Jacksonville Strengths & Weaknesses Per A "Competitor"

[stjr]

From Florida Trend August issue spotlighting Jacksonville:

View from a Competitor

Florida Trend asked an economic development professional in a market that competes with Jacksonville to assess the city’s strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:
”Jacksonville has been linked ‘to a great sea by a great river’ since its beginning days. With the widening of the Panama Canal, scheduled for completion in 2014, Jacksonville is poised to assume an even more powerful leadership role in the coming era of giant cargo ships. But its greatest strength is its model of government, created in 1968. Jacksonville is today the envy of civic, business and governmental leaders from across our state, since its one-stop-style-of-local-government makes doing things in Jacksonville easy when compared to most other cities and counties in Florida.”

Weaknesses:
"Although it is the largest city in our state by size, when contrasted to and when competing with other regions of Florida, Jacksonville has a comparatively small population. As a result, it lacks some of the amenities and the quality of life image now being demanded by the creative class. In the years ahead, Jacksonville will have to learn how to better showcase its assets; not just to future residents now living in other parts of the United States, but to those citizens looking to relocate to the United States from other countries. This international competition for talent is going to be an especially difficult game for Jacksonville to win, unless it establishes new ways of recruiting highly skilled, highly educated, highly motivated workers, essential for the new economy.”

See: http://www.floridatrend.com/article.asp?page=1&aID=51436

So, why are we compounding our weaknesses by whacking education, considering not funding the arts that appeal to the "creative class", and cutting our investment in libraries, parks, etc. that appeal to those high paying wage holders we want to bring and retain here?

[Ocklawaha]

It's a simple game stjr, and so is the score:

BUBBA'S - 1
URBANITE'S - 0

OCKLAWAHA

[stjr]

It's a simple game stjr, and so is the score:

BUBBA'S - 1
URBANITE'S - 0

OCKLAWAHA

Ock, the Bubba's are assuring they will maintain the majority vote because the urbanites won't be coming here in enough numbers to become the majority anytime soon based on our recent approach to the city budget.  When will they realize that a "rising tide lifts all boats"! 

[mtraininjax]

You need to ask FCCJ, UNF, JU and the other local colleges what it is they are teaching and what the employers are asking for locally. You don't need a genious to drive a container off Blount Island, and most of the new terminals will be almost completely automated.

So what kind of degree do you need to drive a train? Just curious.

[stjr]

You need to ask FCCJ, UNF, JU and the other local colleges what it is they are teaching and what the employers are asking for locally. You don't need a genious to drive a container off Blount Island, and most of the new terminals will be almost completely automated.

So what kind of degree do you need to drive a train? Just curious.

Mtrain, there will always be some jobs that don't require more education, training, and "worldly knowledge".  But, they are shrinking as a percentage of the opportunities that offer a living, or better, wage.  More and more of these types of jobs are being either outsourced globally to cheaper labor markets or being supplanted with technology that automates the work (as you noted yourself).  As a result, the future offers much more potential to those who have the knowledge and skills to think and operate "independently" (i.e. require less supervision and on-the-job training) and/or excel in math, communications, multiple languages, and the wide ranging knowledge of increasingly diverse cultures and locations to which products are marketed to.

Our local colleges are needed to create a locally skilled and prepared workforce for today's world and to offer programs that provide post-graduate and/or workforce complimentary courses that raise skills and knowledge to higher levels to keep up with global competition.  Just as, if not more, importantly, our local K-12 education needs to be prepared to not only prepare our existing children for this "new world" but to meet the demands of those appreciative parents who bring the expectation of such an education with them as a requirement of living here.

The "unskilled" jobs that do exist as you mention, are at the discretion of those who come here with higher and loftier standards.  Those guys driving containers at the port are working for people that were willing to move here from places like Japan and Korea or places like New York or Los Angeles.  If those people can't find what they want here in quality of life, they don't come and neither do their companies.  And, that truck driver is out of a job.

[mtraininjax]

You do not know what the future holds for Jacksonville. As for better wages, who says that living at Sulzbacher versus driving a truck is not an improvement for some citizens? A good living wage is an improvement and for many years Jax was seen as only as gas station between Orlando and wherever people came from. Rail and Transportation jobs will dominate our local economy before financial ones return. Real estate will be important, but you must get financial jobs back first. The 500 new jobs at the FDIC ECTSO do not, to me, count as a sign of progress.

A new "thinking man's town" is not, to me, the future of Jacksonville. Healthcare will play a role with Mayo here and a strong network of hospitals, but Obama will find a way to screw up the healthcare system.

You really do need to see the proportion of transportation, container, and technology companies in Jacksonville, compared to the so called " financial and thinking man companies". Jacksonville was built on the backs of terpentine, ships, and logs. Blue collar work. You can't change that by dropping a few big buildings downtown or adding a pro football team. US Navy is also integral in the growth of Jax. If you are looking for businesses the size of Tampa, you are in the wrong city.

[thelakelander]

Not every position in these industries is blue collar.  Railroads, technology companies and the healthcare industry also employ high-skilled/educated/creative class workforces.  If Jax is to succeed expanding in these areas, it will have to do a better job at attracting the workforce needed to sustain them.

[stjr]

You do not know what the future holds for Jacksonville. As for better wages, who says that living at Sulzbacher versus driving a truck is not an improvement for some citizens? A good living wage is an improvement and for many years Jax was seen as only as gas station between Orlando and wherever people came from. Rail and Transportation jobs will dominate our local economy before financial ones return. Real estate will be important, but you must get financial jobs back first. The 500 new jobs at the FDIC ECTSO do not, to me, count as a sign of progress.

A new "thinking man's town" is not, to me, the future of Jacksonville. Healthcare will play a role with Mayo here and a strong network of hospitals, but Obama will find a way to screw up the healthcare system.

You really do need to see the proportion of transportation, container, and technology companies in Jacksonville, compared to the so called " financial and thinking man companies". Jacksonville was built on the backs of terpentine, ships, and logs. Blue collar work. You can't change that by dropping a few big buildings downtown or adding a pro football team. US Navy is also integral in the growth of Jax. If you are looking for businesses the size of Tampa, you are in the wrong city.

Mtrain, I, too, grew up here and my observation does not match yours.  I see that the world has changed much over the last 30 to 40 years and that, while I already admitted, the jobs you describe still exist,  those that do them are both fewer in proportion to all jobs and are falling further behind in the wages they make to those who are better prepared for the increasing number of more highly skilled jobs.  I am not judging anyone, just acknowledging the realities.

I work with logistics companies, and as globalization, multi-modal transit, the regulatory environment and complex demands of just-in-time and cost effective logistics increase, there is increased demand for workers who can navigate this type of world.  As you allowed, trains, loading/unloading, and even whole warehouse put-up, picking, and packaging are become automated.  Workers related to those functions need to monitor and maintain such sophisticated equipment, read reports and data spit out of computers to respond to exceptions noted, be capable of making fast, accurate, and quality decisions in the face of waves of oncoming information, and to coordinate multi-disciplinary tasks.

And, don't think the Navy doesn't need well prepared men and women to work on its ultra sophisticated technology.  Hey, today, we are flying robotic planes, operating robotic tanks, flying computerized planes, operating nuclear subs and ships, dropping laser guided bombs, and managing wars and missiles with satellites.  The military needs more and more computer techs, mathematicians,  and robotics experts for this stuff.  There are those that predict tomorrow's (if not, already,today's) wars will be won by technology, not manpower.

I sense you are holding on to Jacksonville's past and in denial of its future.  I respect your right to do that, but I don't see you stopping the inevitable transformation.  The only real question is how long it takes for us to adapt and catch up with the rest of the world around us.  The sooner the better for our community.

[mtraininjax]

LOL! I hardly live in denial, but I appreciate the psychosis. We see two different cities. I do not believe we have enough people teaching math and science at our local schools. The local schools may have very nice technical programs, but I do not see lots of these people as the leaders of our local future. In fact, I see fewer and fewer jobs due to the fact that employers will be hiring people to solve complex problems, which will require talents from other schools.

In the meantime, those port and transportation jobs will look very enticing to some folks. I believe that every dollar from the port gets used 2-3x in the local economy, and you really come to rely on that for the growth of the city. We have the opportunity to become one of the 10 largest ports worldwide, we should capitalize on it, while we have time and planning for it. Degree programs built around this business will be more critical than any other degree, in my opinion.

[ProjectMaximus]

awesome find, stjr! i appreciate the outside perspective.

[Captain Zissou]

I know it's easier to judge others than yourself, and perhaps other cities than your own, but this guy is right on the money.  How is it that he can so clearly see the positives and negatives in our city, but our own leaders cannot? I think it is hard to put our current situation in a more succinct statement than this man has delivered.

[tufsu1]

A new "thinking man's town" is not, to me, the future of Jacksonville. Healthcare will play a role with Mayo here and a strong network of hospitals, but Obama will find a way to screw up the healthcare system.

You really do need to see the proportion of transportation, container, and technology companies in Jacksonville, compared to the so called " financial and thinking man companies". Jacksonville was built on the backs of terpentine, ships, and logs. Blue collar work. You can't change that by dropping a few big buildings downtown or adding a pro football team. US Navy is also integral in the growth of Jax. If you are looking for businesses the size of Tampa, you are in the wrong city.

The Atlanta metro area had only 1 million people in 1950 and was dominated by manufacturing and logistics.

So, please tell us again Mtrain, that its not possible for Jax. to be something different and/or more than it is today.

[copperfiend]

I don't like how hard the city usually fights for companies to open warehouses and call centers. While I understand the need for jobs, they rarely pay more than $8-$12 dollars an hour.

[tufsu1]

I know it's easier to judge others than yourself, and perhaps other cities than your own, but this guy is right on the money.  How is it that he can so clearly see the positives and negatives in our city, but our own leaders cannot? I think it is hard to put our current situation in a more succinct statement than this man has delivered.

Believe me, many of our leaders know this....including those at JEDC...the real problem is that most residents/voters here don't see it that way.

[stjr]

I know it's easier to judge others than yourself, and perhaps other cities than your own, but this guy is right on the money.  How is it that he can so clearly see the positives and negatives in our city, but our own leaders cannot? I think it is hard to put our current situation in a more succinct statement than this man has delivered.

Believe me, many of our leaders know this....including those at JEDC...the real problem is that most residents/voters here don't see it that way.

That's were we need leaders who LEAD!  And, not stoke the fires of mediocrity by contributing pandering diatribes to the voters because that is the easy way to get votes.  At least Peyton lately is trying to stand out from amongst the crowd and say "enough is enough".  The City Council, collectively, is an elected body afraid of its own shadow.  Rarely, does it lead this City forward.  It is more satisfied with just treading water with the status quo.  Maybe this group is whose effectiveness the current Charter Revision Committee should study most.