Business leaders launch new civic group

[AbelH]

A rather influential group of Jacksonville's leaders have announced the formation of a new civic group:

The Non-Group, whose membership roster was often the subject of intrigue, had wielded power in Jacksonville in relative obscurity for nearly two decades.

Several members said they felt there was a leadership vacuum in the city, which needed to be addressed by a more public group.

After voting to disband the Non-Group, several of its members joined with other leaders to launch the Jacksonville Civic Council.

Initially composed of about 50 civic leaders, the council will raise $400,000 to hire an executive director, research issues and advocate for change, according to its chairman, Peter Rummell.

“There has been concern for some time that there hasn’t been a strategic public-private partnership in Jacksonville,” Rummell said. “This group fills that void.”

The full story is available here:  http://jacksonville.com/business/2010-02-16/story/non_group_disbands_launches_jacksonville_civic_council

Thoughts?

[tufsu1]

I believe some folks on this site refer to this as the GOB network.

[buckethead]

Reagan Youth!

[blizz01]

Interesting to see Wayne Weaver's name on the list.  Maybe it should be a given, but I like seeing my team's owner continue to maintain his focus in Jax.

[Bostech]

iPad of Jacksonville.

[Dog Walker]

Oh boy, isn't that a list of the "usual suspects"?  Should have just called it the Developer's Cabal.

[JeffreyS]

They should invite Lake to join. Those dues could be heavy though.

[downtownjag]

Little help here please... from what I am reading, they look to shake-up city leadership  and begin a "protestant movement."  Are the members of this new group bona-fide, or does this look to be money making circle?  Thanks for the educated responses!

[Lunican]

We'll see what they come up with. There are plenty of projects they could work on.

Just as an observation, the average age of that group is probably pretty high. A bunch of guys within 10 years of retirement (or some well past retirement) may overlook quality of life issues that young professionals consider important.

[Dog Walker]

These people are almost all developers or developers lawyers and are known "bad actors" on the political scene in Jacksonville.  John Rood for god's sake!  Lynne Pappas, shill for every bad comp plan modification is Duval.  They have been the "movers and shakers" behind the last two mayoral administrations.  Nuff said.

[luvjax]

I'm VERY concerned.  My generation is trying to disperse these GOB's so that we (all races, political parties, gender) can join together and make the positive changes that JAX needs.  These guys "keep it in the family," and are the very ones who are experts at "backroom" deals.  Extremely telling is Corrigan's quote, " Do you want to be the city councilman who goes against them?" It's hard enough going against the Paul Hardin's (who represents half of these guys) around here.  Now, we have a group of 49 Hardins). God help us! 

[Captain Zissou]

“Do you want to be the city councilman who goes against them?” Corrigan said.

That sounds pretty GOB and scary if you ask me.

Thanks for sharing Abel.

[vicupstate]

I don't see how this can be ANYTHING but positive.  This once informal group, which was just as powerful as the new group will be (but wasn't using that power, thus the leadership vacuum), will now be more transparent, formal and visible.   

EVERY city, whether it is KC, Charlotte, SF, etc. ALL have power brokers.  That will never change, nor would you want it to.  The important thing is WHAT is that group accomplishing??   

In my book, a GOB is someone who uses their power AGAINST the better interests of the community.  It is NOT just someone who has power.

In Charlotte, they keep the business sector focused on pushing the city to the next level economically. That is what this one will do here, hopefully.

It's pretty obvious that this is a result of the KC visit.  I wish that visit had occurred a few years earlier.  Peyton is starting to 'walk the walk' and not just 'talk the talk', and NOW the business sector is stepping up too.  Maybe there is hope for Jax after all.

[buckethead]

I have visited KC twice this year and must say that it was a delight. I never imagined the Kansas City area would be so beautiful. If we end up with a city as nice I will be exctatic. It is rather sprawled though.

Some of the persons on the list have definately demonstrated a level of benevolence, while others... not so much.

[cityimrov]

I don't see what's wrong with a GOB Good Old Boys network when most people want a GOB if there in charge of some project.  

For example, let's say your remodeling a house.  Who do ask to do it?  For most people, they find a friend who knew a contractor who remodeled their house.  Very few people will call a random person in the phone book unless it's their last option (they don't know someone in their GOB who does it) because they are scared that A) they might get ripped off or B) they don't like to take the risk of an unknown who might not be able to do the job.  It's almost the same thing with doctors, dentists, everything!  

It takes a very special type of person to escape from asking "referrals" or their own GOB to risk the unknown and for the most part - those people don't complain much!   They actually do stuff!  

For the most part, this group looks like a group of people who knows how to be in charge of large projects.  What do people want?  Take a random person off the street and say "Hey, you, random person off the street!  Want to be in charge of designing a multi-billion dollar rail mass transit project?"