JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As Mayor Donna Deegan prepares to present her budget to the city council on Monday, July 15, a special committee overseeing a portion of that budget is now in the works.
Specifically, it’ll look at exactly how to use the remaining $94 million of the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that was taken out of the Jaguars stadium deal last month.
Jacksonville residents may recall that $94 million was from the $150 million in taxpayer dollars initially proposed. For those living and working on the Eastside, the CBA is especially important.
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Dawn Curling has been in business designing custom t-shirts for two decades. As a fourth-generation Eastside neighbor, she’s heavily invested in her community.
“Well, the Eastside has been forgotten,” Curling said. “And while they’re creating this ‘Stadium of the Future’, we do not want to be the neighborhood of the past.”
Curling is also a co-founding of the Jacksonville Melanin Market. Curling and countless other Eastside neighbors are pushing hard for the remaining $94 million of the CBA to become a reality. But figuring out how that will work is step one.
That’s where the special committee will come in. Councilman Raul Arias will be the chair.
“I’ve toured the Eastside, maybe two weekends ago,” Arias said. “I feel the same way, I want to make sure they’re not forgotten. I want to make sure that they understand we’re here for them.”
Arias said the committee will officially be announced on Monday, July 15. Last month, it was announced the CBA would address needs including workforce development, affordable housing, and homelessness.
Arias says the primary goal is pinpointing exactly what that will look like.
“We’re going to get to the nuts and bolts of it, the details to actually identify what kind of workforce housing or initiatives we’re going to be putting in place,” Arias said. “Affordable housing, homelessness. We already have a lot of programs with the city for homelessness. So, what we don’t want to do is just have redundancy. We’re trying to identify exactly how we’re going to allocate those dollars for that.”
Arias said a CBA board will be created, and details are still being worked out.
“A board will be created, the question is, how many members?” Arias said. “Right now, we have an idea of having two from the mayor, two from the Jags, two from the city council, and then all six of them collectively will put one in place. But that’s to be determined. We’re still working on the details of that.
He also said he wants to see how this money can help foster small businesses. As a business owner, that resonates with Curling.
“I want to add a second floor to my shop, I want to be able to offer a business owner a space that they can operate in,” Curling said. “I’m very hopeful. I think that they visiting our neighborhood and seeing what this neighborhood is and understanding the community, the people that live in it and the people that work in it, how important it is for us to have these funds.”
The mayor presents her budget on Monday. Supporters for the CBA said they will be watching. Councilman Arias said the committee will wrap up its work by August 27. He says he expects 4 meetings to take place within that time frame.