Jacksonville slashes about 150 jobs from city workforce

[spuwho]

Mtrain.  Last time I checked, he still isnt Mike Hogan.

Can you only imagine what a Hogan Administration would have been like with the current Thundertard Roundup of a city council we have?

Stephen, you are on your game today, nope, last I checked Brown does not equal Hogan. Please educate the 150 poor bastards who had their jobs, soul, and future torn from them. I am sure your silver tongue will delight them with ecstasies which will last forever!

They might even want a hug from you....

LMHO........

Hmm, we got Brown...."at least he isn't Hogan"

Hmmm, we got Obama..."at least he isn't Bush"

we got Scott,....."at least he isn't....he isn't....ummm...."

Sounds like an unfinished rap song, Snoop Dogg, where are you?

Can someone please pull back out those Audrey Moran endorsements? Maybe she was able to produce a budget that the CC could translate without all of the mistakes.

[Timkin]

Interesting that none of the City Council or their assistants would have to accept a pay cut or termination.  God forbid!

While I AM disappointed in Mayor Brown's record so far, I still remain of the opinion that he was the better of the two choices.

Cuts were going to be made regardless.  I'm afraid it is far from over.   

Just watch.. HPC will be one of the departments axed.  You think buildings are being razed now?  Look out.

[mtraininjax]

Hogan would have cut deeper, Mtrain.  He ran on it.

Would HOGAN have inserted his foot in his mouth by pissing off the new Jaguars owner? Probably not.
Would HOGAN have shown up on the floor for Human Rights bill, instead of pulling the chains of council members? Probably so.
Would HOGAN have waited 2 years to come up with a PENSION PLAN? Probably not.
Would HOGAN have GOOFED on electing a PENSION when he said he would not take one? Probably not.
Would HOGAN have RAISED taxes IF the CITY NEEDED IT FOR ITS GENERAL FUND? Probably so, Peyton ran on the no tax increase promise, yet we received Stormwater fees and the they do help with funding for the River.

Sometimes you need to put the City's Needs ahead of your own tax pledges. Brown has yet to do so. The City gets poorer because he has a campaign pledge to uphold. Peyton was elected to 2 terms and was unpopular. Brown will be lucky to survive 1 at this rate. Hogan knew to put the City's needs, ultimately, ahead of his own.

But all we have now is to watch as Brown dismantles the City one department or laughing stock at a time.

[Timkin]

^  With regard to your first point, I would have to agree.

- Hogan would NO WAY IN HELL , support the Human rights bill.  No way.

With your other points I kind of agree to an extent.

I'm afraid we WILL have to raise taxes, and while I personally do not have a problem with it,so long as I see something appreciable coming from it,  Brown stepped into a mess, M-train, and everyone knows that.  If Hogan became Mayor, We still would have to have cut something.   

You will get NO argument from me , that Mayor Brown COULD be a bit more thoughtful and diplomatic in how he handled these things.

I am saddened that he also obviously will never support the Human Rights bills.  I also don't have a problem with him being a one-term Mayor , if this is what we get for voting him in.

Again for the last time, He was never my FIRST choice.  He was the better of the two remaining.  I ll stand by that, and also agree that you make some valid points.  Some.  not all .

[thelakelander]

Can't squeeze blood out of a turnip.  Cuts will continue to be made every year until we literally overhaul the entire fiscal foundation we've been relying on and modify our growth patterns.

[mtraininjax]

If Hogan became Mayor, We still would have to have cut something.

Not really, HOGAN could have raised taxes or gone to the people and let them know they would lose X services if no tax increase. Everyone says he would not have raised taxes, but Peyton did and he ran on the same pledge, knowing full well that the CITY needed the fees to help the river. No green algae since then either....

Brown and his budget team are so clueless, we keep finding new holes in the budget for next year as no one seems to understand how to create and manage a budget. The "I'm with Alvin" crowd elected someone with ABSOLUTLEY NO BUSINESS running a city government then hiring people who have no clue, in this, their 2nd budget year. They fired all of the people Peyton left behind, after running 8 budgets through the council.

The hubris on the fourth floor only matches the smell from the City Council chambers. It is a disgusting display of leadership and stewardship of the public treasury. HOGAN, love him or hate him, he knew his way around politics in the city. I would say the Human Rights bill would have had more of a chance with him, than the leadership of Brown, or lack of it, but its water under the bridge.

Nice to know that Brown still has more City positions he can cut, I hear the security guards at the Library are next. Really, why do we need security in a public building anyway???

[ronchamblin]

The current tragic job losses and budgetary difficulties in our city is a consequence of a broader picture being played out in our country.  Our country, as a result of outsourcing jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, as a consequence of continuing with the “war” on drugs even though it cannot possibly be won, as a consequence of continuing our foreign wars, as a consequence of enduring and apparently accepting the theft of most of the assets in this country by a few in positions of privilege, power and access to the machinery of wealth â€" a theft causing the shift of most of the wealth in our country from the middle class to a few wealthy individuals â€" our country, the average citizen, is set to endure, in the next two decades, suffering to levels we’ve not seen since the great depression.  Unless there is radical change in our leadership, unless those in positions to make the right decisions actually do so, the average citizen, during the next twenty years, stands to suffer more than their grandparents did in the great depression.

I simply cannot see any other probable consequences for what has happened, and what is happening in our country.  Somehow, our political system, by way of some contagious deficiency, has cultivated a population of politicians who have no vision, who have no honesty, who have no guts to make decisions necessary to avoid the current spiral into further poverty and instability.  Our elected officials, by way of some unfortunate mental inclination spread throughout all politicians, are playing politics with the future of our country.  And the affliction as described apparently includes most of our local politicians who seem not to have the vision or the guts to do what must be done to solve the mounting problems in our city?  Where is common sense? Where is honesty?  Where is leadership?  Where are the jobs?   Meanwhile, we spiral down.       

 

[thelakelander]

There are several cities across this country, many happen to be Jacksonville's peers, that are enjoying budget surpluses right now. Miami, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Portland and Lexington all are examples of cities in the black with a little extra cash to spend improving themselves.  Heck, San Francisco has an insane $80 million surplus this year.  Instead of continued talks about further cutting services that are already considered poor, conversation in those communities are on what to do with the extra cash?  Should it be spent on the arts, more police, schools, parks, mass transit, etc.? All of those places have had to deal with the loss of manufacturing jobs, the war on drugs, etc. as well.

On a local level, I'd say our low density development pattern is a significant fiscal issue we continue to ignore.  Even a manufacturing powerhouse would lose cash with the amount of subsidies we put into ever expanding infrastructure network to support development that will never return enough revenue it takes the maintain the infrastructure it relies on. 

As for the jobs, if you don't invest in yourself to set your community apart from the rest of the globe, don't count on winning that battle.  Competition is fierce and today's worker is more likely to choose a city to reside based on its quality of life (and open their own business) than hoping to get hired and work a lifetime at the local steel mill.

[Noone]

Interesting that none of the City Council or their assistants would have to accept a pay cut or termination.  God forbid!

2012-202-Our council-Legislating for themselves.

Welfare- The Govt. will pay you if you don't work

Glorified Welfare- 2005-1007

Did any MJ'er participate in the JCCI study Our Money, Our City, Financing Jacksonville's Future?

The library system is not an Authority system.

The library system is not a constitutional office system.

The library is an organic cluster of diversity that touches every pocket of communication left to exist throughout Duval county for its residents and neighborhoods.

Library positions? Every constitutional officer will no longer have a personal vehicle. We are doing the budget right now aren't we.


FSCJ-Who at the top has been let go?
Is Tony Nelson JPA in Federal prison? Nobody knows.
JTA and the Board awards an unbelievable golden parachute for who and why? How much money? How many library positions would this have saved?
Palms Fish Camp- Wait and see who gets a million dollar payday for never even opening up the door.
Does anyone wish that we had that $4,000,000 back for the naming rights of the city owned stadium that we gave away?
2011-560
Sewer Water Authority? Anybody?

We are so broke. Out of control greed through legislative actions by both republicans and democrats over numerous administrations that has created an unsustainable path that is crushing the Public Trust.

So who wants to participate in a tactical urban Downtown kayaking trip that we will want to share with FIND as we attempt to transform the out of control Backroom deals that has crippled this community.

I'll take you to my favorite spot. Fishing under the brand new no new fishing signs that was never before the Jacksonville Waterways Commission.

I am Downtown with Mayor Brown.

[Adam W]

^can you re-word that post so it makes sense?

[riverside planner]

I saw Bill Killingsworth on there also, I thought the mayor accepted his resignation (or something) a while ago? 

His resignation was as planning director, but he had civil service reversion rights since he was previously a civil service employee.

[If_I_Loved_you]

If Hogan became Mayor, We still would have to have cut something.

Not really, HOGAN could have raised taxes or gone to the people and let them know they would lose X services if no tax increase. Everyone says he would not have raised taxes, but Peyton did and he ran on the same pledge, knowing full well that the CITY needed the fees to help the river. No green algae since then either....

Brown and his budget team are so clueless, we keep finding new holes in the budget for next year as no one seems to understand how to create and manage a budget. The "I'm with Alvin" crowd elected someone with ABSOLUTLEY NO BUSINESS running a city government then hiring people who have no clue, in this, their 2nd budget year. They fired all of the people Peyton left behind, after running 8 budgets through the council.

The hubris on the fourth floor only matches the smell from the City Council chambers. It is a disgusting display of leadership and stewardship of the public treasury. HOGAN, love him or hate him, he knew his way around politics in the city. I would say the Human Rights bill would have had more of a chance with him, than the leadership of Brown, or lack of it, but its water under the bridge.

Nice to know that Brown still has more City positions he can cut, I hear the security guards at the Library are next. Really, why do we need security in a public building anyway???

(Nice to know that Brown still has more City positions he can cut, I hear the security guards at the Library are next. Really, why do we need security in a public building anyway???) Maybe we don't need them in all of the library's but Downtown sure needs them with the Homeless people that come in. What are we to ask the JSO to do this on the side at $35.00 an hour?

[vicupstate]

Mtrain, you really need to get over the fact that Hogan lost. 

That Brown was absent when a true leader would have stepped up during the Human Right debate, is obvious. But to even suggest that Hogan would have in any way, shape, or form, supported the Human Rights amendment is an insult to everyone's intelligence. 

To further suggest that Hogan would not have cut spending at least as much as Brown, is also nonsense. 

And please stop revising history to make Peyton sound like a hero.  If he had done his job, the pension issues would already be resolved when he left the St. James Building.  He was term-limited with no intentions of running for officce again, (and no reasonable chance of winning if he did).  Yet he kicked the can down the road.    Apparently Brown has learned from his bad example.   

[tufsu1]

I saw Bill Killingsworth on there also, I thought the mayor accepted his resignation (or something) a while ago? 

His resignation was as planning director, but he had civil service reversion rights since he was previously a civil service employee.

yes...and for several months he was helping Renee Finley with the P3 office

[mtraininjax]

Mtrain, you really need to get over the fact that Hogan lost.   

I noticed, our great city has gone backward fast!

That Brown was absent when a true leader would have stepped up during the Human Right debate, is obvious. But to even suggest that Hogan would have in any way, shape, or form, supported the Human Rights amendment is an insult to everyone's intelligence. 

Really, there is intelligence on this board? Must be why the good lord gave us 1 mouth and 2 ears.....

To further suggest that Hogan would not have cut spending at least as much as Brown, is also nonsense. 

What is nonsense is that remark. When you face a shortage, as Peyton did, with green algae everywhere, you fix the problem, as the river is your jewel. All the departments and people cut did valuable city services. The Community officers who process accidents are invaluable to JSO to allow officers to crack down on crimes. I have personally been affected by these services, so unless you have walked in the shoes of the people affected by these issues, I would suggest that you do not fully know what you are talking about, out here, all due respect of course...

And please stop revising history to make Peyton sound like a hero.  If he had done his job, the pension issues would already be resolved when he left the St. James Building.  He was term-limited with no intentions of running for officce again, (and no reasonable chance of winning if he did).  Yet he kicked the can down the road.    Apparently Brown has learned from his bad example. 

Brown has learned something? Yeah, how to FIRE PEOPLE. He shows them the HAND who does the mayor's dirty work. Peyton kicked the can, so did Delaney, so did Austin, so did Godbold, so did every mayor from the creation of these programs. But 30 years ago, this was not a hot issue. Peyton did allow the Pension group to take properties, fix them up and sell them, instead of contributing cash to the program. Brown has yet to do this, and last I saw, there were PLENTY of properties he and his staff could push.

It is my belief that Renee Finley, a great person, is working on getting all the city properties together, by the end of the year, to co-incide with the mayor's plans for pension reform. My belief is that he will give properties to Pensions to offset costs, but it will have been 1.5 years since he acted on something Peyton's group had already been doing. Again, lack of experience and the FIRING of all the people, Kerry Stewart, who could have helped with a better transition.

Mayor Brown has excessive hubris, and we all end up paying for it. The 2012-2013 budget still has yet to be completed, really? More new holes found? As bad as Peyton may have been, did he ever, EVER, have has many screwups with a budget as Brown has had?