As many of you will remember, we fought to keep a regional transportation center out of the downtown as it would have encompassed many very expensive projects which would have been heavily subsidized by the taxpayers and as it was regional, control over the destiny of Duval County in relation to the project (or projects since it was massive) would have been taken out of the hands of the voters and taxpayers in our county and put into the hands of appointed bureaucrats at a regional level (no oversight).  The regional transportation center would also have given the voters outside Duval County a voice in how the residents of Duval County spend their tax dollars (or perhaps don't wish to spend their tax dollars).

So, here we go again.  There is a bill in Tallahassee which would form another Regional Transportation Commission for the purpose of doing regional transportation projects, and we need to stop this from happening.  I don't think the state should be about the business of forcing Jacksonville/Duval County to pay for regional anything or give folks outside Duval County a voice in how our city government is run or city taxes are spent.

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This small article appeared in the Times Union:

Bill Number HB 345: