Bare shares campaign issues
Mayoral candidate Charles Bare has issued the following press release outlining his campaign issues. This item was actually released last week, but we apparently overlooked it. Our apologies for the delay.
Today, Charles L. Bare announced the core issues for his Mayoral Campaign. These issues will serve as the basis for his campaign and his first term in office as the Mayor of Pensacola.
Revitalizing Our Economy
Our economy is sliding backwards amidst a broader national economic downturn. Businesses are closing down or leaving our area at an alarming rate. Our unemployment rate is unacceptable. It’s time to re-examine our economic development strategy including our relationship with the Chamber of Commerce as an economic development agency. We must also look internally and work to make our government more “business friendly.” Our government should help, not hinder, business launch and growth. Developing our waterfront is critical to downtown improvement and prosperity. As the recent funding mechanism for the community maritime park has demonstrated, there are sources of funding available for development. I support a new economic strategy that will focus on retention of current businesses and recruitment of new businesses into our area. This strategy must include input and commitment from both the public and private sector.Restoring Transparency in Government
I believe that our citizens have the right to know what their government is doing, to offer regular and consistent input into government policy-making and budgeting and to petition the government and all governing bodies for action. Therefore, I pledge to do everything in my power to open the Pensacola government to citizen fact-finding, suggestions, and concerns. In addition to public policy making meetings, I will hold “public office hours” every month around the city when individual citizens can meet with me. I will create a citizen-led task force to recommend changes for the current city web site and other governmental communications methods. I will also publish all financial records of the city and all government departments on the city web site. Finally, I will hold and attend four public town hall style meetings each year and require that each department head do the same.Consolidating Services
There is duplication of services in many areas of government on the local level. As a small business owner, I have to get a business license in the city and the county. Each entity also has its own permitting structure. This creates confusion and obstacles for our businesses. As a city we need to focus on ways we can work more efficiently to the benefit of our current and future citizens. Selective consolidation of services is a positive step towards a more responsive and effective government. I support the creation of a public/private group that will make recommendations for functional consolidation.Re-Envisioning the Port of Pensacola
The best days of our Port are in the distant past. Our current operations are unpredictable and rely on a hurricane striking west of us to increase port operations. We experienced a boost as other ports attempted to recover from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A study completed in 2004 made several recommendations including the addition of cruise ship operations to the port and mixed use residential and business development. The port needs to be part of a larger scale waterfront revitalization. Currently, it is a secure area that provides very limited use and revenue for the citizens of Pensacola. If our goal is to bring people to Pensacola, the current port is not a key factor. I support the addition of business and residential development including the possibility of cruise ship operations along with the gradual abandonment of the cargo port operation.Restoring Fiscal Responsibility
The current financial situation in the City of Pensacola is depressed as impacts from lower property valuations, increased homestead limits and lower sales tax revenue continue to affect our economy. The city has focused on reducing expenditures by freezing positions, reducing benefits, holding back pay raises and drastically cutting funds for outside agencies. Yet the city continues to face uncertain economic conditions and a potential budget shortfall in the coming years. The city must make some tough decisions. The idea of raising taxes or fees during a time when our unemployment rate is over 10% and businesses are struggling to stay open makes no sense. I do not support tax or fee increases in our current economy. I support a budget process that starts from zero. A true zero-based budgeting process forces all department heads and program leaders to justify their entire budgets. In addition, I will support a discussion of service privatization. There are some city services that could be managed as well or better by a private entity. Finally, I support the creation of an independent budget analyst position that will provide feedback on the fiscal impact of decisions made by city government.Embracing Education
As a local government entity, we must work with other governmental bodies to do what is right for the citizens. Education is a vital part of our community and the future of our children depends on a strong educational system. For this reason, we must work with the local school district to ensure that schools within the city limits are secure and safe for the students, employees and parents. We must also encourage mentor volunteers both from within the city government and the general population at each of the schools. Mentoring is a vital resource that has an incredible impact on students. Northwest Florida is also blessed to have Pensacola Junior College and the University of West Florida. We must work closely with them to ensure opportunities for our residents and to increase enrollment from areas outside of Pensacola. Our community must also be “educational.” This includes preservation and sharing of the history of Pensacola and the ability to engage in local cultural and arts activities. I support a renewed emphasis on education that encourages our residents to embrace our institutions and focuses on restoring faith in our educational system.Charles Bare is an entrepreneur and small business owner who first moved to Pensacola to attend the University of West Florida. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Administration from UWF. Bare returned to Pensacola in 1997 to work in governmental relations at the University of West Florida. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following his return from Iraq, Bare worked as the District Representative for Congressman Jeff Miller.
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Charles Bare — unfortunately you and your thinking IS the problem. One of the very first things out of your mouth is to do away with the Port that employs men and women and replacing it with for foo foo development which quite frankly has not been successful for Pensacola today.
Unlike local politicians who have done everything they can to murder, strangle and kill the port of Pensacola for their developer buddies. Every sailor from Panfilo De Narvaez in 1528 recognized that the Port of Pensacola was the best natural deepwater port in the Gulf of Mexico. We should be marketing to shippers, get in / get out — We are faster and can cut 2 days travel off of their time in and out of port. This is worth money and we can do it cheaper.
Furthermore, with a reliable port and one that is guarenteed to be a part of Pensacola’s future large we would be more attactive to large industry. But, NO ONE will ever locate her, depend on the port knowing that it’s on shakey groung. Furthermore, business at the port should be easy, not at the whim of the Foo Foo set who knowingly bought their condos next door. This is INSANE … do you think they did that other places? NO.
It is absolutely insane that in Pensacola we measure economic development success with how many bars we are opening on Palafox Street. We have leaders running out to Poker Rooms talking about bring jobs to the county. Can you believe it!!! We need to focus on real industry, manufacturing, businesses which employ large numbers and pay well. When I was a kid, my friends talked of working for Monsanto, St Regious (IP), Reichold, Air Products, Gulf Power, American, Westinghouse, Air Products, etc. I ask, what have we attracted along these lines lately?
You are beholden to the FOO FOO set who’s goal in life is to make it as a highlighted name in Dee Dee Richies weekly article than true development. These people thinks that there should be no industry and that downtown should be some pretty pretty utopia where they can attend more functions. This group does not want to see a truck downtown, heaven forbid. They do not want to see ships, cranes, etc and they do not care one bit about the employment needs of the masses or working class. They just want a pretty place to go to dinner.
It is time that we do not allow our government to be hijaaked by the Foo Foo set and allow our economy to grow here. We need to bring large business to our area and provide opportunities to our people. Maritime Parks, Killing the Port and putting a serving tray in everyone’s hand will not do it.
My wife is a criminal attorney and over and over she hears the same thing; “I did this or that because I needed the money”; “Lack of Opportunity”; “I can make more money selling drugs and crack”.
Stop limiting our citizen opportunities to selling Peanuts at Studer Stadium, selling drinks or waiting tables. It is not working now and it will not work in the future. So, when you talk about killing the Port in favor or more service industry ask yourself, who will buy a home or send their kids to college on tips.
Mr. Clabaugh. I’d be happy to discuss the port issue with you further. You seem to have some passionate ideas about the subject. I am not familiar with the FOO FOO and am not beholden to them. My focus is to get out to the people and hear their ideas. My stated issues are a starting point for discussion. As Mayor, I will work with the citizens and the council to make the right decisions for Pensacola. If their is a more viable option for the port, I would like to hear it. After reviewing the financial records of the port, it is pretty apparent to me that the city has not been able to keep a consistent cash flow on the positive side. Jobs are definitely important to our community and are a primary goal of mine in the economic development arena. Thanks again for your comments.
“The best days of our Port are in the distant past.”
That does not seem like a starting point for discussion. It seems to me that you have made up your mind.
Charles I will tell you what I will be happy to meet with you, however, before I would like for you to talk to Amy at the Port. She worked for the Port of New Orleans and I am positive she can give you some insight as to what can be done to improve the bottom line at the Port.
As you can see, it absolutely takes me off the deep end when Escambia County and the City of Pensacola squanders opportunity after opportunity. My opinion is, that a strong viable port is a selling point to Pensacola to bigger industry. we should be upgrading the port and improving the port. Then marketing our port to potential industry as well as shippers throughout the Carribean, Atlantic and South America. We should be exploring what NAFTA can do for us? How can we get products to move through Pensacola. I believe it can be done.
Think of the deals that have been killed because they did not want to see trucks in downtown!!! That is insane!!! They complain of noise and dust!!! It is an industrial site for Christ sake. There should be noise and dust. So, they prevent shippers that the “Foo Foo Set” find objectionable and they are all too happy to do so. Then on the otherhand complain about the bottom line.
Imagine this world, I am a Widget Salesman. I make money selling Widgets. Someone comes to me and says, I want to buy a million widgets. I then have to go to the City Council and ask permission to sell Widgets. Then comes all the complaints, them Widgets are dirty, those widgets look bad from my balcony, those widget trucks are noisy. The counsel then votes, No Selling Million Widgets. This is how business is done at the port of Pensacola. The worse thing is, most of the people sitting on the counsel has about 10 people telling them … Don’t let him sell those widgets if he is successful I cannot put a hotel there or more condos or another bar in which 10 more counsel members will brag about economic development.
As for business development, the first place you should look and start is permitting and getting projects approved. I have heard horror story after horror story about getting this done. Go ask Avalex what happened to them in the City Manager’s office when they presented their plans! This town kills more business before it can ever get started. Just like when I attempted to rent office space on the ground floor on Palafox, later the guy tells me he cannot because he is not allowed to have anything retail or entertainment. WHAT!!!
Here is a muse, go to St Augustine to their historic district. Then walk around ours. Ask yourself, what is different? Why is it that St Augustine is so successful in marketing their historic district and we are a dismal failure. The buildings are the same, history the same, even looks the same. BUT … We fail. What is that? Answer that question and you will have the insight to be a mayor.
Then there is the shinanigans with the Maritime Park — absolutely nothing about this park is as sold to the public. The entire process started with this Gindroz character and him coming up with some grand plan, however, it turns out that he had a plan, A baseball Stadium, Conference Center, Education Center and Studer’s Offices. He was not there representing the people, it was their plan all along. Now, all we have is the Stadium and Offices. The funding is not coming from only the CRA, but the city. There is NO viability study completed and what was presented to get the master lease signed was misrepresented. The entire process is in disarray and there is not one aspect which is not questionable.
I can go on for 100 years on the problems there, yet, Wiggins, the Counsel just ignores it and acts like it’s not their problem. And… in the end when it all blows up they will blame the CMPA which is why they will not get rid of it. The CMPA is not answerable to the public and it puts a layer of deniability there for counsel members.
Am I mad, you bet. Same as everyone else in the City of Pensacola. We are tired of the same ole non-sense downtown. The City needs to back up, re-define it’s mission to it’s citizens and execute it. We need Police, Fire, Streets, Garbage Sewage, and jobs. We need for them to get out of the way of business and stop blowing our money on baseball stadiums.
By the way, if you are going to be Mayor, ask for the requirements FEMA demanded of municipal developments and what they will cover. Ask for the deductables. Then take a really close look at the site plan for the Maritime Park. Then ask yourself, when the next Ivan or worse comes … who will pay for it to be fixed again. Also, ask this question, I want a Economic Viability Study for the Maritime Park as configured. Not as dreamed. Then get an operational budget – Revenues Vs expenses.
Then when we meet, you can tell me who is going to pay for the additional operational expenses at the Park when it fails to generate enough revenue to cover the costs.
I look forward to meeting you when you get this research done.
I plan to meet with the port officials to discuss operations. I have heard from quite a few folks on this issue. When it comes to FEMA, I believe I may have a leg up on my opponents. My Master’s Degree is in Public Administration with a specialization in Coastal Zone Studies. I completed my Master’s Thesis on the National Flood Insurance Program and I have taken quite a few FEMA courses. I definitely share many of your concerns related to the maritime park. I am glad you shared your comments and I look forward to meeting with you as I continue to refine my positions. Thanks again.
“The best days of our Port are in the distant past.”
Shouldn’t you have met with port officials before you made that statement?
Very Perceptive Robert … I would think that he would have met with them first before making a statement like that.
My guess is that he has been briefed by those would would rather put a foo foo development there along with more tip based jobs than infrastucture which would support many blue collar workers.
I’ll be meeting with port staff next week. Just to clarify, I have had no briefings on the port. However, I have read several studies completed in the past. I have also studied port budget figures. In 2005, I toured the port and had a full briefing as a member of the Leadership Pensacola class. The combination of these factors led to my issue summary. I am looking forward to meeting with port staff as I continue to evaluate this issue.
Very nice Mark Clabaugh
Charles, we are on then. Let me know when you are ready.
“Economic Viability Study for the Maritime Park as configured. Not as dreamed. Then get an operational budget – Revenues Vs expenses”
I agree Mark and I hold Mayor Wiggins and the council fully responsible to the citizens for pushing forward without the study. How could it be overlooked? It wasn’t . They know the ballpark scheme cannot support the debt.
The call your children home to work bull from Mort O’Sullivan and company is just that-bull. changing the location of a ballgame will not change our economic outlook. If our mayor and council believes it will, there is a serious problem with their logic.
I agree 100% with what Mark Clabaugh has stated.
The only thing that I want to add, is that the ORIGINAL plan to develop our waterfront was to develop the Trillium property into Foo Foo City (using Mark’s word). The port would remain a working port and the city would do its best to make it work. At a future time, if Foo Foo City became a roaring success, and the port continued to decline, then, and ONLY then, would we consider abandoning the port.
I agree with the original plan. Unfortunately, that plan was hijacked by those wanting a waterfront baseball stadium. Foo Foo City will never work when the majority of the property is occupied by a lifeless baseball stadium and its associated parking requirements. Gindroz did a marvelous job of hiding this fact, but it is a fact nontheless. Now that the “1910 Fishing Village” concept has been replaced with a baseball stadium, some people are eyeing the port as a replacement. Just remember, once you abandon the port, you will never get it back again!
Thanks, Charles, for listening to our rants!
Ugh. Associated with Jeff Miller? .. no thanks.
And Wiggins is heavily associated with the downtown crowd, the local developers, the local gob ad agency, and the IPC. He has been designated as the official water carrier for J.R. after DeSorbo was sent packing.
I hate to say it but the info here about the port appears that Bare has heard the ideas of the foo foo crowd that doesn’t want Port truck dust settling on their cars.
Charles Bare –
I salute you for taking and defending your platform. I agree with some though not all of what you say but respect you sticking your neck out there. We now know more about your views than where Mike Wiggins stands on anything. He’s like a stalk of bamboo bending from one side of an issue to another depending on who talked to him last. When you were on Rick Outzen’s In Your Head TV show my wife Yvonne paid you a very high compliment, “He seems like a very honest guy.”
You’re already more gutsy than most of the council members, save Maren “Lone Dog” DeWeese who has a bigger pair than most of us. The council view on leadership is typified by this comment made to me by Sam “Taliban” Hall, “I’m going to start showing some leadership by going along with the others.”
UWF SGA President Amy Clonts told me Saturday at Festival on the Green that you’d been out at the campus talking to students. I urged her to run for one of the at-large council seats but she said she recently moved out of the city because it was too expensive. The students need to know the tradeoff between projected UWF Foundation annual costs to maintain all these dazzling UWF projects across from city hall versus real scholarship money available for students. It won’t surprise me if students are someday made to pay a UWF Downtown Presence Support fee, like they’re not already paying enough!
I saw you at Thursday’s Sanders Beach EPA briefing on the American Creosote Works Superfund site. The fact that you cared enough to show up was noteworthy. It’s a horrific mess and the city has has done very little to help those long-suffering citizens. The council should hold a meeting there on a hot, humid Thursday after a big rain storm to smell the chemicals in the air. It’s bad. Ask Mayor Fogg and then Councilman Wiggins why they voted in April 2008 to get rid of the Environmental Administrator position, and the Economic Development Coordinator and Assistant Neighborhood Coordinator too. Don’t accept, “The staff made us do it.”
Re: the Port. Diane Mack invited me to lunch last summer. She’d already decided to run for mayor and wanted to pick my brain on the issues. I questioned the wisdom of selling off “our” port, especially in part to help pay for (using Mark Clabaugh’s verbiage) a “foo foo” makeover of Bayfront Parkway. Diane excitedly told me she’d been directly contacted by the Jacksonville Port Authority expressing interest in our port. Hello! What does that tell you! Clyde Mathis and Amy Miller at the port will tell you what we need to do to profit most from the 2014 widening of the Panama Canal.
You should get T.R. Eagan & Sam Hall to backbrief you on the now defunct “Pensacola Village” scheme that included a convention center on the port site with a baseball stadium on the roof. Just how many baseball stadiums do we need downtown? The Portofino architect out of Miami did the beautiful “illustrative” graphics for free. Grover IV knows the details too. No other elected officials were invited to the quasi-secretive briefing at the West Florida Regional Planning Council. I went to keep a watchful eye on Sam Hall.
Submit a public records request to Mayor Wiggins and get all the paperwork he has on the never done “economic viability” study for the Community Maritime Park “economic development” project. I warned him well in advance as soon as I realized the study had never been done and understood the scheme to deceive the council.
Mike even received his own copy of the City Manager’s response to me in September where Mr. Coby admitted the CMPA and city staff had by accident or design misled the council in May. Mayor Wiggins is damn eager to bury this huge oversight. I can get you Mr. Bonfield’s letter to me where he says he won’t tell what happened without Mr. Coby’s permission. Gee, like that’s gonna happen anytime soon!
You should read the Studer crew e-mails in possession of all the council members. It’s a public record and they have to share them with you. Heck, everyone should read them. They describe the 2004/2005 scheme to manipulate Ray Gindroz, the council and the voters while squashing public input. Lacey Collier nominated to be CMPA Chairman by outgoing Chairman Quint Studer sure did his part keeping the public mute too.
The council also has my four page write-up on Scott Davison’s brief to the Propeller Club promoting maritime commerce where I serve on the board. The CMPA has totally botched the job. Way too little parking is the longest pole in the big tent of problems they’ve let fester by ignoring the concerns of the public.
The really terrifying part is we probably don’t know a fraction of what really goes on inside city hall. As Mr. Bonfield reportedly said all the time, “It may not be right but it’s legal.” I once heard him say he liked to leak “stuff” to the PNJ to force the hand of the council. A major house cleaning is long overdue.
“Keep Attacking” Charles Bare!
I spent more than 2 hours with Clyde and Amy this week. The provided a lot of information, but it is clear to me that the current port situation is a patchwork of operations. I feel both of them are very competent, but they are currently subject to Mr. Coby and the Council. Although I was glad to hear about the grant funding brought in by the port, I had a mixed reaction to the fact that some of the money was used for other city and even private industry needs.
During our discussion, there was no light bulb that went on for me. There are things I definitely don’t want to see at the port property. Ultimately, I want to promote the best use of the property for the benefit of all citizens of Pensacola. I think it is great that the most recent tenant is occupying hotel rooms. This is definitely a benefit to the hotels where they are staying. Clearly, they are also spending money in local restaurants and other businesses during their time in port.
During our meeting, Amy Miller mentioned the possible diversification (her word) of the port to include business/commercial development on the north side of the port. I would argue that our port is already somewhat diverse as we have cobbled together imports of asphalt and aggregate rock, exports of cement, docking of oil platform ships and warehouse storage. Adding commercial, retail or residential development to the northern portion would have one significant impact. It would hide the asphalt storage container and equipment from visitors.
As I consider the port, I cannot help but be distracted by the property just south of city hall that has been slated for development. I cannot even bring myself to call it the Maritime Park at this point because I believe we have strayed so far from the original intent that we may never get back to it. As I study the drawings for the proposed park, the first thing I think about is the need for carpooling to special events and baseball games. The proposed park does not provide sufficient parking. I imagine this furthers the case for making the city more walkable.
At this point, I believe both issues need more public input and in the case of the port I am recommending putting together a group of folks to look at the current operations and the future direction. This group must be composed of people from a variety of backgrounds. The city needs to reveal all records related to both projects including emails, memos and internal operations. Only through this action will the city be able to restore the public’s faith in the future directions of the port and the proposed park.
Right on the parking. The city has stalled renovations of buildings downtown while waiving the parking requirements fora ballpark. 500 spaces for a 3,000. +-seat stadium.
Grants used for private industry needs? no surprise
How are those income producing leases at the port doing?
Producing any income or are we carrying their operations as well?
There is not 500 parking spaces, there is 310 from what I have seen latest. At one time it was just over 200 so they have added a few.
I thought 500 sounded a little high. I was pretty sure the last diagram was just a little over 300.
I just received the financials for the port over the last 5 years. As everyone probably knows, they don’t look good. According to the report, total operating revenue for 2009 was $1,278,751. Salary and benefits alone accounted for $993,346 in expenses. Even when depreciation is excluded, the ports expenses were $408,885 higher than revenue. The economy can be blamed for a portion of this, but I am very concerned about the financial viability of the port. Can we truly find a niche that no other port on the Gulf is able to fill?
Charles.
I am sure they do not look good … the City Council turns down contracts all the time. They want these financials to look bad to justify turning this into another failed Foo Foo development providing Dee Dee Ritchie more opportunities to print people’s names in bold letters.
We need to market this port to it’s potential and stop choking it off.
This park is out of control and it is time for the citizens of Pensacola to stand up and say enough is enough. This park is not the same park we voted on. It exceeded the promised cost and funding is NOT isolated to the CRA as promised and now will be paid from the General Fund. They have no idea if it is viable because they failed to demand the viability study which was a prerequisite for signing the master lease agreement, they signed anyway.
Mr Bare, what say you. What is YOUR opinion on this park and what has transpired. What direction should your city go in?
Council Members and Mr. Mayor,
In opening, I am in support of a park. In fact, I would support a park with a Maritime Museum. However, that at this point it is an unrealistic expectation. I am convinced, as you most likely are privately that UWF will not obtain the funds to build or maintain the museum. It is a fact that the state is cutting back funds to Universities and that UWF at this time and in the future will have to deal with their own budget constraints. Simply put, it is a luxury that they cannot afford. In fact, Dr. Bense herself wished that the decision on her ultimatum would have been against her because he knew she did not have the funds to do this project.
I contend, that the CMPA knows this and that once the Baseball park is built you will get the announcement that the Maritime Museum will not be a part of this project for lack of funds.
With this being said, where are we? We are left with a baseball stadium, 310 parking places and Studer’s office building, green space and infrastructure for speculative commercial investment. This is my understanding of Phase 1 in summation. I am also convinced without the Maritime Museum, Educational Center, Conference Center the park lacks the kind of anchor projects which will draw the numbers of people to support the commercial elements of the park. What does this mean, again simply put this will reduce the marketability of the commercial elements.
These are the realities at this time and they cannot be denied.
The park’s commercial space is entirely dependent on MPDP, their financial muscle and marketing ability to attract commercial interest in the park. As you clearly know by now, their financial viability is in question and the Council MUST demand that they have the capacity to make the kind of speculative investments required by this park. My fear, and you should fear too that this company will collect their fees, claim that the park is not viable and leave us with nothing but expenses.
Mort O Sullivan has on previous occasions failed to read reports for which he has been requested to consult on. For that matter, the Pensacola News Journal has even quoted some members of the council stating they have not read certain documents, agreements, etc. This is at minimum troubling. Without full knowledge that this developer has not only the financial capacity, but the staying power to invest the additional 30+ million dollars in the commercial elements I suggest that you will be proceeding recklessly. That to proceed with this size of a development and not have ALL the pieces of the puzzle, would be abrogating your judiciary responsibilities to the citizens of Pensacola.
In addition, I also contend that the scope of this park has strayed in many ways from the original referendum. It is impossible to claim that you have a mandate to proceed with this park given the changes so far. For example;
· Funding – It is now OVER 40,000,000 dollars in public investment.
· Funding Source- It is now funded through the CRA as well as General Funds or City Tax Payer dollars.
· Park Scope, major elements that were proposed are no longer part of the park such as but not limited to the Education and conference center.
· Muli-Use Stadium that opens up into a festival ground
I think that the citizens of Pensacola once they realize that they spent all this money on a baseball stadium they will be largely disappointed and further disenfranchised. In fact, many uses for the stadium have been eliminated since it no longer opens up into a festival ground.
With that being said, I think that it is time that the City Council put a halt to this project until we can get it under control. I think that the Council has a duty to deliver the park the citizens were sold and not what this has morphed into. I also believe that the right thing to do would be one of 2 options,
1.) Allow the citizens of Pensacola to decide if this new park development scheme is what they want. The ballot would exactly spell out the deliverables for Phase 1.
2.) Eliminate the baseball stadium, invest the remaining funds in the park, park amenities, boardwalks and infrastructure for commercial elements allowing a free market to do what it does best.
With regard to option 2, should the Pelicans wish to build a stadium their organization can purchase or lease the land from the citizens of Pensacola like any other tenant. Furthermore, if a developer sees opportunity in hotels, commercial developments, etc they will invest accordingly in a far better designed and featured park. Imagine, the additional investments we could make in the waterfront infrastructure if we were not spending millions on the stadium.
Thank you for your time,
Mark Clabaugh