Daily Record Financial News &
Friday, February 12, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 065 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
‘That’s something to mourn’
By David Chapman Staff Writer There are 42 teenagers who attend school in jail. More than half of them are there for murder. Sudden gasps filled the air when Corrections Officer Deon Johnson shared that information. “Oh my God,” a woman mumbled Thursday in the auditorium at Florida State College of Jacksonville’s North Campus. Shocked looks, heads shaking side to side followed from the audience attending a community
forum on youth violence. And there were four new enrollees last week, three from the case of a murdered cab driver. “That is not something to celebrate” said Johnson, “that’s something to mourn.” Johnson, a 20-plus year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, has run the juvenile education program the past two years. His voice was one of four on the FSCJ stage taking part in Mayor Lenny Curry’s first forum on violence in the community. Sheriff Mike Williams, State Attorney Angela Corey and
Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti rounded out the panel that offered insight into issues facing the community and its children when it came to crime. Progress has been made in some areas, the group said. Out-of-school suspensions have dramatically decreased and the system’s conduct code is one of the most progressive in the country, said Vitti. Programs like mental health court are now available to help teenagers, said Corey. Crime continued on Page A-4
Photo by Fran Ruchalski
Forum highlights issues with youth crime
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams talks with Ken Covington at the close of Thursday’s community conversation on youthful crime.
Converting one-way streets tops DIA list
Another closure along Northbank Riverwalk
Authority needs new project cost estimates
Photo by David Chapman
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
The Northbank Riverwalk became a little less walkable Thursday after the Florida Department of Transportation shut down the section in front of the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. Another stretch of the riverwalk remains closed until next month for a JEA sewer project. See story, Page A-3.
Jon Davis built his career on creating events, and now he’s building a new headquarters to produce even more. Davis is the owner and CEO of Jacksonville-based Sight & Sound Productions and its Mugwump Productions subsidiary. He intends to break ground in March to develop an almost 34,000-square-foot office-warehouse in the EastPark office and industrial center in Southside. Davis expects to complete the estimated $3.7 million project within nine months. It’s near the space he leases now along St. Johns Industrial Parkway North. “There is no better location than here to serve the entire city of Jacksonville,” Davis said. The location is a 25-minute drive to Jacksonville International Airport, Orange Park, the Beaches and Downtown, he said. Sight & Sound, along with Mugwump,
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leases about 28,000 square feet of space among three buildings. Davis rents the main building from company founder and former business partner Curt Hubbard, who built the facility a decade ago. Hubbard founded Sight & Sound in 1987 as a small company that rented AV equipment to hotels. Davis joined the company in 1996 as the director of sales. He became vice president of sales in 1997 and president in 1999. Mathis continued on Page A-2
legal notices begin on page
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Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
Sight & Sound growing by design
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The next step in Downtown improvement will be converting three major thoroughfares — Adams, Forsyth and Monroe Streets — to two-way traffic. A committee of the Downtown Investment Authority approved Thursday a four-year schedule of capital improvements, as well as the conversion of Hogan, Julia and Pearl Streets and the construction of a park at Hogan Street and the Northbank Riverwalk. The first phase of the plan will be reviewed this summer by City Council when it crafts the Capital Improvement Plan for the 2016-17 budget. Eliminating one-way street improves traffic flow and was part of the Laura Street project, between Hemming Park and the Jacksonville Landing, completed several years ago. “It’s a high priority,” said Downtown Redevelopment Manager Meeks Guy Parola. The committee considered the projects, along with cost estimates prepared for a study completed in 2006. Parola said the authority is working with the Public Works Department and its engineering consultants to update the cost projections. “They could go up. They could go down. It could be substantial,” he said of the difference between the 10-year-old estimates and current costs. Jack Meeks, authority vice chair and chair of the capital improvement committee, asked if it would be possible to schedule all of the projects in the first year, if the funds were available. Parola said that wouldn’t be a reasonable schedule, since engineering and design will take one year for each project, followed by another year for construction. “It would be too disruptive,” he said. DIA continued on Page A-4
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