MONDAY April 5, 2021
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Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville Community Council Inc. returning
Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
Curry group: Millions needed for riverfront parks, homeless
Dormant since 2017, the nonprofit published 80 reports on city issues.
Daily Record Daily Record JACKSONVILLE
BY MAX MARBUT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
JACKSONVILLE
Photo by Mike Mendenhall
GreenPointe Holdings LLC CEO Ed Burr and Vestcor Companies Chairman John Rood take part in the Downtown Working Group meeting March 30.
Panel of business leaders recommends $104 million in one-time and $7.7 million in recurring city spending. BY MIKE MENDENHALL STAFF WRITER
Mayor Lenny Curry’s Downtown Working Group recommends the city spend more than $104 million to revitalize Downtown, boost riverfront parks, add entertainment and help the homeless. The group of CEOs and business leaders voted 5-0 on March 30 to adopt a list that includes $70 million for riverfront public spaces, $20 million to help relocate and bolster the Sulzbacher Center’s homeless services and $12 million for Downtown events,
public art, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, a Cultural Council juried art festival and $2.2 million for street lighting improvements. The panel, chaired by The Vestcor Companies Chairman John Rood, also wants the Curry administration to add $7.7 million in recurring spending to the city budget for: ■ Street-level beautification and maintenance. ■ A fund for Downtown cultural events. ■ Staff to speed up Downtown projects. SEE SPENDING, PAGE 2
MONEY FOR DOWNTOWN Spending recommended by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s Downtown Working Group: ONE-TIME SPENDING
RECURRING SPENDING
$70 million for Riverfront park, Downtown Riverwalk and marina projects. $20 million for gap funding to relocate Sulzbacher and permanent supportive housing for the homeless. $12 million for Downtown events; public art; Jacksonville Jazz Festival; and Cultural Council juried art festival. $2.2 million for Downtown lighting survey and installation.
$3 million for supportive housing, services and housing vouchers for the homeless. $2 million annually for street-level beautification and maintenance. $2 million for a Downtown cultural events fund. $500,000 to streamline efficiency in capital projects. $200,000 for support and expanding college and university-level education in the Urban Core.
The Jacksonville Community Council Inc. is back in operation after a five-year hiatus. The return is led by a group including Ramon Day; Katie Ross, a JCCI alumnus; Jacksonville attorney Joni Poitier; Bennett Brown, Jacksonville president of The Heritage Bank; and civic leader J. F. Bryan IV, who was JCCI’s board chair in 2013. Day was chief of staff for the late U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett of Jacksonville. “We’re going to get it cranked up and going again,” Day said March 30. Day said he filed new incorporation papers with the state in early March. There is an organizational board meeting scheduled April 6, where he expects an 11-member board will be seated and a chair will be elected. The organization has a website under construction at JacksonvilleCommunityCouncil.org where more details will be available after the board’s first meeting, Day said. The nonprofit JCCI was established in 1974, with the initial mission to identify the priority issues to improve the quality of life in the community. Over the following 40 years, JCCI published 80 reports on issues such as education, city finances and mental health. JCCI’s largest project was JAX2025, a 100-page report released in 2013, based on months of public meetings and input from more than 16,000 business and civic leaders and residents, that laid out a 12-year vision for the city.
MMARBUT@ JAXDAILYRECORD.COM
Southbound Main Street Bridge ramp closing The Downtown Independent Drive ramp leading to the southbound lane of the Main Street Bridge will close permanently April 15 in preparation for demolition. The Florida Department of Transportation said in a news release that motorists on Independent Drive that want to travel south on the bridge will continue past the ramp, turn left on Bay Street and left onto the Main Street Bridge. The bridge’s west pedestrian sidewalk will be closed during construction and users will be detoured to the east access, according to FDOT. The bridge ramp removal makes way for a planned park at the former Jacksonville Landing site.
Main Street Bridge
VOLUME 108, NO. 98 • ONE SECTION