An area ad-hoc citizens’ committee aimed at improving the future of JDC and other blighted properties in the area is taking steps toward non-profit status and likes the idea of a possible future walking tour.
The Moving Jacksonville Forward Committee met Thursday in the Commission Room at the Jacksonville Municipal Building. The committee was formed as an effort by citizens to make their voices heard on community issues like the State Hospital grounds, Old Norris Hospital, and others.
Thursday’s meeting kicked off with a presentation by the former manager of the Jacksonville Area Museum, McKenna Servis, who devoted her Master’s Degree thesis to researching the history of the Jacksonville Developmental Center.
Committee Co-Chair Ben Cox says he is very intrigued by her presentation of what could become a walking tour of the grounds. “She wrote her master’s thesis on the buildings and has a lot of great information and has put together a plan for a tour that
wouldn’t actually take you on the grounds, but would take you by the grounds. You’d see the historical buildings and provide explanations on the buildings themselves and possibly some of the people that were there including Elizabeth Packard and Dr. McFarland.”
Servis said during her presentation that the tour would let people look into the grounds from bordering public sidewalks to avoid trespassing on state-owned property. She said the plan could eventually involve plaques or signs similar to the Looking for Lincoln program that would educate those on the self-guided tour on not just the buildings, but also some of the people who worked, lived, and died on the grounds.
Co-Chairs Rob Thomas and Ben Cox reported Thursday night that the group is ready to move toward becoming a full 501(c)3 non-profit in order to legally fund raise to help cover expenses like informational door knockers for area residents and the promised letters to state lawmakers on the state of the grounds and issues they continue to cause in the area.
The committee is expected to approve measures for filing for non-profit status and incorporate bylaws for the committee at their next meeting.
Also in attendance Thursday was South Jacksonville Village President Dick Samples who came after hearing a report on the last meeting by Village Trustee Paula Belobrajic-Stewart who has proposed a resolution stating the Village’s support of the committee’s efforts.
The next Moving Jacksonville Forward Committee meeting will be held at 6:00 pm on Thursday, May 22nd, in the meeting room in South Jacksonville Village Hall on Dewey Drive.