Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 043 • Three Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
HRO talks return in force More than three hours of comments at council meeting
By David Chapman Staff Writer It was a scene reminiscent of 2012. That was when supporters and opponents of expanding the city’s anti-discrimination laws flooded a series of City Council meetings to speak their minds about the topic. With two bills introduced Tuesday revisiting how to handle the
issue, conversations again shifted to City Hall. And like in Mayor Lenny Curry’s three community conversations that took place on college campuses the last several months, many of the arguments remained the same. Let the people decide, many opponents said, supporting a referendum that council member Bill Gulliford’s bill would provide.
Others argued against it on moral and religious grounds and said it would create a special class of citizens. And some brought up issues such a law would mean for safely using restrooms, an argument that shaped last year’s similar debate in Houston. In that vein, the most jarring comments of the night came from an opponent — a man who identified himself as Roy Bay — who
said he was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at a young age and then went on to sexually assault other children “most of my life.” He had never been caught or jailed, he said, but had repented and found religion. A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman at the meeting later said the man was questioned and a report had been opened based on his comments. Supporters of expanding pro-
tections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities were outnumbered in people but not by voices Tuesday. A majority vote should not determine minority rights, many said. Instead, elected leaders should make the decision — that’s why they were put into office. Council member Tommy Hazouri’s bill keeps the decision with elected HRO continued on Page A-4
BAE may cut 300 workers in March
mbasch@baileypub.com
Public
Padgetts find opportunity in Riverside Marc and Nicole Padgett, leaders of Summit Contracting Group Inc., bought the 1000 Riverside Ave. building and remodeled it as Summit Tower. They moved the corporate and affiliated offices to the sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the nine-story structure and put in a steel stairwell between the seventh and eighth floors. See their Workspace on Page A-7.
Rummell: ‘We have to be aggressive’ By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Chris Carter, left, president of One Spark Ventures, a new venture capital program, and Peter Rummell, chair of One Spark’s board of directors.
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Photo by Max Marbut
After laying off about 100 people in the fall, BAE Systems Inc. on Tuesday said it could lay off another 300 of its remaining 700 employees at two Jacksonville area shipyards in March. BAE operates shipbuilding and repair facilities at Mayport Naval Station and on Heckscher Drive. The London-based global defense contractor acquired those shipyards from Atlantic Marine Holding Co. in 2010. “The workforce reduction is the result of further reductions in the demand for our commercial shipbuilding and repair services in northern Florida,” the company said in a news release. “The shipyard also is experiencing reduced demand for Navy repair work at the Mayport Naval Station because of the Navy’s changes to its ship maintenance plan and the reduced number of ships homeported there,” it said. BAE announced in September it would lay off 200 of its then 800 employees at the two Jacksonville facilities. “They actually started doing so and stopped, and ultimately laid off 100 of the 200,” BAE spokesman Karl Johnson said. That left the company with 700 employees combined at both shipyards. Johnson said the 300 jobs that would be cut on or about March 18 will come from both facilities. BAE operates a total of seven shipyards in Alabama, Florida, California, Virginia and Hawaii. The company originally came to Northeast Florida in 2007 when it acquired Jacksonville-based defense contractor Armor Holdings Inc. for $4.5 billion. Most of Armor’s big-ticket defense products were manufactured outside of Jacksonville, but it did operate a plant at the Jacksonville International Tradeport that manufactures bullet-proof vests and other law enforcement equipment. BAE sold that business, which operates under the Safariland name, to former Armor CEO Warren Kanders in 2012.
Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
By Mark Basch Contributing Writer
About 80 business leaders were invited Tuesday to hear about the future of the One Spark crowdfunding festival, scheduled to open its fourth edition Downtown April 7. The luncheon in the Arena Club at Veterans Memorial Arena was partly a look back at what the event has brought to the city in its first three years and partly a hint at the future of the festival. One Spark board chair Peter Rummell has contributed millions to the festival, covering its financial deficit and most of the
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prize money for the first three years. He said One Spark has given the local creative community more visibility. Now, there is an opportunity to expand One Spark’s ability to connect entrepreneurs with critical funding to make projects successful. “We have to be smart. We have to be aggressive. We have an opportunity to do something,” said Rummell. He lauded the introduction of One Spark Ventures, a yearround venture capital program, as “an exciting next chapter” in One Spark continued on Page A-4
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