JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville is one day away from having a new mayor, meaning the pre-celebrations have commenced.
Mayor-elect Donna Deegan’s inaugural weekend kicked off with a prayer breakfast. The event was followed by an evening celebration party.
Hundreds of people were in attendance to celebrate Jacksonville’s soon-to-be first female mayor.
Charletta Sowell said she is excited to see what the Mayor-elect is going to do for the city.
“She has built the Dream Team. And I love it. She’s going to tackle some of the infrastructure problems that we have here in Jacksonville. And I’m excited about it because there are too many things that have been neglected in the city. And I believe she’s going to get it done,” Sowell said.
JoAnn Brookes hopes the new mayor will bring change to the city.
“That’s one thing. economic position, businesses, places for people to live instead of those orphanages or the American Red Cross, we need housing for people and places where they can afford to live,” Brookes said.
Deegan said her administration plans to create more opportunities for people to be involved in their government.
“It’s all about bringing everybody in. And that really is it’s not rocket science. It is literally just letting people become more participatory in their own government” Deegan said. “So, we’ve tried to do that through the transition committees, we’ve brought a lot of people into those committees, we’re going to do that with town halls, we’re going to do that by bringing people into City Hall and vice versa.”
Saturday will feature:
Swearing-In Ceremony: Deegan will be sworn in during a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts at 300 Water St. Tickets to the free event are “sold out.” To join the waitlist, click here.
Inaugural Ball: The Mayor’s Inaugural Ball will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at The River Club at One Independent Drive, Suite 3500.