Former Mayor Champions Senior Programs

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Former Jacksonville Mayor Jake Godbold is on the offensive alerting seniors to cuts being made at City Hall.

On Thursday, the council's Finance Committee voted not to fund nearly $70,000 in various senior programs, including the traditional Senior Prom and the Mayor's Fish-A-Thon.

"I guess next he (Council President Richard Clark) will do away with food programs for seniors," said Godbold, while speaking at the Mary Singleton Senior Center on Friday.

Two decades ago, Godbold created the Mayor's Older Buddies program that still is in place today.

Lorraine Roberts likes what the former mayor had to say.

"We are not going to take it laying down," she said.

Godbold encouraged his older buddies to get involved and let City Hall know they earned the services they are receiving from the city.

"If you let this happen, I'm through with you," Godbold told the crowd of seniors who had just finished having lunch.

"It is going to take you and me to stop this kind of foolishness," said Godbold, who doesn't want to see programs he championed gutted.

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