A rather influential group of Jacksonville's leaders have announced the formation of a new civic group:
QuoteThe 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.â€
The full story is available here: http://jacksonville.com/business/2010-02-16/story/non_group_disbands_launches_jacksonville_civic_council
Thoughts?
I believe some folks on this site refer to this as the GOB network.
Reagan Youth!
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.
iPad of Jacksonville.
Oh boy, isn't that a list of the "usual suspects"? Should have just called it the Developer's Cabal.
They should invite Lake to join. Those dues could be heavy though.
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!
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.
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.
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!
Quote“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.
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.
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.
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?"
This group also has the money to back projects they see as worthwhile.
The problem is that many of these people are not in the business of improving Jacksonville, but in the business of seeing that public money and government support flows to their business interests. There are some really fine people in this group, but there are also a lot of REALLY bad actors.
Umm except none of these people are elected by people.
Some of them run companies that have been ripping off people without any shame.
And timing is perfect,now that Peyton is going out they finally decided to do something about leadership.
Seems to me they need another Peyton in office to protect their interests and not interests of people.
We need elected leaders that are not corrupted and looking to improve lives of people,not a group who wants to make more money of same people.
Quote from: Dog Walker on February 17, 2010, 02:06:52 PM
The problem is that many of these people are not in the business of improving Jacksonville, but in the business of seeing that public money and government support flows to their business interests. There are some really fine people in this group, but there are also a lot of REALLY bad actors.
I'm not sure that's fair...most of these folks believe they are doing what is best for their companies
and Jacksonville.
I agree with tufsu1 - these are folks who can get things done and many of them have made significant contributions to Jacksonville that don't directly benefit their respective businesses.
Yes, some of them are developers - but not all developers are "bad actors"! At least a couple of these developers have some really good ideas for improving infrastructure and delivery of services.....
Contributions are part of business.
That is FIRST thing you learn if you want to become businessman or a woman.
Donate money to charity so you don't look greedy and evil.
Take $100 and give back $5.
Now lets see what kind of improvements these people did for Jacksonville?
Did they say or offer any kind of support for mass transit?
How about redevelopment of crimes areas?
Quote from: tufsu1 on February 17, 2010, 02:20:46 PM
I'm not sure that's fair...most of these folks believe they are doing what is best for their companies and Jacksonville.
Yeah, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country."
Lynne Pappas, Jack Diamond, John Rood, John Delaney, Preston Haskell, Herb Peyton, Ron Autry, Fred Franklin, Mac McGriff, Tom Petway, Robert Rhodes are all orcs and would not be part of this if it did not directly and primarily benefit their businesses and careers.
TU, your boss is not on the list just above, not being known to me, but is suspect because of the position your company holds in the development community in this town.
What is good for these companies is what has gotten us into a whole bunch of the problems we have now.
Every candidate for office in this town is now expected to pucker up and go running to this group for endorsement and campaign contributions. Am I the only one who sees the connection between the formation of this group as a corporation and the recent Supreme Court decision re: corporate contributions to campaigns?
QuoteAm I the only one who sees the connection between the formation of this group as a corporation and the recent Supreme Court decision re: corporate contributions to campaigns?
That dealt with FEDERAL offices, and has no bearing on the local or state level. So, there is no there, there. Sorry to blow your conspiracy theory. Also, this 'new' group isn't 'new' at all, just reformulated.
Smart businesses understand that to be successful, it helps to operate in a city that is successful. It helps in employee recruitment, in gaining new customers, controlling costs, etc. In my city, the local businesses are helping the airport recruit a low-cost carrier, Southwest. If successful, it will lower the companies travel costs. It will also help the city recruit new jobs, because high airfares have been a proven inpediment to economic development. In other words, there is mutual benefit for the businesses and the city.
Stop buying into all this cynicism and dark motives.
Right.
Clearly there is no evidence of impropriety on the part of this group. We can all rest assured that our taxes and the future of our fair city are in good hands.
You should always try to watch the powerful they can be the biggest detriment or help to an area.