A.G. Gancarski
If you’re getting a sense of deja vu, it’s not unfounded. Monday’s Jacksonville City Council Neighborhood Improvement and Community Enhancement Committee meeting revisited a lot of popular topics.
One such topic: the Snipe Signs legislation. Councilman John Crescimbeni updated the committee on the progress made toward enhancing fines last week in discussion.
Councilman Bill Gulliford observed that there may well be pushback from a certain Westside Councilman (Doyle Carter). With this in mind, Crescimbeni explained the distinction between signs put out by small time operators advertising garage sales versus the serial scofflaws who create the snipe sign blight.
Code Enforcement came up. In Fiscal Year 2015, which is almost over, only three people were cited for five signs or less. That burnishes the narrative that there just aren’t many lower-level offenders.
A long Waiting for Godot-ish discussion ensued regarding offenses in recent years, specifically how many offenders had fewer than five signs, and how many had more than five.
“I don’t want to penalize the local small business,” said Councilwoman Lori Boyer, while not penalizing the out of town serial offenders.
The discussion continued, expanding to non-licensed businesses selling houses in Jacksonville with these signs. Gulliford proposed fining Google Voice, as they provide telephony service for many of the scofflaws.
Google, according to the Office of General Counsel, has requested that the city of Jacksonville subpoena its information, which encouraged Gulliford to propose “going after it … totally, completely” to eradicate the menace.
Finally, Councilman Tommy Hazouri spoke up. “We’re going to beat this dead horse until it can no longer crawl,” he said of the discussion that had started 45 minutes before with no hope of resolution.
Hazouri then attempted to “call the question.” He was overruled.
Enforcement was discussed, including using a robocall to repeatedly call scofflaws to force them to call back.
The consensus of the committee: “we absolutely must do something.”
“I’m just at this frustration level,” said Joyce Morgan, “about seeing these signs.”
“Let’s do something,” Morgan said.
Councilmen Hazouri and Reggie Brown called a number on a sign and got significant information, including an address. That led Crescimbeni to wonder whether if they can get through, is enough being done by authorities.
• Speaking of issues, covered and tarped cars came up, via a discussion of 2015-361: Vehicle Requirements.
“Our intent is to make this complaint-driven,” Brown said. “We’re targeting those individuals who have their car in the front yard with a cover on it for years,” Brown said.
A discussion ensued about the ability of parking enforcement to address the issue.
The idea behind this bill, Brown continued, is to provide a mechanism to resolve a long-standing problem.
This measure will be refined and revisited.
• Other matters discussed include loitering issues, as well as the placement of a liquor store at Lane Avenue and Wilson Boulevard, the latter described by Councilman Brown as a bad move because the area is a nexus for crime already, and it doesn’t need any more “vices.”
