Daily Record FINANCIAL NEWS &
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016
Vol. 104, No. 007 • oNe SectioN
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Plans show Amazon’ s Cecil center
It really shouldn’t be long before Amazon.com confirms its second Jacksonville fulfillment center. Plans filed with the city Tuesday show the proposed Amazon. com project at Cecil Commerce Center will be a non-sort fulfillment center, meaning it would handle large consumer items. The Seattle-based e-commerce retailer’s name is not on the plans for the West Jacksonville location, although a document filed with the city identifies it as Amazon. com. That document includes a construction cost of $56.5 million.
The company has not responded to requests for comment. Its first center, under construction in Northwest Jacksonville, will pick, pack and ship smaller items, such as books, toys and consumer electronics. The second center has been expected since the first was announced in July and plans MATHIS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Special to the Daily Record
Company's second area facility to handle large consumer items
A rendering of the second Jacksonville Amazon.com fulfillment center proposed at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
Offer from Curry gets rejected by fire union Stark differences in stances on salary hikes and pension
By David Chapman Staff Writer
Harold Pierce sings “Yesterday” while he rings the bells for The Salvation Army of Northeast Florida kettle campaign outside the Publix Super Markets store at Townsend and Merrill roads. After Thanksgiving, Pierce will be singing Christmas carols, including requests made by people walking by.
Ringing, singing in holiday season
Salvation Army bell ringers put their all in annual kettle campaign
On one of Harold Pierce’s first assignments as a Salvation Army bell ringer, things were a bit slow. So he started singing to entertain himself. A couple told Pierce — a choir singer since age 9 — that he needed to share his wonderful voice with people passing by. So he did. At that moment 10 years ago, Pierce became known as the Singing Bell Ringer. And he’s been singing ever since. His voice, the ringing of bells and the red Salvation Army kettles are among the familiar annual sights and sounds of the holiday season. The Salvation Army of Northeast Florida has more than 300 volunteers and about 50 paid bell ringers in 85 locations throughout Duval County. They start appearing outside Publix Super Markets stores just before Veterans Day and will be outside Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart stores after Thanksgiving. WORKSPACE CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
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A shopper drops a few dollars into the kettle outside the store. Last year, the campaign raised $768,307 in Northeast Florida.
Photos by Fran Ruchalski
By Fran Ruchalski, Contributing Writer
Pierce’s bell that he uses to get people’s attention.
PubliShed
The first round of pension back-andforth left Mayor Lenny Curry “surprised.” It left fire union head Randy Wyse “confused.” And it’s just the start of talks. Wyse and the local chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters provided Curry and the city a counter to the mayor’s wage and pension offer made this month. The changes from that offer were stark, with the biggest being the retirement plans for new employees. Instead of the defined contribution, 401(k)-style plan Curry is pushing for new employees, the union countered they should enter the Florida Retirement System, commonly called the FRS. Wyse said the idea of shifting to a defined-contribution plan for public safety employees is “insulting.” Wyse “We have been hearing the mayor wants out of the pension business,” Wyse said Tuesday afternoon. “The FRS is a premier system in the U.S. and we have the ability to do it.” Wyse said the suggestion was flatly rejected by Curry’s team, which surprised him. Curry at the outset of collective bargaining labeled defined-benefit pensions as “dinosaurs” and Tuesday afternoon said his team had spoken “loud and clear” about such plans. Employees being shifted to the FRS would mean the state, not the city, would control costs. It also would allow those FIRE
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