortgage in Florida requires the foreclosing party to file a lawsuit and establish to the satisfaction of an elected Florida judge both that the Plaintiff is the correct party to bring the action, and is entitled to the judicial sale of the encumbered real property for application of the proceeds against the original debt; and

Whereas this judicial foreclosure procedure permits the property owner to raise defenses concerning the validity of the debt, the foreclosure procedure, and the status of the Plaintiff as the correct party to maintain their case within the foreclosure suit itself, and without the need to file an independent legal action, or to incur the up to $1900 filing fee now required to file such an action; and

Whereas, recently litigated foreclosure cases in this state have revealed that in many instances that due to the recent discredited practice of securitization of mortgages the party claiming to own the note and mortgage being foreclosed upon is unable to establish, even by a preponderance of the evidence, either that they are in fact the owner or that they otherwise are entitled to initiate foreclosure proceedings, to such an extent that the Florida Supreme Court has announced that court-ordered mediation shall be required in all contested foreclosure cases; and

Whereas there is now pending for consideration in the upcoming Session of the Legislature a bill prepared by the Florida Bankers’ Association entitled the “Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act,” which, if enacted into law, would remove the requirement for judicial foreclosure of any mortgage entered into in the past or to be entered into in the future which contains language authorizing “non-judicial foreclosure,” and create a procedure by which foreclosure would take place without use of the courts unless the real property owner paid the requisite fees and filed a lawsuit challenging the non-judicail foreclosure; and

Whereas, in the case of existing mortgages, this proposed change of the law amounts to an after-the-fact reduction of the rights of the citizen who at present is afforded the protection of the courts by forcing the citizen to initiate a lawsuit, at enormous expense, simply in order to merely present defenses against threatened loss of property; and

Whereas, no mere claims by the financial services industry of the need to expediently deal with court backlogs justifies the reduction of the present rights of natural persons and real property owners in foreclosure cases; and

Whereas this proposed legislation is intended solely to benefit a class of litigants who, presented with a need to prove to a judge their right to relief and increasingly unable to do so, have chosen to seek to change the law rather than comply with it, it is

RESOLVED, that the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc., opposes the so-called  “Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act,” and calls for the rejection of this proposed legislation, as well as the rejection of any other proposals for implementation of non-judicial mortgage foreclosure, or of any other limitation on the rights of individual Florida citizens either to the protection of the courts.

The newly redesigned website for Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County has a web based content management system, a blog, online payment for membership fees, and links to their social network pages as well as the ability for readers to share content from the web site via their own social networks.

It is the mission of the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, Inc., to prevent, identify, and publicize all forms of fiscal waste, extravagance, and imprudence within and by the government which impacts residents of Duval County, Florida.

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