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[City officials, Holon silent over status of $100 million Northwest Jacksonville facility]

#71

Transportation, Mass Transit & Infrastructure / Re: Is U2C serious? Help me ma...

Last post by acme54321 - May 18, 2026, 07:22:17 AM

City officials, Holon silent over status of $100 million Northwest Jacksonville facility

After plans for an April groundbreaking came and went for Holon's Northwest Jacksonville manufacturing facility, officials for the autonomous transportation company and Jacksonville's city government have shared no details on what could come next.

http://jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/may/18/city-officials-holon-silent-over-status-of-100-million-northwest-jacksonville-facility/

Things that make you go Hmmmm.....

#72

Downtown / Re: Culinary Institute of Amer...

Last post by marcuscnelson - May 17, 2026, 08:44:20 PM

I almost wonder if something like this wouldn't actually be very appropriate for the RiversEdge plot that's purportedly been intended for a hotel for some time now. It could leverage the parking at the DCPS building, it's near the Skyway (however helpful that might be), and just down the street from the subsidized restaurant at Friendship Fountain, plus whatever restaurants might emerge around it.

#73

Downtown / Re: Friendship Fountain Restau...

Last post by thelakelander - May 17, 2026, 06:32:06 PM

^This. With politics, throw logic out of the window.

#74

Downtown / Re: Culinary Institute of Amer...

Last post by jaxlongtimer - May 17, 2026, 02:56:16 PM

Just adding a few observations:
* Aside from the usual concerns over incentives, the location is an appropriate issue to raise.  I heard that this was possibly considered for Corner Lot's Riverside property.  Maybe that doesn't work, but there has to be many other and better options.  This is especially true if it needs a large number of parking spaces.  It may also need tractor/trailer access for food, equipment and supply deliveries.
* Graduates from CIA typically become high end chefs that can easily make 6 figures and/or restauranteurs, not the usual minimum wage restaurant worker.  It would be like saying Ivy League grads are being trained for low wage jobs.
* Whatever the City does, it needs to receive a guarantee from CIA that it won't create any other locations in the Southeast or that would compete with the Jax location.  Watering down the uniqueness of hosting the CIA would only increase the risk of the incentives receiving the expected payback.
* CIA needs to also guarantee certain performance levels for the school in terms of courses, students, instructors, curriculum/classes, etc.  If it is a second level school, again, it won't meet local expectations associated with any incentives.

#75

Science and Technology / Re: Wordle?

Last post by jaxlongtimer - May 17, 2026, 02:41:45 PM

It's been a good run, but it appears it is time to suspend this thread.  I will continue to do the games for my personal challenge and enjoyment and wish the same to the many others who clearly followed this thread giving it over 1.3 million views.

If someone decides to pick it up at a future date, have at it  .

[three times more taxpayer dollars]

#76

Downtown / Re: Friendship Fountain Restau...

Last post by vicupstate - May 17, 2026, 02:19:08 PM

It is quite incredible the scrutiny for tiny amounts of affordable housing funding compared to projects like this

It's truly wild. As a city, we've committed three times more taxpayer dollars from the general fund for this single, ultra-luxury apartment complex ($38 million) than we've committed to affordable housing and homeless services for the entire year combined ($12 million).

Jacksonville has a 50,000 unit shortfall in affordable housing that our citizens openly report to be the most important issue in Jacksonville, and wildly unproven demand for $5k apartment rents on the river.

It's weird to me how elements of the city gets themselves worked into an uproar over spending money on parks or stadium improvements, but no one seems to be questioning a monstrous, near-$40 million cash hand out from taxpayers to Related.

Think of how hard those dollars could work if used for down payment assistance, beefing up an affordable housing trust like you see in cities like Atlanta, expanding beds in homeless shelters, subsidizing more workforce housing with state support, etc.

I'm sure it will be beautiful, I question if it will be full, and have no doubt that are better uses of taxpayer dollars, at a time when the city's general fund is already stretched thin. Subsidies for projects like the Gateway Publix development, stadium improvements, Laura Street Trio, parks, and even the Four Seasons all make sense to me. They're providing reasonably equitable public services, saving critically endangered historic building stock, or addressing a major gap in the market that will start generating bed tax dollars immediately. Don't see it with this one. REV grants and a $10 million completion grant? Sure. $38 million from the general fund. Woof.

A lot of things in life in regards to government spending and priorities make a lot more sense when you understand this nugget of truth:

The first priority of government is to enrich the rich, or at least make them happy.

[three times more taxpayer dollars]

#77

Downtown / Re: Friendship Fountain Restau...

Last post by Ken_FSU - May 17, 2026, 11:43:09 AM

It is quite incredible the scrutiny for tiny amounts of affordable housing funding compared to projects like this

It's truly wild. As a city, we've committed three times more taxpayer dollars from the general fund for this single, ultra-luxury apartment complex ($38 million) than we've committed to affordable housing and homeless services for the entire year combined ($12 million).

Jacksonville has a 50,000 unit shortfall in affordable housing that our citizens openly report to be the most important issue in Jacksonville, and wildly unproven demand for $5k apartment rents on the river.

It's weird to me how elements of the city gets themselves worked into an uproar over spending money on parks or stadium improvements, but no one seems to be questioning a monstrous, near-$40 million cash hand out from taxpayers to Related.

Think of how hard those dollars could work if used for down payment assistance, beefing up an affordable housing trust like you see in cities like Atlanta, expanding beds in homeless shelters, subsidizing more workforce housing with state support, etc.

I'm sure it will be beautiful, I question if it will be full, and have no doubt that are better uses of taxpayer dollars, at a time when the city's general fund is already stretched thin. Subsidies for projects like the Gateway Publix development, stadium improvements, Laura Street Trio, parks, and even the Four Seasons all make sense to me. They're providing reasonably equitable public services, saving critically endangered historic building stock, or addressing a major gap in the market that will start generating bed tax dollars immediately. Don't see it with this one. REV grants and a $10 million completion grant? Sure. $38 million from the general fund. Woof.

#78

Politics / Re: Jacksonville Elections 202...

Last post by copperfiend - May 17, 2026, 08:20:19 AM

I got blocked by Ron Armstrong on social media 😅..i guess i was challenging him too much 🤷💀...

He is a lunatic.

I am not sure he is anything more than a candidate for the Facebook fringe. He and people he has aligned himself with have shared some truly deranged stuff.

I am relieved I never went to the coffee shop he runs.

#79

Downtown / Re: Friendship Fountain Restau...

Last post by Jankelope - May 17, 2026, 08:11:18 AM

It's good to see them finally get started. Nothing wrong with another tower in the skyline.

I'm less enthused 

I'm all for development, and I realize I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, but not a fan of this project as it stands.

To me, I think it's the least defensible downtown incentive package I've seen since moving to Jacksonville 18 years ago. $60 million in incentives for ultra luxury apartments, with $3k to $8k monthly rents, unattainable to the average Jacksonville citizen.

The $38 million cash completion grant from the general fund is the equivalent of every household in Jacksonville writing Related a check for $100 to subsidize housing for the wealthy, at a time that every dollar we put into affordable housing and social services as a city is scrutinized to death and carved down to nothing. Even on paper, the convenient assumptions and mental gymnastics necessary to even get to a $1.13 ROI requires a 30 year calculation that will make your head spin.

When so many people are struggling to even put food on the table or gas in their cars at 3.8% inflation, negative wage growth, and 5% local unemployment, our taxpayer dollars should be going towards more equitable uses than high-end finishes for C-suite transplants. With the completion grant, it is not imaginary TIF funding. It is literally drawing from the paychecks of the city's working class to build housing for the 5%'ers that are already riding the benefits of K-shaped recovery while everyone else is getting squeezed.

I think it's as bad of a look as taking gas tax dollars from struggling families and ramming them into a vanity transit project that benefits no one and barely works. Our leaders' (and to be clear, both deals predated current leadership) ultimate responsibility is to look out for the populace and responsibly steward the hard-earned dollars we take from them.

If the intent of this massive package for the tower is to stimulate property taxes on the Southbank, I hope this is the last ask from Related for this area. There's no universe where we should allow them to double-dip on incentives if they take over the MOSH site.

It is quite incredible the scrutiny for tiny amounts of affordable housing funding compared to projects like this

#80

Public Safety / Jacksonville top source of "cr...

Last post by Charles Hunter - May 16, 2026, 01:18:00 PM

Everytown For Gun Safety analyzed data to track the source of "crime guns" - that is, guns used in the commission of crimes. The report lists the 25 US cities that provided the most crime guns during the 2021 to 2024 period. Jacksonville ranks #6 on the list, more than Tampa, Miami, or Orlando.

Tracking this data has become more difficult since the current federal administration has diverted resources and stopped practices relating to tracking gun sales.

The Trump administration has jeopardized federal efforts to prevent gun trafficking by diverting law enforcement resources and weakening dealer oversight activities. This will make it more difficult to identify the dealers that are providing guns to traffickers and embolden criminals engaging in this dangerous conduct.

The problem

For the first time, we have limited access to data on the cities that are the primary sources of crime guns in the U.S. Beginning in 2021, ATF partnered with a team of academic experts to examine firearm commerce, crime guns, and trafficking in a four-volume study called the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA).¹⁵ Volume Two of the NFCTA focuses on crime guns recovered and traced during domestic and international criminal investigations and includes individual reports for each state and 73 cities that provide detailed information on crime guns recovered in those jurisdictions for the period 2017 to 2021. These state and city reports include the top five source cities of crime guns per state and the total number of crime guns that were originally sold in each city.¹⁶ Compiling and combining this data from each NFCTA state and city report, we identified the top 25 source cities of crime guns traced nationwide during this period. Gun dealers in these cities were responsible for selling 209,748 crime guns during this period, accounting for 14 percent of all crime guns recovered and traced.¹⁷

Of the 209,748 crime guns in the Top 25, Jacksonville is responsible for 11,014 or about 5%.

A city's placement on the list of top 25 source cities for crime guns should be concerning to local leaders. Not only are gun dealers in these cities fueling gun violence around the country, but many of the crime guns being sold in these cities are likely being used in violent crime locally. According to the NFCTA state reports, in each of the states where these cities are located, at least half of all crime guns recovered in the state were originally sold by a dealer within 25 miles and nearly a third of the crime guns recovered in these states were recovered within 10 miles of where they were purchased.38 While gun trafficking is usually thought of as an issue of guns crossing state or national borders, in reality, crime guns often don't travel far after purchase and gun trafficking often involves moving guns short distances within a community.

Local leaders should start by taking a close look at the licensed gun dealers operating in these cities. Because of the federal restrictions on access to detailed trace data identifying which FFLs in these cities are the primary sellers of crime guns, it is more difficult for local leaders to know which dealers should receive additional scrutiny. However, one place to start is to use the limited publicly available data to narrow down the dealers in these cities that may warrant a closer look. We used three relevant factors to create a list of such gun dealers in Appendix 3: gun dealers that (1) had an active federal firearms license during the period from 2017 through 2021, (2) still had an active license as of January 2026, and (3) have been subject to ATF's Demand Letter 2 program for at least one year between 2021 and 2024.

Sadly, the recommendations in the 2nd paragraph are probably illegal in Florida. The Florida Attorney General would probably arrest any local official trying to implement any of these suggestions.