City Council member Scott Wilson began his Tuesday planning to talk about his frustration in not receiving crime statistics related to the Jacksonville Journey.
Since March, Wilson said he sought more detail from Mayor Lenny Curry’s office and Journey officials about the anti-crime initiative’s data for 10 targeted ZIP codes.
Parts of his Southside district have been hit with crime and are in need of improvement, too, but aren’t covered.
He believes there is a better way to determine needs and wants to see the data for himself.
Reinvesting in the program started by former Mayor John Peyton has been a priority for Curry, who considers it part of his pledge to make Jacksonville safer.
As of Tuesday evening, the evening council was finalizing the 2016-17 budget, Wilson had not seen those crime statistics.
So he went a step further than just asking.
As budget talks reached their conclusion, Wilson offered a floor amendment, the only one of the evening at the end of the nearly five-hour meeting.
He sought to withhold $2.1 million from the Journey — six months’ of funding — until his Neighborhoods, Community Investments and Services Committee received the information he’d sought for months.
It was an abrupt change in tone for the meeting, coming on the heels of a lengthy positive discussion on funding programs to help children learn to swim.
Council member Bill Gulliford said Wilson’s reaction to the issue was “draconian,” but he had a point — ZIP codes shouldn’t determine where Journey priorities should be, neighborhoods should.
A recent Jessie Ball duPont Foundation “Block by Block” study showed as much.
Several council members said they couldn’t support the idea. The Journey was too important.
However, others came to Wilson’s defense, saying they were not pleased he hadn’t received information he had long requested.
Charles Moreland, Curry’s community affairs director, acknowledged the ZIP code methodology “has its flaws” and there was crime in different areas of the community.
As for the lack of response to Wilson’s request, he was not sure where Debbie Verges, Journey project director, was in the analysis.
Council President Lori Boyer pressed Moreland for a timeframe to get the ZIP code information, settling on 30 days.
She shared Wilson’s concern about the Journey methodology — ZIP codes often pull in areas that don’t need such critical help, such as Avondale and Ortega.
Ultimately, Wilson’s own way to fuel the discussion fell short on a 5-12 vote. He was joined by Anna Lopez Brosche, Vice President John Crescimbeni, Gulliford and Tommy Hazouri in support of the floor amendment.
Afterward, Wilson said the Journey is a great program and helped a lot of children in Jacksonville. He said funding only the first half of the year would have provided a chance “to really understand it” and determine the best way to move forward.
Boyer said she was “totally surprised” by Wilson’s action, but knew he was frustrated. She gives him credit for bringing the conversation to the forefront.
“It’s a good way to get everybody’s attention,” she said.
Boyer said council members in the past had learned to step up for one another when someone asks for information and doesn’t receive it.
“We’re just not going to go down the path where you stonewall somebody," she said.
Shortly after the Journey vote, council unanimously approved the $1.1 billion city budget.
It’s a spending plan highlighted by the addition of 40 police officers and 40 community service officers and more than $83 million in capital spending.
Council also spent parts of the evening on non-budget items. They included:
• There hasn’t been anything added to the council addendum since Boyer took the reins in July. That changed Tuesday, when one of three bills made its way out of committee, on to the addendum and was ultimately passed by council.
The ordinance was a council finding that improvements to the Jacksonville Fairgrounds “would serve a public purpose.”
The show of support will be included in a grant application fairgrounds officials are putting together seeking $900,000 to renovate roofs, restrooms, livestock areas and exhibit buildings at the Downtown facility.
The other bills, one to appeal laws relating to alarm systems and another for a zoning change in Mandarin, weren’t as lucky and head back to committee for further review.
• Two enhancement programs in need of funding received a boost from an economic development project that never materialized.
The city’s Commercial Development Area Program received more than $222,000 meant to retain and attract business development to Downtown, struggling neighborhoods and town center areas through loans for machinery and leasehold improvements.
Another $200,000 will go toward a Façade Renovation Grant Program that provides funding assistance for existing businesses in downtrodden areas. Both programs were created with the recently revised public investment policy program.
The more than $422,000 came from an approved 2006 incentive deal for Fidelity Global Brokerage Group Inc. that never came to fruition.
• A city park under the north approach of the Dames Point Bridge was renamed in honor of the memory the crew members of the El Faro.
The 2.65 acre parcel will now be called the El Faro Memorial at Dames Point Park. The El Faro cargo ship had 33 crew members on board when it set voyage for Puerto Rico last year and was lost in Hurricane Joaquin.
Tote Maritime Services, which owned and operated the vessel, will make several improvements to the park, including a 10-foot statue to honor the crew.
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