City Council Approves Boselli's Rec Center Lic Agreement

Less than six months after open-heart surgery, Godbold weighed in about the ongoing dispute over the Simonds Johnson Park Community Center in Northwest Jacksonville.

The recreation center has been the center of much debate since early November, pitting Boselli against Councilwoman Denise Lee.

The two were at odds over the once-dilapidated recreation center that the Boselli Foundation chipped in money to renovate and reopen, and planned to run.

Lee spoke to the council and complained that they were left out of the renovation process and asked the council not to give the Boselli Foundation a lease to the recreation center.

When the issue was expected to be resolved by the City Council in a Tuesday evening meeting, Lee made an appeal to the council, trying to have a vote put off.
Nonetheless, the council voted to give Boselli the lease after an emotional statement by the city's former mayor.

"I wouldn't be here tonight if I didn’t feel very strongly that this was an important issue for young people. I've lived here all my life, and I've lived in this area all my life … my business is still there. I'm still there. I've put a lot in that community, in that very area. I've never known in my lifetime of a time that we need more Bosellis than at this time in thNews4Jax.com.e history of Jacksonville.

It just happens that we -- I would have loved to have had some Bosellis and some NFL players, some Weavers when I was mayor. I would have hugged them and kissed them and never let them run away," Godbold said.

The council at about 6:54 p.m. voted 16-1 in approval to allow Boselli to continue with his licensing agreement of the Simonds Johnson Park Community Center.
After the vote, critics of the plan were not happy.

"When did they vote? No, the vote was already in when they got here tonight," said Elder Harris, who opposes the licensing plan.
Critics' primary complaint had to do with how the agreement was drawn up. Many said they never received enough notice to review the licensing agreement.
For instance, some said they did not know Monday night's meeting at the community center, where Boselli answered questions.

"Most of us didn't know anything about it. No one came and said we're having this community meeting," said C. Edward Preston, who opposes the licensing plan.
However, many Boselli supporters said they were not happy with the civic leaders who have been questioning how the licensing deal was struck.

"He's in the community. When they started this a year ago, they came into the community. They walked the streets. They went house to house. These community leaders, they're not coming to the houses. They're not talking to the people, and they say they represent the community but I ain't never seen none of them," said Boselli supporter T.L. Jordan.
Boselli's prime opponent in the recreation center dispute was Lee, who has been almost totally unavailable since the last council meeting.

When asked for her response to the agreement, Lee handed Channel 4 reporter Scott Johnson a written statement that defends her position and criticizes her portrayal in the media as of late, saying, "The constant stories attempting to pit me against Tony Boselli were over the top"

Lee's statement also said the media has "attempted to place my comments in a racial context, which I feel was an attempt to minimize the work of the community group that worked hard to review the license agreement."

Now that the agreement has been reached, Boselli said he hopes the community can get behind him to make this center a success.
"We want to get people involved because ultimately if we want to see any change in any neighborhood, it's going to take people getting involved," Boselli said.