Jeanne Miller is the latest bright hire to lead an important, high-profile organization.
Miller will become executive director of the Jacksonville Civic Council at the end of September.
She can be added to the list of new leaders who will have a lot to do with the kind of city we build over the next few years.
Others include Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, Jacksonville Transportation Authority CEO Nathaniel Ford, JAX Chamber CEO Daniel Davis and Jacksonville Port Authority CEO Brian Taylor.
Miller's selection punctuates the positive reasons to harness all of this new talent into some kind of organization to leverage leadership possibilities. As Aristotle is attributed, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Miller is an attorney with years of public service experience who has been general counsel at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
She has built an extensive network in Jacksonville's business and political communities.
In stepping into her new role, Miller is arriving at an interesting time.
Members of the Civic Council probably are debating to what extent they move forward with the pension reform issue while interacting with and trying to influence Mayor Alvin Brown and his administration.
Several members of the Civic Council supported Brown in his race for mayor against Mike Hogan, but it seems some are hesitating, at least so far, at supporting Brown's re-election bid.
In addition, the Civic Council dealt the first public blow to Brown's pension reform plan when it recommended City Council should not approve the plan because at the time it "isn't enough."
Based on my knowledge of Miller, she will be at full speed by the time she takes the helm Sept. 30.
Vitti makes gains despite budget
While some of Vitti's more ambitious goals for his first budget have been delayed because of lack of funds, it seems he and the school board have fashioned spending for the upcoming school year in an environment of cooperation and partnership.
The board voted Tuesday to approve the budget.
Unfortunately, some of Vitti's visions ran into financial reality.
He was quoted as saying, he "reached for the stars and landed on the moon."
Like I often say, if you pursue perfection you may have to settle with excellence.
As promised, Vitti reduced the size of the administration by 291 employees and increased spending in schools.
But he was unable to add a mathematics coach to every school, as he wanted. He did manage to put coaches at "D" and "F" schools, and other schools where mathematics proficiency is an issue.
He could not give every student a tablet device like he hoped, but all schools will have deans of discipline, reading coaches, music and art teachers, substitute teachers and assistant principals. In all, the superintendent and the school board should be graded an "A" on this budget.
Khan, Jaguars can change perception
As the Jacksonville Jaguars players sweat through training camp and head into the team's 19th season, the positive buzz in the community seems to grow.
Team owner Shad Khan is accomplishing what he's set out to do by appearing to wipe the slate clean for a fresh start.
Some of the changes, like a new logo and a new look to the uniforms, are cosmetic.
Others, like hiring a new general manager and coach and bringing in a host of new players, are more substantial.
Khan locally and nationally has received much attention for scheduling the Jaguars to play a home game in London for the next four seasons and wanting to put the world's largest scoreboards in EverBank Field.
He's also taken positive steps to make the team more accessible to fans through creative ticket-pricing packages and creating a fan- and family-friendly environment.
On Saturday, Florida Blue is sponsoring a "family night" for the team's annual scrimmage, which all leads to the first preseason game Aug. 9 against the Miami Dolphins.
Of course, Khan and the Jaguars can make the conversation about the team even more positive by winning games.
Around the country, Jacksonville and the Jaguars continue to be bashed by the media over a perceived notion that games are still blacked out because of poor attendance.
That's just not true.
The Jaguars have not had a game blacked out in three years and team President Mark Lamping recently announced all of this year's games will be televised.
Khan seems to be well-respected by the national media.
He should continue to market that positive message to put an end to this inaccurate depiction.
Our Florida neighbors, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the other hand, have had all but two of their home games blacked out over the past three years, and slow ticket sales make it look like that trend will continue.
Life in the construction zone
Just as predicted, the massive, long-awaited Interstate 95 overpass construction project has caused many people — including me — to alter driving patterns almost daily as we try to negotiate the changing barricades, barriers and detours.
It can be tricky and you have to be alert.
But I think the people at the Florida Department of Transportation deserve praise for moving construction forward while making the roads as safe and passable as possible for motorists.
The $227 million project covers 2.3 miles and replaces overpasses on I-95 over Hendricks, Kings and Montana avenues as well as Atlantic Boulevard. It also adds lanes to I-95.
We knew it would be disruptive to traffic and affect businesses in the Southbank and San Marco construction zone.
Each night I've become accustomed to driving pretty much a different route home from my Downtown office to my home in San Jose because of the varying directions and detours, but it seems to me that the department is doing as well as can be expected to keep traffic flowing.
The hard part is realizing the highway construction and the zigzag driving will be here until the summer of 2016.
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