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First Coast Connect

7/25/19; JEA Privatization; Cathedral District Projects; All-American Boys Chorus

Bill Bortzfield
/
WJCT News
JEA's Downtown Jacksonville headquarters is pictured in the background with City Hall in the foreground.

Earlier this week, JEA’s board of directors voted to explore selling the utility. They cited declining revenues and pressures facing the utility as reasons to consider privatization.

The vote caught some by surprise after Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry indicated last year that sellling JEA was off the table. 

Last April the mayor said in a statement to WJCT News, "I am choosing to state unequivocally that I will not submit any JEA privatization plan to the City Council."

Florida Times-Union columnist Nate Monroe joined Melissa Ross on First Coast Connect to discuss the potential move toward privatization and its impact.

Related: JEA Unanimously Approves Plan To Explore Privatization

Cathedral District Projects

Map of Cathedral District Projects
Credit Credit Cathedral District-Jax
If all of the projects are approved, there would be over 300 residential units added to the Cathedral District.

New banners are going up in Downtown’s Cathedral District, and new residential projects are on the drawing board as well.

The four projects are in various stages of approval by the City of Jacksonville. The projects include new residential units and artist studios.

President and CEO of Cathedral District-Jax Ginny Myrick and Senior VP for TIAA Bank and Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. Steve Kelley joined the show to talk about the district’s future.

All-American Boys Chorus

The All-American Boys Chorus is a nationally renowned singing group from California.

All-American Boys Chorus Logo
Credit Credit The All-American Boys Chorus Facebook Page
The chorus is made of over 100 boys from ages 8-15 drawn from different areas of Southern California

They’re performing Thursday, July 25 at the St. Johns Cathedral in Downtown Jacksonville from 7 to 9 p.m.

Cathedral Music Administrator Pam Searcy and music donor Larry Shugart spoke about a new initiative to try to generate new revenue streams.

Former WJCT News reporter