East Side advocates press council for oversight of $40M Eastside funding; name Lift4Jax and Eastside CDC

During the public-comment period on Nov. 12, a string of speakers from Jacksonville’s East Side urged the City Council to require stronger city oversight of a proposed $40 million funding package and to delay full transfer of funds to nonprofit partners until accountability measures were in place.

Latavia Harris, a public commenter, asked the council to require at least two years of oversight and called for administrative staff to provide shadowing and monitoring of recipients. "We don't want that when it comes to the funding of all of these hardworking people, $40,000,000 of their money just going somewhere where there's no shadowing," she said.

Kim Pryor and Rose Pierre cited past transfers of city-owned properties and questioned why deed restrictions were removed when properties were sold. Pryor described a deeded property at 1410 Florida Avenue that was conveyed to the Historic Eastside CDC in 2023 and later sold; she said deed restrictions were removed and that the property later sold for a much higher price, raising transparency concerns.

Speakers repeatedly named Lift4Jax and the Historic Eastside CDC as organizations that the community does not trust to manage large sums without clearer city oversight. "The community out East wants transparency ... We do not trust Lift4Jax," Rose Pierre said.

Council members did not take immediate action to change the funding structure at the meeting but several members acknowledged the concerns and said the issue merited committee-level scrutiny. Journalists seeking a response should seek comment from Lift4Jax, the Historic Eastside CDC and city staff overseeing the proposed CBA funding.