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http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/449
This property tax issue is pretty darn huge. Special session coming up and the back-room negotation is in full swing.
I think most would agree, when presented with hard data, that Jacksonville's public spending is dwarved by of Duval's comparable counties in Central and South Florida.
These "one-size fits all" mandated cuts from Tallahassee will take a massive bite out of an already quite lean budget. Say good-bye to public service grants, many hours of open libraries, acres of park maintenance, and much more, if the cuts contemplated reach fruition.
What does that mean for downtown? Perhaps less police? A cut to Downtown Vision's budget perhaps? Less park maintenance (which isn't really isn't all that hot as is)? Reduced hours for Main Library? Forget about lighting Laura Street.
The city could be living with the ramifications made in the next 10-15 days for the next 10-15 years...
downtown is full of portable restaurants at night.
hot dog stands, nacho carts, and now "The Chicken Lady"
She has a big shiny stainless steel truck and drives around to all the nightclubs.
She parks a while and sells food to people who line up for a block for something to eat downtown.
too bad real restaurants cant stay open.
QuoteThese "one-size fits all" mandated cuts from Tallahassee will take a massive bite out of an already quite lean budget. Say good-bye to public service grants, many hours of open libraries, acres of park maintenance, and much more, if the cuts contemplated reach fruition.
What does that mean for downtown? Perhaps less police? A cut to Downtown Vision's budget perhaps? Less park maintenance (which isn't really isn't all that hot as is)? Reduced hours for Main Library? Forget about lighting Laura Street.
The city could be living with the ramifications made in the next 10-15 days for the next 10-15 years...
This seems like more of a reason for the city to step away from the real estate developer game and let the private sector have a little more control on what happens with the downtown landscape. This can be done by easing codes and resolving permitting issues that continue to drag the pace of downtown development down, compared to the suburbs.
There's also a need to get more innovative. You don't always have to spend millions to establish and promote vibrancy. Sometimes you can achieve more at a faster pace, by using common sense and limited funds. With the tax reform issue, we may finally be forced to think that way.
As for Lighting Laura, downtown signage, etc., those are relatively inexpensive things that will go along way in improving the downtown core, morso than creating pocket parks and moving others will ever do. For example, if the Mayor's Office scraps the idea of moving Kids Kampus and sell off a couple of excess public owned downtown properties to the private sector, the funds gained and saved from such transactions would easy fund affordable improvements, such as better signage and lighting (which also help reduce the need for additional cops in the core).
However, if you're in the business of looking for press release with every project, then the little things like signage (that really go along way), than the small ticket items may never be a priority, regardless of the city's budget condition.
What happened to MetJax? Is the site gone?
Smart Meters.
Written by stephen dare, Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 10:35:14 AM
has anyone heard anything about the installation of Smart Meters?
Quote
The bill funding them is still in Council, Stephen.
2007-0091 Approp $500,000 from NE Tax Incremt Dist to Purchase & Install new "Parking Meters in Downtown Jax" Proj, with Repaymt from Parking Rev of FY's 2007-2008 & 2008-2009 & Deposited in Downtown Economic Dev Fund; Auth Funds Carryover to FY 2007-2008; Amend Ord 2006-789-E (CIP) to auth Priority 1 Status for Proj. (BT 07-80) (Rohan) (Req of Mayor & CM Jenkins) Public Hearing Pursuant to Chapt 166, F.S. & CR 3.601 - 2/13/07
1/23/2007 In Committee ECID, Finance
http://citycirc.coj.net/coj/COJBillSearchNew.asp?S=1
Weren't the magical smart meters supposed to already be installed by now?
From the 2-13-07 City Council meeting minutes:
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE: February 05, 2007
Recommend be READ for the SECOND time and REREFERRED to the Committee(s) of reference.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC COMMUNITY & INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: February 06, 2007
Recommend be READ for the SECOND time and REREFERRED to the Committee(s) of reference.
REPORT OF COUNCIL: February 13, 2007
The Chair OPENED the Public Hearing and extended the Privilege of the Floor to anyone in the audience desiring to address the Council. The Chair CLOSED the Public Hearing.
In accordance with Rule 2.204 of the Rules of the Council, the bill was read for the SECOND time and RE-REFERRED to the Committee(s) of reference
http://citycirc.coj.net/coj/Minutes/97-FEBRUARY-13-2007.htm
From looking at the assigned committees' minutes on Council's website - It's been deferred by the committees since then.
What happened to MetJax? Has the site been wiped out?
We have decided to phase out metjax.com. The site was antiquated and ineffective. Welcome to the new world order.
So why is MetJax really down? Anyone know?
Since MetJax.com was causing me so many problems, it obviously had to go.
Good riddance!
Jim who hosts the MetJax site is in the process of relocating to Jacksonville. His wife is still on active military duty and may be redeployed to Iraq. When I last spoke with Jim, the plan was that he and the children would find a place and go ahead and move back to Jacksonville. A couple of explanations are possible at this point. First, you may remember the site went down two full days last month and was then sporadic for a couple more days until it was up and running. It could be a glitch in that system. The site came back up on it's own last time. It may happen that way again. Besides the MetJax site, Jim owns another very busy, sizable site with something in the order of 10,000 members if I am remembering correctly. It could be that he needed to temporarily take both sites down in order to make the move, or it is possible that while preparing the sites for the changes to come, they crashed and he doesn't have the time to deal with it right now. I am trying to find out exactly what is up. If I do I will share the info. I just think this is a glitch with the server. We should know soon enough. It is interesting to note however that there has been discussion and past concern with regard to potential efforts to derail MetJax. It will take Jim to work that out.
Diane
If they take Comedy Central down, I'm outta here...lol. Oh Canada!
Watching Reno911 at this exact moment.
I seriously doubt it is anything other than what has been indicated by Stephen and myself. Jim is in the middle of so much, this issue of site difficulties may have to wait on him. If we are lucky it will resolve itself and be up and running soon.
According to Jim, there have been some glitches on MetJax in the past that seemed a little odd. I know he was looking into it. There was another issue of an abuse of the MetJax site, Jim shared with me which Jim has filed a complaint about. Conspiracy, naw. Attempting to stir up trouble? Looks like it. Jim has it under control though.
On the evening news two of the legislators who will be voting on the tax legislation, Terry Fields and Wise both went on record to say that they felt the Mayor has greatly "overstated" the potential financial impact on Jacksonville by this legislation. They were unsure why he was making such dire predictions about a legislation that has several different proposals under discussion. They also stated that they felt Jacksonville would have no difficulty dealing with the legislation and should be able to absorb the changes readily without alot of problem.
Quite a different view from two individuals in the middle of the mix.
You saw them too????????
Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, Toto, it's a twister, it's a twister! No Met-Jax forums, this is just horrible. I haven't seen anything like this since that Anita Bryant concert. Now the whole web has fallen into unconsciousness, just like Bush, Crist, Peyton and Blaylock! Maybe computer's just aren't my game. I know! Let's have a spelling contest! Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit methamphetamine's! Crazy in Coral Springs.
Stephen have been in touch with light rail groups, we should have some blistering BRT vs LRT numbers to share after some "Amtrak business."
Ocklawaha
Here I was trying to post some lovely pictures of the city's Memorial Day activities at our "Wall" and there was no METJAX to post 'em on.
So have a look at this link.
www.home.earthlink.net/~kbear530
click the links to images to view. The movie may take a while to load. Use the back button to navigate.
S.E.
For anyone interested, my email address is:
aartworks@earthlink.net
Screamin Eagle (Frank)
Although metjax is down (for whatever reason) and I'm sure that there's some major governmental conspiracy behind it ...I see that many of us have wandered over to here....so I've decided to follow along, as I don't want to go through the withdraw on my own.
Glad to see you here Joan. Have a look at the Memorial Day pix posted in the previous post. You are in a couple of them.
S.E.
QuoteHere I was trying to post some lovely pictures of the city's Memorial Day activities at our "Wall" and there was no METJAX to post 'em on.
If you want, you can also post them here, in the same format. Here's an example, from your link.
(http://www.home.earthlink.net/~kbear530/IMGA0750.JPG)
Hey guys,
According to Ennis this morning. Jim is working on it, but having trouble getting the site reconnected to the net. There is also talk about connecting these two sites in order to keep someone available 24/7 in case stuff like this happens. Stephen can tell everyone about that.
Smiles, Diane
I was starting to worry, you guys. Thanks for the info, Diane. It has been frustrating not to be able to see what people were talking about, but I'm glad there is this venue to keep things straight. Any moderators and admin, please keep us posted on MetJax and when the kinks will be straightened. Thanks!
Dave
Hey Stephen!
Yeah, it is getting rather long. I just read the JTA Final Chapter of BRT, though. Great article.
Okay Troops,
I have worked backwards through this situation with MetJax Hosts and servers to find an answer to the missing forum we know and love. MetJax is still active with it's current hosting site through 5/2008. There are two servers that are being used for Jim's forums. Both servers are with the same company. Both servers are currently "not working". The company is in the throws of reworking their entire system to expand its capabilities. According to their online information the installation and upgrade is only partially complete. They are still working on several other aspects and do not give an estimated completion date for that work. Right now according to what they are saying, Jim cannot do anything until their installation is complete. He will then need to interface with them at that time. So, part of the mystery is solved. We need to wait it out for a few more days at least. I will continue to check up on it.
Diane
These past few days have made me realize how much time I really spend on Metjax every day. They sure have been boring while the forums have been down!