JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Monday, a City of Jacksonville special committee held its first meeting to discuss how to best use $94 million from a community benefits agreement carved out of the Jaguars stadium deal.
The first meeting lasted three hours and included presentations from organizations doing work on Jacksonville's Eastside, including Lift Jax.
Of the $94 million, $30 million is set aside for Eastside revitalization. The rest will be used for county wide initiatives, including homelessness.
"One of my questions that I did ask the group from Lift Jax was, how many sectors are there on the Eastside? There's five, there's Longbranch, Oakland, Fairfield, Out East and Phoenix, right. Of the $30 million, how much of that is going to go to each? Is it going to be divided evenly?" committee chair, Raul Arias, said.
Arias said the meeting was meant to be informative so he and committee members can understand where to best use the CBA money.
Eastside business owners spoke during public comment, including Randy Austin, who operates William's Grocery.
A few years ago, he took over the store from his mother. It's been serving the community since the 1950s.
“My mother has run the store for the past 42 years," Austin said.
Austin is selling items at a discount, including a pack of pork chops for less than $5.
“A person comes in here with $10, they can't take care of a family if we have one pack of pork chops for $10,” Austin said.
Austin said his business model doesn't earn much profit for the store, but it's a sacrifice worth making in order to serve the community.
He said he needs help in order to improve his product.
“In the form of improving our infrastructure," Austin said.
The store is old and can get as hot as 90 degrees
“We need to improve our energy efficiency here so that we can keep the products in the store cool," Austin said.
Austin spoke about his business in front of the special committee and said help for his store is long overdue.
Arias believes money for the Eastside will be spread out and go towards businesses and initiatives that need it.
“I think that the money will be spread out the way it should be," Arias said.
Arias said at least one board will be created to gather input from community members to find out how to best use the money.
Austin hopes his store can get the help it needs.
“We fed this community for 70 years, and we're going to try to do what it takes to continue feeding this community," Austin said.
The next committee meeting is Wednesday Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. at city hall.
Arias said that meeting will focus on the money for city wide initiatives including money for workforce development, affordable housing and homelessness.