Insulted Puerto Ricans Slam CNN, Republican Candidates – Fox News Latino

Puerto Ricans, the second largest voter group among Hispanics in the US, are “outraged” and “insulted” at CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and the Republican candidates for their “disrespectful” handling of a question centered around the longstanding issue of Puerto Rico’s statehood and independence.

During the live broadcast of the Jacksonville debate, audience members attending the Hispanic Leadership Network Conference, a center right advocacy organization in Miami, were given a chance to ask questions to the candidates. That’s when Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder, the Republican president and CEO of the Puerto Rican Chamber of [Commerce] of Florida, asked the GOP candidates where they stood on the issue of the island’s statehood.

The answer, or lack thereof, she received on national television sent her and a group of about five Puerto Ricans packing early as they stormed out of the CNN sponsored Watch Party mid-debate.

Twitpic via RT @jaxdotcom CNN is at UNF; no Wolf Blitzer yet though

The next day (Jan. 27th), GOP candidates former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney addressed the conference. Gingrich noted the question of Puerto Rico’s statehood was “one that unfortunately was not covered very well last night and I regret that Wolf Blitzer did not turn and ask the rest of us.”

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich Pressed on Puerto Rico Statehood in South Florida — ABC News

“I have had a firm position on the right of the Puerto Rican people to have a referendum,” Gingrich said to applause. “I am not dictating the outcome of the referendum because there are several options and the Puerto Rican people have to make that decision.”

Romney, speaking an hour later, backed the idea of statehood:

“I think it’s in November you’re having a referendum and I expect the people of Puerto Rico will decide that they want to become a state and I can tell you that I will work with [Puerto Rico Gov. Luis] Fortuno to make sure that if that vote comes out in favor of statehood, that we will go through the process in Washington to provide statehood to Puerto Rico.”

It should be noted that Romney’s remarks went beyond what he said to Univision’s Jorge Ramos on Wednesday, “my choice is to let them make their choice.”

Fortuno endorsed Romney in Cape Canaveral on Friday evening.

Lesson learned

Cuevas-Neunder made a good point on Thursday when she said the candidates knew more about going to the moon then they did about Puerto Rican statehood.  And personally, I think Wolf Blizter should have better prepared for questions from the Hispanic Leadership Network. Surely he knew there would be no questions about the moon from Miami.

Blitzer, however, earned cheers and social media shout-outs when he described UNF as “beautiful” and “fabulous” just before the candidates faced off. CNN anchor Erin Burnett also praised the “beautiful campus” and UNF’s growing global logistics training program. She said Jacksonville International Airport “is what I think might be America’s best airport.”

CNN anchor raves about JIA, UNF and city after debate  – Florida Times-Union

Watch this clip from Erin Burnett’s OutFront on Friday night. She segues from her love of the airport to 44,000 – the number of Northeast Floridians employed in the distribution industry.

THE NUMBER: OutFront in Jacksonville

“Did you know 90 percent of Coach Handbags are shipped through Jacksonville?”

No, Erin. But thanks for telling me. 

During his eight-year tenure as mayor (2003 – 2011), Peyton was strong on economic development - 81 companies  relocated to Jacksonville or expanded their operations creating more than 25,000 jobs,  due in large part to his efforts.

Herb Peyton has built a strong company through great instinct, courage and determination. Now with extraordinary people and great assets, I look forward to building upon the success from the first 50 years. – John Peyton, Jacksonville Business Journal Jan 2nd

I also look forward to seeing where Peyton takes the company, particularly the Gate Construction Materials Group. Improving transportation infrastructure in the regional area is a constant theme here.  Companies that manufacture the components to build bridges and roads are important, especially when based in Jacksonville.

Gate Concrete Products: Dames Point Bridge spans St. Johns River northeast of downtown Jacksonville. (2 miles long - 175" above St Johns main channel )

Gate Petroleum Corp. overview

Gate Petroleum Corp. is the 11th largest private corporation in Florida as of 2010. Gate sells one million gallons of petroleum product per day. The petroleum marketing division is its core business with three operating units; retail comprises 225 gas and convenience stores in five Southeast states. Gate Fuel Service is a petroleum and ethanol distributor with sales of over 100 million gallons annually to commercial, retail, wholesale, marine and industrial customers throughout the Southeast.  Gate Fleet Services is a Voyager Fleet Network  partner – a specialized fleet management solutions company.

Beyond that are three Gate non-petroleum business divisions:  resorts and real estate (a possible post for another day). Gate Construction Materials Group consists of two companies and operates throughout the eastern, southeastern, and midwestern United States.

1. Gate Precast: One of the nation’s largest producers of architectural precast concrete; pre-stressed hollow core slabs; transportation, infrastructure and marine components from eight manufacturing plants. Product is designed, manufactured, delivered and installed to customers in over two-thirds of the country.

2. Gate Concrete Products manufactures structural precast and hollow-core concrete fabrication for bridges, parking garages, stadiums and building structures at facilities in Jacksonville and the Houston area. Gate Concrete Jacksonville was acquired in 1980 and is the oldest non-petroleum division. The quality control lab at the site’s 78-acre facility is certified by the Construction Material Engineering Council and the Dept. of Transportation.

Selling the City

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what I think is one of Peyton’s best business decisions as mayor. He turned management of  city-owned Cecil Commerce Center over to AllianceFlorida.  (Cecil Advances Aug. 17th)

And this is a great Mayor Peyton story. I didn’t realize, or didn’t remember, any of the specifics of how Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations became the anchor tenant at Cecil in 2007.  As we all know, competition between cities is fierce when wooing large corporations to set-up shop.

Peyton and business leaders were looking to Bridgestone as an anchor tenant for Cecil Commerce Center, a move that would bolster Jacksonville’s economic efforts at the former Navy base. Word reached Jacksonville that the tire behemoth was going to build the company’s largest distribution center in Savannah, not Jacksonville.

Days later, Peyton and other top brass hopped on a plane to Tennessee. They showed up unannounced at the corporate headquarters. Peyton made his last pitch, trying to swing the deal back to the River City. It worked. 

Not a chance that deal gets done without that visit,  said Steve Halverson, chief executive officer of Haskell Co. 

Business leaders speak glowingly of Peyton, saying they can’t think of a time when the mayor didn’t jump to help. — Florida Times-Union June 25, 2011

As I said, I look forward to see where Peyton takes Gate Petroleum Corporation.

………………

“Mayor John Peyton Guest Column: Accomplishments Florida Times-Union June 24, 2011

Dames Point Bridge photo courtesy of Mike Strong

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JACKSONVILLE  (UPDATE) – The U.S. Air Force contract to be awarded to Embraer Corp. at the beginning of December for over 20 Super Tucano A-29 for the Afghan Air Force is now facing further delay. Embraer was to build its plane in conjunction with Sierra Nevada Corp. on a Jacksonville Aviation Authority property.  The company was the sole contender for the (potential) $1 billion contract after USAF excluded rival Wichita-based Hawker-Beecher Corp. (HBC) in November for what is called a “pre-award exclusion.”

HBC filed an inquiry with the GAO on Nov. 22nd for a review of the exclusion and a protest. The GAO’s report said USAF dismissed the company’s protest because it had missed a three-day deadline to file a request for debriefing and a 10-day deadline to file a protest, according to the Wichita Eagle. HBC filed suit on Dec. 27th with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims when notified the GAO had dismissed its initial protest.

A Pentagon spokesman told the Eagle, “Hawker Beech has filed a protest with the GAO. Because of this protest, we cannot comment on a matter pending under litigation.”

The Super Cool (IMHO) Embraer Super Tucano A-29

So where this leaves the Embraer contract is unclear. Jet Setting Magazine sums up how the contract effects Jacksonville:

This contract will immediately support the creation of at least 50 new jobs on the final assembly line in Jacksonville, and will help support at least 1,200 more jobs across America. Some 60 U.S. companies will supply components that will go into the Super T or services related to the LAS contract.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the contract lead, currently employs more than 2,100 people at 29 locations in 15 states.  Embraer North America has been in the United States for over 30 years, and employs 800 people in Florida; Arizona; Tennessee; Minnesota; and Connecticut.  The company recently opened a new executive jet production facility in Melbourne (Fla.) that is creating 200 new jobs.  The Jacksonville facility will augment this ongoing U.S. production.

Embraer is the world’s third-largest aircraft manufacturer and sources a majority of its component parts – across all business lines – from the United States.  More than 7,000 U.S. jobs are supported as a result of Embraer’s component purchases.

Hawker Beechcraft of course counters with similar job augmentation claims.

No comment.

I had not heard the rumor that Toronto was a relocation possibility, just the Los Angeles rumor. But NBC Sports.com’s “Latest News and Rumors” blog said on Wednesday, “If the Jaguars move, it may not be a foregone conclusion that they move to Los Angeles. There’s a chance they’ll move to St. Louis, with the Rams returning to L.A.”   According to CBSsports.com, Khan had made an unsuccessful bid to buy the Rams in 2010, which may explain the NBC Sports.com rumor.

Jaguars majority owner Wayne Weaver announced Tuesday he is selling the team to businessman Shahid Khan. via msnbc.com

Here in Jacksonville this morning, though, Timothy Gibbons (Florida Times-Union) said, “If the Jacksonville Jaguars’ prospective new owner wants to move the team to a new city before 2030, he’d have to pay the city millions of dollars to get out of its lease for EverBank Field.”  Gibbons is also a University of North Florida adjunct professor whom I took a journalism course through, so I trust him to do his homework.  Here’s a link to his explanatory story, within which is a link to the city’s stadium lease (opens on scribd.com)

To be clear, Shahid Khan, who is buying the Jaguars from Wayne Weaver, has said nothing about moving the team. Weaver said Tuesday he wouldn’t take calls from suitors wanting to move the Jaguars and that Khan won’t do that.

The sales agreement, which according to Forbes is worth $760 million, doesn’t bind Khan to the city. Still, “there’s not a doubt in my mind this team is going to stay in Jacksonville,” Weaver said Tuesday.

That aside, Shahid Khan (who is NOT moving the Jaguars to Los Angeles) also owns Urbana, Ill.-based Flex-N-Gate Corp. I had not heard of the company, but I don’t know much about automotive-product engineering and manufacturing, so I’m not that surprised. Flex-N-Gate is a private corp., employing over 12,450 people at 48 manufacturing and nine product development and engineering facilities throughout Canada, the U. S., Mexico, Argentina, and Spain.

Flex-N-Gate’s Canadian presence may explain the “resurrected rumblings” of the teams move to Toronto.  According to its website, it  has 11 manufacturing and assembly plants in Ontario.  In the U.S., the company has similar operations across eight states, primarily in Michigan.  Closest to Jacksonville is its 125,000 square-foot facility in Alabama. Personally, I think Flex-N-Gate should move its Alabama facility to AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center. 

TEALgate party festivities begin in and around the staduim at 5:30 pm.

Among the points Mayor Alvin Brown expressed in a Nov. 29th “Welcome to Jacksonville” letter to Mr. Khan has been his intensive concentration on economic development since taking office in July.

Understanding the importance of teams like the Jaguars for our city’s ability to recruit new business, I am creating a Sports and Entertainment Director who will have a direct line of communication into the Mayor’s office.

And on that note, Mayor Brown has proclaimed Mon., Dec. 5th as “Ultimate TEALgate Day” in support of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Monday Night Football game against the San Diego Chargers.  

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Home page photo credit:

RICK WILSON/The Times-Union–1/12/10–Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver addresses the media in a press conference to announce that he has retained Jack Del Rio as the head coach Tuesday afternoon  January 12, 2010 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Fl. (The Florida Times-Union, Rick Wilson)

Mayor Alvin Brown announced a new Mayor’s Office of Public-Private Partnerships on Nov. 10th. The vice-president of corporate and market strategy for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Renee Finley, will  head the office for $1 a year as an executive on loan. 

This office will forge ties between city government and private sector partners who have an interest in improving our economy and the quality of life in Jacksonville — Mayor Brown

Light Parade Dragon

2011 Jacksonville Light Parade 

Boats bedecked with holiday decorations will cruise on the St. Johns, downtown where the river bends south toward St. Augustine, on Saturday, November 26th beginning at 7 p.m. (St. Augustine’s Holiday Regatta of Lights is December 10th on Matanzas Bay at 6 p.m.)

2010 Organized Club Winner #35 Helga Captain Eric Nord Suns of Norway

The 2011 parade will make two laps. It will begin at Metropolitan Park, travel along the Northbank past The Jacksonville Landing to the Fuller Warren Bridge and will circle to the Southbank. The route will continue along the Southbank, under the Main Street Bridge, past the Navy Memorial statue and down to the Duval County School Board Building.

Jacksonville Light Parade fireworks with bridge "waterfall"

Following the 2011 boat parade, fireworks will be shot from river barges in front of The Jacksonville Landing, Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront and Metropolitan Park. The signature “waterfall” fireworks will be shot from both sides of the Main Street Bridge and the east side of the Acosta Bridge.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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