Zero Dollars for Resurfacing in Mayor's Budget

[JFman00]

Mayor Alvin Brown's proposed budget has nothing to resurface roads

I have no words for this. My friend who works for another state's governor's office is flabbergasted that citizens would allow cuts like this to happen.

[FSBA]

[Apache]

We have no money..with the lowest taxes around..conservative republicans who think that public anything isnt worth it..city employee promised the world...what do you expect..

That is pretty much the Conservative Republican mantra, but... I suspect if you ask 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans on the streets of Jax if they would like their taxes raised 90 of them would say no.

[thelakelander]

Nothing really surprising here. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip. We're getting what we're willing to pay for.  A substandard quality-of-life for a city our size.  Nevertheless, look on the bright side.  Each resident probably gets an extra $2 dollars in their annual income as a result of being cheap. Enjoy the 4 extra McDonald's apple pies.  Just eat one quarterly so you don't starve.

[tufsu1]

no money for resurfacing also means little to no money for restriping....so adding bike lanes isn't going to be happening either

That said, I think the Mayor's whole budget is a game to get Council to pass his pension reform plan.  Problem is, even with that passed, there is still a need for about $20 million in cuts and nobody knows what those are.

[peestandingup]

We have no money..with the lowest taxes around..conservative republicans who think that public anything isnt worth it..city employee promised the world...what do you expect..

That is pretty much the Conservative Republican mantra, but... I suspect if you ask 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans on the streets of Jax if they would like their taxes raised 90 of them would say no.

There are just as many Republicans as Democrats posting on these boards, and we all agree on these basic issues.  Don't you think its a little distracting to cover up every issue in partisan framing?  That way no one is responsible, and no one has to do anything because, you know....:politics.

It leads to nothing getting done locally and is a sickness that has paralyzed people for a generation now.  We cannot improve the city by declaring whole chunks of the people who live here undesirable and then pretending its not our responsibility until those undesirables have gone. (whichever you think is the undesireable half)

This is neither a republican nor a democratic issue.  Everyone drives on the same roads.

This is an issue that comes from building 10 times more roads than we can afford to maintain while having the lowest taxes of any large city of the US.

Its pretty simple.  If you want low taxes, you build extremely compact well planned infrastructure.

If you want lots of roads, you raise taxes to pay for them.

We are doing the opposite of both.

And that has more to do with our non denominational planning and zoning process and our development community.

This. And I don't see this getting ANY better in the foreseeable future either since we've kinda already screwed the pooch regarding this outward growth movement, all the while people are making less & less money to pay for it all now. I reckon a lot of the city/outskirts is gonna get thrown under the bus in the next decade, not to mention much of the inner parts won't get the improvements, infrastructure or otherwise, that it desperately needs & that should have been happening 10 years ago. Now there won't be any money for it either. A big giant mess basically.

This is the part where sprawl comes back & finally bites you in the ass, Jax.

[Ocklawaha]

And that has more to do with our non denominational planning and zoning process and our development community.

AH HA! So it's the fault of First Baptist Church! Aren't these the same type of Christian guys that got blamed for burning Rome?

[JFman00]

Couldn't agree more with Stephen and peestandingup. The way things are going with these cuts in *basic* city services, this city is writing its own obituary. Death spiral here we come.

[thelakelander]

Detroit had these types of conversations 30 years ago. I wonder how that all turned out?

[CityLife]

I hear that FDOT is not too pleased with COJ regarding landscaping maintenance either.

[Tacachale]

This is brinksmanship to get the mayor's pension reform deal passed. Unfortunately, that deal is as full of holes as the budget proposal.

[BrooklynSouth]

This is brinksmanship to get the mayor's pension reform deal passed. Unfortunately, that deal is as full of holes as the budget proposal.

The mayor has to keep an anti-tax position to keep his pro-business backers for the next election. I wish there were a way to educate the Chamber of Commerce on how taxes can LEAD to growth and jobs.

[BrooklynSouth]

Nothing really surprising here. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip. We're getting what we're willing to pay for.  A substandard quality-of-life for a city our size.  Nevertheless, look on the bright side.  Each resident probably gets an extra $2 dollars in their annual income as a result of being cheap. Enjoy the 4 extra McDonald's apple pies.  Just eat one quarterly so you don't starve.

There is so much mistrust, our government can't spend anything without someone thinking its a boondoggle or a corrupt deal. When I see how New York City built the Brooklyn Bridge Park, I'm just in awe of how a real city can spend money to improve things and have the locals support and cheer for it. The Times-Union just hurts the city every time it has an expose on how a JEA truckdriver was spotted eating a sandwich on duty or how FSCJ has some inefficiency or incompetancy in its administration. It is lazy reporting that depends on free public data from the Internet to make the government look like a villain, instead of footwork and phonework to find out what's really helping or hurting the city. I'm not saying city employees and officials should get a free pass, but I'm tired of the government being made out to be the villain in every story, as if no business EVER had a bad employee or manager whose actions hurt the city. As if there were no benefits at all to having a working, professional government. As if we'd all be better off under total anarchy.

[Tacachale]

This is brinksmanship to get the mayor's pension reform deal passed. Unfortunately, that deal is as full of holes as the budget proposal.

The mayor has to keep an anti-tax position to keep his pro-business backers for the next election. I wish there were a way to educate the Chamber of Commerce on how taxes can LEAD to growth and jobs.

Not really. The Chamber and the Civic Council are against Brown's proposals, but he's pushing ahead anyway. As an aside, both groups were also for the human rights ordinance, and he was, shall we say, not. If he's carrying water, it's not for the business community.

[MEGATRON]

This is brinksmanship to get the mayor's pension reform deal passed. Unfortunately, that deal is as full of holes as the budget proposal.

The mayor has to keep an anti-tax position to keep his pro-business backers for the next election. I wish there were a way to educate the Chamber of Commerce on how taxes can LEAD to growth and jobs.

He's already lost that crowd.