Jacksonville City Council member Jimmy Peluso (seen here at a Duval County School Board meeting in December) sponsored the renaming bill. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on April 15, 2026 at 6:52 pm
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After nearly two years of trying, advocates in the Springfield community and on the Jacksonville City Council have succeed in their effort to rename Confederate Street, which leads to what was once Confederate Park— now called Springfield Park.
Council voted 11-8 to approve Ordinance 2026-0140, which changes all but half a block of the street to Rose Arbor Way, named after the Rose Arbor Arch that’s been in Springfield Park since 1926.
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The change was petitioned by the faith-based nonprofit Downtown Ecumenical Services Council, which last year undertook at $2.9 million renovation of its new headquarters on the corner of North Liberty and Confederate streets.
Council member Jimmy Peluso, who introduced the bill, said the organization did not want to be located on a street where the name is a vestige of the Jim Crow South.
“They don’t want it for the people who put a lot of money into that property fixing up that building, to the parishioners, to those who represent the nonprofits,” Peluso told Jacksonville Today. “So they just didn’t feel like it was a name that they could be proud of, and they executed their right, as somebody who does live on that street, and asked for a name change.”
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The council also voted unanimously Tuesday to appropriate $315,000 to install 14 baby boxes at first stations in each City Council district so people can anonymously surrender newborns through Florida’s Safe Haven law.
Confederate Street to Rose Arbor Way
Council’s action Tuesday removes the Confederate name from Market to Liberty streets. The change received endorsements from several city agencies.
City documents show the Planning and Development Department, Historic Preservation Section; the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission; and the 911 Emergency Addressing Advisory committee all voted to approve the change last year.
The last time Peluso — who represents Springfield as part of District 7 — tried to rename the street to honor the late local civil rights activist Ben Frazier in October 2024, the council struck it down 10-7.
Peluso worked with the SPAR Council to get Frazier’s name on street signs. Peluso said some people weren’t ready at the time for the change.
“I think some people got upset about having the street named after someone who had been a major advocate for removal of Jim Crow area symbols,” Peluso said.
There will still be about half a block from Hubbard to Market streets that’s still named Confederate Street — a compromise amendment made by council member Michael Boylan to get the street renamed.
Over the last five years, Jacksonville has seen a string of statues, school names and other monikers to the Confederacy erected post-reconstruction removed throughout the city and efforts by state lawmakers and local activists to ban those efforts.
They argue that removing names and symbols linked to the Confederacy is erasing history.
“I’m just concerned about the elimination of history. And by changing the name on just half the road, I feel certain at some point there will be an effort to ‘let’s go ahead and do the rest of it,’” City Council member Ron Salem said April 6 in a Rules Committee hearing on the bill. “And I would rather leave it as it is.”
Council President Kevin Carrico and members Nick Howland, Randy White, Raul Arias, Rory Diamond, Terrance Freeman, Mike Gay and Salem voted against renaming the street Tuesday.
Council members Will Lahnen, Ken Amaro, Boylan, Joe Carlucci, Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Ju’Coby Pittman, Reggie Gaffney Jr., Rahman Johnson, Chris Miller and Peluso voted in favor.
Baby boxes
After council voted 19-0 to approve Ordinance 2026-0186 and clear the way to install baby boxes, council member Rory Diamond, who introduced the bill, took to social media to tout Jacksonville as the first in Florida to install so many boxes in a city of this size.
Jacksonville will be the first county in Florida to have baby boxes within minutes of every resident, Diamond wrote on Facebook. “We sent a call to action to every Florida county, join us in saving precious lives.”
Diamond said he’s also spoke with emergency first responders in St. Johns, Nassau and Clay counties who say they will also look at installing baby boxes.
The boxes are advertised as a safe way for someone, 24 hours per day, to anonymously surrender an infant 30 days or younger. The process is allowed by a Florida statute passed in 2000.
Currently, people can surrender an infant at hospitals and fire stations. But Diamond says the boxes, which would be the first in Duval County, will allow people to maintain their privacy when making what can be a difficult decision.
The bill was done in conjunction with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. The boxes will be installed outside fire stations with a door publicly accessible. The boxes include alarms to notify fire department officials, climate controls and interior video monitoring.
The city will contract with the Indiana-based nonprofit Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc., one of the only suppliers of the infant safety devices.
