First reaction: Council’s seven goals

Out of the Pensacola City Council’s “goal setting session” today came seven goals, or “strategy statements.” Without further ado:

1. Maintain a fiscally sound and sustainable city government that earns the trust and respect of its citizens and encourages citizen input and active participation in all city affairs.

Seriously? This should be a given. Why do we need to put this down in writing?

2. Provide proficient public safety and other city services through collaboration among agencies, sustainable environmental policies, utilization of technology, and proven innovations.

Again, why do we need to put this down in writing? These are basic responsibilities of government.

3. Prepare a responsible annexation policy and plan that provides for a pro-active approach to annexation with a focus on elimination of enclaves and improved service delivery.

There we go. Substance. We’re happy to see annexation, which is desperately needed, at the top of the list.

4. Focus on improving city aesthetics by maintaining public property, updating the land development code, partnering with property owners, and enforcing property maintenance codes throughout the city.

We’ll take it? The City can always be cleaner and prettier.

5. Encourage and facilitate educational opportunities that exceed traditional educational practices through city initiatives and collaboration with the school board, chamber of commerce, and other stakeholders.

We’re not sure what this means exactly. That the City will encourage the School District to have better schools? We hope that this hints at Councilwoman DeWeese’s “Pensacola Promise” idea, but either way, this statement is awfully vague.

6. Promote economic development through affordable housing opportunities, clear direction for the airport, the port and other waterfront property, and utilization of “best practices”, including green initiatives, proficient permitting, and public/private sector partnerships to encourage business development while preserving and strengthening the value and character of the city’s residential neighborhoods.

Well, this sounds good, but it’s awfully broad. Can the City Council tackle all of this? Previous Councils have been unable to do so.

7. Establish a “quality of place” for all citizens through continual improvement and enhancement of the city’s infrastructure, assets, and properties to facilitate city, private sector, non-profit, and other stakeholders’ initiatives that will enhance the “quality of life” throughout the city.

Again, this sounds good, but we remain unconvinced that Council is prepared to take decisive action. Councilman Sam Hall has made known his position that the City should try to offload as much of its unused property as possible — but will it happen?

The bottom line: We’re underwhelmed. Aside from the annexation goal, there are few clear and direct initiatives. The other “goals” are broad, unspecific statements. Some of them, such as the first two goals, are fundamentals — basic purposes of government — and we really shouldn’t need a $10,000 consultant to help us figure that out. Some of the other goals, such as those regarding the airport, the Port of Pensacola, and economic development, sound great, but they’re very vague and suggest little initiative aside from “develop a plan.”

Hopefully, our City Council members got something out of it. Councilwoman DeWeese has posted about today’s session on her blog, and has positive things to say. Time will tell us whether today’s session was time well spent, or the same expensive, pointless excercise which past Councils have undertaken.