JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Brentwood residents are continuing to push back against a multi-million dollar medical examiner’s office as they continue the fight against yet another unwanted building that is projected to open in the neighborhood.
Community activist Lydia Bell, who is also president of the Metro Gardens Association, and other residents were supposed to meet with staff from the mayor’s office at the construction site but that meeting was postponed to Wednesday.
The group will tour the area and talk about what residents want to build in place of the controversial liquor store that the city announced at a heated meeting last week it was buying as part of the medical examiner’s office project.
“The name of our association is Metro Garden Neighborhood Association of Brentwood, not Stupid Gardens Neighborhood Association, and we are just being played stupid over and over again,” Bell said. “We’re not stupid. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep pushing.”
The group said they have successfully kept other controversial businesses from coming to their community, but in those cases, they were notified they were coming. Bell said the city didn’t notify the community about the examiner’s office project and only learned about it while residents were fighting against the liquor store being opened near an elementary school.
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“So, if we were able to keep two crematoriums out of our neighborhood, do you think we will be satisfied with 300 bodies and a forensics science lab,” Bell questioned.
Bell continues to make it known that they are not selling out. Residents want the city to cease building the medical examiner’s office and develop the entire site for the neighborhood.
“It could never be a trade-off because we would never be satisfied with this,” Bell said. “When we were told that we could use that liquor store for a community center, we were ecstatic, then we wanted to use this. Perhaps they could build a vocational center or another track.”
Changing plans for the examiner’s office could be a tough battle for the city, though.
As plans are still up in the air, all concerns will come before the city council for a final vote, but the persistent Brentwood community is not giving up.
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