On annexation
Business writer Carlton Proctor has a worthwhile column in this morning’s Pensacola News Journal in which he encourages the City Council to seriously look at annexation. While admitting that it’s a “tough sell”, he recognises that it has been done before, citing the 1988 referendum which brought Cordova Mall and surrounding areas into the City.
Progressive Pensacola is of the opinion that expansion, either through annexation or consolidation of local governments, is essential to the long-term well-being of the City. Progressive Pensacola believes in a strong City of Pensacola and favours expansion through annexation over consolidation with Escambia County.
At current, the City of Pensacola occupies about 22.7 square miles, which is a mere 3% of the total area of Escambia County. The City limits are not reflective of the overall urban area, or of what most people think of when they think of Pensacola, which is evidenced by the many who think they live the City of Pensacola but do not. As the urban area expands into unincorporated Escambia County, the lost and missed revenue to the City mounts.
The residents of the City enjoy superior services in almost every field — police, fire, sanitation, parks and recreation — and such must be showcased to those in areas of prospective annexation. The residents that have been annexed into the City previously seem to be satisfied that they’ve gotten their money’s worth.
The incoming City Council should direct staff to prepare a comprehensive annexation strategy. If we ever intend to be a better, healthier, stronger City, we must grow.
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Nice site about annexation. I fully support consolidation because the City of Pensacola is too small and going no where financially and the city would have a better source of revenue flow under a merged government and with the city population over 300,000 as a result, Pensacola could compete better with regional cities such as Memphis, Jacksonville, and Tampa. Right now it’s rediculous because one side of the street will be county and the other side city and that right there has an nuisance impact on law enforcement and fire fighters. We must get the word out because we are dealing with the good ol’ boy system that wants to keep Pensacola small and without a future, but the future is ours and we want our Pensacola to always be a great place to live.
Annexation is the only viable solution to enlarging Pensacola. The current push to consolidate city and county will fail at the polls; when the election results slaps down the downtown crowd maximum effort should be placed into annexation. Annexation starts by a relentless push on the city council.
Pensacola should go up to ten mile road and way out west (Blue Angel).