• According to Forbes.com, Florida is the best state for job prospects and Jacksonville is the No. 3 city, up from No. 8 last year. The business site used five data points: unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income and cost of living.  Other Florida cities in the top 25 – Orlando - No. 4, Fort Lauderdale - No. 9, Tampa - No. 13 and West Palm Beach - No. 16
• According to a new national poll conducted by Expansion Management magazine, Florida is ranked No. 3 for the overall quality of its workforce training programs, proving Florida’s workforce is motivated, trainable and highly skilled.  Click here for additional resources regarding workforce training in Jacksonville or visit Workforce Florida, Inc. 
• Retail opportunities are growing in Downtown Jacksonville:  Daniel James Salon recently opened a ground floor Aveda hair-care products retail store at 45 W. Bay Street.  As Downtown's newest eatery, Nickey G's pizza brings a unique Italian flavor to the River City.  Click here to view their menu.   
• Shand’s Jacksonville announced plans to build a $200 million, 300-bed hospital on Jacksonville’s growing Northside providing services that include primary care, diagnostic and ambulatory services, and a variety of other medical specialties.  Click here to read more.
• 26 Florida companies made Inc. magazine’s list of top 500 companies based on averaged year-over-year sales growth over the past three years, making Florida No. 4 in the nation.  Click here to view the Inc's entire list
• The Florida SBDC International Trade Certificate Program is a six course program aimed at small and growth-oriented businesses in Northeast Florida who are serious about exploring international markets or interested in exporting products and services.  Registration deadline is January 21st…for more information, contact Cathy Hagen at chagan@unf.edu.
• According to a new Bizjournals study, four of America’s five best markets for small businesses are in Florida and Jacksonville is No. 5.  
• Another new upscale restaurant has opened in Downtown Jacksonville, Currents Riverview Bistro.  The gourmet eatery offers fine cuisine, located on the second floor of the Aetna Building, beautiful river views and a contemporary atmosphere.  Visit http://www.currentsjax.com/ to view the menu or make a reservation today.
• One of Jacksonville’s full service film production and postproduction business, Digital Video Arts, is spending $3.8 million to nearly double its facility.  Todd Roobin, JEDC Film & Television Coordinator, said “this new facility shows a sign of growth for the company, which is a very positive outlook for Jacksonville”.
• Another successful Art Walk took place on December 5th in Downtown Jacksonville.  Thousands of spectators flooded the streets of Downtown visiting art galleries, enjoying the holiday season, eating, drinking and much more… Be apart of the Downtown renaissance, join us for the next Art Walk on January 2, 2008.  To learn more about Art Walk, visit Downtown Vision, Inc.
• According to a new Bizjournals study, Jacksonville has the 19th hottest job market out of the 100 largest markets in the U.S.  Click here to read the full story
• The JEDC just completed its annual Year In Review.  Highlights of the past year include:
  - $501 million in new private captial investment
  - $331 million in future Downtown development facilitated
  - An exceptional private to public investment ratio of $19.81 to $1.00
  

The creation of the Downtown Action Plan is a great opportunity to give life to the Master Plan, and to provide an action oriented road map for achieving our vision for a revitalized Downtown.  We are grateful to the many community members who participated in the meetings and contributed their time, energy, and vision to this report. 

The vision for Downtown is "Downtown is the place to be".  Achieving this seemingly simple vision statement is no small task. With so much work to be done, it is necessary to understand what the underlying principles are that define what it means for Jacksonville to be the place to be. Throughout the course of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s Downtown Task Force effort to articulate actions that would achieve the vision, four objectives emerged: to improve walkability, to make Downtown a destination, to make Downtown a neighborhood, and to ensure a framework for sustainable success. These four principles provide a foundation for understanding and prioritizing future efforts to improve Downtown.

The JEDC Downtown Action Plan document distills these many recommendations down to the 19 most important action steps necessary to achieve the Downtown vision articulated in the Downtown Master Plan. 

1. Enhance the Level of Service for “Clean & Safe” Programs
2. Develop and Implement a Comprehensive Streetscape Plan
3. Convert One-Way Streets to Two-Way Streets
4. Create a Riverwalk Enhancement Plan
5. Improve Downtown Connectivity by an Enhanced Trolley System and Complementary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System
6. Enhance Event Programming
7. Improve Wayfarer Signage
8. Refine Approval Process and Create One-Stop Shop Approach
9. Promote Workforce Housing
10. Implement innovative Parking Programs and Parking Management Initiatives
11. Update and Implement Stormwater Management Plan
12. Initiate a Downtown Marketing Strategy that Emphasizes DT Districts
13. Engage in Active, Targeted Retail Recruitment
14. Facilitate Brooklyn Redevelopment
15. Develop and Enact a Master Plan for Metropolitan Park/Kids Kampus
16. Redevelop the Friendship Fountain Area 
17. Improve Connections from the Emerald Necklace to the River and Upland Activity Nodes
18. Identify and Facilitate Large-Scale, Catalyst Projects
19. Create More Marine-Themed Activities and Improve Marine Linkages

It is anticipated that this JEDC Downtown Action Plan will become the bridge between not only the JEDC work plan and the Downtown Master Plan, but the work plans of all Downtown stakeholders.

Once completed, the new 1-million-square-foot Jacksonville warehouse, which will be located in the Cecil Commerce Center North, will be the largest Bridgestone Firestone distribution center in the country and will employ 250 people.

"Today marks an important milestone for Jacksonville," said Mayor John Peyton. "The Bridgestone Firestone project is the first step in the private development of Cecil Commerce Center North, and it will greatly complement the city's commercial growth and redevelopment initiatives in the area. We are pleased to have Bridgestone Firestone as a partner in these efforts."

With a capacity for more than a million tires ranging from small passenger and industrial to commercial truck tires, this center will supply tires and automotive parts to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, the distribution center will ultimately supply the entire United States with imports from Latin America and the Eastern half of the United States with tires from Japan and other Asian countries.

"We view our arrival into Jacksonville today as not just a simple groundbreaking — but as a new alliance with Florida and also with the people of this community," said Nelson Miller, Vice President of Logistics, BFNT. "Our primary motivation for selecting Jacksonville is its strategic location near the Port of Jacksonville, which is expanding and will give us the ability to provide overnight delivery service to more than 96 percent of our customers."

Miller continued, "The City of Jacksonville, the City Council and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission have helped us every step of the way. They've shown us that Jacksonville is a great place to live and do business. I also want to recognize The Conlan Company, our general contractor, for its work in helping to keep this project on schedule. We are very fortunate to have such great partners in this endeavor."

Other companies that played a key role in making the Jacksonville distribution center a reality include: Gresham, Smith and Partners; England-Thims & Miller, Inc.; and Hydro Rock, Inc.
                       
"The facility will provide 250 good-paying jobs," Miller said. "Further, this new distribution center is not designed to be simply a storage facility. Rather, it will be a superhighway of inventory. Tires will move quickly through the warehouse to their final destination, typically staying at the facility less than four weeks."

The goal of BFNT's state-of-the-art distribution system is to always get the right tire to the right customer at the right time. This new Jacksonville distribution center is the culmination of a modernization program that BFNT undertook more than a dozen years ago. The company's fleet of trucks was recently honored as the best private fleet in the United States by Fleet Owner magazine.

BFNT's commitment goes much deeper than this distribution center. This is the beginning of a commitment to the people of Jacksonville, and BFNT's contribution to the economy of the area and to the community as a whole. That is why BFNT donated $5,000 to Chaffee Trail Elementary School.

The Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC) awarded the JEDC and the Planning and Development Department the "Regional Award for Excellence in Planning and Growth Management" for the designation of downtown Jacksonville as a Transportation Concurrency Exception Area (TCEA). This designation helps promote mixed-use development tied into mass transit options to mitigate the impacts of development on the downtown and surrounding roadway system.  

NEFRPC also awarded Fidelity National Financial, the JEDC and its partner, Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership, the "Regional Award for Excellence in Economic Development/Tourism" for the relocation of Fidelity National Financial's headquarters to Jacksonville. Fidelity National Financial has made over $77 million in private capital investment in the city and employs over 3,200 individuals.  

The JEDC also received the Florida Redevelopment Association's 2007 Roy F. Kenzie Award in the "Planning Study" category for its comprehensive downtown task force efforts and the Downtown Action Plan. These task forces focused on improving four key areas of downtown – retail, residential, infrastructure and pedestrian/open space, and operated as a public/private initiative.  Over 100 distinguished business and community leaders and subject matter experts participated in these task force efforts. 

The Northeast Florida Chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association (FPZA) awarded the JEDC, the Planning & Development Department and HDR the 2007 Outstanding Public Development Award for the Bay Street Town Center project.  This project provides an integral piece of downtown redevelopment by enhancing and assisting in the integration of downtown opportunities.  It fronts Bay Street from Liberty Street South to Ocean Street North with approximately 167,900 square feet available for renovations and/or redevelopment. 

Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty,” “The Usual Suspects”) leads the cast of the HBO Film. Emmy winner Paula Weinstein (HBO’s “Truman”), Oscar winner Sydney Pollack (“Out of Africa”), HBO Films senior vice president Len Amato (“Blood Diamond”) and Jay Roach (the “Austin Powers” films) executive produce.  Directed by Roach from a script by Danny Strong, the film revisits the 2000 presidential election turmoil in Florida, one of the most dramatic events in U.S. history.  Bob Balaban (“For Your Consideration”), Ed Begley, Jr. (“Living with Ed”), Laura Dern (“Inland Empire”), John Hurt (“The Elephant Man”), Denis Leary (“Rescue Me”) and Tom Wilkinson (“Michael Clayton”) also star.

“RECOUNT” was filmed on location in Jacksonville and Tallahassee with more than 60 Jacksonville industry professionals hired for the film, in addition to over 2,500 local extras. The local economic impact is significant which includes hired labor and purchased and rented goods and services.

The film follows the Florida recount from Election Day in November 2000 through the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of George W. Bush over Al Gore five weeks later.  “RECOUNT” pulls back the veil on the headlines and explores the human drama of characters involved in events that would determine the leadership of the country.

Spacey portrays Ron Klain, Vice President Al Gore’s chief of staff.  Balaban portrays Ben Ginsberg, lead attorney to the Bush-Cheney campaign in the 2000 election.  Begley, Jr. portrays attorney David Boies, who represented the Gore campaign before the Supreme Court.  Dern portrays Katherine Harris, Secretary of State of Florida.  Hurt plays Warren Christopher, Secretary of State to President Bill Clinton.  Leary plays Michael Whouley, a Democratic pollster.  Tom Wilkinson portrays James Baker III, who was previously Secretary of State to President George H. W. Bush.

“Having HBO film their movie “RECOUNT” here in Jacksonville is another great opportunity for our reputable film and television industry workforce,” said Mayor John Peyton.  “This film will continue to enhance Jacksonville’s film and television infrastructure, and further promote the city’s reputation as an ideal location for film and television productions.”

“We are excited to be filming in Jacksonville,” said producer Michael Hausman. “Mayor John Peyton and the Jacksonville Film & Television Office have been very helpful in assisting HBO with coordinating and facilitating various production needs as Jacksonville is the main location for the majority of the film. I look forward to working in this great city again. “

The HBO Film is scheduled to debut on HBO in 2008.