Gracing the front page of my PNJ.com this morning was the ad you see to your right (I say my PNJ.com because it’s a rotating ad and you may or may not see it), a “thank you” to Escambia County from the recently-elected District 1 Commissioner.  As you can tell from the disclaimer at the bottom of the ad, this was indeed paid for by Robertson’s campaign account.

Robertson raised a tremendous amount of money, but is this really the best way to spend his leftover cash? Sure, it’s legal (see our post on candidate options), but why spend leftover campaign cash on meaningless thank you ads when you can give that money to a charity and have it do some real good in the community?

Disappointing.

There are a number of concerns about the deal, raised by various citizens and Council members, that Progressive Pensacola echoes.  It doesn’t look like other developers got a fair chance to submit their proposals.  It’s still somewhat unclear why the Airport decided to negotiate with Julian MacQueen exclusively. Furthermore, numerous citizens have expressed their feeling that the appraised value of the land is too low. While we feel their objections are based solely on their potential personal gain as rival developers or business owners, they could be right.  That said, the City used a state-certified appraiser in the process.  We could quibble over the appraisal value for ages, and we could have ten more appraisals, and each one would probably come up with a different result.

Councilman Donovan is worried about landscaping; he wants to be sure the property is attractive and is not just a big sprawling mass of asphalt and buildings.  We agree; and while there are not solid guidelines written into the agreement, MacQueen has committed to making this development attractive.  Understand that the parcel which is there now is mostly a concrete abyss, with only a single large oak tree, which MacQueen has committed to keeping.  Compare this to developments by Terhaar and Cronley, Donovan supporters and opposers of the MacQueen development — their signature touch, evident at their developments on 12th Avenue, Airport Boulevard, and elsewhere, is the mass clear-cutting of trees.

Councilman Wiggins tried to strike a conciliatory note by suggesting a short delay of the vote.  We’ll be the first one to say that Council members rarely get enough time or information to adequately consider staff recommendations — but that’s another issue.

When you boil this issue down to the essentials, you have a very successful hotel developer who wants to lease City land to develop a hotel and other commercial properties.  This means both rent and tax income for the City of Pensacola, and more importantly, an estimated 235 jobs at a time when this community needs jobs — all at little or no cost to the taxpayers of the City.  MacQueen isn’t asking for any subsidies or tax breaks. As part of the agreement, the Airport will connect sewer lines to the parcel, maintain some right-of-way on College Boulevard, and construct a covered walkway from the parking garage to the hotel — but much of these expenses are already budgeted as part of current projects going on at the Airport.

For those of you who don’t know, Bay County and the State of Florida are pouring bucketloads of money into a new airport in Bay County near Panama City.  This hotel development, along with other improvements in progress at the airport, are vital for the continued ability of the Pensacola Regional Airport to compete in the regional marketplace.  We have a relatively strong airport, but if we allow the Bay County airport to outpace us, that translates into less visitors, fewer tourism dollars, and more hurt to our local economy.

The deal isn’t perfect, and of course it could have been handled better. That said, it’s a good project, and we have faith that it will be a positive, progressive development for both the Airport and the City of Pensacola.

• Linda Moultrie (District 3), who defeated Rev. LuTimothy May in a special election triggered by the resignation of Claudia Brown-Curry.  Moultrie will fill the remaining two years of Brown-Curry’s term, and the seat will be back up for election in 2010.
• Patty Hightower (District 4), who was reelected by default due to lack of opposition.
• Bill Slayton (District 5), who finished first in a field of four, then defeated Tom Harrell in a run-off.

Also sworn in were three Escambia County Commissioners:

• Wilson Robertson (R, District 1), who crushed incumbent Mike Whitehead in the primary and then went on to defeat Democrat Stephen Davidson in the general election.  That’s right:  no more Mike Whitehead.
• Marie Young (D, District 3), who finished first in a field of four in the Democratic primary and then easily defeated Republican Jacob Pawelski and NPA Dooley Johnson in the general election.
• Kevin White (R, District 5), who also finished first in a field of four in the Republican primary, then defeated Democrat Jim Barnett in the general election.

Commissioner Young was also elected Chairwoman of the Commission by a 3-2 vote.  Both dissenters, Commissioners Valentino and Robertson, voted for Valentino as Chair.  Commissioner Grover Robinson IV was elected Vice Chair.

Cronley, who owns several airport-area hotels and presumably is not looking forward to MacQueen’s competition, feels that both the appraised value of the airport property and the rent MacQueen would pay on the land are too low.  Furthermore, he takes issue with the fact that the City did not take proposals from other developers, but chose to negotiate exclusively with MacQueen.

Put simply, Jim Cronley is crying foul because he didn’t get his way.  Cronley, who has develloped (and over-develloped) much of the area around the airport and the Cordova business district, is used to getting what he wants from the City Council, who sat idly by as his firm clear-cut whole swaths of tree-filled properties and ignored the City’s tree ordinance.

That said, I too am confused as to why and how the City decided to exclusively negotiate with MacQueen. That’s not how those sorts of things are supposed to happen, to my knowledge.

The full Council vote is on Thursday.  We’ll see if there’s any more drama.

Links

• PNJ: “Airport hotel deal advances”

Is that a waste of taxpayer money?  Of course it is.

I don’t think there’s anyone in the County aside from the commissioners and upper administration that would say otherwise.

This is a great example of “government logic” at work.  You see, in the private sector, companies look for leaders who are qualified and ready to lead on day one.  The Escambia County government, though, opted to hire an inside man and then send him off to leadership school.  Hmm.

More puzzling is Commissioner Gene Valentino’s change of heart on the issue.  Valentino originally opposed sending McLaughlin off to Colorado, balking at the expense, but later reconsidered, according to Mark O’Brien, after “other commissioners and McLaughlin said [McLaughlin] would benefit from the program”.  Valentino also said, “I think Bob’s getting something out of it.”

Whew.  As long as Bob is getting something out of it, I guess us taxpayers can rest easy.

Spending some taxpayer cash

Council will be making some purchases, including some new vehicles, a new street sweeper, new playground equipment for Bayview and Baycliff parks, and a precast concrete bathroom building for the City-owned Osceola Golf Course.

Renovating PPD Headquarters

Council will also spend $185,000 to upgrade and renovate portions of the Pensacola Police Department headquarters at 711 North Hayne Street.  Several areas will be enlarged, including the training room, patrol line-up room, and evidence vault.  Other additional office space will be added, and an inefficient heating and cooling system will be replaced.

Dredging the A Street approach

Hurricane Ivan caused extensive damage to the A Street approach channel which leads to a small cove south of A Street and Joe Patti’s, limiting the size of vessels which could enter.  According to City staff, the City is responsible for the maintenance of this channel “as a result of a 1972 injunction.”  Accordingly, the City will spend $222,800 to dredge the channel back to original depths.  The good news?  Apparently, that cost will be fully reimbursed to the City by FEMA.

The only issue I have is that the dredged material will be dumped at Bruce Beach, the City-owned property south of Main, between Clubbs and Coyle Streets.  It will remain there “for later usage at the Community Maritime Park for backfill behind proposed bulkheads.”  That’s all fine and good, but who knows how long that will be… Have we done any kind of testing on this soon-to-be dredged sand to make sure it’s not environmentally contaminated?  It is coming out of Pensacola Bay, after all.  Is it safe to have a heaping mound (estimated at 9,000 cubic yards) of this sitting on public land for an indeterminate length of time?

Curbside Recycling

Staff will give a presentation to the committee on the results of the curbside recycling pilot program, which has been running for 16 weeks in East Hill.

According to a staff memo:

Based on program performance, we have established that the concept of collecting garbage and recycling in separate containers on a once-a-week schedule is not only feasible but also appears acceptable to our customers.  The change to a once-a-week garbage collection schedule was smoother than expected and problems anticipated involving cross-contamination of recyclables failed to materialize.  The average recyclable diversion rate is 22.1%, by weight, and is trending upward.  From an operation point of view the program has proved successful.

Progressive Pensacola urges Council to move as quickly as possible in expanding this program city-wide.

Et cetera

The committe will also consider a request by the Victoria Station Homeowners’ Association for the City to take over maintenance for their currently private streets, as well as give some City sanitation workers a title bump and pay raise.  The committee will also award contracts for prep work on the forthcoming Romana Street drainage improvement project, as well as for architectural and design services relating to several large forthcoming Parks and Recreation projects.

Links

• Neighbourhood Services Committee agenda

More on that Airport hotel

We mentioned in the last post that Julian MacQueen wants to build a hotel on airport property.  Well, as Economic and Community Development votes to allow hotels and other development in the airport restricted zone, Enterprise Operations will then vote to lease 11.44 acres of City-owned airport land to Sandspur Development LLC, MacQueen’s development company.  The lease is for 50 years, with three additional 10-year options.  MacQueen plans to invest a minimum of $10 million to build a hotel and other commercial and retail development.  MacQueen’s first year of rent is estimated to be about $365,000.

Although I’m curious as to how MacQueen got dibs on this deal (there was no RFP or open bid process that I am aware of), I am generally satisfied with this deal.  It generates money for the City while the City retains ownership of the land, in case it’s needed for airport expansion or anything, and the presence of an onsite hotel will probably help the airport.

Halcorp’s lease at the Port

The lease of liquid asphalt exporter Halcorp will expire at the end of the year.  After negotiations, City staff is recommending that Council extend the lease for a term of 1½ years, after which the lease will renew automatically until either Halcorp or the City provides 365-day advance notice.  This agreement would also reduce the area Halcorp occupies as well as increase revenue to the Port.

Progressive Pensacola recently spoke on this issue.  Whether or not Council votes to extend the lease, we urge them to develop a long-term plan for the port, or at least the portions of the Port whose leases are expiring.

Et cetera

There’s also another land purchase in the Campus Heights neighbourhood at the edge of the airport (the City has been buying up the whole neighbourhood for an “Airport Commerce Park”), and approval of a housing program assisting first-time homebuyers.

Links

• Enterprise Operations Committee agenda

Hotel on Airport property?

According to City staff’s memo, the financial strategy of the City-owned Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport is “to identify ways to diversify the airport’s non-airline revenue.  In addition to awarding contracts for massage chairs in the airport, that includes the leasing of airport property.  To that end, Airport Director Frank Miller is asking Council to broadly expand the list of permitted uses allowed within the Airport Restricted Zone (ARZ), to include:

Hotels/motels, extended stay facilities, pharmacy, restaurant and drive through facilities, banks, office, post secondary education facilities, meeting facilities, dry cleaner, health club, exercise center, martial arts facility, bakery, floral shop, day care/child care facility, medical clinic, doctor and dentist offices, and retail services to include specialty shops and studios; or other similar or compatible uses.

Hotelier Julian MacQueen (of the Hilton Pensacola Beach) wants to build a hotel on airport property.

16 South Palafox

The never-ending saga of 16 South Palafox continues.  The former headquarters of ESP was declared surplus and put up for sale by Council in 2006; an RFP was issued and proposals were accepted throughout 2007. Eventually development firm Mpirical was awarded the sale, but for whatever reason, Mpirical reneged, and Council withdrew the award and issued a new RFP.  This time around, the only response was from a consortium made up of Miller Caldwell Jr., Miller Caldwell III, Tosh Belsinger and Joe Endry of Trinity Capital, and David Brannen.  The consortium offered $250,000, which is dramatically lower than the property’s assessed value of $725,000.  Looks like even the big boys are broke in this economic climate.

City staff has recommended that Council reject the offer.

Et cetera

There’s also some land use issues, including a request to amend the land development code for the Old East Hill district to allow for an animal kennel/hospital, and a request to rezone some property in the Sanders Beach neighbourhood to high density residential.  Someone wants to build some condos.

Links

• Economic and Community Development Committee agenda

Progressive Pensacola opposes such a resolution.  We feel that the City should allow the ongoing Charter Review process to complete, and allow any changes recommended the chance to be implemented, prior to any exploration of unified government.

Links

• Committee of the Whole agenda

I tend to agree, although I don’t take the hard line that she does.  I am certainly critical of the Port of Pensacola, foremost for the fact that it is an unprofitable enterprise.  It loses money every year, and we the citizens and taxpayers of the City of Pensacola pay to keep it running.

That said, Pensacola’s harbour is a natural resource, and we have to consider the fact that once we abandon that, whether we replace the port with a conference center, a park, condominiums, or whatever — there’s no going back. So what I ask of the members of Council is not that they reject the Halcorp lease extension but rather that they think hard about the issue; that they don’t move blindly, as they so often do. Their decisions on these leases literally decide the fate of our waterfront for decades to come.

My comments as delivered to the members of Council:

In the coming week, you will consider whether or not to extend the lease at the Port of Pensacola of Halcorp, a liquid asphalt distributor.

As you do so, I wish to remind you of one of the “Goals and Priority Ideas” set by this Council back in 2007 (a full list is available at this City web page): “Plan for alternative uses at the Port of Pensacola as industrial leases expire.”

An industrial lease is expiring. Will you as council members follow through on your stated goal and consider/plan for alternate uses?

I urge you to. Whether you support or oppose the Port’s existence, something must change. It is not a profitable enterprise, and we the residents of the City, your employers, subsidise it with our tax dollars. If it is to stay open, it must be reimagined, revamped.

Either way, I encourage you to think about it, to not blindly renew the Halcorp lease.

Jerralds gave it.  He said, “If people in North Hill rejected plan A, and people on E Street rejected plan B, then Gulf Power has a responsibility to find another plan.  The people on the E Street corridor should be given the same consideration as North Hill. It’s not about race; it’s about money.”

Apparently Jerralds changed his mind, or some folks changed his mind for him, and he called Dogan back, and left a voicemail, saying things that I’m amazed any elected official would say when they know they are being recorded:

This is John Jerralds, please give me a call at [number].  I need to talk to you, uh, Reggie.  I, uh, prefer not to be quoted in your column. Uh, I have some serious issues with it.  I’ve received some additional calls after I talked to you, and I need to talk to you about your strategy.  Uh, give me a call at your convenience, uh, because what I’ll do, if I don’t hear from you, when I see your column I’ll deny it. But I need to talk to you.  Real soon.  Goodbye.

That’s just not the way that it works, Brother Jerralds.  I assume Councilman Jerralds didn’t know that technology exists that would enable Mr. Dogan to transfer that voicemail message to a digital mp3 file, for all to hear.

I have long liked and respected John Jerralds.  He is an amiable man who has made important stands, as he did in the Rusty Wells appointment saga.  Lately, though, Jerralds has acted in ways that have been chipping away at that respect.  This certainly doesn’t help.