Comment

Comment by CJ on June 19, 2011 at 7:34pm

Ms McBride heres what Ive sent to Council on Bill 361

Bill 11-361 contains too many ideas and you all know as well as I that Bills must contain one issue or it is against the law. 

 

A Bill cannot amend the CIP, buy land, swap incentives, create a regional bus terminal and contain no financial impact without any source of revenue to pay for it.

 

Especially since there is no approval for any Regional Transportation Center project to buy any land for that JTA can get for free in lieu of $5 million in contributions altering the CIP for something that doesn't exist.

 

Its incredible the speed of something like this moves but other items on the CIP can linger for years and decades.  Its no wonder the city is in such deep debt when laws and plans are avoided on a regular basis on the slightest of whims. This bill contains no way to pay for any of it. And I have to say for a city claiming it is broke sure seems to giving away a lot of its assets.

 

Putting aside any merit the project might have few can get past the community getting sucker punched for yet another spur of the moment idea.  Think about it, with all the funds available for downtown development orexisting money borrowed on bonds asking the tax payer to pay another dime whether in gas taxes or more bonds is unconscionable.

 

Please withdraw Bill 361 until such time it can utilize the legal and proper paths to include and achieve the will of the people and a way to pay for it all.

 

Isnt it enough we are so incredibly far in debt from the Courthouse? Does this Administration have to just keep burying us our deeper and deeper?

 

 

Comment by CJ on June 19, 2011 at 6:54pm

Please ask them why the bill is moving forward if it contains more than one issue and no financial impact. 

I will send them what I read to them on Tuesday too.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 19, 2011 at 6:45pm

I guess the thing is I wanted to look and see what I could find.  I am going to the finance committee meeting in the morning and we will see what comes up.  If this comes up, I will ask when it went from being a regional transportation "study" commission to be a regional tranportation Center.  I don't know when the transition was made, but the JTA certainly doesn't know about it.  I have found studies done (doesn't look good for the plan...no one said they would use it and very low numbers supported public transit).  They are working on discussions out in St Johns County, and then we get a  

Sidebar contains info from DOT (feds) about bike routes, sustainable communities, livability funding being key to better transportation options for communities across America.  They are all linked together sort of as in JTA, FDOT and DOT under this RTC.  Nothing on COJ or JTA period, so they are using one bill to put it all together which as you said won't fly.

Comment by CJ on June 19, 2011 at 5:57pm

Bill 361 if approved as worded will approve the Terminal as well. As I mentioned Tuesday night it is not just about buying land.

I wrote to council telling them it was illegal to have more than one issue on a Bill and it needed to be removed from the agenda as is. It doesnt even have a financial impact thats required by law

We'll see what happens now in committee if they're smart it will have no future

Comment by CJ on June 19, 2011 at 5:51pm

Tuesday 1pm City Hall chambers, Pension meeting with the whole City Council including those yet to be sworn in, is the most important next battle ground.

Concerned Tax payers are trying to show up in numbers if they are available, I ask if anyone reading this is available please show up in support.

They are trying to pass the pension bills as an emergency even tho they have until the latest sept to work it all out.  Peyton and Webb are trying to  slam this through with little benefit to the tax payer. Including but not limited to $200 million bond issue for the Pension Board to invest. New hires as of Oct 1 make out very very nicely on our dime.

 

It is the intention of this administration to get us scattered on different issues all at once so we are confused. But I am a tit for a tat kind of gal and meetwill them head on in their journey. I am being led by the Great Almighty and will follow obediently  with out question. I am only one of his army too. 

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 19, 2011 at 5:51pm

Actually, the whole thing would be laughable if it wasn't so sick.  This is the biggest mess I have ever seen.  And some say the mayor was never or hardly ever in his office during his whole 2 terms.....where was he???   I guess he got the lead out about 3 weeks ago and thought, gee I need to clean some stuff up.  Heah, maybe he was going to Jaguars games!  Who knows but this is a really sad mess and heaven help the city council if they let any of it slide through.  I have been working on the transportation center and started looking up some of the property the city is sitting on.  Do you know when you try to find out the last time property taxes were paid on some of the city held property, the records are totally blank even though there are links to pages.  Nada, nothing.   You can find the trusts the city bought the property from WAY bank during about the first year of the Delaney "kingdom".  Then, Brown said in a speech to the Jacksonville Bar Association (from an article in the Daily Record) that the city used to pay in about 17% of the total taxes and now, (drum roll) the city only pays about 3% of the cities taxes.  And they say all the land grabs by the city don't matter...........

 

And now I am off to find the Regional Transportation Center talked about in bill number 2011-361 where we do a multitude of things like give land, buy land and give that as well to the JTA for this huge center which will include the high speed rail, intercity buses, trolleys (really....we don't have those), the skyway to no where, and various other things.  But since the bill says this Regional transporation center is a partnership between JTA and Florida Dept of Transportation, certainly there should be some sort of link to it on the COJ website, wouldn't you think????  See ya shortly!

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 19, 2011 at 4:48pm

CJ, the Jaguars are part of the current welfare program.  One of the bills does exactly what you suggest by letting them off their contractual agreement and forcing the taxpayer to pay everything up to date.  I thought you knew?  It is exactly that anyway.  The mayor never made them meet their end of the obligations and in today's TU, there was an article about Peyton saving the Jaguars (again I guess....millions worth so far).  It also talked about what a good friend Peyton was to the NFL and the Jaguars.............too bad that isn't who he is supposed to be such a good friend of huh?

Comment by CJ on June 19, 2011 at 4:17pm

Everbank and kaman and moving the enterprise zone to accommodate, are going to steam roll to other businesses.  Wells Fargo is going to put their name on the old Modis building downtown are they going to be next for corp. welfare? Why not the Jags too. I mean we just never know what they are up to

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 19, 2011 at 4:05pm

Roma, I understand how you feel about things not getting commented on.  I put up blogs all the time that never get any comment at all and that is different from no one reading them as I have had people tell me that read my blog.  The education thing is important.  Please understand I am not saying it isn't, but right now, if we don't get on top of this and scream bloody murder about what is being pulled off, we are in big trouble and might as well fold up our tent and go home.  Little page this morning said soemthing to the effect, the large special interest group fighting changes to the ethics commission didn't get "their way" and the city council improved the commission.........crap.  What they did was make it poitical and worthless unless the new folks make changes and turn it back over to citizens groups.  Now, I have changed the subject, but if I posted something about this, it would be doubtful anyone would comment at all............maybe most of them already know or maybe they will read it and move on.   Like you to pieces and you know that but this blog is pretty much about ever bank and related and the property taxes are important and sort of related to this and what is before the city council since they city sits on most of the property in the down town that would bring in taxes and is being a leach to the rest of the city as well as stealing jobs from them as well (as in Ever Bank).  As I wrote in my letter to the city council, if Ever Bank moves, for every dollar some downtown business gets some business in the area where they are right now will lose by the same dollar and the building they are currently rented will be empty.........but then, Peyton wants tax dollars from these same people to keep giving our money away to steal businesses from the rest of the city and move them into the downtown where there is nothing but expensive parking and a few businesses struggling to make it...................and the Jaguars who we are now apparently also subsidizing.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 19, 2011 at 3:18pm

The problem right now Roma is that we have tons of bills that are before the city council, and we can not be distracted by other things that can be dealt with after these issues period.   Ever Bank is huge and so is another bill that is attempting to do the same thing.  There are something like 12 or 14 bills in front of the council now and we need to go and we need to get on top of all of them.  If we wander off as you wish, we are "screwed" period.  It matters a lot that something might distract us and this education thing is a left hand turn away from what needs to be the focus for the next 2 weeks or so or more.

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