Office of City Council

OFFICE OF CITY COUNCIL SUITE 425, CITY HALL 117 W. DUVAL STREET JACKSONVILLE FL 32202 904-630-1377

September 12, 2008 4:20 p.m.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE COMMUNITY MEETING ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE JACKSONVILLE JOURNEY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 6:30 P.M. TWIN LAKES ACADEMY MIDDLE SCHOOL 8050 POINT MEADOWS DRIVE

Attendance: Clay Yarborough (Chair), Kevin Hyde Guests: Adam Hollingsworth and Sherry Hall – Mayor’s Office; Kent Olsen – Budget Officer; Roslyn Phillips – Recreation and Community Services Department; Patrol and Enforcement Department Director Michael Edwards and Zone 3 Assistant Chief E.L. McDonald, Officers Joe Quinn and Kenneth Browning – Sheriff’s Office; Terri Slindemann – Code Enforcement Division; Jeff Clements and

The meeting was convened at 6:40 p.m. Chairman Yarborough welcomed the audience, introduced the members of the City administration in attendance, and briefly explained the purpose of the meeting, which is to receive public input, concerns and suggestions on the subject of public safety, particularly with regard to the Jacksonville Journey budget proposal. Speakers were invited to fill out blue speaker cards and to speak to the committee for 3-4 minutes.

Chic Holliday reported that a City-owned property on Sam Yepez Road near the Mayo Clinic and San Pablo Road is the site of illegal dumping and mud bogging trucks. Neighbors have tried to block off access to the site but the dumpers and mud boggers continue to find their way in. JSO apparently limits the number of calls that are taken on a particular complaint, so the public can’t express the degree of its discontent with a flood of phone calls to the JSO to prompt some action.

Terry Holliday complimented the JSO on its quick response to a call he placed several weeks ago about a prowler on his roof. Units responded to the scene within minutes of his call so he was pleased that an emergency situation produced such a rapid response.

Doug Murr stated that he attended many of the Jacksonville Journey meetings and thinks that there are lots of grassroots organizations doing lots of good work in our community but it doesn’t seem concentrated enough to be having a noticeable positive effect. Our prison and jail populations are soaring. There seems to be real deterioration in family order and discipline and a troubling trend to increasing violence. He runs a program that serves young ex offenders trying to reenter society and the key to his program is full family participation – without parental involvement you’ll never get anywhere with the child. If families and schools give up on kids, then the gangs are waiting to take their place and provide a sense of belonging.

1 Debbie Verges, former Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Jacksonville emphasized the Jacksonville Journey’s focus on prevention – that’s the key to success.

Chairman Yarborough explained that the Finance Committee has nearly completed its work on the budget. There is general agreement about the Jacksonville Journey’s aims and substantive proposals, but different ideas about the administrative structure that should be used to accomplish the goals. Several Council leaders are working with the Mayor to craft a mutually agreeable proposal that should be discussed at next Monday’s Finance Committee meeting.

John Waddell asked what the Sheriff’s Office is doing to combat the City’s growing gang problem. JSO Director of Patrol Michael Edwards explained that Jacksonville does not have the same sort of gangs that are prevalent in bigger cities (i.e. the Bloods and Crips) that are highly organized, wear specific gang colors, etc. Only 8 groups in Jacksonville meet the state statute definition of “gangs”. What Jacksonville has are numerous neighborhood-based groups that protect their turf and often deal in drugs. School resource officers are the JSO’s first line of defense against gangs. The JSO is stepping up its presence in and around high school football games this fall after several incidents last year. The JSO has noticed that arrests of major drug kingpins frequently leads to increased neighborhood violence as underlings in the group from which the leader was arrested and neighboring groups fight to take over the departed leader’s turf.

Chairman Yarborough thanked the community for their attendance and input. He announced that the final public forum will be held at Clanzel Brown Community Center on September 18th.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:04 p.m.

Jeff Clements City Council Research Division 630-1405 c.c. [email protected]