Jacksonville parks now offer free Wi-Fi and security cameras as part of the new “Safer Parks” initiative<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A big change is coming to Jacksonville parks as city leaders announced Tuesday that public parks across the city will install free Wi-Fi and security camera systems.<\/p>\n
For years, community advocates have pushed the city to expand internet access in public spaces; the \u201cSafer Parks\u201d initiative makes it a reality.<\/p>\n
“I am very proud this morning to launch Jacksonville\u2019s first-ever safe parks Wi-Fi initiative,\u201d said Mayor Donna Deegan.<\/p>\n
The city has allocated $800,000 for camera installation, while the Wi-Fi equipment has been donated at no cost.<\/p>\n
So far, nine parks have completed installation. Those include:<\/p>\n
Parks with installation still in progress include:<\/p>\n
“Safe Park initiative means faster response times, better coordination with law enforcement, and a clear signal that our parks are protected spaces for our families, for our kids, and for our seniors,\u201d said Deegan.<\/p>\n
The new cameras are connected to both the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office Real Time Crime Center and the Parks Department.<\/p>\n
Community advocate Diallo Sekou Seavrroks, who first pushed the idea to the city, says Wi-Fi access will help young people and adults alike.<\/p>\n
“You have people that want to get up 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. and get online to start looking for jobs, but they can\u2019t because libraries don\u2019t open until 10 or 11,\u201d said Seavrroks.<\/p>\n
He says the initiative is also about closing digital gaps around Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
“This eliminates the digital redlining. It turns the public space into a hub of economics and education so in any course it always connects the people.”<\/p>\n
City leaders say the final three parks will have Wi-Fi and cameras installed by the end of this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville parks now offer free Wi-Fi and security cameras as part of the new “Safer Parks” initiative JACKSONVILLE,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-195237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115137113285328007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237","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=195237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}