Editor’s note: Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insight on various topics in Marketplace column.
__STEVE’S MARKETPLACE__
Many feel the U.S. has deteriorated as a country along a simple mathematical equation: the addition of terrorism and the subtraction of Christianity has been compounded by the division of races and social classes.
In other words, the sum of the parts is not what it used to be. However, we still live in one of the greatest countries in the world — and in one of the best places within in the U.S.
10 Wishes For New Year
But we need to employ precautionary measures to ensure it stays that way. Let’s make 10 wishes for Nassau County for 2016.
Wish No. 1: We hope the city and the county commissions can rectify their budgets and clean up their financial houses. Too much taxation and unnecessary spending can saddle residents and businesses with financial hardships. Both commissions have been willing to raise property and special-use taxes with little hesitation. This can be costly in the long term.
Wish No. 2: We hope both city and county officials can figure out how to accommodate impending growth — particularly with improved roadways and infrastructure. Until now, we have avoided traffic and congestion in our area. Let’s keep it that way. But it will require diligent and proactive planning, which has been lacking.
Wish No. 3: We hope for support of existing businesses, without selling out completely to new industry — and the promise of new jobs. Certainly, clean industry is desirable, as it contributes to the tax base and potentially provides jobs. But we cannot make too many concessions to bring in new industry, because this could offset the benefits.
Amelia Island, the “Golden Goose”
Wish No. 4: We hope everyone can grasp the notion of Amelia Island being a desirable and lucrative tourist destination. This takes more than just the efforts of local tourism officials (who do a fantastic job). Since Amelia Island provides more than two-thirds of the property tax revenues for the county, officials must be careful not to tarnish the golden goose.
Wish No. 5: We hope that we can get behind beautification and economic initiatives like the new Main Street program in Fernandina Beach. Tapping into resources such as Main Street makes sense, since we can utilize this expertise to resolve nagging issues here. And let’s expand the Main Street magic to other corridors in addition to Centre Street.
Wish No. 6: We hope we can preserve our natural amenities. We must prevent erosion on our beaches and maintain our marshes and waterways. And let’s stop cutting down trees. These take years to grow, but only minutes to chop down.
Wish No. 7: We hope to get qualified candidates for our local boards, especially the pivotal city and county commissions and school board. These elected officials can make or break us. It appears that we have difficulty attracting qualified candidates in many instances. We hope this corrects itself as more business professionals and savvy retirees move here.
Wish No. 8: We hope that we continue to empower and emphasize our local public and private schools, including Florida State College. To attract high-caliber companies, we must offer a qualified work force. And let’s hope these valuable bastions of education continue to work together for improvement at all levels.
Wish No. 9: We hope that the city and county can come together to coordinate redundant, overlapping services. The biggest of these by size and costs is police and fire service. Certainly, there are amenable ways to scale back duplicitous services to save money and to improve delivery.
Steve NicklasWish No. 10: Despite the sensationalism and negativity of 24-hour news coverage, let’s not forget how fortunate we are to live in this country and in Nassau County. Visitors are overwhelmed with the natural beauty and amenities and friendly local flavor here. It’s something to be truly thankful for, and we should not forget it.
