Comment

Comment by J.R. on June 12, 2011 at 8:20am

Patricia, they post legal notices in mostly un-circulated papers so that the very people who need to see those public notices won't see them. More lawsuits are won that way and more people's rights to be informed are violated. Its a cheap way to disadvantage vulnerable people. It would cost more to publish it in the Times Union. Government entities and attorneys should be required to post such information on an open website and in a daily-circulated newspaper.

And, for public meetings of all government entities in the county, their notices and agendas should be published on the COJ website, on a webpage designed just for that purpose of informing the public, with its existence made known to all citizens of the county. There's nothing stopping them from doing that, except that they don't want us to be able to hold them accountable.

I was on the JEDC webpages a number of times and I didn't see any such notice there either. They limit their exposure to public scrutiny as much as they can. They don't want to be bothered by the public's interference in their squirrely manipulation of the laws to their advantage. They just turn something like this non-notice into a he said-she said situation and guess who wins?

Comment by CJ on June 12, 2011 at 8:07am

Last night i awoke thinking about the parking garage. God works in mysterious ways....I started to research and found near 20 ordinances surrounding the building of it, the most recent 2010-330 with Tony Sleiman. (That has not been repealed) Ultimately I found, financed through BJP there is a fund called Northwest jacksonville Economic Development Fund. This fund encompasses an area over the Downtown area.

There is no telling where all the money from this fund is or has been spent. C/C routinely finances neighborhood Revitalization and offers incentives with our tax money meant for operations for things that can and should be done thru this fund. Including the Parking Garage as well as what is being asked for as incentives for EverBank and Kaman.

We are essentially being taxed twice (and more) for the same thing.

Heres Gods intervention, in todays TU and more so on Jax.com is an article about awardsthat were won by Matt Galnor and Abel Harding over their investigation into this fund dated March 28,2010.

This folks, I believe, is what is needed to pursue cause for Recall and to hopefully stop the tax payers from having to pay again for incentives! and drag Peytons and all of Council's name thru the mud for getting us into a fianancial mess. Overspending on the courthouse and fountain, pavers etc caused tax payers to cover the bills elsewhere and after 20 years there is still no parking garage for the community for the Landing.

Because of the Courthouse and a building cap of $551 million (2010-840) the BJP fund can no longer be bonded against for fear of losing what little credit rating we have left and allowed bonding against the General Fund, which is pretty much maxed out too.

Im excited. Liars and cheats will always be found out because they can never cover their tracks completely.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 12, 2011 at 7:04am

Actually the Daily Record has a number of pages of notifications for countless things like fore closures etc.  Are there any specifics I wonder about how this must be posted or if it just says posted, heck, they could put it in the Savannah paper and say "it was posted".  This whole thing is really lame and meant to be deceptive.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 12, 2011 at 6:29am

Although the Daily Record just started coming to our house for the first time yesterday, it could not be considered the "local" newspaper.  In fact, I wonder just how many residents of Duval County get it at as compared to the local newspaper, the Times Unon?  That is really low and sort of like that girl at the JEDC saying it had been on their web site when others in the room said they had been to the web site and looked and found nothing about what was going on at the meeting at all.

 

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 10:15pm

Yes, they do need to get involved, CJ, but I don't believe they initiate investigations without a Complaint having been filed. These County officials have ignored the law, rules and proceduress for years and have gotten away with it. Nobody holds them accountable. That's why property taxes keep going up 9% per year. I think we can beat them on this if we go ahead and file complaints and get investigations going into their creative interpretations and skirting of the laws, their short-circuiting of required rules and procedures, and their gutting of ethics oversight at the county level. They've done everything possible to give themselves a free reign.

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 9:57pm

So does DHEC have authority, as well as two state oversight agencies, FL Dept.of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) and the FL Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, which is the state agency that governs corporations. Both have investigation and enforcement power and DHEC is the agency that regulates and oversees Brownfields, Empowerment zones and Enterprise zones.

The corporations involved in this deal aren't playing by the rules either. Both El Ad Group and Parador Partners, LLC are hiding in the tall grass, as far out of sight as possible. EverBank is the public face of the deal. My question is, who's hiding them and for what reason? Is it because they don't want the word out that they're trying to make taxpayers subsidize international multi-billion dollar foreign conglomerates?

I say we have to fight this one to the mat. If we don't, we will continue to get steam-rolled and have our pockets picked. And we will continue to be silenced by those who control the steamrollers.

Comment by CJ on June 11, 2011 at 8:49pm

reading the same Florida Statute law they site in the Bill to amend the boundaries 290.0055 will dazzle you as to how much of the same law was ignored. 

The Florida Tourism,Trade, and Economic agency and the Dept of community affairs needs to get involved as they have jurisdiction

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 8:39pm

Chuck, did they give the public the required 90 Day Notice that they were seeking a change in the boundaries? If they did, I haven't heard of it. And, I have heard of no advisory board being appointed or any report from an advisory board---or verification that they have not made a similar request for boundary change within the last in 3 years. When did they make their last request for a boundary change? And when did they put this back on the Agenda? These people are about as competent as the Keystone Cops.

Florida Statute 290.0055 TITLE XIX Public Business Ch 290 urban development

 (6)(a)The office may approve a change in the boundary of any enterprise zone which was designated pursuant to s. 290.0065. A boundary change must continue to satisfy the requirements of subsections (3), (4), and (5).

 (b)Upon a recommendation by the enterprise zone development agency, the governing body of the jurisdiction which authorized the application for an enterprise zone may apply to the office for a change in boundary once every 3 years by adopting a resolution that:

 1.States with particularity the reasons for the change; and

 2.Describes specifically and, to the extent required by the office, the boundary change to be made.

 (c)At least 90 days before adopting a resolution seeking a change in the boundary of anenterprise zone, the governing body shall include in a notice of the meeting at which the resolution will be considered an explanation that a change in the boundary of an enterprise zone will be considered and that the change may result in loss of enterprise zone eligibility for the area affected by the boundary change.

Comment by CJ on June 11, 2011 at 8:31pm

JR you are right that is why I included some law from the Florida Statutes governing the Enterprise and Brownfield laws; Here is bill 383 in short. But the "powers that be" have been working hard

 

RESOLUTION 2011-383

A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING AN ENTERPRISE ZONE BOUNDARY AMENDMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 290.0055(6), FLORIDA STATUTES; DESIGNATING CERTAIN AREAS WITHIN THE CITY’S ENTERPRISE ZONE AS JACKSONVILLE BROWNFIELDS AREAS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REHABILITATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; PROVIDING FOR CITY OVERSIGHT BY THE JEDC; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE

 There is not telling how long they have been working on this but I know they did not follow procedure. And look at p.3 line 7 !!!!

WHEREAS, the notice requirements contained in Section 290.0055(6), Florida Statutes, were met when a notice of the adoption of a resolution seeking a change in the boundary of the Enterprise Zone was published in the Financial News and Daily Record on March 9, 2011; and  

That is their idea of public notice!!! To me it seems theyalways just skirt breaking the law.

 

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 11, 2011 at 8:22pm

I don't know about the map and the Enterprise lines, but is it possible they know someone in the office and called them and requested the change and were given the change and faxed the proper forms to back it up.  The only thing is, this is Saturday and no one works in city or state offices on Saturday..........unless it was handled by friends and more friends on Friday.

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