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April 22-28, 2021
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JACKSONVILLE
Record & Observer E-COMMERCE JACKSONVILLE
Bills filed for gas tax increase
The former Jerome Brown barbecue sauce plant is becoming A Gift Inside fulfillment center.
The 6-cent per gallon increase would fund nearly $1 billion in infrastructure projects including $372 million to modernize the Skyway.
Record Observer THE NEXT HUB&FOR GIFTS JACKSONVILLE
Record & Observer BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
JACKSONVILLE
Mayor Lenny Curry filed legislation with City Council to partner with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority to extend and double Duval County’s local option gas tax to pay for nearly $1 billion in infrastructure projects. During a Council workshop April 21, President Tommy Hazouri said he and the Curry administration would file a bill concurrently that would use money freed by added gas tax revenue to spend about $100 million over two years to remove aging septic tanks and connect underserved neighborhoods to city sewers. JTA would spend nearly $372 million in gas tax money to fund its $415.96 million Downtown Skyway conversion and extension using automated vehicles. That plan has met with public and Council criticism. Two-thirds of the money generated would be spent on road, bus stop, drainage, bridge and other countywide infrastructure repairs. A draft version of the legislation shows the city will extend the sunset on Duval County’s existing gas tax from 2036 to 2046 and split the 6 cents equally with JTA for the final 10 years. If approved, motorists would start paying the added 6 cents beginning Jan. 1 for 30 years. Diesel-fueled vehicles will be subject to only a 1-cent increase, according to the bill.
Record & Observer
Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
A Gift Inside Director of Marketing Alex Meier and Jacksonville General Manager Angel Adelizzi inside the company’s plant being set up at 5638 Commonwealth Ave. in Northwest Jacksonville. The California-based firm plans to hire 10 employees. BY KAREN BRUNE MATHIS EDITOR
T
he former Jerome Brown barbecue sauce plant, a venture that ended up with prison terms for two former City Council members, has a new purpose – fruit and gift
baskets. A Gift Inside intends to open an
e-commerce gift-basket packing and shipping fulfillment center at the Northwest Jacksonville warehouse in time for Mother’s Day. Alex Meier, director of manufacturing for California-based A Gift Inside, said April 14 the company will hire about 10 employees and could ramp up to triple that during peak seasons. “One of the reasons we targeted this area is the range is fantastic,” Meier said
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of the delivery reach of perishable products throughout Florida and far west and north of Jacksonville. It can reach the next day into Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and two days north to Michigan and New York and west to the Colorado border. A Gift Inside ships baskets and boxes of fruit, candy, nuts, cheeses, meats SEE GIFT, PAGE 6
MMENDENHALL@ JAXDAILYRECORD.COM (904) 356-2466
THE MATHIS REPORT
New Sarnova distribution center near JIA takes a step Plus: Restaurant, retail & development notes. PAGE 4 VOLUME 3, NO. 47 • ONE SECTION