A.G. Gancarski
One of the interesting things about the current permutation of the Jacksonville City Council’s Neighborhood Improvement and Enhancement Committee is how many complaints there are about it from the regulars.
Not enough items on the agenda.
They don’t do anything anymore.
If you scratched the surface, you might hear similar complaints from those on City Council who recall the previous version of the Blight Committee.
Would Monday’s iteration of the NICE Committee meeting be different?
The main point of discussion was 2015-377, a bill which addresses “certain persons … storing vehicles in side yards or parking vehicles in such a manner which prevents the observation of the license tag from the right-of-way … [contributing] to blight conditions.”
Councilman Reggie Brown, an advocate of the legislation, brought up the intent, which is to deal with “junk cars” that are “wide open” and “haven’t been driven in years.”
Brown reiterated that this wasn’t about stopping people from backing in the driveway, but removing junk cars.
“None of us want to live next door to these junk vehicles” for years and years, Brown said.
Though Chairman Garrett Dennis mentioned that those issues had been discussed since “July 20,” and failure to take action would make a “mockery” of the Council, his attempts to compress the meeting into a less-sprawling block of time were of no avail.
Hazouri spoke of people “juking the system,” using temporary tags to skirt the spirit of the ordinance; Crescimbeni attempted to drill down for specific details regarding enforcement; the audience murmured and thanked God for Wi-Fi.
There was a point in this discussion when it became indistinguishable from a “Saturday Night Live” sketch. Ultimately, the questions came down to whether it could be enforced, and legislation existing that theoretically already would have dealt with the issues.
Councilman Al Ferraro proposed a “media campaign” to educate the public about the purpose of this legislation; the council members had a picture of what appeared to be a junkyard, and Ferraro said that “if the public could see this,” there might be change.
To which Blight Director Denise Lee responded that there had been stories about it in the Times-Union already.
After much more discussion, Councilman Danny Becton proposed “keeping this in committee and getting this right.”
Nope.
“By your vote, 377 has passed,” Dennis said, as it passed, in substitute form, 3-2.
The bill will move on to Finance Committee and to the Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee.
Prediction: at least a couple more rounds of robust discussion.
The latter meets Tuesday.
Public comment included a resident talking about a dead dog laying in front of a city park off Soutel in Northwest Jacksonville for a week. After more public comment, John Crescimbeni‘s temper flashed, as he wondered why they couldn’t get answers to questions from city staff, most of whom had gone home for the evening, and indeed why the committee was even in operation given the lack of efficacy.
Crescimbeni demanded that answers be sent to council members from the representative of the mayor’s office who was to be on hand by noon Tuesday.
From discussing dead dogs to beating dead horses, the NICE Committee has something for everyone.
“What’s left of the dog … there isn’t much, but it still smells,” someone said.
As well, there is another dead dog near a church at the intersection of Soutel and Norfolk.
As the meeting sprawled into its third hour, members expressed frustration about “going round and round and round and round” about bills [Dennis] and “being frustrated” about trying to resolve problems and not getting follow up from the city [Ferraro].
There is a serious gap in Jacksonville between the public narrative and what actually happens.
And, Republican or Democrat, it seems like there is a surplus of rhetoric. And a dearth of results.
Crescimbeni “feels like I’m wasting my time here” and “if this can’t get corrected, I’m resigning from this committee.”
