Is U2C serious? Help me make it make sense....

[Ken_FSU]

Epic recap, Marcus.

Meanwhile, we might be getting more clarity on what the board will look like.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/jan/30/gov-desantis-makes-nominations-for-jacksonville-transportation-authority-board/

[jaxlongtimer]

Clay County on the JTA board?  I thought this was the JACKSONVILLE Transportation Authority.  Another example of the issues here.

• Vallencourt is vice president of Vallencourt Construction Co. Inc., and the owner of Clay Theatre Events LLC. He is a member of the Clay County Development Authority.

And, he just appointed Horner a year ago and is already changing him out?  So much for consistency.  Serving on this board is a joke. No wonder Ford has his way with it.

February 17 2025
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Max Glober and Donald "Donnie" Horner III to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.

Max Glober
Glober is the Vice President of Marketing at First Coast Energy, LLP. Active in his community, he previously served as a member of the Jacksonville Historical Preservation Commission. Glober earned his bachelor's degree in government from the College of William and Mary and his master's degree in business administration and juris doctor from the University of South Carolina. 

Donald "Donnie" Horner III
Horner is the Vice President of Investor Relations for Intrepid Capital Management. A veteran of the United States Navy, he is a Trustee for the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association and a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Horner earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the United States Naval Academy and his master's degree in business administration from Jacksonville University.

https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2025/governor-ron-desantis-appoints-two-jacksonville-transportation-authority

And, now...

....DeSantis nominated Alan Hopkins, Madelen Salter and Daniel Vallencourt for first-time appointments, and Max Glober, the board's secretary, for reappointment.

The JTA board is made up of seven seats. Four are appointed by the governor with confirmation by the Florida Senate, and three are appointed by Jacksonville's mayor with confirmation by City Council....

[thelakelander]

What will Clay County guy think of the U2C and the amount of focus and funding being dedicated to it over the needs of a greater city and regional population?

[marcuscnelson]

Clay County on the JTA board?  I thought this was the JACKSONVILLE Transportation Authority.  Another example of the issues here.

There was coverage here last year of the state changing the law governing the makeup of the JTA board:

https://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,38185.msg535771/topicseen.html#new

And, he just appointed Horner a year ago and is already changing him out?  So much for consistency.  Serving on this board is a joke. No wonder Ford has his way with it.

Perhaps trying to keep all the members to the same terms, in which case one of them would have to move or leave anyway.

This JTA executive set has seen many board members come and go, and seem seasoned in laying on the charm when it counts. The question is whether these new members will be susceptible to that, interested in better transit for the region, or focused on other interests.

Vallencourt's primary specialties are site preparation and road construction, which may not lend themselves well to a focus on transit service and rail development. Hopkins is an economist, which presumably means they'll lean hard on the purported economic benefits of the Holon factory to justify continuing with NAVI. Salter is less clear, but she seems to come from the Chamber pack which tends to let things ride at JTA (see: Wallace).

It's really up to them to decide if they want to seek the truth or would rather not rock the boat.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ He reappointed Glober who came on at the same time as Horner so I would think he could have also reappointed Horner.

Based on the below quote from your "law change" post, I gather that only one could come from Duval so maybe that is why Horner is out.  But, that implies that one is from Clay, one from St. Johns and one from Nassau.  Is that the case? Aside from Clay, who is from where?

The governing body of the authority shall be composed of seven members. Four members shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. Of the four members appointed by the Governor, one must be a resident of Duval County, one must be a resident of Clay County, one must be a resident of St. Johns County, and one must be a resident of Nassau County. Three members shall be appointed by the mayor of the City of Jacksonville subject to confirmation by the council of the City of Jacksonville. Members appointed by the mayor of the City of Jacksonville must be residents and qualified electors of Duval County.

[marcuscnelson]

The Glober and Horner appointments last year were before the new law came into effect.

It appears that the residency breakdown is Glober from Duval County, Hopkins from Nassau, Vallencourt from Clay, and Salter from St. Johns.

[Charles Hunter]

JTA already enters into interlocal agreements with the other counties for transit services. I don't know if the Legislature is trying to "regionalize" the JTA or what.

With the Mayor's 3 appointments, which must be from Duval, Jacksonville still has a majority of the board members.

[marcuscnelson]

JTA already enters into interlocal agreements with the other counties for transit services. I don't know if the Legislature is trying to "regionalize" the JTA or what.

With the Mayor's 3 appointments, which must be from Duval, Jacksonville still has a majority of the board members.

In a sense, I think they are. JTA is already essentially the primary provider of transit service in two out of three of those surrounding counties, with a decent chance of taking the third when its contract with the Council on Aging comes up... I believe next year, actually. What I noted last year as a concern was that this change in board makeup did not include any obligation on the part of those counties to actually provide financial or strategic support to JTA while now being a potential veto on positive actions in Duval County.

In theory now (well, once the Senate confirms these nominees), you only need any one of the members from Duval (including the Governor's nominees or the Mayor's) to "defect" to the suburban counties (presuming they are united against Duval County's interests) to defeat actions that would benefit projects in Jacksonville. That could mean NAVI and the U2C program, but it could also mean investment in the Emerald Trail or transit service in Duval County or regional transit programs over road projects. That bodes poorly for the possibility of a transition from JTA's historic practices of enormous spending for poorly developed "transit" projects and roads to a future in which responsible investments are made in transit programs and safer mobility corridors for all.

[jaxlongtimer]

TeslaTSLA Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy testified Wednesday before a Senate committee hearing on the future of self-driving to advocate for federal autonomous driving standards — something that would make Tesla's goal of an autonomous future that much more possible. While many of the senators were excited about the prospect of furthering self-driving tech in general, overall Tesla seemed to face more criticism than Google's Waymo, whose chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, also testified at the event....

....Senator Ben Ray Luján focused on one of the central philosophical divides in autonomous driving: lidar vs. cameras. (Waymos are outfitted with numerous relatively expensive lidar sensors, while Tesla relies solely on cameras to detect objects in its path, a choice that it has said saves money and is just as reliable.)...

https://sherwood.news/tech/tesla-falls-after-senators-voice-skepticism-about-fsd-and-lack-of-lidar/

Does anyone here know if Holon is planning to use lidar plus cameras on its vehicles?  Do the NAVI's currently use lidar?

...The self-driving wing of Alphabet ended 2025 having served 15 million trips in five major U.S. markets, including Austin, Texas; Atlanta; Los Angeles; Phoenix; and the San Francisco Bay Area. In January, Waymo began operating its service in Miami....

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/04/alphabet-googl-q4-2025-earnings.html

How many paid trips did JTA say they have to date?  You say, only a few dozen? a few hundred?  And you plan to take on Waymo? Did Miami just leapfrog Jax by a 15+ million miles a year technology?

[Jax_Developer]

Both the Ford Vans & HOLON use LIDAR. Tesla is the only camera based system to my knowledge.

[Lostwave]

The blue ford vans in downtown Jacksonville use human drivers.