I live in the Riverside Community of Jacksonville, Florida.
We have a wonderful parks system in Jacksonville, the largest urban park system in the United States. We also have a top shelf Library in the Jacksonville Public Library, consistently ranked as one of the best in the state.
One of my favorite things to do is to check out books from our local Willowbranch Library, the oldest branch library still in operation, and read them at Willowbranch Park, adjacent to the library. There are ample tables and benches available to sit and read, though truth be told, I prefer to sit on the grass, my back to a tree.
This I have done at many of the twenty branch libraries we have in Jacksonville. Not all have city parks adjacent to them but they all have a public area for a reader to sit and read.
During my 30 plus years of being a patron of the JPL I have never had anyone object to me reading a book outside of one of our libraries. Whether I was sitting in a chair, sitting on the grass, sitting on a park bench, sitting on a curb, or just sitting on the ground. I have read my book(s) undisturbed -other than for the occasional, “what are you reading?”
All that changed recently when I walked out of the Main Library and into Hemming Park. The Main Library, like Willowbranch has a public park within a few steps of it’s front door. In the past I have used one of the many chairs that surrounded the many tables spread out around the park, but those were removed a while back.
Option #2 was one of the many benchlike slabs that Jaxsonvillians have used for generations to sit near the fountain or the trees. But those had all been fenced off. I might add, at considerable expense.
Option #3 was to sit with my back against a tree as I usually do in Willowbranch Park. I had made it to the fourth page of my book when a private security officer informed me “sorry sir but you can’t do that?”
Me: I can’t read a book?
PSO: Not in the park, sir?
Me: I can’t read a book in a public park?
PSO: Not sitting on the ground, sir.
Me: Is that a new law because I’ve done it in front of JSO for over 3 decades and it’s never been an issue?
PSO You have to move along sir.
Me: Could you give me the ordinance number that my behavior is in violation of?
PSO No sir. You have to move along, sir.
Me: Could you tell me who gave you your orders?
PSO: The city, sir.
Me: Specifically? Who with the city?
PSO: No sir, I don’t know who, you have to move along sir, or at least get off the ground.
Me: They removed all the seating. Where am I supposed to sit?
PSO: Points to tables by a food truck and says, you can sit there but you’ll have to buy something, sir.
Me: So, if I want to sit and read my book in a public park I have to pay money to a private company or private security will roust me?
PSO: I don’t make the rules, sir.
Me: And you can’t tell me who did make the rules?
PSO: No sir.
I decided to get up and stop busting the PSO’s balls. All things considered he had been very polite and he wasn’t the problem, that’s why I didn’t identify his company. The Food Truck wasn’t the problem either, nor was the private park management
The problem with Hemming Park is the same as it has always been, the City of Jacksonville, specifically, it’s local government, the city council and the Mayor’s office.
Were you aware that Hemming Park falls within an area known as the “Central Core Enhancement Area”? That within the “Central Core Enhancement Area” there are special rules (laws) that are not enforced anywhere else in the city? Rules that the City Council has authorized the payment of $20,000.00 a month to a private security company to enforce in Hemming Park.
Central Core Enhancement Area shall mean that area of approximately 5,061 acres (approximately 7.91 square miles) within the City located on both sides of the City’s downtown riverfront area. The City of Jacksonville is 875 mi². That means that in 99.99096% of the city I would have been allowed to sit and read my book, just not in Hemming Park or the nearby area.
Why can I read my book in Willowbranch Park, adjacent to the library but not in Hemming park, adjacent to the library?
1. The Jacksonville City Council does not like homeless people.
2. There are very few homeless people in Willowbranch Park, there are many homeless people in Hemming Park and Hemming Park is across from City Hall.
The city’s first action to keep the homeless out was to remove all the payphones from the area, this was back when people still utilized payphones.
Then they removed the tables and chairs from the park.
They briefly considered cutting down the trees so there would be no shade.
They also considered cutting down the oaks and replanting palms so there would be less shade.
Next they decided their options within the law were limited so they decided to put a private group in charge of the park, Friends of Hemming Park.
When The Friends didn’t crack down on the homeless to the council’s liking the Council called them out on the carpet. The council started second guessing every decision and threatening their finances.
This caused the city to miss out on a privately founded stage and, gasp…seating.
They put up barricades and fencing to prevent anyone, homeless or not, from sitting on benches that had been used before most council members were even born. $60,000.00 worth of barricades.
In a last ditch effort to have private companies do their dirty work the council started selling permits to food trucks to set up within the park, logic being that private businesses have more legal options when it comes to forcing the homeless to “move along”
The Jacksonville City Council thinks that by removing seating from Hemming Park they will remove the homeless. They won’t, homelessness will not be solved in that way. They are not erasing the homeless. They are erasing Hemming Park, OUR PARK.
When citizens are no longer permitted; to sit, to read, to ride a bicycle, to carry a skateboard, or large book bag (without threat of it being searched), to even comb their hair in a public park it is no longer public or a park.
