From the office of Mayor Peyton
Jacksonville Will Receive $7.8 Million Federal Grant
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 8, 2009 â€" Through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, the City of Jacksonville will receive approximately $7.8 million from the Department of Energy under an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG). The grant application was approved July 27, 2009 and includes opportunities for the city to gather ideas and input from the Jacksonville community.
The grant funds can be utilized for government or private programs and/or projects that must provide substantial, sustainable and measurable energy savings, job creation and economic stimulus effects on the First Coast.
Eligible activities include:
· Residential and commercial building energy audits
· Financial incentive programs for energy efficiency
· Energy efficiency retrofits for existing facilities
· Energy efficiency and conservation programs for buildings and facilities
· Development and implementation of transportation programs
· Development and implementation of energy efficient building codes and inspections
· Energy distribution through energy resource technologies
· Material conservation programs
· Reduction and capture of methane and greenhouse gases
· Traffic signals and street lighting
· Renewable energy technologies on government buildings
Decisions for use of the block grant funds will be based on the following criteria: relationship of the project to the city’s goals, proposed number of jobs created or retained, proposed energy savings or renewable energy generated, amount of GHG and CO2 equivalent emissions reduced and the amount of funds that will be leveraged in conjunction with the grant.
The city has entered into a contract with Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc. (RS&H) to be the program manager.
To submit suggestions or ideas, contact RS&H by October 15 at either EECBG.Projects@rsandh.com or
(904)256-2239.
Traffic signals gets my vote!! Please fix the timing on signals so I don't waste all my gas sitting at red light after red light after red light. Lights that change when there isn't a car on the side street and hasn't been one for hours. Lights that change on the same street one right after the other so you just go block to block to block..talk about energy in-efficient.
Quote from: jbroadglide on October 08, 2009, 06:16:05 PM
Traffic signals gets my vote!! Please fix the timing on signals so I don't waste all my gas sitting at red light after red light after red light. Lights that change when there isn't a car on the side street and hasn't been one for hours. Lights that change on the same street one right after the other so you just go block to block to block..talk about energy in-efficient.
Whatever happened to our "intelligent transportation system"? Could this money make a dent in implementing that?
Out of those choices my vote goes to the traffic lights too.
Quote from: stjr on October 08, 2009, 06:42:54 PM
Whatever happened to our "intelligent transportation system"? Could this money make a dent in implementing that?
the regional ITS system is being implemented...they are about to install signal timing upgrades on Atlantic Blvd and Philips Hwy.
The main big ticket item is the Transportation Management Center, which would be housed at the transportation hub planned next to the Prime Osborn...but the entire transportation hub would likely cost $75 million or more
Quote from: tufsu1 on October 08, 2009, 06:52:59 PM
Quote from: stjr on October 08, 2009, 06:42:54 PM
Whatever happened to our "intelligent transportation system"? Could this money make a dent in implementing that?
the regional ITS system is being implemented...they are about to install signal timing upgrades on Atlantic Blvd and Philips Hwy.
The main big ticket item is the Transportation Management Center, which would be housed at the transportation hub planned next to the Prime Osborn...but the entire transportation hub would likely cost $75 million or more
I assume the TMC would be a much smaller element of the total $75 million. Let's look at getting that done now and maybe putting it in the increasingly vacant Federal Reserve Building across the way from Prime Osborn. That building is a fortress if there ever was one, perfect for such a hub system. How many square feet do they need? I am sure that building has state of the art technology given the current main occupant.
yes...but the TMC would probably still cost $10 million or so....fyi, the region has applied for stimulus funding theorugh the TIGER program for starting the hub.
If we can't get the grant, you'd rather build a TMC right now and then unplug it and move it into the hub 5-10 years later?
Perhaps some of this money should go to funding the next phase of the streetcar study. We're going to screw ourselves if we don't have a viable plan ready to go before Obama leaves office.
ITS is being implemented slowly right now. We are talking about 7.8 Million for "Developement of Transportation Programs" .....isn't this what we have been working towards? Could this be the door being opened? Guys and Gals this could be the in that we have needed!
Amtrak back downtown and a satellite station near the Avenues?
Maybe a portion of these funds should go to making this happen in conjunction with the Amtrak/FEC project. Both would promote the idea of transit oriented development (hint: a green initiative) around them and if the Amtrak line goes up to 6 round trips a day, it could be used as a peak hour commuter alternative to I-95/Philips between the Avenues and DT (hint: another green initiative).
After all, I-95 will be a parking lot for 10-15 years once the Overland Bridge and JTB interchange projects get underway.
Quote from: tufsu1 on October 08, 2009, 07:55:46 PM
yes...but the TMC would probably still cost $10 million or so....fyi, the region has applied for stimulus funding theorugh the TIGER program for starting the hub.
If we can't get the grant, you'd rather build a TMC right now and then unplug it and move it into the hub 5-10 years later?
Why not get the TMC now and leave it where it's built? I am not sure of its components, but if it's a control center, it seems it could be almost anywhere. What is important is if it makes transportation modes more efficient. Fill us in. Thanks.
Is this green enough? An Amtrak corridor service train in California.
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/photos/thumbs/lrg-7768-el_cobrador-flickr.jpg)
It would be nice if Jax could set up "no-frills" Amtrak stations in DT and the Avenues to take advantage of the Amtrak/FEC project.
Here is an example of "no-frills." An Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train station in suburban LA.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/467546956_QX6t4-M.jpg)
City officials..if you are reading...please fix the weird manhole cover situation that we have going on in this city. It freaks out our visitors (and it is killing the suspension on my truck-Riverside Ave near Publix in particular). Out of town visitors always ask....why can't they be counter-sunk and filled like "normal" cities?
I will get back to what the rest of the 7.8 mil should be spent on shortly. :)
Quote from: DavidWilliams on October 08, 2009, 11:23:06 PM
City officials..if you are reading...please fix the weird manhole cover situation that we have going on in this city. It freaks out our visitors (and it is killing the suspension on my truck-Riverside Ave near Publix in particular). Out of town visitors always ask....why can't they be counter-sunk and filled like "normal" cities?
David, I, too, have brought up manholes such as the NEWLY REBUILT Hendricks Avenue where they have been incorrectly installed (covers sit below the rims) and poorly built (crumbling concrete around the rims) since day one and falling apart ever since. Driving Hendricks is like dodging land mines. Impossible to stay in the traffic lane if you want to preserve your car's suspension.
Same all over town, especially the outer concrete rings. It doesn't look like they use any reinforcing. Regardless, there has to be a higher, more durable standard for these things. Much of this is actually FDOT. I don't know where their quality control is but we taxpayers should get our money back. Just like the peeling paint on the traffic light posts (is that fixed yet, after several years?!) Really, what is the problem getting what we pay for???!!!!
For manholes, please join our thread at http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,5490.0.html with your complaint and keep the attention on the subject. I would like to see MJ do a photo essay on this and embarrass our city road keepers into action.
Makes me wonder if Gate Concrete had something to do with that.......I mean after all they seem to get most of the Concrete based projects around here.........use that $7.8 Million for a no-frills station both north and south, tie it into the Amtrak/FEC system or use to implement downtown rail system......talk about an option that could be beneficial for all....downtown need the boost and the masstransit system!
I would definitely vote for taking some of that money to begin the next set of streetcar studies....$1 million should suffice....otherwise, it may be another 5 years before $ for that is found.
I agree. I don't even think it would cost $1 million.
One mil for a street car study? We have a person on Metro Jacksonville who I believe has pretty much done 90% of such a study…just put a bust of him on one of the cars like the sailing ships of yore and I bet he’d do most of it for free! ;D We just saved 7 to 800 K so put it with the rest and start the street car line.
I agree strider...but Ock in not within the power circle here in Jax so that might cause a problem....like something might get done for once!
I think we should spend it on:
1) Studies out the gazoo, because we don't spend enough killing more trees just to learn something we already know.
2) We need more concrete, its plentiful in Florida, and we should claim more for ourselves before our sister cities in FLA do the same.
3) We need to spend it on changing all 1-way streets to 2-lane, and then fix all the street signs and light poles peeling, clean up the system. Add racing stripes when appropriate, add neon lights to all intersections, make it cool downtown, for the 5 people who are downtown nightly.
^^5 people downtown nightly? apparently you haven't been Downtown on Friday night as of recent. You need to get out more. I was down there 2 weeks ago on a Friday night, the Landing was packed as well as Bay St.
Quote from: CS Foltz on October 09, 2009, 09:20:12 AM
I agree strider...but Ock in not within the power circle here in Jax so that might cause a problem....like something might get done for once!
It has nothing to do with being in a local power circle...the next set of studies I'm talking about are environmental studies required by state and Federal government....and believe me, they are very data intensive and require significant public involvement and agency cordination.
Plus, we'd never get any $ for construction or operations/maintenance from either source without the studies.
We can study study study but will never get anything accomplished at the rate we are going! This is why I say the current Administration has no vision and no plan for anything. They can not see beyond their collective noses and how it directly effects them.......not us the public! Have no problem if additional studies are needed by that money was available for implementation. Granted a study,environmental wise is prudent, but these are things that should have already been done! They are not so back to square one again!
I don't disagree...it would have been great if the City had started studying streetcars 10 or more years ago....but the past is the past....we need to move on
tufsu1 I agree........which is why I say "No vision or plan"! No Administration in the past 20 years had the forward vision to anticipate what would be needed down the road! They should have been able to open a drawer and pull something out and just update the needed information. I have no problem with another "Study" just irritating that we have to play catchup again and pretty much start from scratch one more time!