JTA allowed to raise money but DCPS isn't?!? For %$#^s sake

Ahh if only the Civic Council could have found out a way to make money off the city's public transit system. 

Friend's how does this make any kind of sense?

From the Times Union,

The JTA board approved a fare increase beginning Sept. 30 from $1.50 to $1.75 as of Sept. 30 and also affects other authority services.

It’s going to cost a quarter more to ride a JTA bus one way beginning Sept. 30 following a Tuesday vote by the authority board during a special meeting.

It will affect all JTA fixed-bus routes, First Coast Flyer BRT lines, the St. Johns River Ferry and ReadiRide service, and is the authority’s first fare increase since 2012.

Single-trip passes increase from $1.50 to $1.75, although additional discounts will be available to customers who buy them via the free MyJTA app on their smartphones, JTA said. The authority’s vote also increased the discount for college students from 25 percent to 50 percent.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190813/jta-board-votes-for-fare-increase-first-in-7-years?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=ghf-jax-main

Isn't a rate increase a tax increase?

That's what Tallahassee said as they stripped school boards ability to raise millage rates as property vales went up.

You know who hasn't complained about this rate increase? Who hasn't asked question after question? The city council that's who, strangely enough they only want to micromanage the school board, hmm I wonder why that is? Oh it's because their donors haven't figured out how to make money off of Duval's mass transit system.

The hypocrisy here is stunning.

I think Lenny Curry is a raging racist, now here me out before you tell me I am wrong... or right

Hear me out. 

The referendum will benefit those mostly minority parts of town that had been long neglected by the city.

Promise after promise was made and broken. 

Fighting against the referendum continues the status quo where the schools that service our mostly minority children continue to deteriorate and fall into disrepair.

Not sold, I get it, well maybe his proposal in Florida Politics will.

From Florida Politics,

“I would suggest,” the Mayor said Tuesday afternoon, that “we let the voters decide whether they want to see an elected Superintendent or a board chair elected at-large.”

Curry believes that a bill authorizing an elected School Superintendent could be on the November 2020 ballot along with the sales surtax referendum proposal.

“Maybe this runs at the same time as the referendum,” Curry said, “if everyone’s on the same page.”

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/303157-elect-supe-says-curry

You know, lets vote to keep or replace our female African american superintendent, the one that dared to question city hall.

Am I reading to much into it? Well we had a white guy as superintendent for three years while Curry was Mayor and he didn't say word one about replacing them with an elected superintendent, plus Greene has arguably been more successful than him. Yes, we improved under Vitti using state metrics but she hasn't thrown us into economic chaos like he did. In fact she is trying to drag us out. 

Then lets throw in the murder rate as well which he hasn't seriously even attempted to address and which disproportionately affects our mostly minority areas of town 

At some point coincidences stop being coincidences.

You know I don't think Curry has a lawn jockey or throws out the N word over cigars with his pals on the civic council but if at some point enough evidence presents itself then you have to call it.

I want to point out that this isn't the first time Superintendent Greene has met disrespect from the white power structure, at a state board of education meeting in May, commissioner of education Richard Corcoran was very disrespectful, something I doubt he would have done had she been a white male. 

How Jason Gabriel took a ridiculously bad ruling and made it even worse.

Um we are paying for this. We are paying a lot of money for this, I hope people realize that.

So the original ruling ignored statute and changed the meaning of the word "shall" but it didn't try and bludgeon us over the head with word games either. 

The original ruling was ridiculously bad, so what does Gabriel do? He says hold my beer.


Um that's not a review of the law, that's a word game and not a good one at that.

Um is Gabriel the city attorney or does he make crossword puzzle clues.

Um what the %$#^!!!!

Did I mention we paid a lot of money for this?

Even if I hated public education. Even if I wanted all the money the referendum would generate to go to charters and even if I as a general rule didn't care what people thought, I would be embarrassed by Gabriel's ruling and the reason behind it.

I wonder if when Lenny Curry came to him with above Gabriel was like um, or just said I shall take care if it.

Wow

The Office of Generals Councils plot to run out the clock explained (draft)

I would say it was quite ingenious if it wasn't so disgusting. 

Back in early May a junior attorney ignoring statute and changing the meaning of the word "shall" said the city council was in charge of "if" and "when" a special tax referendum to benefit Duval County Public schools would be put on the ballot. 

I imagine at first this didn't resonate that much with the board because of its ridiculousness.

The city council however working on behalf of our mayor and a handful of donors ran with it.

Then in mid July councilmen Dennis figured something out and that was the memorandum was actually worthless and he demanded a ruling from Jason Gabriel the city's attorney and as close to a living God, power he asserts was given to him in the city charter, as we are likely to meet.

So now Gabriel had to give a ruling but instead of working hard to clear it all up after letting the city for six weeks think the matter was settled, he did what corrupt and incompetent attorneys do and waited weeks before issuing his ruling, which its hard to believe was even worse and more tenuous than the original, though it made official that words had no meaning and decency was dead in Duval.

He did say however that he will ask the state attorney general to weigh in, well if the city council gives him permission. 

From the Times Union,

Gabriel is scheduled to discuss his opinion at the Tuesday night meeting of City Council. He also will ask the council to approve an emergency resolution to ask state Attorney General Ashley Moody to weigh in with her own legal advisory opinion on Gabriel’s interpretation of state law.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190813/opinion-says-city-council-can-reject-sales-tax-referendum

If we lived in a decent state where the rule of law meant anything, that review from the state attorney would take five seconds but we don't, we live in Florida so I would guess weeks at a minimum effectively running out the clock. It won't matter if Moody comes back and says Gabriel is an idiot, if it doesn't happen in the next few days. 

 The referendum could still be put on the ballot for Dec. All it would take is for the city council to grow a conscious, reject the OGC ridiculous ruling and approve putting the referendum on the ballot. Sadly the odds of winning the lottery would be better  Though if we are being honest the board would have better odds of getting the money they need by putting a dollar on the power ball.

  

Lenny Curry is a liar and/or ignorant and either are bad for the city.

In a way I can see how he was elected with just 14 percent of the city voting for him. He seems to bop through life with a confidence brought on by ignorance and a willingness to bully. Hmm does that sound familiar to anyone?

Well despite problems in our schools brought on by a lack or resources for over a decade and some of the oldest schools in the state, Curry had some interesting things to say in Florida Politics.

“Why all of a sudden is the sky falling on buildings? They woke up one day and said there was a crisis,” Curry contended.

“Where was the crisis a year ago,” Curry asked. “Where was the crisis two years ago?”

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/303157-elect-supe-says-curry

Curry lies as effortless as I breathe and I just want to get that out there.

Word on the street is Vitti wanted to do a referendum back in 2016 but Curry asked him to hold off so he could pass his pension plan, which, will turn out to be a disaster for the people of Jacksonville.

Also is he implying there isn't a crisis? That there isn't any needs? That the school board just made it all up? If that's the case why is he willing to support the referendum in 2020?  How does that make sense?

The thing is, this problem has been going on and getting worse for a decade now as Tallahassee has systematically underfunded education.

Then Curry might not know how time works but our schools here some of the oldest in the state and we were the only big district without a secondary income source for its schools last year and two years ago and three years ago...

Curry is a liar, ignorant or both.

We deserve better. It's time to start the recall.

Charter review commission member Nick Holland has either been in a comma or under a rock

Thank God he wasn't elected to the school board if his Facebook comments are any indication of how he would have been.

Nick commented on a post from school board member Elizabeth Andersen and if you haven't read it yet, let me recommend you do its excellent.

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/forward-school-issues-directly-to-the-mayor-council/?

So this is what Nick said,

Nick Howland Yes we need this. But why such vitriol directed at the City Council asking reasonable questions about a rushed plan ... and not School Board members of the last 6 - 8 years who never put together any plan at all? A well thought out plan fully vetted through the city and passed 5 years ago would have cost taxpayers much less and benefited kids and teachers much more.

Um vitriol directed at the city council? From me sure, they deserve every bit and more but the school board has been incredibly measured almost to much for my tastes.

As for reasonable questions, at this point it stopped being about questions weeks ago. The board has asked and answered every reasonable question time and time again.

This from the Times Union,

In past public meetings of the City Council, council members have leveled criticism at the School Board while passing up chances to ask questions directly to school leaders who watched tight-lipped in the audience.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190810/pivotal-meeting-ahead-for-school-board-and-city-council

You know because all the city council wants is some answers.

Then there are the school board members who did nothing for the last six to eight years, there are two that fits that description, Grymes and Smith-Juarez hardly the majority of the board.

As for Howland's critique of the plan, nothing would satisfy him and his friends absolutely nothing and that's because he is okay with our schools failing.

Howland is clueless and don't take my word for it, take the word of the district he wanted to represent that overwhelmingly voted against him.

Last summer I wrote a lot of blogs about Howland and after he lost he asked me to take them down because he didn't want his children and their friends seeing then and i said sure, why not, but back up they go, as long as he uses specious reasons to fight against the city's schools and children he doesn't deserve a break,

Every time he chimes in on a subject he proves the voters at the beach right for not voting for him and it's just a shame he was put on the charter review commission, hopefully he won't be able to do any damage there. 

Jason Fischer is the status quo he rails against

Jason Fischer says the status quo id Duval's school system isn't working and that is why he proposed bill J-1, a bill that would give the mayor the ability to appoint the school board.

He did this despite the district having it's highest graduation ever and last year being less than one percentage point away from an A. Now personally I don't think those are very good metrics, but they are the metrics that Fischer's side set up that indicate success.

So despite the district heading in the right direction and being more successful in the state metrics than ever before Fischer wants to blow the system up.

He also hasn't explained why he thinks the mayor would be better. Last I saw the only things the mayor did well was post pictures of his son working out on twitter (creepy) and giving public money away.

Fischer talks about how the status quo is failing which is ironic because he is entrenched in the status quo. If you have problems with education in Florida and I hope you do, you should point your finger at Fischer's team, the republicans in Tallahassee who have completely controlled public education in Florida for over 20 years. They own the privatization, they own the starvation of resources, they own the over testing and the blame the teacher evaluations and the teacher shortage. 
 
He represents the status quo but he is so intellectually dishonest he can't admit it.



The status quo owns all of that.

The reality is what Fischer is trying to do has nothing to do with the status quo and has everything to do with real estate and money. The school board controls a lot and Fischer wants his donors to control it. People say all the time, just follow the money and that applies here.

Jason Fischer will say and do anything if he thinks it will advance his career and that includes selling out the city'c children and stripping people of the right to vote for their school board members and don't think for a second that isn't true.

Jason Fischer gives us an opening to abolish the city council (draft)

Jason Fischer introduce a bill called J-1 saying the school board wasn't working and this despite the highest graduation rates and district grade, less than one percentage point away from an A in its history. Here is the thing, we do have a board that's not working and that's the city council. You know the status quo isn't working for the citizens of Jacksonville. It's time to abolish the city council and hear me out.

They let the pension problem get so out of control they had to extend the better Jacksonville Plan for another fifteen years and its going to cost our kids a ton of money for some short turn relief.

The murder rate is twenty percent higher than its record high.

We have wasted millions and millions on the landing without a plan in site.

The council is about to approve a 233 million dollar give away to a multi billionaire with lot J.

Huge swathes of our city have been perpetually ignored as well and are mired in institutional poverty.

Then this city council does not understand what its job is, they think they should manage the city's schools too, something they weren't elected to do.

The city council wishes they had the achievements and track record of the school board

Fischer was right, we do need to get rid of a group, he just had the wrong group. Wherever you turn you see failure after failure form the city council. They don't listen to the citizens of Jacksonville, heck they even have public comments at the end of meetings after decisions have been made and they are lawless hiring a recent retiree Sam Mousa to be a consultant with a four year, six figures per year, no bid no outlined duties contract. They are the ones that need to go.

Audrey Gibson or Tracie Davis should file J-2 a bill to get rid of the city council. If we can get rid of the school board we can get rid of the city council as well.

Now you might be asking who would replace them but the truth is nobody they do the bidding of the mayor anyways so all they are doing is taking up space.   

Jason Fischer says the school board already works for the city

Is it troubling to anyone else that Jason Fischer just makes stuff up? That he lies as effortless and any of us breathe?

In a Facebook discussion he said the school board already reports to the city.

• 

  Jason Fischer The school board is the government. Also, DCPS is part of the city charter, so unlike other school boards around the state, it reports to the city of jacksonville already

Um, I hope everyone understands that has never happened, something since Jason Fischer served almost one full term on the school board, before he quit.

Later in the thread he brags about keeping serifs elected.

• 

  Jason Fischer Leanne Sykes-King I ran the constitutional amendment to guarantee Sheriffs were elected. Infact they Sheriffs associate gave me an award for it.

In Jacksonville our murder capital is currently twenty percent higher than its previous record. If there is a status quo, that Fischer is always mentioning, that isn't working it would seem to be coming from the sheriff's office.

Jason Fischer is not above lying if he thinks its something he can sell, something he proved when he first ran for school board. Now he says he is just trying to have a conversation.

Jason Fischer as far as the J1, that's where the charter revision commission left off the conversation. It's the most logical place to restart the conversation about how we structure the school system. Status quo isn't working for the kids.

Who is not working for kids is Jason Fischer. He consistently has been a road block to their success.

Come on Jacksonville we should be better to do this guy. 

Curry proposing 2.25 million more for the Landing black hole, nothing for the city's children (draft)

Maybe Lenny Curry should have had a plan for the Landing before he had the city pay 18 million dollars to buy it, another million to demolish it and now he wants another  2.25 million to study what to do with the property? Um maybe put Sam Mousa on it he is making six figures now that he has retired. If Curry wouldn't have spent so much time fighting against the city's schools and children we might be in a better spot.

From the Jax Daily Record,

 Mayor Lenny Curry is asking the City Council to approve $2.25 million in initial funding for redevelopment of The Jacksonville Landing as part of his proposed 2019-20 Capital Improvement Plan.

City Chief Administrative Officer Brian Hughes said Thursday the allocation will start a 2 to 2½-year redevelopment process.

“If we can do it faster, we will. But it’s sort of an acknowledgment that about a two-year plan is what we’ll see executed,” Hughes said.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/curry-seeks-dollar2-25-million-for-jacksonville-landing-architecture-site-work?

Um 2.25 million more? Curry is the same guy that opposed paying for the special referendum despite the fact the city was not being asked to pay for it.

Also two and half years? Good luck on that look at coastline drive and liberty street which is years behind schedule and millions over budget.

Everything the mayor does reveals him fighting against the city's children and schools had nothing to do with whats right for the city and had everything to do with whats right for his donors.

Curry was elected with 14 percent of the vote because sadly in Jacksonville, Republicans vote against their self interests and democrats don't vote. Despite that I bet there is enough in both groups to discuss a recall of the mayor. The city may not be able to endure much more of his leadership.