JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Floodwaters in the neighborhoods near McCoy's receded Monday, but not the community's frustration.
"If this was Baymeadows, it would have been fixed, " Sonny Brown said.
Over the weekend, flooding left cars stranded.
"I had calls all weekend," said the district's city council member, Garrett Dennis. " I am very tired of the problem."
He said it is a recurring issue because the under-served communities are at the low rung of the ladder.
"You have been hearing 'it is a tale of two cities', this is the other city," he said.
The city has $1.5 million in its 2019-2020 budget for McCoy's Creek, but Dennis said it won't help the area that floods every time there is a heavy rain.
"That 1.5 million is being used at the other end of McCoy's Creek which is downtown," he said.
When you look at the overgrown bushes and the trashed piled up near the bank of the creek, you can see part of the problem.
"You can tell it hasn't been cleaned or dug out in quite some time," Dennis said.
On Your Side reached out to the City of Jacksonville. We wanted to know when the creek was last cleared?
We are waiting on a response.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studied the flooding problem in the 1990s and again in 2015.
A spokesperson told On Your Side the problem does not meet the standard of its program, so the corps will not get involved, unless the city makes a formal request.
The city has $28 million in its 2020-2021 budget to work on bridges near McCoy's Creek; it also includes funding for channel improvements and bulkhead restoration.
But Dennis and others aren't sure that will fix the flooding problem.
"It is the lack of infrastructure, the lack of just dedicated attention to the poor neighborhood," he said.
Dennis projects it will take up to $100 million to make things right.
He said the city has it in its budget, all he needs are nine votes on the city council to redirect those funds to improve McCoy's Creek flooding problem.