JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Action News has learned the city missed out on nearly $5 million to fix up area neighborhood streets and bike paths.
Megan Griffith is scared to take her 2-year-old child walking on the sidewalks in the Riverside area.
"We don't walk around the streets." She says it's not safe for pedestrians or bicyclists. "The sidewalks are mess up, and pedestrians walk in the street," said Griffith.
Action News found the city missed out on nearly $5 million that would've helped fix the problem. It has to do with what's called a mobility fee moratorium. It was in place in the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
Basically, companies that wanted to start developments didn't have to pay fees to the city. It's now expired, and one city councilman wants to bring it back for the next three years.
According to documents we obtained from the city, the top three areas that missed out on the most money were the Intracoastal, Riverside and NAS Jax areas and the Cecil Field/Argyle neighborhoods.
Allan Devault is the managing partner at Riverside's newest restaurant, Black Sheep. He says while the hope with the moratorium was to bring in other new businesses, it didn't happen.
"It's about bringing businesses to the urban core," said Devault. "In these economic times, any money would be helpful," said Devault.
This is just a proposal in city council. We tried calling the councilman sponsoring it. Our calls to him weren't returned.
