A.G. Gancarski
It’s committee week for the Jacksonville City Council, and there are a number of bills of note.
Among the big talkers: reform to the budget process; a $3 million grant to remedy Northwest Jacksonville food deserts; and another committee week for the hit-free zone bill.
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Budget Process Reform: 2018-231, filed by Councilwoman Katrina Brown, would add the entire Council to a “standing budget committee.”
Currently, the Finance Committee (on which Brown serves) handles the budget, via a series of August day-long meetings. If Brown’s bill passes its one committee of reference (Rules) and the Council, all 19 members will be likewise tasked.
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Supermarket Sweep: The Finance Committee is the sole committee of reference for another bill co-sponsored by Councilwoman Brown.
2018-195 will, if passed, approve encumbering $3 million from the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Trust Fund to recruit grocers to move into the area, which is about to see two grocery stores close.
Discussion in a public notice meeting balanced the goal of opening a store with the reality that the reason that the stores are closing to start with is that there wasn’t enough business to make them profitable.
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Hit-free zones: Resolution 2018-171 would turn all city property into “hit-free zones”: “areas in which no adult shall hit another adult, no adult shall hit a child, no child shall hit an adult, and no child shall hit another child.”
This so-called “hit free zone” bill was smacked down on Tuesday evening by the Jacksonville City Council, which pushed it back to committees amidst concerns about “big government,” potential costs of posting signs, and burdens created on city workers tasked with enforcing the rule.
The bill has three committees of reference: Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health & Safety on Monday, and Finance and Rules on Tuesday.
