Tampa paper: Jacksonville's infrastructure neglect

[Bill Hoff]

It's not a good day when another city's paper publishes a searing expose on your city's neglected infrastructure - with quotes from political leadership that indicate no plans to address the growing issue.

Full story:
http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2017/investigations/jacksonville-never-drains-hurricane/

[Captain Zissou]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

WOW

[Tacachale]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

WOW

Something else we can thank Mayor Brown for.

[tufsu1]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

^ sorry but no Tac. Mayor Curry abandoned the program, as he wanted nothing to do with something initiated by Mayor Brown - especially one coming from a "liberal" think tank doing work on climate change!

[Tacachale]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

^ sorry but no Tac. Mayor Curry abandoned the program, as he wanted nothing to do with something initiated by Mayor Brown - especially one coming from a "liberal" think tank doing work on climate change!

Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it.

[FlaBoy]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

^ sorry but no Tac. Mayor Curry abandoned the program, as he wanted nothing to do with something initiated by Mayor Brown - especially one coming from a "liberal" think tank doing work on climate change!

Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it.

Agreed.

What a P.O.S. sensationalized article, typical of our friends at the Times. Wait, is it breaking news that there is flooding in Florida? As a kid, Bayshore Boulevard would be under water for a heavy rain in Tampa, as did parts of Pinellas and Pasco. What is Tampa doing about its flooding issues? Parts of Pinellas are literally below sea level. I find this piece so sensational. Irma caused a lot of damage due to the path of the storm pushing all this water north to the bend in the river where it had nowhere to go while it dumped tons of rain into the river basin.

[Tacachale]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

^ sorry but no Tac. Mayor Curry abandoned the program, as he wanted nothing to do with something initiated by Mayor Brown - especially one coming from a "liberal" think tank doing work on climate change!

Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it.

Agreed.

What a P.O.S. sensationalized article, typical of our friends at the Times. Wait, is it breaking news that there is flooding in Florida? As a kid, Bayshore Boulevard would be under water for a heavy rain in Tampa, as did parts of Pinellas and Pasco. What is Tampa doing about its flooding issues? Parts of Pinellas are literally below sea level. I find this piece so sensational. Irma caused a lot of damage due to the path of the storm pushing all this water north to the bend in the river where it had nowhere to go while it dumped tons of rain into the river basin.

Well, we do have a flooding problem and got historic damage even from a minor hurricane. The noreaster last weekend also caused flooding in some of the areas already hit by Irma. This is a problem that will only get worse.

It's true that we have a history of not investing enough in our urban core and African-American neighborhoods. We need to do more and better.

[Adam White]

In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation-supported nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities selected Jacksonville to receive a $1 million grant to identify and protect itself from possible hazards, like hurricanes or severe storms. Jacksonville abandoned the program after the administration and the city council deadlocked over which official should lead the effort and how much it would cost.

The city never got a dime.

^ sorry but no Tac. Mayor Curry abandoned the program, as he wanted nothing to do with something initiated by Mayor Brown - especially one coming from a "liberal" think tank doing work on climate change!

Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it.

Agreed.

What a P.O.S. sensationalized article, typical of our friends at the Times. Wait, is it breaking news that there is flooding in Florida? As a kid, Bayshore Boulevard would be under water for a heavy rain in Tampa, as did parts of Pinellas and Pasco. What is Tampa doing about its flooding issues? Parts of Pinellas are literally below sea level. I find this piece so sensational. Irma caused a lot of damage due to the path of the storm pushing all this water north to the bend in the river where it had nowhere to go while it dumped tons of rain into the river basin.

Surely literally being below sea level is something that Pinellas Co can't really help. But Jax isn't below sea level and shouldn't have these issue. If you look at the closing sentence, it is meant to illustrate what a bit of investment can do.

And regardless of how 'bad' things may be elsewhere in the state, it doesn't change the fact that Jax is bad and shouldn't be as bad as it is. And the impetus for this story might've been the fact that Jax flooded really, really badly when it wasn't even hit by the hurricane.

[jaxlongtimer]

I actually think the article underplayed our exposure.  If you look at flood potentials from rising seas on government web sites, Jax is regularly cited as one of the most exposed cities in the US to sea level rising.  No doubt, if the same water level rises occur due to other factors, such as a hurricane or northeaster, such exposure would be similar.

I can say from some 30 years of observation, the St. Johns definitely is higher, perhaps 6 to 12 inches.  The article didn't factor that in either.  Add any future rises and flooding could be far worse than even what we just saw.

The fact that so much of Jax is built on low lying land really can't be fixed by drainage improvements alone, if at all.  At some point, some developed land needs to be returned to wetlands.  Just ask Houston how that might help.

The other thing that needs to change is buildings and infrastructure of the future need to be elevated far more.  Maybe our building codes and infrastructure standards need to change to get this done.  What happened downtown to modern buildings like Wells Fargo and the Hyatt, given the value and sophistication of the buildings, is really inexcusable and professionally negligent in my opinion.

[MusicMan]

"Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it."

They pulled out in favor of other priorities.   Please give some details, Tacachale.  I assume you work in city government so you fill us in on what was given priority and what specifically has been done. 

Honestly, $1 million would do almost nothing for a city this size.  Our current leadership (Curry and Scott) have adopted the official Republican position:  ignore it.



 

[Tacachale]

"Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it."

They pulled out in favor of other priorities.   Please give some details, Tacachale.  I assume you work in city government so you fill us in on what was given priority and what specifically has been done. 

Honestly, $1 million would do almost nothing for a city this size.  Our current leadership (Curry and Scott) have adopted the official Republican position:  ignore it.

I don't work in city government. I do read the news. Here is a story about it.

http://news.wjct.org/post/jacksonville-drops-out-rockefeller-foundations-100-resilient-cities

[BossmanOdum10]

Perfect timing Tampa.....I wonder if this has ANYTHING to do with Amazon looking for HQ2? Tampa...well played! So next week, we'll get an article about Miami several flooding issues. Then Orlando...then Atlanta....goes on and goes on. Why else would Tampa bash another Florida city? (Jags vs Buds Rivalry maybe?!?!) lol I'm just stating my opinion...

[Adam White]

Perfect timing Tampa.....I wonder if this has ANYTHING to do with Amazon looking for HQ2? Tampa...well played! So next week, we'll get an article about Miami several flooding issues. Then Orlando...then Atlanta....goes on and goes on. Why else would Tampa bash another Florida city? (Jags vs Buds Rivalry maybe?!?!) lol I'm just stating my opinion...

You might want to loosen your tinfoil hat.

[MusicMan]

It is about priorities.  Love the new scoreboards. Pretty sure COJ pumped over $30 million into that. 

Infrastructure issues, not so much.  No going back at this point. Must go forward.

[vicupstate]

"Nope. Brown had a year and a half to get this organized - something his administration applied for. When Curry got in in 2015, none of the groundwork or planning was done. They did make an effort on it initially, but pulled out it in favor of other priorities. In hindsight it would have been good to keep it, but it would have been even better if the guy whose inititiative it actually was had made a real go of it."

They pulled out in favor of other priorities.   Please give some details, Tacachale.  I assume you work in city government so you fill us in on what was given priority and what specifically has been done. 

Honestly, $1 million would do almost nothing for a city this size.  Our current leadership (Curry and Scott) have adopted the official Republican position:  ignore it.

I don't work in city government. I do read the news. Here is a story about it.

http://news.wjct.org/post/jacksonville-drops-out-rockefeller-foundations-100-resilient-cities

The link doesn't lend any credence to the contention that Brown dropped the ball, only that Curry was going to pursue it and then choose not to or later choose to ignored it.