{"id":387383,"date":"2026-09-01T17:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/387383\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T17:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:50:09","slug":"drowning-prevention-committee-forms-in-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/387383\/","title":{"rendered":"Drowning prevention committee forms in Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville City Council President Howland established the Special Committee on Drowning Prevention on Tuesday to address water safety risks across the city. The action follows two drownings in August<\/a> involving autistic children<\/a> in community retention ponds.<\/p>\n

The newly formed committee will conduct a review of drowning prevention in Jacksonville, focusing on safety surrounding retention ponds and stormwater facilities. The panel will specifically evaluate risks associated with children with autism and review community water safety education efforts.<\/p>\n

Council President Howland established the panel following a request from Councilman Reggie Gaffney Jr., who urged the City Council<\/a> to investigate potential preventive measures. <\/p>\n

Gaffney will chair the committee, which also includes Council Members Tyrona Clark-Murray and Mike Gay.<\/p>\n

Howland noted Jacksonville\u2019s geographic landscape and its associated safety concerns. \u201cJacksonville is a city defined by water,\u201d Howland said. \u201cOur river, beaches, ponds, pools and extensive network of waterways are among our greatest assets. But they also present public safety risks that require continued attention, education and collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s scope of work includes analyzing available data on local drownings, reviewing current community water safety education efforts and assessing safety and prevention practices used in Jacksonville and other municipalities. <\/p>\n

Members will also evaluate public information strategies and consider proposing legislative action. \u201cWe cannot eliminate every risk around water,\u201d Howland said. \u201cBut where there are practical, commonsense solutions that can prevent a tragedy and save a life, we have an obligation to find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howland emphasized that public education will play a key role in the committee\u2019s work. \u201cThe goal is not simply to study the problem,\u201d Howland said. \u201cIt is to identify practical, effective measures that can save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Special Committee on Drowning Prevention is required to submit its final report to the City Council\u2019s Neighborhoods Committee by Dec. 31, 2026.<\/p>\n

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Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville City Council President Howland established the Special Committee on Drowning Prevention on Tuesday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,32234,116,4040,351,118,117,349,132119,350,155133,8919,346,345],"class_list":["post-387383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-howland","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-city-council","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-northeast-florida","tag-retention-ponds","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-special-committee-on-drowning-prevention","tag-water-safety","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}