JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of community members came to the auditorium at Mandarin High School Wednesday to learn more and weigh in on the stadium agreement in the first of five community huddles after the city and the Jaguars announced the plan for a 50-50 split of the $1.25 billion “Stadium of the Future” renovation project.
According to Mayor Donna Deegan, Jaguars President Mark Lamping and Mike Weinstein, who presented the deal to the City Council on Tuesday, the city’s $625 million portion will be factored into the annual budget across the next four years and won’t include a tax increase for residents.
The city also agreed to pay $150 million, if a new deal is signed, for maintenance and upkeep, bringing Jacksonville’s total investment to $775 million, and the overall price to $1.4 billion.
“I think it’s a good opportunity, especially for my business, to probably get inside the stadium so that we can help recruit and hire younger generation people from the historic eastside,” Cookie Gantt said, who owns Avenue Grill.
Doug Dulaney also attended the huddle to share his concerns about the high price tag for the stadium makeover.
“I don’t think we can afford it. And all the other things we need to do we have a lot of more urgent issues I think we could use the money for,” he said.
News4JAX asked Lamping what he thought about residents opposing the city spending money on the stadium. He said the decision isn’t his to make.
“If you’re asking what my particular opinion what I would say to them, I would say you’re really fortunate because there were 20 people that were going to determine whether this was going to happen: the 19 council members and the mayor, now there’s only 19. So ultimately, that decision on the taxpayer money that goes into this is not going to be made by me. It’s not going to be made by anyone from the Jaguars. It’s going to be made by 19 elected officials,” Lamping said.
Weinstein, the lead negotiator for the agreement, said it will ultimately save taxpayers $1.5 billion with how city leaders plan to fund it. But, Dulaney said he is skeptical if that’s the case.
“My experience has been, that money just tends to go away. And I don’t see much benefit for the city as a whole. I mean, on game days, all the fans go down there and enjoy it. But for the rest of us, who can’t afford to go to games or aren’t interested in going to games, we don’t get anything out of it,” Dulaney said.
Gantt said the investment in the Outeast community has been a long time coming.
“It’s going to bring a lot of positive things to that side of the bridge for residents. Business owners, youths that’s growing up need them in a positive way to know that, hey, we got jobs out here that needs to be filled,” Gantt said. “We have those people that live in the community, residents and business owners, they’re gonna help fill those spaces. So it’s very important to us and we deserve it,” Gantt said.
To see the information that was presented at the huddle, visit jacksonville.gov.
Here is the schedule for the remaining meetings:
- Legends Center, May 16, 6-7:30 p.m.
- Fletcher High School, May 20, 6-7:30 p.m.
- Sandalwood High School, May 29, 6-7:30 p.m.
- Westside High School, May 30, 6-7:30 p.m.