Comment

Comment by JL Gawlik on June 11, 2011 at 12:01pm

J.R., there has been a article about it all week in the Florida TU, and it pop up in Rants and Raves also today! It is good to see some reporting on it, y'all are doing some great research here.

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 11:51am

PATRICIA McBRIDE MADE THE NEWS IN THE FLORIDA TIMES UNION!!! Read about it here:

"JEDC approves $2.75M subsidy for EverBank to move downtown"

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/business/2011-06-09/story/jedc-approves-275...

Comment by JL Gawlik on June 11, 2011 at 11:46am

Interesting J.R., i bet if they have ties to oil refining, then they have ties to Gate Petroleum. Connect the dots, follow the money.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 11, 2011 at 11:43am

JR, I am still trying to find the publishing info you listed and can't pull it up on COJ or even as a general search of any kind on google.  Do you have an actual link for it.  The publishing thing is important (not only for this but for this deal in the works for the garbage pick up bills coming our way).

 

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 11:34am

There's a huge amount of information online about El-Ad Group, which is owned by Delek Group. The owner of Delek Group is one of the richest men in the world. They are involved internationally, including in the U.S., in oil refining (Tyler, Texas) and gas stations. They have 502 gas stations in 8 U.S. states, and they own Delek Petroleum. Delek owns The Republic Group (finance) and Republic Companies, Inc. in the U.S. , as well as Delek Investments and Properties, Delek Global Real Estaqte, Dankner Investments, Lts. and Delek Berlon International, Ltd., among many, many others.
They also have a connection to the Venezuelan oil company, CITCO. Last year was their best year, profit-wise, in their 60 year history. And they need OUR money???

If the Mayor, Council Prez, or any Council members, JEDC members have any connections to Everbank and its affiliated companies, or if they and Everbank have any financial or other connections to El-Ad and/or Delek Group--or any of their allied companies//subsidiaries/holding companies, etc., they have to recuse themselves. Could this be the reason they have been hiding El-Ad from Duval County taxpayers??? And, did they include El-Ad or Delek Group in their filings with the county and state re Brownfields, Empowerment zones, or Enterprise zones???

Smells to me like there are some RATS in the woodpile!!!

One of the links below, the wikipedia one, I could not activate because it won't let you copy it. But, if you just type it into your url address line, it works from there to get to the information.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/company/delek-us-holdings-inc/dk/nys/ke...
DELEK US HLDGS INC Officers & Directors

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=533416
JACKSONVILLE DAILY RECORD

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7nZfgPNNDGoAf.1XNyoA;_ylc=X...
EverBank calling on AT&T Tower?

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7nZfgPNNDGoAf.1XNyoA;_ylc=X...
SEARCH PAGE RESULTS FOR DELEK GROUP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El-Ad_Group
El-Ad Group

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/for-big-foreign-buyers-a-tr...
For big foreign buyers, a tricky path to the cash
(OWNER OF EL AD ONE OF RICHEST MEN IN WORLD)

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 9:34am

I just looked again at the JEDC's General Meeting Agenda for June 9, 2011, with Shoemaker-Crump acting as Chair. There was NO Agenda item listed for El-Ad under any of the corporate names and holding companies it uses, or under its Delek Group name.

El-Ad holds title---and under this deal would continue to hold (own)---to the office building Everbank would be leasing in downtown JAX. And that building is definitely shown in the Duval County public records as being owned by El-Ad, so it would be required to be publicly disclosed and approved in this process. El-Ad, under whatever name it uses, would be leasing the building to Everbank, subsidized by Duval County taxpayers, along with possible U.S. and by State government grants/subsidies.

If Everbank is financially connected in any way to El-Ad or any of its subsidiary groups and holding companies, and that is not disclosed, that would definitely be a deal-breaker---and possibly illegal. WHY ARE THEY HIDING EL-AD IN THIS PROCESS THAT IS REQUIRED TO BE TOTALLY OPEN AND IN THE SUNSHINE???

There are red flags all over this deal and we need to go ahead and file expedited Ethics Complaints, both county and state, and possibly also request state and Dept. of Environmental Control (DHEC) investigations. Complaints could simultaneously be filed and investigations requested to be performed by FL DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation) and the FL Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs that governs corporations in Florida. They both have investigative and enforcement powers. Also, both of those state agencies have Ombudsmen who can be contacted with complaints and requests for information. All contact information can be found on their official websites. Plus, their Complaint forms can be downloaded online.

We need to continue our research, but at the same time take aggressive action NOW. It's time the Mayor, Council, and JEDC learn that they are not the rulers of Jacksonville and we are not their serfs. They are ALL required to follow statutory procedures and guidelines... and they have no right to short circuit any of it.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 11, 2011 at 8:48am

Wow, JR.  What great work you have done.  Thank you so much for putting so much effort into this, and hope it will pay off with them reconsidering this whole mess!

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 8:46am

Chuck, everything I wrote about in my earlier comment about El-Ad and Delek Group was well researched and I provided links to some of it. They did NOT just come to the U.S. to get involved in real estate. Delek Group is an allied corporate entity, apparently under the same umbrella as El-Ad that operates under many corporate names and holding companies. I also listed the many areas of business, other than real estate, that they are both into. And they can well afford to pay their own way without subsidies and grants, courtesy of the U.S. government, State of Florida, and Duval County taxpayers.

Comment by J.R. on June 11, 2011 at 8:34am

Patricia and All: Some of those links I provided will lead you to real people you can call or e-mail. You can also call the oversight agencies and departments and talk to the Ombudsman. You can get a lot of information from DHEC (environmental, Brownfields, etc.). Any resolution the City passed to declare the Bay St. address as Brownfield, Empowerment, or Enterprise zones has to remain within both federal (DHEC) and State of Florida Statutes (laws). I don't believe they can declare, by resolution, prime real estate near the waterfront in downtown JAX a contaminated area and they would have to prove that property is otherwise un-leaseable. If it's good enough for Everbank, it should be good enough for another tenant. And the property for the garage could be used for the City of JAX to fulfill their breached contract with Sleiman Properties.

Seems to me they're trying to game the grants system to the benefit of multi-billion dollar international businesses/conglomerates and force Duval County taxpayers to also subsidize the scheme. Downtown is not that distressed, and if the Mayor and City Council want to invite any businesses downtown, it should be Florida, preferably local, businesses that would actually add jobs and remain, long-term, in the area.

There are too many suspect connections that appear to be more to the benefit of individuals and extremely wealthy business owners---and to the detriment of the taxpayers. The major players in this are multi-billion dollar international conglomerates, Mayor Peyton, the JEDC and the out-going Mayor Webb. Those international conglomerates can well afford to pay their own way.

Comment by Patricia M. McBride on June 11, 2011 at 8:00am

Charles, thank you for your actions on this.  I don't see how they can do their job or even a reasonably good job in such a short amount of time.  As far as some of these companies go, I think we were blind sided a little by this move they the mayor and not everyone involved in this whole thing is sinister (but when one part of something smells to the high heavens, the odor seems to rub off on the whole............some of these folks may be innocent bystanders so to speak)

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