Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 088 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
JaxPort dredging starting in 2017 $40M for first phase close to being secured
By Carole Hawkins Staff Writer The Port of Jacksonville will begin deepening its shipping channel in early 2017, port CEO Brian Taylor said Tuesday. The money to start the first phase of dredging isn’t in place yet. But it’s close. The Florida Department of Transportation’s five-year work program calls for the port to receive $35.5 million of the $40 million needed for Phase One over the next two years. Taylor was not specific about a source for the rest, but said he is “very confident there will be funding to get it started” in early 2017, based on “con- Taylor versations with others.” The entire project will cost $684.2 million and is expected to take five or six years. Channel deepening is necessary to support trade with Asia, the fastest growing part of JaxPort’s business. Global container ships are getting bigger, and most now need channel depths of at least 47 feet to come into port fully loaded. JaxPort’s channel depth is 40 feet.
The view from Chris Cavanaugh’s wheelhouse vantage point aboard the St. Johns River ferry.
On the surface, so to speak, Chris Cavanaugh’s job as a St. Johns River ferry captain seems routine. From the wheelhouse high above the vehicle and passenger deck, Cavanaugh guides the 168-by-64-foot Jean Ribault back and forth. And back and forth. And back and forth. For seven hours, typically. That’s 28 trips across the river between Mayport Village and Fort George Island. Too monotonous? To the contrary. “It’s a very good job. There’s not very many like it,” Cavanaugh said. He’s right. There were 128 ferry operations in the country in 2014, according to the U.S.
Learning to battle strong, unforgiving river currents Job anything but routine for Mayport ferry captain Story and photo by Kevin Hogencamp
Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ latest count. Cavanaugh, 57, is nine years into his second career. His first was a 30-year U.S. Navy gig with 20 years at sea. As he eyed retirement during his final assignment as an instructor at Mayport Naval Station, Cavanaugh made a checklist and started chipping away at it. It took seven years to obtain the requisite high-grade mariner’s license. He couldn’t have planned his military-to-civilian transition any better. “A lot of aviation folks do the same thing,” the upstate New York native said. Ferry continued on Page A-7
Port
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
Children’s Commission debates group’s ‘disappointing’ results
Jon Heymann went into Tuesday’s Jacksonville Children’s Commission board meeting adamant about a recommendation to start anew. Healthy Families, part of the statewide model supporting high-risk families, wasn’t working in Duval County. Although the nonprofit charged with running the local effort was doing well in several areas, the biggest need — the number of families being helped — wasn’t being met. “The results are disappointing,” said Heymann, the commission’s CEO. “We were expecting better results than we got.”
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Healthy Families provides voluntary home visits to prevent issues such as child abuse and neglect in Jacksonville’s highest risk neighborhoods, according to its local website. The program is administered in 53 counties, including 25 ZIP codes in Duval County. Since July 1, The Bridge of Northeast Florida has been the sole provider of local services. Its $1.4 million contract calls for 597 families to be served, according to the most recent quarterly report. To date, though, just over 50 percent of that goal has been reached — and fewer families have been served since the nonprofit began as the sole operator. Grant continued on Page A-4
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Pieology Pizzeria franchisee Ted Cheng plans to open 12 build-you-own-pie restaurants in the Jacksonville area within five to seven years. Cheng is the authorized member of Kingdom Pies LLC, the franchise owner for California-based Pieology in a territory that covers all of Northern Florida, including the Panhandle, and the state of Arkansas. Cheng said each location hires 30 to 35 employees, indicating a potential Northeast Florida workforce of 360 to 420 people among the seven-county area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns. He said the average investment per site is $600,000, which translates into a potential area investment of $7.2 million. “The region is experiencing solid growth and we think it is a great time to introduce this fast-adopting concept here,” he said. The first two Pieology Pizzerias are scheduled to open by midyear. Cheng said Mathis
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Pieology plans to open 12 area pizzerias
Nonprofit nearly loses state contract By David Chapman Staff Writer
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