JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 As Florida observes Disability History and Awareness Week, new concerns are surfacing over whether Jacksonville is doing enough to protect accessible parking. <\/p>\n
Disability advocates say citations have plummeted \u2014 and so has the funding tied to them.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Debbie Cross and her sister say fewer enforced accessible parking spots are making life harder.<\/p>\n Cross said, \u201cWe have to drive around and around, so it takes up a little time. And my sister won\u2019t park anywhere unless there\u2019s one empty.\u201d<\/p>\n Doris Page, a driver, said: \u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating because my sister is more handicapped than I am. And we\u2019ve had a lot of people \u2026 you can tell when they get out they\u2019re not handicapped.\u201d<\/p>\n A member of the Mayor\u2019s Disability Council<\/b><\/a> said citation revenue has dropped significantly. One member said during the September meeting, \u201cThis month they generated $7,000 from that fund and typically, it\u2019s around \u2026 $27,000\u2013$33,000 average from what I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Seventy percent of each citation goes into the city\u2019s Disabled Trust Fund, which supports local accessibility programs.<\/p>\n A review of citation records from multiple departments dating back to 2021 highlights a steep decline.<\/p>\n Page said: \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a policeman give anyone a ticket that\u2019s in a handicap spot and shouldn\u2019t be there.\u201d<\/p>\n Notable drop-offs include 1,726 citations from Disability Services in 2021 \u2014 down to just 293 so far this year.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n Disability advocates maintain the decrease is due to less enforcement, not because more people are following the rules.<\/p>\n Cross said: \u201cI think they should be fined like they\u2019re supposed to be. It\u2019s hurting people who do really need it. Like my sister, who needs it, and sometimes we can\u2019t find one.\u201d<\/p>\n The city of Jacksonville responded:<\/p>\n \u201cThis parking program went through a reset over the past year and is currently being rebuilt. The Disabled Services Division has been recruiting more volunteers to implement it. In fact, several volunteers are currently going through the training program now and will be available in the coming months. We also invite members of the public to sign up to be a volunteer for this vital program.\u201d<\/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":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 As Florida observes Disability History and Awareness Week, new concerns are surfacing over whether Jacksonville…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":288071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,5229,148066,3188,723,148065,7310,425,50,68315,13818,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,11588,21778],"class_list":{"0":"post-288070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-debbie_cross","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jack_jonah_govino","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-local","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-publix","18":"tag-taneka","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-walmart","26":"tag-yonna_govino"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115341805724861289","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288070","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=288070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Agency<\/b>JSO<\/b>Parking Enforcement<\/b>Aviation Authority<\/b>Disability Services<\/b><\/tr>\n \n 2025<\/td>\n 537<\/td>\n 248<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 293<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2024<\/td>\n 531<\/td>\n 683<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n 1091<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2023<\/td>\n 401<\/td>\n 723<\/td>\n 20<\/td>\n 1465<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2022<\/td>\n 415<\/td>\n 478<\/td>\n 968<\/td>\n 1441<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2021<\/td>\n 557<\/td>\n 384<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n 1726<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n