(01-13-2021, 01:42 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: Rory Diamond on 1010 saying that some of the No votes were definitely personal against Curry.

This is so stupid and childish. They should name some names and then those council members asked outright what their reasons were.

Just mentioned on 1010 that St. Louis sports radio is beginning to rally Shad Khan to move the Jaguars there.

It's hard to think that if we lose the team it will be strictly due to someone's hurt feelings.

Names don't need to be named.  Most know who the people are who did so because they can't stand the mayor.  Some of that is justified based on the way he mishandled the JEA thing.  

There are guys who are looking to advance their political careers on the council including Hazouri and Carlucci who both want to be mayor.  Hazouri has been creeping around as he has had his toupee updated to be more age appropriate in a variety of elected offices.  His no vote on the Lot J project was nothing more than his declaration that he's trying to get back into the mayor's office.  

And Carlucci?  He's run before, and no doubt, will do so again.  

Then you have mindless idiots like Joyce Morgan, who is nothing more than a photo-op council member who is about as inept as it gets.  Totally useless.  But, she was in the media, so she is recognizable.  I've been at events she had absolutely nothing to do with, but you would have thought she organized them and stroked a check to pay for the way she comes parading in.  Wave, smile, pose, take credit, and leave.  She's got it down to a science.  Question her about issues in her district, and she smiles and gives some ambiguous non-answer.  Her claim to fame?  A roundabout.  Meanwhile, the corridor between Regency Square and the Mathews Bridge is dying, but hey, they're putting in a roundabout at the Merrill Rd. entrance to JU.  No doubt, she'll be there for the ribbon cutting.  If there's a camera there, so is Joyce.  

STL radio can do all the dances they want.  For now, the focus in Jacksonville should be on figuring out how to keep the stadium up to date with the rest of the league, and then focus on developing the shipyard property.  They neeed to look at Miami and what renovations they did with the stadium there and use that as their blueprint.  I know they've provided renderings of a covered stadium in the past.  They may need to dig up the old plans and reintroduce those along with other renovations the stadium will need to remain viable.  The league won't let them extend the lease here unless the stadium is significantly upgraded or replaced all together.  A new stadium doesn't seem likely considering the investment already made in Daily's Place and the practice facilities, so figure out how to make what's there more revenue friendly and state of the art.

The fact is, Lot J was always going to be a tough sell for the team because those who actually support it don't bother expressing their opinion more vocally by going to council meetings or contacting their council representatives.  If you heard Salem talking about it, 90% or more of the contact he had with his constituents on the project was opposed.  That's lousy communication from the team and the mayor on the plan.  You have to have to change that dynamic in order to pull off a project of that scope.  The team didn't provide enough detail beyond a host of different renderings, and didn't provide the city with any construction costs.  The team was asking for quarter of a billion taxpayer dollars and not providing any details on what was going to be built, or how much it was going to cost.  They thought they would walk out of there with the funding in place, but they ran into a few political hacks who were determined to embarrass the mayor.  There were a couple of principled no votes, but those guys have been opposed to the project from the start.  

There's plenty of blame to go around for sure.  Unfortunately, the fans will be the one to suffer the consequences.

---