City Council president forms committee to improve Jacksonville parks, make them safer

The new president of Jacksonville's City Council wants to come up with a new plan to improve city parks and make them safer.

Jacksonville's park system is large but it ranked low on a recent list of park systems across the country.

A recent report from The Trust for Public Land said Jacksonville's parks were 90th best among the 100 largest cities in the country.

New City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche said that's not good enough.

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She's formed a special committee to review the city's parks on aspects such as lighting, maintenance and accessibility, all part of an effort to make them a more welcoming and safe option for kids in Jacksonville.

There are more than 400 parks and recreational areas in Jacksonville. Sonia Goulbourne likes to take her granddaughter to the park, but still, she said they could be improved to attract more families and kids.

“This is the summer and if you look at the park out there right now, it’s practically empty. And if you walk along the streets, you see boys and girls just walking along the streets,” Goulbourne said.

“We have an opportunity,” Brosche said.

On Monday, Action News Jax's Michael Yoshida sat down with Brosche.

"Bring back the presence of parks in our neighborhoods and lift up our neighborhoods," Brosche said.

Safety at parks has recently been in the headlines. In June, a 12-year-old boy was injured in a shooting that happened near a Northwest Jacksonville park. Now, as the city works to address youth violence, Brosche said a focus on neighborhood parks is needed.

"The integration of our parks in our youth engagement and our youth development, making sure kids have a place to go that's safe and that keeps them on the straight and narrow," Brosche said.

One idea Brosche has is having a qualified volunteer or city worker stationed at some city parks.

“A consistent person in a mentoring and coaching capacity that the kids can connect to on a daily basis, check out equipment, play in the games. Help kids understand how to have teamwork and build character in the process,” Brosche said.

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But some city parks are often locked up, something Brosche also wants her committee to look at.

“I want to make sure that they’re well-maintained, that we’re very proud of our parks. I want to make sure that we can actually use them and that they’re not locked and to make sure that we find some way to program that with individual presence,” Brosche said.

“That will bring them into the park and get them off the streets and maybe even deter them from crime,” Goulbourne said.

Cox Media Group