Last night the Jacksonville City Council continued to do what it does best, block progress.
Anyone who has visited downtown Jacksonville over the past year and a half has seen plenty of progress at Hemming Park.
That progress has been largely due to the city contracting with Friends of Hemming Park, (a small, local nonprofit organization) to do what the city has failed to do for decades, revitalize Jacksonville’s oldest public park,
And guess what? They have been enormously successful!
When the city was in charge the park was filled with gambling, drugs, prostitution and other illicit activities. The park was filthy, littered and routinely vandalized. It had become the epicenter of the city’s homeless population and pigeon poop. The city council didn’t care about the homeless or the park and they were fine with the pigeon poop as long as it wasn’t on their cars.
Under the stewardship of Friends of Hemming Park the park has been revitalized beyond any expectations held just a year and half ago. It is clean, beautiful even. It is a safe area, a welcome haven for families and citizens of all ages.
There are events and fun things to do. Social services are available for those in need. There are food trucks, artists, children playing. There are games, activities, music and laughter.
An eye sore has become a gem for our community.
This has been accomplished not by a city council that failed the park, time and time again but by Friends of Hemming Park. This has been accomplished despite the City Council’s near constant negativity, nay saying and overall impediment of Friends of Hemming Park and other groups within our community who have worked hard to make Jacksonville’s oldest public park something to be proud of again.
The latest shenanigans perpetrated by the Jacksonville City Council against Friends of Hemming Park and our city as a whole was to again deny payment of $250,000 earmarked for Friends of Hemming Park by Mayor Lenny Curry.
And this is not the first time these funds have been hijacked by the council.
These funds were intended to be released in February 2016.
Those monies were going to be matched with an additional $250,000 donation from Community First Credit Union to build a city owned stage in the park. A stage that Community First would have the naming rights for its first five years.
Overall, a win win for our beloved park and our city!
But Jacksonville City Council, you know, the same council that back in 2010 gave up 4 million dollars of taxpayer money in the naming rights for Everbank Field didn’t think it was enough money so the deal was not closed.
City Council logic; a negative balance of 4 million dollars for the naming rights of a NFL football stadium is good but $250,000 on the plus side for the naming rights of a stage in a park is bad.
So, to recap,, Friends of Hemming Park was due $250,000 in February and could have received another $250,000 from Community First but Jacksonville City Council gummed up the works and instead of having $500,000 to invest in our park Friends of Hemming Park received $100,000 and a lecture from the City Council.
Yeah, that’s right, the folks who gave us a park filled with gambling, drugs, prostitution and other illicit activities lectured the folks who gave us food trucks, Toddler Tuesdays, Yoga, art, music, magic and children laughing and playing.
Let the council members know how you feel:
JoyceMorgan@coj.net, Ferraro@coj.net, ABowman@coj.net, SWilson@coj.net, LBoyer@coj.net, MattS@coj.net ,
RGaffney@coj.net, KBrown@coj.net, GarrettD@coj.net, RBrown@coj.net, DBecton@coj.net, DoyleC@coj.net,
Gulliford@coj.net , JimLove@coj.net, ABrosche@coj.net, JRC@coj.net, THazouri@coj.net, GAnderson@coj.net,
SNewby@coj.net