JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The discussion on how to spend $94 million of the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that was taken out of the Jaguars stadium deal last month began in earnest Monday with the first of four meetings for the special Jacksonville City Council committee appointed to determine how the money could be spent.
The next three will happen between now and Aug. 26.
The CBA, which was initially part of a $150 million portion of the stadium deal, is especially important to those who live and work on Jacksonville’s Eastside.
RELATED: ‘We deserve it’: Eastside residents hopeful ‘Community Benefits Agreement’ deal pans out
According to our news partner the Jacksonville Daily Record, the $94 million was targeted for workforce development, homelessness services and affordable housing, and of that $94 million, $30 million was dedicated to improving the Eastside neighborhood north of the stadium.
Members of the Eastside Coalition spoke about the need to use CBA money to transform the Historic Eastside into the next Avondale or San Marco.
Randy Austin, who manages a grocery store on the Eastside, questioned whether the money would be distributed equally to Eastside businesses.
He said some business owners further north from the stadium feel they are being left out and may not get their hands on any of that money to help grow their business.
“I’ve been told they are starting close to the stadium and working their way away from the stadium and that’s not a fair and equitable plan,” Austin said.
He talked about his concerns about the money running out.
“Well apparently it has ran out in the previous benefits agreement that was awarded by the Jaguars a couple of years ago and none of it has trickled past 21st Street so far,” Austin said. “That’s a clear example of why I’m concerned.”
Councilman Raul Arias, the committee’s chair, said the primary goal is pinpointing exactly what the spending 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.”
The Daily Record reported that one of the committee’s decisions is whether to create a single board for the entire scope of the agreement or to create two boards with one focused exclusively on projects in the Eastside neighborhood and the other focused on the other projects throughout the city.
In a statement, Arias called it a historic moment for the city.
“My colleagues and I on the Special Committee are going to ensure this Community Benefits Agreement protects the taxpayers while providing much-needed infrastructure for the neighborhood, benefits the community and small businesses in the Out East community,” Arias said.
Earlier, Arias said he wants to see how this money can help foster small businesses. As a business owner, that resonated with Dawn Curling, a fourth-generation Eastside neighbor who is heavily invested in her community.
“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.”
Curling, a co-founder of the Jacksonville Melanin Market, said it feels like the Eastside has been forgotten.
“And while they’re creating this ‘Stadium of the Future,’ we do not want to be the neighborhood of the past,” Curling said.