The City Council Auditor has recently released the results of their audit of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.

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.

Thanks for your past support of Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County (CTDC). It has been an exciting year for your organization. Our non-partisan and non-profit group is continuing to fill a valuable need for transparency and accountability in Jacksonville’s municipal government. This year, because of your generous contributions, the organization has accomplished more than it ever has. I wanted to take a moment to update you this year’s accomplishments by the organization that will hopefully help to renew your commitment to our cause. Here is just a brief list of this year’s achievements.

• 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.

Read the full story

If you want to know what is wrong with city government spending in Jacksonville, take a look at bill 2009-403 that is coming up for a public hearing on Tuesday May 26th.  It spends $5,800 of taxpayer money to restore the Lakeshore Entrance Arches (see the picture to the left).  According to the bill summary, “the Lake Shore entryway at Blanding Boulevard, Appleton Street and Bayview Road was designated as a historic landmark by the City Council earlier this year. The entryway was constructed in 1925 in the Mediterranean style at the height of the Florida land boom.”  So basically what we are talking about is spending taxpayer money to fix up some old structure because someone decided that it has “historic” value.

If this is not bad enough, the money is being awarded to Rhodes Stucco without competitive bidding. The exemption is based upon Section 126.107(g) of the Ordinance Code which stipulates that “supplies or services to be provided by those specifically prescribed within authorizing legislation that appropriates the same” can be exempted from competitive bidding. You would think after the uproar over the no bid Trail Ridge contract to Waste Management that competitive bidding would be the way to go.  But apparently the City Council thinks that the amount is low enough that no one will notice. As you can see, Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County has noticed!

This is also touted as an emergency expenditure. Emergency?! Unless this structure is about to collapse and take out a busload of nuns, this is hardly an emergency!

I do not see how this repairing this structure could be considered a valid government function. If anything, it is a waste of taxpayer money!

So you want to know how to justify putting the taxpayer on the hook for $200,000 ($125,000 loan and $75,000 grant) to a business to expand its truck washing facilities?  Tell everyone that it reduces crime!

Yes, it’s true!  According to the City Council analysis of bill 2009-185, more than half of the 18 new full time jobs created by this expansion will be available to assist the re-entry of felons back into society.  Jacksonville businesses apparently have caught on to the fact that if you want to get money from the city government, it helps to have a crime prevention angle going for you.  It is not only absurd to use economic development money to do crime reduction, but also expensive since we are spending over $11,000 per job.

Accusations of special treatment provided to U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and City Councilwoman Denise Lee have embarrassed the Peyton administration once again.  According to a recent Florida Times Union article, it only took a phone call from Brown’s area director to start the ball rolling on the delivery of sandbags to Brown’s house to protect it from flooding.  Apparently, this assistance was not provided to anyone else in her neighborhood. Lee did not even have to ask for help when city trucks also showed up to her house with sandbags.  It was not until her neighbors complained that the sandbags were removed from her property.

We have to ask if this is standard operating procedure for all houses threatened by rising water or do you need to hold the purse strings to the federal and city money that finances city operations to get this kind of response from the city?  Mayor Peyton seemed oblivious to the implications of the city Public Works Office’s actions when he said that he was “delighted our public works employees were able to help save these homes”.