Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, October 9, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 235 • One Section
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City Council cellphones go dark
Anderson invokes ban; watchdog group files suit over texting By David Chapman Staff Writer City Council President Greg Anderson is calling a timeout on cellphones during meetings after some of his colleagues have been accused of improper texting while legislating. Council member Bill Gulliford has an idea that doesn’t go quite as far. Meanwhile, a watchdog group has filed a lawsuit alleging a lack of transparency.
The flurry of text-related responses the past two days stem from the Sept. 21 budget finale and a seesaw vote from three members who were lobbied by the head of the local fire union to prevent demotions. Money to keep those rankings meant $337,000 had to be pulled from somewhere, with drainage projects being the source — a decision that divided council. An initial 11-8 vote to keep money in drainage flipped to 11-8 to restore salaries of public safe-
ty officers before the end of the night. In between votes, firefighter union head Randy Wyse was busy trying to convince council members to revisit the issue. The Florida Times-Union first reported on the exchanges, messages that showed Wyse’s lobbying efforts. Sending messages isn’t illegal. But acting as an intermediary for members on a voting issue violates the intent of the state’s Sunshine Law, said John Winkler, president of the Concerned Tax-
Hospital removing Seton Hall, auditorium
1. Wild Kratts
payers of Duval County. Anderson issued a letter to his 18 colleagues Thursday afternoon about cellphones, saying there was “too much at stake to not address the practice, especially when it can potentially be used to promote or defeat legislation during a vote.” So for now, he’s banning them while they’re on the dais, effective immediately. Although a hardship for members with families and children, Council continued on Page A-3
Anderson
Risks pay off for Florida Theatre
Old names and new shows bring record crowds
By Max Marbut, Staff Writer
St. Vincent’s HealthCare is taking down Seton Hall and Bryan Auditorium on its Riverside campus. Spokesman Kyle Sieg said the demolition is expected to be completed in December. The 65,000-square-foot structure is on the riverfront along King Street, adjacent to the hospital at 1 Shircliff Way. Seton Hall has been part of St. Vincent’s since 1952 and has been the home of its nursing school. Time and the elements took their toll on the facility. “For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to close and demolish the building,” Sieg said. Pieces that can be salvaged will be preserved and displayed throughout the St. Vincent’s system, he said. The city is reviewing a permit application for Brasfield & Gorrie LLC to demolish Seton Hall and Bryan Auditorium at a job cost of $978,000. Sieg said Seton Hall originally was home to the nursing school, but support services have moved in and out of the space over the years. It has been vacant for six-eight months and its upper floors have been empty for at least three years. Services there were relocated elsewhere on St. Vincent’s campus. Bryan Auditorium, which opened in 1982, has served as the main auditorium. Sieg said St. Vincent’s has shifted meetings to other parts of St. Vincent’s HealthCare. Sieg said the system is updating its longterm facilities plan, and there are no plans for the space at this time.
2. Lynyrd Skynyrd
3. Piano Guys
Macquarie build-out reaching $1 million
Macquarie Group’s Riverplace Tower offices are a million-dollar build-out. The city is reviewing a permit for Brasfield & Gorrie to renovate space on the fifth floor of the 28-story tower for the Australia-based financial services group. Mathis
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An eclectic mix of shows made up the top three in ticket sales at the Florida Theatre over the past year.
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Aggressive marketing and taking risks paid off for the Florida Theatre the past year. Nearly 171,000 people attended the 178 performances at the theatre during the year that ended Sept. 30. That makes the 2014-15 season No. 3 on the historic venue’s alltime attendance list, behind only 1996 and 1997, when the Civic Auditorium was closed for its renovation into the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts. That left the old Coliseum and the Florida Theatre the only indoor venues available for concerts and other stage shows. It makes last year the No.1 season in the theater’s history, when comparing attendance in years the entire inventory of the city’s live entertainment facilities was available, said Numa Saisselin, president of the Florida Theatre Performing Arts Center Inc. since 2012. “We didn’t listen when people said ‘you can’t do that in Jacksonville’ or ‘you can’t charge more than $32 a ticket’ or ‘you can’t do a show during Florida-Georgia weekend,’” Saisselin said. “When we hear that, we’re likely to say, ‘let’s find out if that’s true or not.’” Some shows sold out just hours after tickets went on sale; others didn’t sell enough to break even. But overall, it was a very good year for the Florida Theatre. Seventy percent of the shows solely promoted by the theater or co-promoted made money. On average, 58 percent of the 1,918-seat house was full when the curtain went up and 34 percent of the shows were at 60 percent capacity or greater. The average ticket price for the record year was $48.74. In addition to more people being entertained, the audience has grown wider in terms of taste in music and demographics. Florida Theatre continued on Page A-3
26,765
consecutive weekdays