#AskJAXTDY | Is the city fixing the smashed fence at Memorial Park?

Q: Jacksonville Today reader Stacy K. asks about a damaged fence at Memorial Park on the curve of Riverside Avenue.

A vehicle apparently crashed into the fence recently, bending back some of the metal fencing and damaging the wall under it.

A: City Hall spokesperson Phillip Perry confirms to Jacksonville Today that indeed “a car hit this section of the wall again.”

He passes along an email from Daryl Joseph, the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services director, who says the city is “moving through the procurement process to have the wall repaired. We expect the work to be completed by the fall of this year.”

A check on Friday showed the work is already underway.

While we had City Hall’s ear, Jacksonville Today asked for an update about another issue at Memorial Park: the damaged balustrades along the river.

Hurricane Idalia’s winds and waves blasted the sculpted balustrades just about a year ago — destroying the same balustrades the city had repaired after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Perry says that the latest repair project is “currently moving through design and has been assigned to our design-build contractor.”

“We have provided them the design criteria package, and we expect to receive their proposal in the coming weeks to move forward,” Perry says. “We do not have a project ETA yet, but should know more on that after receiving the proposal.”

It took four years to replace the balustrade after Hurricane Irma, but the Memorial Park Association hopes the 2023 damage can be repaired in time for events to celebrate the centennial of the historic park.

Opened in 1924 as Florida’s World War One Memorial, it is home to the Spiritualized Life sculpture and honors more than 1,220 Floridians who died in the first World War.

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