Every year Socialist RINO Matt Carlucci posts from Woodstock, Vermont like it’s just a nice fall trip. Woodstock, Vermont is one of the most reliably progressive, high-income liberal towns in New England. Covered bridges, fall colors, and a local political culture that treats Republicanism as something you left behind. He runs as a Republican in Jacksonville, then spends his October vacation in a place that has spent decades as a progressive stronghold. Same guy who crosses the aisle for Deegan, backs Democratic candidates, and fights to protect housing handouts instead of cutting spending. And look who shows up in the comments to cheer it on — the same liberal and Democrat crowd that always piles in to praise him. No surprise there. If the yearly postcard from Woodstock doesn’t tell you the party label is just for the ballot, nothing will. @MattCarlucciAL4 @NickHowland15 @JoeCarlucci @RoryDiamond @CMKevinCarrico @Ron_Salem @MikeGayD2 @TFreemanJax @RaulAriasJAX @KenAmaroJax @boylanmt

Aww screw @MattCarlucciAL4! Matt loves talking “responsible government” and “good stewardship of public funds” when it lets him dodge CIP money for the boat ramp and push a slower grant timeline. But when Finance takes $2.8M from his open-ended affordable housing trust fund and puts it toward an actual 180-unit apartment project that had no funding source, suddenly he’s livid. Who cares he’s livid! I see he called the media again so he could play the victim. That’s not stewardship. That’s protecting the pot of money he can spread around as down-payment assistance, construction subsidies, and now JEA utility connection and tap fees so Joshua Hicks can pick winners. Taxpayers shouldn’t be writing checks for other people’s down payments, closing costs, or JEA hookups. That’s not the government’s job. People who can’t save a down payment or qualify on their own shouldn’t be pushed into homes they can’t afford. History already showed what happens when you lower the bar on credit scores and down payments: more people get into houses they can’t actually afford. Then the maintenance doesn’t get done and the houses turn into the same shitholes we already have on the Northside and Westside. Then people lose their jobs, the payments come due, the defaults start, and the foreclosures follow. We don’t need another round of that. Down-payment programs and fee subsidies don’t build supply. They pick a handful of lottery winners and leave the rest of the shortage untouched while the city still sits on millions in unspent SHIP funds. The whole process has a hole in it — open-ended pots of money that get moved around with little notice and no real accountability for whether any of it actually fixes the shortage. The committee spent the money on units that will actually get built. Carlucci wanted it parked so he could keep calling it progress. Tell Matt to finish the St. Johns Boat Ramp projects he claimed he was going to get done and didn’t. Now boaters have to wait two years. Council: don’t change what Finance already voted!! Leave the $2.8 million on the apartment project that will actually get built! I was surprised when Ron Salem and others signed off on restoring the full $4.9 million in the first place, including the down-payment assistance piece. That part was always the weakest use of the money. Now that Finance has redirected $2.8 million to units that will actually get built, leave it there. @NickHowland15 @RoryDiamond @Ron_Salem @_JoeCarlucci_ @kenamaro9 @MikeGayD2 @CMKevinCarrico @boylanmt @RaulAriasJAX @RoryDiamond @Ron_Salem @MayorDeegan @ActionNewsJax @News4JAX @JAXTDY @Fla_Pol @jaxdotcom @DuvalGOP

Aww screw this “Carlucci’s Corner” victim act. Matt, you spent weeks selling the $4.9 million as some sacred homeownership victory. Then Finance moved $2.8 million of it to an actual 180-unit apartment project that has a developer and a site, and suddenly it’s a “bait and switch” and “bad government.” The original split was $1.4M construction, $1.4M utility/JEA connection assistance, and $2.1M down-payment assistance. That’s not building supply. That’s a pot of money you can spread around as grants, fee waivers, and down-payment checks so a handful of people get picked while everyone else waits. Down-payment programs don’t create homes. They pick lottery winners for existing stock. Utility connection subsidies are just the city writing checks for JEA hookups that should be part of the project cost. And the city is still sitting on millions in unspent SHIP funds while you treat this trust fund like your personal progress banner. You say Tori Meadows won’t need the money for two years. So what? The alternative was parking it so you could keep calling it “homeownership help” while it sits there too. Finance put it toward units that will actually get built. That’s the opposite of a diversion. It’s using the money for housing instead of leaving it as an open-ended fund you can defend in your next Facebook post. You keep saying residents and you “deserved an opportunity to respond.” You had the budget process. You got the $4.9 million restored after Finance stripped it. Now a committee is reallocating part of it to a real project and you’re shocked the full Council still has to vote. That’s how it works. A budget amendment is not a permanent trust deed that can never be touched. You praise the Finance chair until they move money out of your preferred pot, then it’s disappointing. You call Howland’s support a failure of being an “honest broker.” What you actually want is for every dollar to stay exactly where you can claim credit for it. Same pattern for 20 years: never cut anything, fight to put money back, then act outraged when someone spends it on something concrete instead of your preferred program. Look at who showed up to back you in the comments. Warren Jones, registered Democrat and longtime former councilman, thanking you and pushing to keep the down-payment money. Carolyn McClanahan, who just posted about walking with Angie Nixon to vote for her for U.S. Senate, calling you a leader and saying she was “livid.” The supportive replies are the same left-leaning housing advocates who always show up for this stuff. That’s not a coincidence. It’s the RINO pattern: vote and post with the Democrats on spending, then act shocked when people notice. Families don’t get “the American dream” from down-payment assistance and fee subsidies. They get a payment they might not be able to keep, a house that doesn’t get maintained, and the same rundown results we already see on the Northside and Westside when people are pushed into homes they can’t really afford. Then the defaults and foreclosures follow. We don’t need another round of that while you call it stewardship. Council: leave the $2.8 million on the apartment project. Don’t put it back in the open-ended trust fund so Matt can keep posting about it! @Ron_Salem @NickHowland15 @RaulAriasJAX @MikeGayD2 @_JoeCarlucci_ @MattCarlucciAL4 @RoryDiamond @CMKevinCarrico @boylanmt @kenamaro9 @JimmyPelusoCD7 @rahmanj @MayorDeegan @CityofJax @ActionNewsJax @wjxt4 @News4JAX @jaxdotcom @FCN2go @JAXTDY