JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A group of Brentwood residents is holding a news conference Friday at 10:45 a.m. in front of the courthouse, voicing their concerns about the medical examiner’s facility being constructed in their neighborhood.
Recommended Videos
The Metro Gardens Neighborhood Association, led by Lydia Bell, has long said the facility doesn’t belong in the neighborhood. It’s being built near the KIPP V.O.I.C.E. Academy.
“You look at it being across the street from [the school], 3 feet from our homes, the psychological effect, the contamination,” Bell said.
They also filed a lawsuit against the city regarding the facility.
The group also alleges that the city didn’t tell the community that it intended to build the facility and that it violated city ordinances.
The group said that homes near morgues typically lose property value due to stigma and environmental risks. The injunction seeks that the facility be repurposed into something that “benefits, rather than harms and irreparably harms the Brentwood community.”
“I don’t understand why that doesn’t bother you,” Dan Lipps, a concerned resident, said. “If this morgue were in your backyard, it would be your children getting asthma and living shorter lives, but it’s not. It’s right in our neighbors’ backyards, and that bothers me to my core.”
Back in April, residents protested at city hall, asking that the facility be turned into a pharmacy, an urgent care, or a tutoring center.
The city said the facility is expected to be completed by September and turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office in November.
Read the full lawsuit below.
