JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local pastor and Pop Warner football coach claim the city’s new anti-panhandling ordinance is putting his teams in financial peril.
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Pastor Atlas Rankin coaches at Highlands Little League Sports Complex in North Jacksonville.
He told Action News Jax about eight of ten athletes in the league are at-risk youth.
“Most of our parents are trying to decide during this time, should they pay for school clothes, should they pay for the light bill, rent? And football? So, nine times out of ten when they have to make that decision, they’re not choosing football,” said Rankin.
It’s not cheap to play.
Atlas said costs per athlete are roughly $200 a season.
With six teams and about 150 players this year, he estimated the total cost for uniforms, registration, and park fees will come out to roughly $25,000.
In the past, street corner fundraising helped cover the cost.
“We were averaging probably almost between $1,000 and $2,000 every time we’d go out,” said Rankin.
That means a single fundraiser would cover as many as ten athletes’ fees.
But this year, the city’s new anti-panhandling ordinance put an end to the fundraising avenue.
“They ran the kids off. Told them they couldn’t be there. Told them they needed a permit,” said Rankin.
With the start of the season just one day away, Rankin told Action New Jax he’s been unable to obtain a permit.
According to the city, just three permits have been issued since the ordinance was passed in February.
Additionally, the ordinance prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from participating in permitted roadside fundraisers, which means unless something changes, Rankin is likely out of luck.
“I think it’s a game, from the simple point of they pick and choose who they want to be out there,” said Rankin.
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Rankin said thankfully, they’ll be able to scrape by this year, but short of city leaders changing the ordinance, the league’s future looks bleak.
“We just basically go in the red with it. Now, you can’t go too far in the red ‘cause they’re gonna shut down your park, and if you look around the city a lot of these parks have been shut down because of that,” said Rankin.
In addition to the age restriction included in the permitting process, groups are limited to a maximum of just two roadside fundraisers a year.
Rankin said that’s another aspect of the law he hopes city leaders reconsider.
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