Welcome to the First Coast Tea Party
EMAIL SENT TO CITY COUNCIL AND MAYOR THIS MORNING
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS - 10/12/10
Our server may blow up today. Why? People are not happy and the inbox is filled with many concerns from the headlines this morning.
Why?
This story…
and this story
The City Council just raised taxes again after all the other new fees were levied on the tax payers. We question why we are spending money on projects like these after so many city services cost us more now.
How can you justify this? How can you really look people in the eyes and tell them you can do a better job of spending their money instead of them?
You will accuse us of being back woods people and not understanding how the arts are important to building a city. We enjoy the arts and if the arts organizations in town managed their own finances and held their own fundraisers, the people who support them would fund them. Should we spend over $2 million funding projects for the arts? Is that the job of the city? And we would like to see a spreadsheet showing the amounts awarded to these organizations in the last 5 years. Have those amounts increased or decreased?
The next story – To spend more than $1 Million for a study to see whether minority and women owned business are receiving fair consideration for government contracts that would take approximately 18 months to complete is OUT OF LINE. And, the lowest bidder was for $1 million LESS. We question why that determination was made.
Let me remind you how someone from the city office called the TU and challenged my contract with JEA which was for $90,000 and took 3 years to complete. They also said – “Ask her if she is a hypocrite for doing this?”
My answer: No. This work ended with a valuable document – The JEA Board Governance Manual - which will be used for years to come to ensure the board works under a governance structure which had not been in place before now.
Here are a few questions regarding the Study on minority contracts:
1) Do we need this study? Who thought we did and why are we seeking bids on this question?
2) Are we being abused price-wise by these contractors for the study and can they really justify the costs of their bids?
3) Could a spreadsheet in Excel be created showing all the city contract work awarded with a column titled “Minority or Women Contract.” That column could then be checked if the contract was awarded. Try a spreadsheet first before you spend over a million dollars to discover the same answer.
4) The highest bidder was awarded the contract and that makes no sense and it smells really bad.
We are requesting that the questions noted in this email are answered by you as well as these others:
How much money and how many contracts were awarded for “studies” in this year’s budget? To whom?
How much did we spend and how many contracts did we spend last year on “studies?” To whom?
A simple Excel spreadsheet will work just fine to answer these two questions.
The people of Jacksonville are watching how the money is spent. When you increase taxes and fees – you must expect that to happen. Especially when our unemployment is at a record high, homes are upside down and people are saving pennies to pay their bills.
It’s the duty of each citizen to ask questions and raise concerns when money seems to be wasted and this ladies and gentlemen smells like waste to many.
If you have any questions about our questions, please let us know. We would love to hear from you by Monday, October 25th and if that is not possible, please let us know when you can answer these questions. The people are waiting for an explanation.
As you scratch your head and wonder why the people are asking so many questions, I thought you might enjoy the following article from US News and World Report. Here’s an excerpt and the link to the article. These are the people of the First Coast Tea Party and we have grave concerns about our future. Do not discount them or us. We love our city and we will voice our concerns.
Richard Nixon popularized the idea that there existed in America a “silent majority” at odds with the values and vision of the leftist radicals who put the nation through a period of prolonged social upheaval back in the 1960s.
Today the “silent majority” is silent no more. As seen in the Tea Party movement the middle class, on whose shoulders the heavy burden of the nation’s economic health and well-being fall, are beginning to rise up.
They are not social outliers. They are leaders in their communities. They are the kind of people de Tocqueville would have seen as the glue keeping the country from breaking apart. After decades of being taxed and regulated and spent into hard times, seeing their futures and their childrens’ futures put out to sea on an ocean of red ink, watching their economic liberty and their ability to pursue happiness erode, they are fighting back.
Views: 30
Comment
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Comment by H W Schroeder AXCS(AW) USNRET on October 12, 2010 at 2:22pm
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(Quote)Lee denied that she was favoring any company and said that she had only attended the meeting, which was publicly advertised, as a public official responding to constituent concerns. She said Clapsaddle, the committee's chairman, could have reigned her in at any time.(Quote)
Has anyone EVER been able to shut Lee up? I don't think so!
(Quote) "I feel very insulted as an elected official," she told the committee. "I wonder if other elected officials that would have been here would have been accused of leaning toward someone. I am highly insulted and I feel like it was very disrespectful."(Quote)
Denise--perception is reality! What other elected officials came? None--only you?
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Comment by Jason Fischer on October 12, 2010 at 1:06pm
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Well if you want give Councilman Jack Webb a piece of your mind he will be at the:
South Jacksonville Republican Club
Saturday, October 16, 2010
at the Golden Coral on San Jose south of I-295.
Social @ 9:30 AM
Club meeting @ 10:00 AM
I plan to be there! He believes that The People are only upset with the politicians in DC and Tallahassee, but not the politicians at Cityhall. WRONG! Lets have have a big turn out there and show him how wrong he is! P.S. The meeting is held in his council district!
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Comment by Roberto Hurstez on October 12, 2010 at 10:36am
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$1.5 million 8-month study: Gee need we be reminded they paid $$$$ to "STUDY" the People Mover, the Ship-Yard Project, The Landing, The Riverwalk, Equestrian Center, The Federal Courthouse?$?$?$?$?$?$?$?$?
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Comment by Patricia M. McBride on October 12, 2010 at 10:05am
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Russell, the council president is Jack Webb. Mr. Clark was last year's council president. Mr. Webb is one of the big spenders, so he would approve about anything, because he thinks we are really all mad at the federal and state government and not at these bafoons in our city hall and council chambers. I, however, believe that several of the city council members know this is not true :)
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Comment by Russell C. Snyder on October 12, 2010 at 9:39am
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Why did counselperson Lee have to sit in on this meeting and extend it for 5 hours?Then the people she supported came in with the bid one million higher than anyone else and they won. Talk about backroom politics, I think the statement bad odor was overly kind. The newspaper article then stated the other two contenders were not sure they wanted to do business in this atmosphere. Jacksonville just doesn't get it. Raise taxes again and again. Time to replace councilperson again and again. Did the council president know this representative was going to attend this meeting and raise havoc. Mr. Clark-time to get a grip.
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Comment by Valerie Sawyer on October 12, 2010 at 8:53am
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I had a City worker tell me that the money being given to these groups isn't local money, it's federal money that comes through the City and then they farm it out through grants to these organizations. I told him "it's still OUR money"! Either way, it's still a wasteful use of taxpayer money.
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Comment by William I Gulliford on October 12, 2010 at 8:45am
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You are just seeing the tip of the iceberg...the obvious things. Wait until you start looking at the operational excesses and waste.
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Just because the taxpayer doesn't pay for art and culture doesn't mean there won't be art and culture in Jacksonville. Private money would step up to fund it IF they didn't already know the City is going to foot the bill. Last year when the City dropped the funding for the Veterans Day parade, a local veterans group stepped up and picked up the tab. See what I mean?
Also I'm thinking leaving the City elections in March is the best thing we could do. That way every election season we can concentrate just on them, without them getting lost in the throng of a national election.
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Thank you for the watching and speaking, Bill Horne
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Comment by ACT Jacksonville on October 12, 2010 at 8:17am
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Billie,
I want to thank those responsible for the excellent work and calling the city on this.
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First Coast Tea Party
1205 Salt Creek Island Dr
Ponte Vedra, FL 32082
904-392-7475
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