Author Topic: UF President Ben Sasse to announce university's new plans in Jacksonville  (Read 67397 times)

Fallen Buckeye

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Florida schools didn’t use quotas. Their diversity initiatives were focused on providing support and services to students of diverse backgrounds to help them succeed in their studies.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear there. I meant the quotas in regards to the CHIPs act with hiring certain numbers of women or minority owned companies. I'm comfortable with something akin to the Rooney rule in the NFL, but hiring should be based on merit.

It really doesn't matter what we think of DEI.  What matters is what the work force that companies are trying to recruit thinks of places to work that work against DEI. The issue is that when DEI is attacked, people who are minorities. LGBTQ or immigrants often take it that their kind isn't welcomed in those communities.  It is as much about the optics as it is the reality.  And, no amount of incentives can make up for the inability to build a properly skilled workforce.*

No different than when the GOP holds up a decades old rape case by an immigrant as somehow representative of millions of immigrants.  When, statistics show that U.S. citizens commit crimes at far higher rates than immigrants.  The GOP is playing to optics, not reality.  Turnabout is fair play.

*In a lot of states, incentives are really a reduction or giveback of taxes that are higher than Florida so the incentives may not really be that much more than coming to Florida, a lower tax sate.  Smart companies look at the total package (e.g. land, taxes, labor, utilities, logistics, natural disasters, insurance, suppliers/customers, quality of life, educational options, etc.), not just some incentives that are mostly one-time and may be a relative fraction of the cost, long term, of operating in an area.  By example, if they have to pay higher ongoing rates to attract labor, that could quickly wipe out the value of incentives.

Like I said, I don't see the evidence that what you're saying about DEI being essential to attracting companies. I was a bit reductionist in how I framed it, but ultimately the decision to invest is primarily about dollars and cents. As a whole, Florida has a relatively favorable business environment which is why its economic growth is outpacing the national average.

This initiative to bring the semiconductor institute is a great move to position north Florida for future growth, and I think that's something we can all agree on.

Alex Sifakis

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Bringing this conversation back to UF in Jax… 500 graduate students to start and 1500 in five years would be fairly helpful to downtown!

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2024/03/27/board-of-governors-approves-uf-plans-for-jax.html

thelakelander

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I'm very interested in seeing what campus site they ultimately select.
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Alex Sifakis

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You ain't the only one!

Charles Hunter

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Why isn't the Universal Marion (most recent ex-JEA HQ) a viable alternative?

Jax_Developer

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Something interesting to note is that the semiconductor institute is a separate deal to the Grad campus. So we could potentially have both being slotted downtown... which combined would be largest 'business-like' investment DT, I think ever? (If you take inflation out of the equation). Someone fact check that, but it would appear that UF Grad school is requiring $300M, with the Semi Institute requiring another $100M+. Crazy if true!

Source: (https://innovate.research.ufl.edu/2024/03/22/uf-florida-semiconductor-institute/)

Alex Sifakis

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Why isn't the Universal Marion (most recent ex-JEA HQ) a viable alternative?

UF needs a min of 10 acres, and ideally 12-15 acres, in order to have enough land to continue to grow the campus.  They consider this a 100 year investment for them, and want to make sure they are set up in one place for the next 100 years.

Jax_Developer

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The Fairgrounds seems like the easiest option if they need 10+ acres. Plus it's free! lol

thelakelander

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All three sites are +10 acres. Of the three, the fairgrounds is also the most isolated and disconnected from complimentary uses. All three locations have their pros and cons.
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali

Joey Mackey

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Does UF establishing a permanent graduate campus in DT Jax have any impact on the Florida-Georgia game occurring in Jax? I could see Kirby Smart, who has already said he would like the game out of Jax, argue that it is not a neutral site game anymore.

marcuscnelson

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The University of Georgia has a wing of its College of Business in Atlanta so that wouldn’t be usable either. Unless they’re going for the back-and-forth between campuses that doesn’t seem like a fair argument.
So, to the young people fighting in this movement for change, here is my charge: march in the streets, protest, run for school committee or city council or the state legislature. And win. - Ed Markey

Jax_Developer

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All three sites are +10 acres. Of the three, the fairgrounds is also the most isolated and disconnected from complimentary uses. All three locations have their pros and cons.

Yeah but I’d hope that the Convention Center can actually be used as a train station once again so I don’t feel like that’s a comparable option. FSCJ is a good option too.

Joey Mackey

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The University of Georgia has a wing of its College of Business in Atlanta so that wouldn’t be usable either. Unless they’re going for the back-and-forth between campuses that doesn’t seem like a fair argument.

Good to know, it probably won't matter then.

thelakelander

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All three sites are +10 acres. Of the three, the fairgrounds is also the most isolated and disconnected from complimentary uses. All three locations have their pros and cons.

Yeah but I’d hope that the Convention Center can actually be used as a train station once again so I don’t feel like that’s a comparable option. FSCJ is a good option too.

The funny thing about the Convention Center site is if you want Brightline, having a $300 million college campus adjacent to it and in LaVilla helps. As of now, downtown and LaVilla could use all the new infill development they can get. The big question with that site is to work with the railroads first to identify and carve out what they'll need. That option also forces some real decision making regarding the future relocation of the convention center. The negative side is that if people are concerned about gentrification, it will present some real challenges in LaVilla, the remaining original Brooklyn community and North Riverside, considering it will be all connected with the McCoys Creek project.

The FSCJ site is also pretty intriguing. State and Union is a huge overlooked gold mine in the urban core. Filling in all those blocks between downtown and Springfield really pulls two urban core districts together. There is also some potential strong syerngy with that area being a dense district of higher learning, along with its proximity to UF Health Jacksonville.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2024, 11:45:25 AM by thelakelander »
"A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” - Muhammad Ali

Jax_Developer

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All three sites are +10 acres. Of the three, the fairgrounds is also the most isolated and disconnected from complimentary uses. All three locations have their pros and cons.

Yeah but I’d hope that the Convention Center can actually be used as a train station once again so I don’t feel like that’s a comparable option. FSCJ is a good option too.

The funny thing about the Convention Center site is if you want Brightline, having a $300 million college campus adjacent to it and in LaVilla helps. As of now, downtown and LaVilla could use all the new infill development they can get. The big question with that site is to work with the railroads first to identify and carve out what they'll need. That option also forces some real decision making regarding the future relocation of the convention center. The negative side is that if people are concerned about gentrification, it will present some real challenges in LaVilla, the remaining original Brooklyn community and North Riverside, considering it will be all connected with the McCoys Creek project.

The FSCJ site is also pretty intriguing. State and Union is a huge overlooked gold mine in the urban core. Filling in all those blocks between downtown and Springfield really pulls two urban core districts together. There is also some potential strong syerngy with that area being a dense district of higher learning, along with its proximity to UF Health Jacksonville.

I agree the campus would be complimentary to the station. To me the train station is still a pipe dream, and I feel like you would need to know the train station is happening when you begin to plan any campus improvements so you don't interfere with anything vital.

Yeah I just simply meant that the fairgrounds is the "easiest" because it's almost vacant now with structured parking nearby. I think all of these spots have great potential to connect the areas improving around it. I would 100% like to see a connected & vibrant Main St.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2024, 12:12:49 PM by Jax_Developer »