Save the Ferry Task Force to hold meeting Monday to combine efforts to save the service

While there’s been a slew of public and community activist meetings on the First Coast by groups wanting to keep the St. Johns River Ferry running, a meeting set for Monday seeks to bring all the efforts into one fold.

The Save the Ferry Task Force has set a meeting for 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Mayport Community Center, 4870 Ocean St. The task force already has about 20 members, but chairwoman of the panel, Elaine Brown, said she hopes Monday’s meeting defines the mission of the efforts to keep the ferry afloat. 

“We’re going to come up with a plan,” Brown said Friday. “That’s the purpose of our meeting. We’ve got to combine all our efforts.”

Brown acknowledged the task force is still a work in progress and she said more people are welcome to join the effort. She was hesitant to say anything negative about the plethora of meetings in recent weeks, but she said Monday’s gathering could help to crystallize the objectives of the effort to save the Mayport ferry by establishing lobbying efforts, petition drives and other citizen efforts to approach the Jacksonville City Council and the Florida Legislature for funding to keep the service on its daily runs between Mayport and Fort George Island across the St. Johns River.

Beaches residents and government officials have mobilized since Jacksonville Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Paul Anderson announced this month that he no longer thought it was financially feasible for the authority to run the ferry.