JTA Plans Major 2027 Cuts

[thelakelander]

Holon has always been a pipe dream of the floating nuclear power plant variety. The most realistic thing from that deal is us paying them millions for us to also buy their product from them.

We can put a bullet in its head and drive a stake through its heart to keep it from coming back alive as well.

[fsu813]

I am trying to understand what Dallas saw in Ford in making their decision.  Will be interesting to see how long he lasts there if they experience what we have seen in Jax.

Those who want a relationship builder, connections, visionary type for that role would be attracted to him. He is very good at certain things, and that's what some institutions may need.

[thelakelander]

If the project is scrapped, it seems like the only thing JTA can recoup any money on is the sprinter vans, $12 million shell of the building, and perhaps some software. Ideally there is an opportunity to sell or lease the AIC to UF, or to a tech company interested in being close to the new campus. But this will still be a tough pill to swallow. Better to cut losses as quickly as possible though.

Has anyone ever seen a more catastrophic public-sector project in Florida? Has anyone ever seen someone turn a mistake of this magnitude into a promotion? Truly wild.

When I was the chair of the LaVilla Heritage Trail & Gateways Committee, we knew this day would come, depsite the rest of the city burying its head in the sand.

We forced JTA to change the building's design and facade. While they may have thought it was about beautification, it was really about setting the space up for adaptive reuse. That day can't come soon enough, as its a major gateway between Downtown, LaVilla and Brooklyn.

That's right. I think I remember you talking about that on here. Great work, sir! It does seem like a fairly easy retrofit. And may be a good way to get UF some square footage quickly.

This is what they wanted to push through:



The original plan was a blank concrete wall and a fenced mechanical equipment yard facing the main street (Jefferson). Really innovative lol. Ultimately, these guys were just trying to blow through public money. That's the unfortunate reality, but when the community at least understands the dynamics, it becomes easy to get concessions to win the long term war (COJ/JTA blowing $100 million on NAVI is the short term battle loss).

So through community pushback (e.g. not fighting on spending the money, but willing to work with you to not screw up a key commercial block for another 100 years), we got the box to open up to the street, along with glazing included:


Its always funny how design teams make these renderings look vibrant lol. In reality, a Tire Kingdom attracts more people and doesn't require $40 million in tax money.

More importantly, the structure of the building is basically an over-designed strip mall. So we focused on hitting them over the head to revamp/open up the main facade and shift the location of the proposed mechanical yard:

Original Plan (Jefferson Street is to the north):


Final Plan (Jefferson Street is to the north):

[thelakelander]

I am trying to understand what Dallas saw in Ford in making their decision.  Will be interesting to see how long he lasts there if they experience what we have seen in Jax.

Those who want a relationship builder, connections, visionary type for that role would be attracted to him. He is very good at certain things, and that's what some institutions may need.

I don't know about the "visionary" thing, but there's definitely a skill set for managing relationships and politics to keep the gravy train going on something that never made sense in the first place. From my perspective, having years of professional experience in the field and knowing the pros and cons, it always sounded looney. He tried selling me on it and I had to remind him and the rest of team, don't bother. I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday.

[jaxlongtimer]

I am trying to understand what Dallas saw in Ford in making their decision.  Will be interesting to see how long he lasts there if they experience what we have seen in Jax.

Those who want a relationship builder, connections, visionary type for that role would be attracted to him. He is very good at certain things, and that's what some institutions may need.

Nothing wrong with appreciating those skills if they lead to appropriate good results.  But, like anything, using it the wrong way or to do harm isn't attractive.  I would argue that is what happened in Jax.

[thelakelander]

Everything that has gone on with the U2C/NAVI has literally set Jax back a full decade or generation, as far as mass transit goes. He's not totally responsible. There's a lot of blame to go around. However, the only true way to move forward is having a fresh start all around. That includes with leadership as well.

[jaxlongtimer]

Can this be?!  A crack in the NAVI/U2C wall at the JTA board?

...."I'm not sure it's benefited us recently to be on the bleeding edge of technology from an expense standpoint, from (a) what we can deliver standpoint," member Max Glober said. "When we're looking at a CEO, we need to have fiscal responsibility as one of the top criteria that we're looking for.

"We're going into a really tough budget year with the (Jacksonville City) Council. We're going into an uncertain future where sales tax revenues continue to decline, and I think that that's something that we need to kind of flag on our end and make sure we have someone who's very effective at tying these communities together and driving us forward."...

And, adding this updated quote:

....Debuting June 30, 2025, NAVI ridership averaged 41.66 daily riders from July 2025 through June 2026, less than a quarter of the JTA's goal of 280 riders a day by 2035.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2026/aug/04/jacksonville-transportation-authority-board-lays-out-process-for-hiring-ceo-interim/

[thelakelander]

The Captain has already abandoned the ship. Time to let this Titantic sink.

[marcuscnelson]

You really have to wonder why it took this damn long for anyone in a position of oversight or authority to say anything as basic as this.

It was a glaring question that people have asked for years, why it would be beneficial for Jacksonville (not just JTA executives, not just Chamber boosters) to spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars to try and do this first, and no one, all the way up to multiple Mayors and Council Members across party lines, have had a real answer for it.

That said, here's also some meat from that article:

Board members also established their initial requirements for a candidate to replace Ford long-term while deciding to use an outside firm to find a CEO. The board's minimum qualifications for the CEO, not all of which would need to be met by the next CEO as determined by board discretion, included:

• A bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
• Five years of experience in an executive or senior leadership role in a transit or transportation agency, or in a comparable public or private sector enterprise.
• Five or more years of experience in a major transportation program or industry of similar complexity, including experience in managing a bus, fixed guideway, or multimodal transportation system.
• Either being a resident of the five Northeast Florida counties serviced by JTA or establishing residency in those counties within 12 months of accepting the CEO position.

Candidates with experience managing a highway or roadway department, overseeing road and bridge construction or managing a significant engineering or public works operation in the public sector will also be given consideration.

Who could the prospects be? Tri-Rail just hired an executive from Austin's transit agency after their previous director departed for Indiana. There are the people who recently swung and missed for those jobs elsewhere, like the transit head in Columbus who lost on DART to Ford. Then possibly whoever the interim is (my guess would be Gillis or Smith) wanting to stay. Would be nice to get an outsider of some kind with good ideas but I'd suspect the process and use of the search firm probably preclude that.