© 2024 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
LIVE BLOG: Updates on Hurricane Milton
News about coronavirus in Florida and around the world is constantly emerging. It's hard to stay on top of it all but Health News Florida and WUSF can help. Our responsibility at WUSF News is to keep you informed, and to help discern what’s important for your family as you make what could be life-saving decisions.

Jacksonville Mayor Responds To Criticism On Opening Beaches

Walkway leading to Duval County beach
WJCT NEWS
Duval County beaches are open from 6 am until 11 am, and from 5 pm until 8 pm daily

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry responded to criticism on Monday that he’s faced since announcing the limited reopening of beaches and parks in Duval County.

“I'm not going to make decisions based on how I think critics outside of this city, or certain news outlets are going to react and talk about us,” Curry said.

CORONAVIRUS: Complete Coverage From WUSF And Health News Florida

Both Duval and St. Johns Counties reopened the beaches Friday on a limited basis for exercise activities such as walking, swimming and jogging, resulting in a backlash from some community members and media outlets outside the region.

In tweets over the weekend, Curry said national and international news outlets were running “sensationalist headlines with no understanding of our city.” 

“While it would be tempting for me to get into a back-and-forth with certain cable news outlets, I'm not going to go there,” Curry said Monday.

Curry said he is in communication with local law enforcement and the mayors at the city’s beaches, and that the community is abiding by social distancing.

The mayor also said before opening beaches in Duval County, the foot traffic of exercisers on 1st St. -- which runs parallel to the beach -- was so crowded that they needed to break the crowds up.

“This was a very measured opportunity to open more space out there where people were already moving around on 1st St.,” Curry said.

As a host and reporter for WUSF, my goal is to unearth and highlight issues that wouldn’t be covered otherwise. If I truly connect with my audience as I relay to them the day’s most important stories and make them think about an issue past the point that I’ve said it in a newscast, that’s a success in my eyes.
You Count on Us, We Count on You: Donate to WUSF to support free, accessible journalism for yourself and the community.