Archive : Tom Patton

Now, I realize that there may be those of you who are regular readers of this column who will be clicking over to Andy Rooney when you see the headline, but something really cool happened Sunday, and it’s unfortunate (to me) that more people don’t...

Mayor Peyton and City Council President Richard Clark have begun the process recommended by JCCI to get the public more involved in the budget process. They’ve established a website and will be holding a series of town hall meetings in an effort to...

In the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) the Navy said a nuclear aircraft carrier will be coming to Naval Station Mayport. Once again, unless she is on deployment, those of us lucky enough to travel past the carrier basin on our way to the Atlantic ocean...

The incoming speaker of the Florida House and president of the Florida Senate held a summit in Orlando at the end of last week to get a feeling from the Florida business community about how to improve on the states double-digit unemployment figures. They...

Laura Street, the Southbank, Metropolitan Park, Friendship Fountain. In the last month or so, the Peyton administration has announced proposals for each of these areas as part of an ongoing effort to revitalize downtown. The mayor has introduced legislation...

Among the items that will appear on the ballot in November is Amendment 4, also known as the Hometown Democracy Amendment to the Florida Constitution. Amendment 4 is a bad idea. On its face, it might sound like a good thing, and that’s about as far...

It is amazing to think that we have reached the end of the first decade of the 21st century. It seems like it was not so long ago that we were all scrambling to prevent the Y2K disaster, and a tip of the cap to those IT professionals who made sure that...

This should be couched by saying “I live at the beach”, because I do. I won’t make any apologies for that, it’s just a fact. Not ON the beach, mind you, but east of the Intercoastal Waterway. Sort of a “full disclosure” kind of thing. But...

The Jacksonville Beach City Council this week delayed action on a measure to change alcohol sales laws in the community. In this case, there would be no real immediate change, but the long-term effects could have serious implications for the value of...

The recent revelation that many of the scientists who have been such strong proponents of the Anthropomorphic Global Warming allegedly cooked the books and destroyed raw data has cast a dour pall over the issue. With the climate summit in Copenhagen just...