Gov. Scott: Jax's economic development not aggressive enough

[thelakelander]

Rick Scott believes we're losing to Florida's other cities when it comes to economic development.

At Councilwoman Lori Boyer's son's college graduation in Raleigh, N.C., another student father's told Boyer how impressed he was with Gov. Rick Scott's economic development efforts: The man had just received a call from Scott, who was trying to recruit his business to come to Florida.

On Sept. 29, when Scott visited Jacksonville to attend a Jaguars game, Boyer told him how impressed she was by the story. But the feeling isn't mutual: Scott, Boyer said, told her Jacksonville lags Florida's other cities in job growth, and that he thinks other municipalities are more aggressive in their recruitment efforts — that city council members and business leaders are more involved elsewhere.

On Thursday morning, Boyer will bring that conversation before the city's consolidation task force.

Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2013/10/16/gov-scott-jacksonvilles-economic.html

[mtraininjax]

Not aggressive enough? Hey we just landed a couple hundred mortgage processing jobs that came back to us as a result of the economy getting better. We are well on our way of reclaiming the mortgage processing capital of Florida, at least until the next housing bubble!

Cecil Field development has been very quiet of late, not much coming out of the Chamber of Commerce either. Perhaps Scott is right!

[icarus]

Are you netting out the several hundred mortgage jobs we are losing as the mortgage market slows down?

[carpnter]

IMO this lack of aggressiveness is a direct result of having a weak Mayor who apparently does not know how to lead.

[Dapperdan]

Here is a question that no one dares ask. Should talks start to de-consolidate ( is that a word?) the county and city? I really think Jacksonville city borders should be reconsidered. Just a  thought.

[thelakelander]

Here is a question that no one dares ask. Should talks start to de-consolidate ( is that a word?) the county and city? I really think Jacksonville city borders should be reconsidered. Just a  thought.

Consolidated cities like Nashville, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, NYC, San Francisco and Boston seem to be doing ok.  While non-consolidated cities like Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo, Richmond and Birmingham are stagnant or struggling with decline.  The car seems fine, we just need to improve our driving skills.

[fieldafm]

Hey we just landed a couple hundred mortgage processing jobs that came back to us as a result of the economy getting better.

I assume you are being sarcastic.  The mortgage business is starting to drastically shrink again.

[Stephen]

Maybe the Mayor needs to consider marketing Jacksonville as a place to move a business or maybe we need a new mayor.

[jcjohnpaint]

I think we need more than a new mayor.  We need a clean sweep of all council members aside from Lori Boyer. 

[simms3]

Here is a question that no one dares ask. Should talks start to de-consolidate ( is that a word?) the county and city? I really think Jacksonville city borders should be reconsidered. Just a  thought.

Consolidated cities like Nashville, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, NYC, San Francisco and Boston seem to be doing ok.  While non-consolidated cities like Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo, Richmond and Birmingham are stagnant or struggling with decline.  The car seems fine, we just need to improve our driving skills.

Can't really throw SF, Boston, and Philadelphia in there as consolidated in the same sense as Jacksonville, Nashville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, etc.  <50 sq mi versus 500+ = a very incomparable difference.  Jax would be similar to SF if SF and Silicon Valley suburbs and Oakland were all in the same city, when in reality they are multiple municipalities with different needs and different political climates.

What's more comparable is the push in the "consolidated" cities of Boston and San Francisco to work with the metro region as a whole to solve housing and jobs issues - THAT's a much better analogy to consolidated Jax and where Jacksonville has the leg up since it is consolidated under single leadership.

The difference is if San Francisco wants to add transit or ban plastic, it generally has the buy-in for a cause from everyone since everyone is liberal and shares similar views (except on housing).  But if San Francisco wants jobs but doesn't want more housing, it can't also rely on its neighbors to provide the housing or accept a train extension since all the other suburbs are anti-growth as well.  Whereas Jacksonville if it had good leadership can really plan for a great city and do well for itself.

Consolidated + large + bad leadership = bad results
Consolidated + large + good leadership = great results

Why can't we just work on our leadership?

[thelakelander]

^Those last three lines pretty much sums it up. It's all about leadership.

[Stephen]

Hopefully in 2014 MJ can help keep us abreast on candidates, debates etc so we can be informed about the elections. It is obvious to me that Mayor Brown is useless and I think Love is too

[carpnter]

I think we need more than a new mayor.  We need a clean sweep of all council members aside from Lori Boyer.

I am not going to disagree with that, but at least if we had a mayor who could lead, he would know how to get the council to support his goals. 

[Stephen]

How about Lori Boyer for Mayor?

[jcjohnpaint]

Honesty, she probably could get more done as a council member