{"id":165042,"date":"2025-08-21T23:43:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/165042\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T23:43:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:43:18","slug":"action-news-jax-breaks-down-the-city-of-jacksonvilles-top-ticket-takers-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/165042\/","title":{"rendered":"Action News Jax breaks down the City of Jacksonville\u2019s top \u2018Ticket Takers\u2019 \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Jacksonville City Council spars with the mayor\u2019s office<\/b><\/a> over the distribution of the free tickets to games, concerts, and events at city-run venues, Action News Jax is digging into the numbers and revealing the city\u2019s top ticket-takers. <\/p>\n

Among city council members, Councilmember Terrance Freeman (R-Group 1 At-Large) topped the list with 96 requests over the past two years, followed by Councilmember Reggie Gaffney Jr. (D-District 8) at 37, and Councilmember Ju\u2019coby Pittman (D-District 10) at 28.<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

In response to making the top three list, all three council members issued statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve used tickets offered to all \u2018Council members and shared access with the residence (sic) and distributed to constituents who wouldn\u2019t otherwise have access to events. The tickets have been a long-standing practice for Council members. Ticket assess allow me to stay connected with my constituents. If policy changes regarding the distribution of tickets, I will continue to follow policy. 28 tickets were reported and 5 were unused, revised ticket distribution is 23 that were used,\u201d Pittman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that my constituents are my top priority. In District 8, a lot of families, kids, teachers, and even first responders don\u2019t always get the chance to enjoy events that bring people together. When I request tickets, it\u2019s not always for me; it\u2019s oftentimes so the people I serve can experience something uplifting and memorable that brings Jacksonville as a whole together, leaving no one out. I believe everyone deserves moments of joy and connection, no matter their circumstances. That\u2019s why the number you\u2019ve received is the number it is. And I wish to continue providing this opportunity to them,\u201d Gaffney Jr. said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed to have a large family and over the course of going on 8 years have attended events,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>City Council requested more than twice as many free city tickets as mayor\u2019s office over past 2 years<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

When you factor in requests made by council aides, Freeman remains at the top with 117 tickets over two years, while the ticket reform bill sponsor Councilmember Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) moves up into second at 97, and Vice President Nick Howland (R-Group 3 At-Large) bumps up to third with 52.<\/p>\n

Salem and Howland did not comment on the stats.<\/p>\n

Council President Kevin Carrico<\/b><\/a> (R-District 4) argued many of the requested tickets likely went to constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t about tit-for-tat at this point on who went to what shows. It\u2019s about cleaning it up and making sure that these tickets that are contractually obligated through contracts to come to the city are given to people who deserve to go,\u201d Carrico said.<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

And council members aren\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n

In Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan<\/b><\/a>\u2019s Office, Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling led the pack with 64 tickets requested over the past two years, followed by her Deputy CAO Kelli O\u2019Leary with 53, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Brittany Norris came in third with 28 tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis practice began many years ago for economic development efforts and building relationships with community members. That remains true today,\u201d the mayor\u2019s office told Action News Jax in a statement. \u201dIt\u2019s part of the mayor\u2019s job to be an ambassador and represent the city. It\u2019s also useful for those who oversee event venue operations to evaluate the citizen experience and make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n

But without any way to verify who actually received the requested tickets, University of North Florida Political Science Professor Dr. Michael Binder argued it lends itself to questions of potential favoritism or abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you giving them away to lobbyists? You know, who is getting them? What\u2019s happening? It\u2019s a bad look all around, and you know, maybe this is something good that could come from some middle school back and forth between council and the administration for once,\u201d Binder said.<\/p>\n

Both the Mayor\u2019s Office and Council President Carrico said they\u2019re open to introducing more transparency and accountability into the ticket request process and support prohibiting elected officials from personally using the tickets on themselves. <\/p>\n

Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n

Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Jacksonville City Council spars with the mayor\u2019s office over the distribution of the free tickets to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":165043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[50444,12189,13030,49869,5229,95057,58443,95053,48502,19728,9223,3188,723,54304,95056,7310,95052,3005,77146,48916,95054,95055,48494,95058,425,60153,68235,95051,93624,95050,46512,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,11558],"class_list":{"0":"post-165042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_jack","9":"tag-action_news","10":"tag-action_news_jacks","11":"tag-affairs","12":"tag-america","13":"tag-brittany_norris","14":"tag-cao","15":"tag-chief_administrative_officer","16":"tag-council_president","17":"tag-director","18":"tag-doctor","19":"tag-fl","20":"tag-florida","21":"tag-freeman","22":"tag-intergovernmental","23":"tag-jacksonville","24":"tag-jacoby_pittman","25":"tag-jake","26":"tag-jake_snowan","27":"tag-jake_stowan","28":"tag-karen_bolling","29":"tag-kelly_oleary","30":"tag-kevin_krio","31":"tag-krio","32":"tag-local","33":"tag-michael_binder","34":"tag-nick_hallen","35":"tag-reggie_gaffney_jr","36":"tag-ron_salem","37":"tag-terrence_freeman","38":"tag-unf","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-united-states-of-america","41":"tag-unitedstates","42":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","43":"tag-us","44":"tag-usa","45":"tag-vice_president"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}