JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — We’re hearing from Jacksonville city leaders on how they plan to try to prevent drownings in the city.
“I think we’ll start with collecting data, seeing where the drownings are happening and if there’s various subpopulations at most risk ‚” said City Council President Nick Howland (Group 3 At-Large).
“I think we will look at education efforts. (Let’s) see if we’re educating the public enough on the dangers of retention ponds and storm waters and other bodies of water,” Howland said.
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Howland established a Special Committee on Drowning Prevention this week at the request of Councilman Reggie Gaffney Jr. (District 8).
It comes after two children drowned in retention ponds on the Northside last month just weeks apart from each other.
The Northside neighborhood is in Gaffney Jr.’s district.
“Potentially I can impose legislation. That’s what I’m thinking about,” said Gaffney Jr., the chair of the new special committee. “Maybe putting barriers and fences around mandating these ponds.”
Action News Jax asked Gaffney Jr. what safety measures the city council could impose on private properties.
“That’s the kind of conversation we’ll be having during these special committees. We’ll work with the private developers. We’ll work with the city of Jacksonville. We’re going to work with state officials. We want to see what can we do,” he said.
The Special Committee on Drowning Prevention will have its first meeting on September 9th at 3:30pm.
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