Gainesville City Commission renames parks, sends letter to GRU Authority about IT services, dual-names street for Magnolia B. Jackson

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On August 1, the Gainesville City Commission passed an ordinance on first reading to rename several parks, announced the date for the Very Merry GNV Holiday Parade, asked staff to study whether tree mitigations funds are spent in different areas from where they’re collected, voted to send a letter to the GRU Authority about IT services, and dual-named a street after Magnolia B. Jackson.

At the same meeting, the Commission approved a bottle club ordinance and a nuisance abatement ordinance on second reading (more information about the ordinances is available here), ratified a new GPD contract, and gave $150,000 to the Hippodrome Theatre (more information available here).

Renaming of parks

The amended ordinance added Lincoln Yard Park to the list of City parks and renamed Forest Park to Abby Wambach Park in honor of the former Gators, U.S. Women’s National Team, and Olympic soccer player. Six parks had “nature” added to their names: Alfred A. Ring Nature Park, Duval Nature Park, Gum Root Nature Park, San Felasco Nature Park, and Springtree Nature Park. Loblolly Woods Nature Park had previously been misspelled, and that was corrected in the amended list.

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker made a motion to approve the ordinance on first reading, and Commissioner Casey Willits, a proponent of renaming Forest Park after Wambach, seconded the motion. 

Mayor Harvey Ward asked whether staff was planning an event to rename Abby Wambach Park, and Phil Mann, Special Advisor to the City Manager’s Office, said Wambach lives in California and does not have any immediate plans to be on the east coast. He said Wambach had approved the plan and had said she was very pleased with the work that had been done on the park, which is used by community soccer leagues. 

In response to a question from a citizen, Willits said the City already had a Lincoln Park, so they had to come up with a different name for Lincoln Yard Park. 

The ordinance passed unanimously on first reading. 

Very Merry GNV Holiday Parade

During commission comment, Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said this year’s Very Merry GNV Holiday Parade will be held on December 7.

Study to determine whether tree mitigation funds are spent equitably

Also during commission comment, Willits made a motion to direct staff to report back to the Commission before the full Tree Study is complete regarding the geographic areas in which tree mitigation funds are collected and where they are spent and bring back a preliminary study. His concern was that this is a “missing piece when we talk about environmental justice, equitable development” and that the City should “be honest that developers have destroyed natural resources in one place, they paid us money,” and then the tree mitigation funds get spent in a different place. Duncan-Walker seconded the motion.

Ward said it was an “interesting thought” and something that previously would have gone through the policy process: “That’s what it existed to do, to do research like that.”

Duncan-Walker thanked Willits for being interested in equitable development because his motion “definitely folds into that framework and that whole idea,” which she has championed. She asked Director of Equity and Inclusion Zeriah Folston whether this would be part of the equitable development framework his office is working on, and he said he would work with the City Manager’s office on it.

Willits’ motion passed unanimously.

Letter to the GRU Authority

Commissioner Bryan Eastman brought up the disagreement between the GRU Authority and the City over the amount the City pays GRU for IT services; the City believes $2.9 million is a fair amount, but GRU is asking for $5.9 million in the next fiscal year and also asking for an additional $3 million in the current fiscal year. Eastman asked the Mayor to send a letter to the GRU Authority, encouraging them to maintain their commitment to accept $2.9 million and to continue with the current agreement. A consultant told the City Commission on June 18 that they could save 25% to 45% by creating an in-house IT support services team; however, GRU has fixed costs in its IT department and would suffer financially if the City stopped paying GRU for IT services. Eastman made a motion to ask the Mayor to send the letter, and Willits seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

Dual-naming NE 3rd Avenue for Magnolia B. Jackson

During the evening session, the Commission adopted a resolution to dual-name NE 3rd Avenue from Waldo Road to NE 23rd Street as Magnolia B. Jackson Street. Jackson, who passed away in May at the age of 106, worked in education for over 40 years.