Letters: City should be more transparent with return on investment for downtown projects

On April 14, I called my councilwoman to ask for “return on investment” projections for the prospective UF financial technology center to be built in Jacksonville. Then I went down to the City Council meeting where I clearly asked council members to show how the residents of Jacksonville get a return on the eventual $50 million investment to be made from taxpayer dollars.

I followed that by emailing six different council people. Matt Carlucci kindly thanked me for my statements, but I received no other responses.

I am still disappointed with the Lot J mess and subsequent Four Seasons “investment,” where projection details were scarce. Lack of mayoral response then — and lack of council response now — just compounds my disappointment with city leadership and lack of transparency as to how these projects quantitatively impact us.

There has always been a profound desire to spend public money in an attempt to enhance Jacksonville by investing in business. This is neither the platform of Republicans nor Democrats. The added irony is that Councilman Terrance Freeman made exclamations about construction jobs created by the UF project. He seems unaware that construction in Jacksonville has become quite costly (as evidenced by their own need to revise the Four Seasons’ projections in Year One) and there is more work than there are workers to fill the need.

So just where do I go if I cannot get my city government to respond to me? I invite anyone to follow the short journey I had just this morning on cracked, rippled, poorly patched roads along miles of open ditches abounding with plenteous litter. This is not rhetorical.

I sincerely ask: How does my voice matter if seemingly everyone in leadership is intent on spending vast amounts of public dollars investing in businesses for the city, but not the city itself?

Richard Hansen, Jacksonville

Desperate times for family of mentally ill

We have dealt with our son's schizophrenia, further complicated by Asperger's Syndrome, for 16 years. My family is again in crisis because of Florida's judicial approach to mental illness.

While in a private mental facility, he got on the dark web and downloaded pictures. Later he asked to talk to a male counselor there because he was worried about what he had done. The result proved devastating, for his life and ours.

Even though he did not share the images, never approached or contacted anyone and had no prior encounters with law enforcement, he is now labeled a sex offender for life. His sole crime was looking at pictures on the internet.

Making this label worse, many people see "offender" and think "predator."

Some states do not prosecute those with Asperger's for internet porn as it is a documented common trait of this mental disorder.

We are again in an impossible situation. Our son is starting week four in a hospital, a stay that was initiated for critical medical issues. He now can't get out of bed or walk.

The hospital has been trying for a week to coordinate transfer to a nursing home. But as a schizophrenic and now a sex offender, no facility so far will consider him. So again, it's us or the street. At age 76, I don't know if I can care for him at home. As a Navy combat pilot, I fought a war for this country — I did not fight for this.

Richard Marquis, St. Augustine

Mayor should appoint the sheriff

I find it to be despicable that our sheriff has involved himself in such negative campaign ads. It is one thing to endorse a candidate; it is another to make statements without any factual basis.

How can he possibly speak about the negative impact that Donna Deegan would have on crime without justifying his remarks? I haven’t heard or read anything from Ms. Deegan's platform that might lead to that result. Has he even communicated with the candidate to discuss her ideas?

I think the time has come for us to eliminate the sheriff as an elected official and allow our mayor to appoint the sheriff, the same way that the mayor of New York City appoints the police commissioner. We can then truly have a chain of command with the ultimate responsibility for the success or failure going directly to our elected official at the top.

Let’s get politics out of our sheriff’s office.

Ron Elinoff, Jacksonville

Underhanded campaign endorsements

Like so many other letter writers, we have been disgusted by the mudslinging and negative ads that have surfaced during this mayoral election. But now there is another issue: to see a candidate happily walking along with the chief of police — in full uniform — is clearly meant to imply that the police force endorses that candidate. Does that also imply that the police department will not work effectively if that candidate loses the election?

If ever there was an organization that must be free of political pressures and influences, it is the police force. Anyone, of course, is free to support any candidate they choose, but they should not do so in uniform, but as a private citizen. For a candidate to resort to such tactics may not be illegal, but it brings an unsavory tone to the campaign and does not reflect well on that candidate’s integrity.

Fran and Pete Sheridan, Atlantic Beach

Smear campaign in full throttle

One would think that after winning the primary, the Republican mayoral candidate would put away his negative ad campaign and focus on what he would do for the city if elected mayor of Jacksonville. On top of that, I sure hope he has read the many letters to the editor on how his negative ads are disliked by the masses.

Yet, he continues his smear campaign, thinking that belittling his fellow candidates makes him better. Who does that? I'll tell you who — someone who does not listen to his voters but insists on thinking that the more he smears, the better his poll count gets.

This screams selfish character and (to me) how he will run his office, if elected. I'm a registered Republican, but I will not be voting for this party’s candidate. He doesn't listen to the people.

Jack Ferguson, Jacksonville

Disney World meets Bizarro World

In the category of You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Apparently Gov. Ron DeSantis is upset because Mickey Mouse outmaneuvered him in a game of “Who’s the Boss?” So let’s build a prison next to Disney World.

How asinine, childish and churlish. And giving state inspectors oversight on Disney rides? How comforting. When were there any issues with rides, safety or upkeep on Disney property?

Typical government overkill, or vengeance in this case. If it’s not broken, we’ll fix that. Disney is Florida’s cash cow and our feckless governor wants headlines by trying to run them out of town.

The former GOP mantra of “less government” has left the great state of Florida. Meanwhile Fort Lauderdale is flooded, and our governor is on a book tour.

Florida — Home of Orlando’s Disney World and Tallahassee’s Bizzaro World. What’s next?

Gary Schuran, Middleburg

Disney issue just political drama

The Reedy Creek agreement was reached in an era when incentives were necessary to attract tourism to Orlando, hardly more than a sleepy large town at the time. Those days are long gone as the city has been “discovered.” It now boasts a world-class airport, a commuter rail system, professional basketball team and other amenities.

That agreement eventually became obsolete and put attractions like Sea World and Universal at a distinct financial disadvantage to Disney. The sensationalism of this issue is all political.

John Ekdahl, Ponte Vedra Beach

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Taxpayers need to know expected ROI for downtown Jacksonville projects