First Coast Connect, Friday at 9:00

I’ll be on WJCT’s First Coast Connect this morning talking about Mayor Peyton lobbying members of the City Council for about $23 million in downtown improvements to increase public access and spruce up amenities on the St. Johns River. Listen here »

Live Urban Jacksonville Weekly, Saturday January 23rd at the Burrito Gallery

To celebrate our 50th Episode of Urban Jacksonville Weekly we’ll be doing a live show at the Burrito Gallery on Saturday January 23rd at 1:30pm. There will be lunch specials, giveaways and live performances by Tough Junkie.

Our special 50th Episode guest is Ian Ranne. Shantytown owner and one of the hardest working entrepreneurs in the Urban Core. We will be taking questions from the audience and there may be a few more surprises in store so don’t miss it. More information to come.

Want to Sponsor the Show or Get Involved?

We are looking for a show sponsor and additional giveaway items. If you want to get involved contact me at joeymarchy@gmail.com

Tune in to Urban Jacksonville Weekly on Monday for Content Design Group

Photo courtesy of Metro Jacksonville and Content Design Group

Greg and Jason from Content Design Group will be in studio on Monday January 11th to talk about the Metro Jacksonville article Is Springfield Ready for a Car Wash? and the role they played in the architecture of the revised plans:

Can a car wash be a part of an urban revitalization plan? After heated opposition and misinformation dominating discussion about the 4th & Main project, owner Silas Jones has modified development plans to better integrate the project within the community. Can common ground be found that will finally lead to project approval and new life along the Main Street corridor?

Listen and Subscribe

Download audio file (urban-jacksonville-weekly-episode25.mp3)
Subscribe with iTunes

You can now listen right now, click the play button above or watch it by clicking the play button below.

Special Guest: The Mayor – Topic: Millage Increase

A lot happening so these are gonna be rough! Better just listen. – Jack

Mayor – for the increase
City Council – cut spending instead
Residents – siding with council
voting next week (July 28th)
Mayor is optimistic
3-part plan
“we are at a crossroads”
lowest millage rate in FL
Clark’s influence?
Peyton is up for the fight!
Mayor v. Council – is that healthy?
? – shouldn’t fund arts, culture, social etc.
arts and culture will lose
T- people are evenly split on the issue
arts/culture = less than 1/2 of 1% of budget
@hiddentrack: “if we’re guilty of anything, it’s under-investing.” well said, mr. mayor. #ujw
T – Ritz Theatre will not be able to come back if we don’t protect it
government destroyed LaVilla, Ritz is all that’s left
J – fire/police budget always comes up
Peyton – does not support cutting fire/police budget
“violence epidemic in Jax”
“moving from being cheap to being irresponsible”
Sheriff’s Dept largest budget at City Hall
Abel (@jaxpolitics)
Ask Mayor how much faith he has in Council (running for re-election) to support true pension reform? #ujw
Public remains cynical b/c there has been no reform to AMIO positions. They’ve almost doubled in last few years. Nearly $15m. But, yet, emphasis has been placed on social services/cultural cuts. Why not move AMIO’s to civil service and trim to build trust? #ujw
Was there an attempt to bring Council members in on the budget planning process?
Legislature allowed “out” for Duval in statutory tax cuts, why didn’t Mayor ask Council to override that cap last year?
Does the Mayor support combining elections w/ state? What are the downsides?
T – wants the World Cup (Mayor’s for it!)
T- QOL first thing a big business asks about when they come to town
The mayor just said “critical mass.” No that critical mass, but still…
T – Kiplinger named Jax #6 Tax-Friendliest City
fixitnow.cc – website
Last ?: Does Mayor think public wld be more likely to support increase if it was dedicated mil to fund capital improvements/maintenance?
Jags/stadium

Music from Jack Diablo

Tuesday, July 21
Warehouse Show (1850 Wambolt 8B)
Panzram (Ft. Meyers)
Ripper (Jax)
Tourist Trap (Jax)

Wednesday, July 22
Indie-folk at TSI
Kevin Lee Newberry (Jax)
Little High Little Low (Gainesville)
Zeke (Jax)

Friday, July 24
Hip Hop at TSI
Shunda K (from Yo Majesty)
Heavy Flow (Jax)
Tough Junkie (Jax)

Sunday, July 26
College Street House Show
The Daytonas
Matrix Infinity
Erzulie
Omebi
Wudun
Royal Chord (Australia)
Psychic Reality (San Francisco)

Monday, July 27
Shantytown
Psychic Reality
Royal Chord
Bright Orange

Tuesday, July 28
Metal/Hardcore/Prog/Other Stuff at Doozers
Republicorpse (Orlando)
Time To Die (Orlando)
Buff Clout (Jax)
National Dairy (Jax)
Chicken & Whiskey (Jax)

Recommendations

Jonathan – Sulzbacher petition
Joey – budget links
Tony – RAM, duh – Justin Roberts (Paul McCartney of kid music)
Renee – Mayor’s appearances
Mayor – fixitnow.cc GET SMART!

Other Companies Say They Want to Bid Too
So This is How the City Work — Mayor’s Lobbying Team on the Waste Management Contract
Mayor Challenged on No-Bid Contract
CBS 47 Investigation Info Mayor’s No-Bid Contract Proposal
Mayor Pushes Lucrative No-Bid Contract for Landfill Operations
Company Says it Can Save City Millions on Landfill Contract

I’ve also created a quick copy and paste ready, comma delimited list of all the city council members. You can easily copy and paste these into the To: field of your email and send a message to all council members at once. I just did.

JPeyton@coj.net, RonnieF@coj.net, JRC@coj.net, Joost@coj.net, KHyde@coj.net, GloriousJ@coj.net, Clay@coj.net, WBishop@coj.net, RClark@coj.net, Redman@coj.net, AShad@coj.net, Webb@coj.net, Gaffney@coj.net, EDLee@coj.net, WAJones@coj.net, RBrown@coj.net, Holt@coj.net, DDavis@coj.net, ArtG@coj.net, Corrigan@coj.net

Updated: 12:39

It appears there is no bigger issue in the city at this moment than the Mayor’s proposal to grant Waste Management a 35-year $750,000,000 (yes that’s million!) contract without an open bidding process, despite City Council rules against no bid contracts. Even more, there’s an expressed interest from other groups who could take over the landfill in question for significantly less money.

Ron Littlepage rips into the Mayor’s proposal with a list of simple facts in his article City Council won’t be steamrolled on landfill, including these gems:

1. There are valid reasons the state and the city have rules about bidding contracts. One is that the bid process, while not perfect, helps ensure that taxpayers get the best deal possible. Another reason is the bid process provides transparency, helping to eliminate the suspicion that back room deals are being made with favored friends and political supporters.
2. Peyton says the deal his team negotiated with Waste Management behind closed doors will save taxpayers $200 million over the 35-year life of the contract. The fact is others with expertise in the landfill business say that number is inflated. They also say that opening the contract to other bidders could save taxpayers millions of dollars.

What Can You Do?

E-mail cityc@coj.net. Let them know, briefly, that you’d like the Trail Ridge bid to be open, competitive, transparent, and fair. Ask them to vote “no” on the mayor’s contract proposal. The e-mail can be as short as a couple of sentences.

You can also sign this petition ignore the part about donating.

My friend Max alerted me to this issue and we discussed it a little last night on Urban Jacksonville Weekly. Max is trying to generate a flood of emails to the City Council with commentary the tax payers (You). Max feels that bringing this contract down would establish a mighty precedent: Jacksonville residents will not tolerate any more no-bid contracts.

So please just shoot a quick e-mail to cityc@coj.net, addressed to the City Council, and leave a comment on this post when you’ve done that. As Max says: The more people interacting with democracy, the better it is for all of us.

More Info

Fussell vs. Peyton (on the landfill issue)
City Council won’t be steamrolled on landfill
Waste management plan makes no sense, long term
Mayor’s no-bid contract has more than one flaw
Jacksonville City Council balks at waste contract