- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The daily newspaper has a post on its home page with the wrong phone number. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has the correct information on its Facebook page:

The phone number listed in an article was incorrect, and is NOT a 24-hour working number. Citizens should call 850.436.9630 or 850.436.9620 should they have any new information to report. The number to the mobile command center is 850-207-5498 should you or your group wish to assist with the search efforts. Thank you again.

The local ABC affiliate ran a piece on Owen last night, but failed to give any ECSO contact information or show a photo of the boy. The anchor did give the dispatch number after the segment aired.

Owen was last seen Friday afternoon on Perdido Key Drive in the vicinity of the Needle Rush condos. He was wearing a red and blue striped shirt and brown sweat pants. He has short blondish brown hair, brown eyes and is small for his age (4 ft. tall, weight 45 pounds).

To help with the search, the Sheriff’s Office has partnered with to announce our partnership Florida Marine Patrol, U.S. Navy, Civil Air Patrol, Escambia Search and Rescue, U.S. Coast Guard, the Klaas Foundation, the Navy and Escambia County Fire Departments and the Search Rescue units from Orange Beach, Mobile, Baldwin County and Bay counties.

They are still searching.

The report has two recommendations not included in the draft that city circulated back in February. Oliver recommends that the CMPA board be replaced with the City Council or CRA (which are the same people) or have the CMPA report directly to Mayor Hayward or City Administrator Bill Reynolds.

“Currently there is no one governing body responsible for decision making,” writes Oliver.

The second recommendation is to make one person accountable for all activities at the park. He suggests that person be the mayor or city administrator.

These two recommendations are in line with what Mayor Ashton Hayward told supporters at 5 1/2 Bar what he wanted earlier this year – so Hayward and Reynolds should be pleased.

The one recommendation that they won’t like is Oliver writing that a Request for Qualifications should be issued for the operation of the park for non-baseball days. The city has chosen to privately negotiation with SMG, the company which handles the Pensacola Bay Center and Saenger Theater, even though the CMPA board had voted to issue the request.

Read FinalOliver

Let’s compare the crime stats for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for 2012 and 2011. The 5.9 increase in crime is tied  primarily to increases in burglary (556) and  Aggravated Assault (236).

However, the ECSO’s percentage of cleared cases is the highest since 2005:

The City of Pensacola had a huge jump in murders in 2012–which more than tripled. Burglaries and Aggravated Assaults are also up.

Pensacola’s seven murders are the most since the city began reporting its crime stats to FDLE in 2001:

When you compare the crime rates of the county with the city (per 100,000 people), Pensacola has a bigger problem:

Recommendation for the daily: It’s best to look at all the statistics before using them.

Today, May 16, one lane is closed on the Pensacola Beach Boulevard bridge until the foot of the roadway approaching the toll plaza and three toll plaza lanes are open to motorists.

Tomorrow, Friday, May 17, all bridge and toll plaza lanes will reopen to traffic at 12 p.m. throughout the weekend.

These traffic shifts are in conjunction with the various enhancement projects the Escambia County Public Works Department has begun.  More than $430,000 in roadway improvements has been designed to improve traffic flow and address safety concerns for pedestrians.

For the latest updates regarding this project, follow @MyPensacolaBch, @MyECdistrict4 and @MyEscambia on Twitter.

“We’re glad you’re here,” CMPA member John Merting told the Becks this afternoon. “We’re glad you’re moving forward.”

The Becks plan to build a mixed-use development at the Community Maritime Park. The project—which entails retail, office space and residential—will be the park’s second development, following Wahoos-owner Quint Studer’s planned office complex.

Using the Studer deal as a template for negotiations, the CMPA, along with representatives from Mayor Ashton Hayward’s office and the Pensacola City Council, hashed out the proposed lease last week. The Becks agreed to up the proposed annual lease fee from the original $39,700 to $46,222.

“I thought it went really well,” said Justin Beck.

CMPA Executive Director Ed Spears described the negotiations as “speedy, open, honest.” He advised the trustees to recommend the lease’s approval, pending amendments made by the city council.

“That’s a little scary, to say they could change anything they want,” said CMPA member Mark Taylor.

“We could go around in circles for months if we don’t do that,” Spears said.

Also during today’s CMPA meeting, board members received an update from Kim Carmody, of the city’s Neighborhood Services, on activities slated for the park. The park board has contracted with the city to manage the facility.

Carmody reported that the park would be hosting multiple events in the coming months, such as the Listen Local concert series. She said the calendar is filling up.

Carmody also said that the city is still in the process of negotiating with a management company to take the reins at the park. She declined to reveal the company’s name prior to inking a deal.

“Hopefully we’ll have something signed and ready to roll next time I talk to you,” Carmody said. “We’ve met with them on several occasions—they’re very excited, we’re very excited.”

The CMPA previously voted to have a request for proposals (RFP) conducted in an effort to find a management company for the park. That RFP was never followed through on.

“We opted out of the RFP for various reasons,” Carmody said, explaining that the company currently being negotiated with already has a footprint in the area and will also be able to offer alternative venues during rain events.

Members expressed concerns about the board’s direction being circumvented. They discussed again requesting that the city conduct an RFP process.

“As our agent, if we told you to go ahead and do an RFP,” asked CMPA Treasurer Jim Reeves, “you’d be pretty excited about that?”

“Oh, skippy-yes,” replied Carmody.

Both Carmody and Spears contended that it was within the city’s power to contract out their management duties to another entity. The director said that the city was not negotiating a new contract—which he said would be illegal—but rather expanding an existing contract.

“We’ve done the research, we have not done anything that is illegal, unethical,” said Carmody. “Nothing is being done that is shady, that’s wrong.”

Pensacola City Councilwoman Sherri Myers challenged the city’s position that the management company’s name could be withheld from the public. She asserted that the matter was subject to sunshine laws and made a verbal public records request for the information.

“When you ask for the name of this company that the city is negotiating with, you have a right to know,” Myers told the CMPA board.

While not technically revealing the company’s name, Spears did tell the board that there was only one venue-management company operating in the area—SMG, which manages the Saenger Theater for the city, as well as the Pensacola Bay Center for Escambia County.

Merting, who also serves as head of the CMPA’s Operations and Audit Committee, told his fellow board members that it was likely a waste of time to continue the RFP discussion—“that ship has sailed, that’s water under the bridge, coulda, shoulda, woulda”—but also relayed a message to city staff via Carmody.

“We feel like mushrooms—we’re fed B.S. and we’re kept in the dark, and that’s not very beneficial,” Merting told her. “All we can do is vote and pass motions and if the people that we work with thumb their noses at us, that’s what they’re going to do.”

John Johnson, the homeless coalition’s executive director, said yesterday that the city arranged for the presentation a few weeks ago. He was unaware the proposed ordinances were also on the May 6 agenda.

“I did not know,” Johnson said.

The director also said that the coalition had not been contacted, had not been asked for input, regarding the ordinances.

“It probably would have had a better outcome if not only myself, but other homeless providers, were contacted,” Johnson said.

Mayor Ashton Hayward recently put several ordinances on council’s table that critics claim “criminalize homelessness.” If approved, the ordinances will prohibit activities such as ‘camping,’ washing in public restrooms, public defecation and ‘aggressive solicitation, begging or panhandling.’ The administration contends the ordinances are necessary to “promote the aesthetics, sanitation, public health and safety of its citizens.”

“This will definitely impact the homeless population,” Johnson said yesterday, taking a break from the coalition’s annual meeting.

Johnson’s presentation to the city council painted a portrait of a growing homeless population coupled with dwindling resources and scarce services. Particularly alarming were statistics concerning families with children, as well as veterans.

Following Johnson’s presentation, Reynolds described to council “the proactive steps we’re going to start moving forward with.”  The administrator explained that the city would be exploring additional funding sources with its federal lobbyist and also collaborating with EscaRosa on the “little outreach piece that they’re working on.”

“That’s something that we’ve never done before, that is a piece that has been missing from what we do,” Reynolds said, explaining that the city would work to “educate” the homeless about available services. “We’re going to facilitate that at the city level—to educate, and try make sure that those we can identify here in the city of Pensacola fully understand what’s available. Because even if someone is not willing to go that day, they may have an opportunity where something goes wrong or they’re not happy at some point in the existence that they’re living and they say, ‘you know, I remember a program. I remember a program that somebody told me about one day when I was under the bridge and I think I want to do something about that at this point.’ So, we’re going to start putting something together in that respect.”

Council President P.C. Wu described this development as “very good news.”

“Because it shows the city taking a proactive approach to solving a very difficult problem,” the president said.

City Public Information Officer Derek Cosson later explained that the education would take place when a police officer “makes contact with someone regarding a potential violation of one of these ordinances.”

“The officer will educate the individual on available help,” Cosson wrote in an email.

Johnson said that he understands both sides of the debate.

“The homeless can present a problem for local businesses, I do understand that—many folks don’t want to be harassed or asked for money,” the coalition director said. “On the other hand, I do understand it from the perspective of the homeless.”

Johnson said that if the ordinances are passed, it will effectively prohibit homelessness in the city and push the population outside its boundaries.

“If that becomes law, then I’d want the homeless population to abide by the law,” he said. “But then we have to find the solutions.”

To that end, Johnson appeared optimistic about a homeless task force initiated by the city council in light of the proposed ordinances. Councilwoman Jewel Cannada-Wynn has tapped the coalition director to sit on that task force.

“I want to work with the council in whatever way I can to find solutions,” Johnson said.

Whatever the solutions—the director offers up a ‘tent city’ as an example—they will inevitably involve costs. The same can be said of the ordinances.

“If the ordinances pass, it’s going to cost dollars,” Johnson said, rattling off the math involved with possibly incarcerating homeless people. “Sixty percent have some sort of issue—mental, physical—you factor that in to going to jail, the cost, if it’s exaggerated by these factors, can be substantial.”

Three of the four proposed ordinances are scheduled for a final reading, and probable passage, May 23. Council will begin discussing the fourth—addressing ‘aggressive’ panhandling—during Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

- For more on the city’s proposed ordinances, read this week’s print edition of the Independent News; available at inweekly.net later today, and on the streets tomorrow.

Commissioners,

Please be aware that today Judge Nobles granted summary judgment for the remaining Gibbs defendants, Marie Young and Grover Robinson. This means that the lawsuit is effectively decided in the defendants??? favor, although the possibility of appeal remains. I don’t expect the final written order from Judge Nobles for at least a couple weeks. As you are likely aware, the County has been covering the legal expenses for the defendants. If you have any questions about this email, you are free to contact me but be aware I was not present at the hearing as the defendants each had their own counsel.

Please do not respond to this email.

Alison

“Nothing but conversation is changing hands,” said CMPA Treasurer Jim Reeves, “and we really should have some recourse if they default.”

Justin and Greg Beck are currently in negotiations over a lease for parcel parcel one at the Community Maritime Park. They are hoping to build a mixed-use development, which will feature their company’s offices on the second floor, with retail below and residential above.

The CMPA, thePensacola City Council and Mayor Ashton Hayward have appointed representatives to negotiate with the Becks. The only other post-ballpark development at the CMP—Quint Studer’s planned office complex—is being used as a template for the negotiations.

CMPA Executive Director Ed Spears noted that a letter of credit was discussed during last week’s negotiating session, but that aspect was “deleted by their attorney.” CMPA Chairman Collier Merrill—the park board’s representative in the negotiations—said that the Becks were offering verbal assurances.

“It doesn’t survive a car crash,” Reeves said. “A letter of credit does.”

“They’re reasonable people,” agreed Committee Chairman John Merting. “I think they can see the bind that we’re in.”

Although they did not have a quorum, the committee took a 4-0 straw vote to forward the lease to the CMPA. Member Fred Gunter recused himself from the straw vote, citing his involvement in bringing the park board a competing offer for parcel one last month.

The lease the CMPA will be looking at calls for the property company to pay $46,222 in annual rent. This is up from the originally proposed $39,700.

“We pushed’em,” Merrill said. “We were quite frankly pushing them to bid against themselves.”

The proposed lease with the Becks goes to the main CMPA board tomorrow. The meeting begins as 1:30 p.m. at Pensacola City Hall.

Also discussed during Monday’s committee meeting, was the CMPA’s deficit. Reeves noted that once the park property began generating bills from the property appraiser’s office, the “deficit will be greater than we ever imagined” with “some tax bills to pay with nobody to pay’em but the city, when you get right down to it.”

Merrill said that he had met recently with Mayor Hayward and Escambia County Property Appraiser Chris Jones. The chairman forecasted “some number south of a hundred [thousand] if they tax the whole thing.”

“We had a good meeting with Chris Jones,” Merrill said. “But he’s gonna come with something, his hands are tied as far as what can be taxed.”

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Florida House kept its own health insurance premiums staggeringly low. House members will pay just $8.34 a month for state-subsidized health care next year, or $30 a month to cover their entire family.

Ironically, Florida House Republicans last month loudly and proudly rejected billions of dollars in federal money that would have provided health insurance to 1 million poor Floridians.

Read more.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, joins Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, who pre-filed to run for the seat in November.

Read more.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This appears to confirm the buzz out of Tallahassee where the House politicos and state Democrats believe Hill will replace the late Clay Ford.

Read more.

Yesterday, District 2 Republicans started to receive in the mail a flyer from Nature Coast Conservatives bashing Hill for not living in the district and for receiving over $35,000 in campaign contributions from the insurance industry.

See: SKMBT_C22413051006220 and SKMBT_C22413051006210

Mr. Gary Huston, Treasurer
Greater Pensacola Chamber
117 West Garden Street
Pensacola, Florida 32502

The purpose of this letter is to update you on the status of our review of the gift card program administered by the Greater Pensacola Chamber (the Pensacola Chamber) during the period from August 2010 to September 2012. We have completed the first phase of the review, which included the following procedures:

 We have interviewed current and former personnel from the Pensacola Chamber, the Perdido Key Area Chamber of Commerce (the Perdido Chamber), the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce (the Beach Chamber), the Escambia County Budget Office and the Escambia County Clerk of the Court. We have not been able to interview Brian McBroom, the former Chief Financial Officer of the Pensacola Chamber but have forwarded a list of questions to him and have not received a response.

 We have reviewed documentation for purchases of gift cards by the Pensacola Chamber and have determined that a total of $518,500 cards were purchased. Our preliminary procedures indicate that gift cards totaling $103,850 were transferred to the Perdido Chamber, and the remaining $414,650 was to be distributed by the Pensacola Chamber and the Beach Chamber.

The Pensacola Chamber has substantially completed a listing of gift cards distributed by it and the Beach Chamber, and we have begun our testing to the extent possible. However, critical information is needed from American Express to fully test the supporting documentation. At this time, this important information has not been received and it is our understanding that the attorney for the Greater Pensacola Chamber is working with American Express to resolve this matter as soon as possible. However, until this critical information is provided, we cannot provide a preliminary estimate of the amount of gift cards, if any, that are not supported by proper documentation.

We will complete the review once all necessary information has been obtained and provided to us. In the meantime, we will be glad to meet with you and discuss any questions about the gift card program.

Sincerely,
David Lister, CPA Shareholder

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

“This is like a bad dream,” said Councilman Charles Bare. “It’s like I ate some really spicy food and had a bad dream about some ordinance we’re trying to put on the books.”

From the very beginning it’d been heavy. After Pastor Brian Kinsey offered up a “blessed-are-those-who-are-kind-to-the-needy,-help-to-change-our-habits,-our-actions,-our-thoughts” prayer, Barbara Mayall laid down Isaiah 10, 1-4.

“I for one, I’m a sinner and I’m saved by grace,” Mayall said. “I just wanted to read you something. It’s Isaiah 10 if you want to follow on your phone, it’s Isaiah 10, verse one through four: “Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims. Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children. What will you have to say on judgment day? Who will help you? What good will your money do you?”

It wasn’t the first time someone had delved into the Bible in a city council meeting this week. Plus, the Boy Scouts were there, taking it all in, seated just behind council, observing the 45th annual Boy Scout City Government Day.

“It’s really sad to me, as a former scout, to see this type of activity take place at a meeting,” said Bare, “where we are being so disrespectful to a certain aspect of our community, and not addressing the problem, but punishing people for circumstances that are often beyond their control.”

Mayor Ashton Hayward has handed council three proposed ordinances for consideration. The first prohibits “camping” on public property, the second prohibits activities such as washing in a public restroom, and the third prohibits urinating and defecating in public; the third also originally included the prohibition of “aggressive solicitation, begging or panhandling,” but that aspect was peeled off for later consideration.

As in the Committee of the Whole meeting earlier in the week, the overwhelming majority of public comment was opposed to the ordinances. People said the proposals were unconstitutional as well as discriminatory.

“I just want to remind everybody,” said City Administrator Bill Reynolds, “this is based on the city of Orlando’s ordinance and it has successfully withstood court challenges.”

Just before council took it’s initial vote, President P.C. Wu directed his comments to the Boy Scouts.

“I was not going to make any comments, but I will because we have a room full of Boy Scouts here,” said Wu. “I want the Boy Scouts that are watching, as well as anyone who is watching on TV, “[to know] that what’s been presented to you, that if you’re a good Christian, you won’t vote for this, and if you’re not a Christian, you’re going to take the other side. That’s not true. It’s been presented that if you vote for this you’re anti-homeless, anti-poor. And I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, Boy Scouts, that is not true.”

A few minutes later Jason King, who provides food to the homeless via his Sean’s Outpost organization, also addressed the Boy Scouts.

“Very happy that the Boy Scouts are here today, I was a Boy Scout, myself,” he said. “Being here and watching your city government is really important. I know you’re all bored. I know you guys were forced to come here as part of this and most of you are not really interested in being here and that’s cool that you guys are here anyway. But what you’re watching is really important, because what we’re talking about here is we’re talking about the right of human beings. Your fellow citizens here, that we’re discussing here. And the council president just made the comment that this is a democracy, and it is, and 18 people came to speak and 17 of them spoke against this. One person stood for it. That’s not really democracy. Okay? It’s really not. This is how your government works. I want you guys to pay attention to that, because this is actually how your government works.”

A few minutes later, the Boy Scouts left the council meeting. It was getting late, and the bulk of the agenda lay on the other side of these ordinances.

After listening to more public comment, council went on to forward the next two ordinances to a second reading. Later, they also voted to discuss forming a task force to address the issue of homelessness in July.

They also voted—on a 5-4 split—to place the fate of council’s two at-large seats on the June 11 special election ballot, but that’s another story …

“I am very pleased that ECAT is launching this new program for the youth of Pensacola,” said Mary Lou Franzoni, General Manager of ECAT. “The Student Summer Wheels pass is a great value for families and an excellent way for students to explore our city. We hope that students will take advantage of this pass and also learn about public transportation.”

Passes, just $25, are valid from May 27 until September 2 and can be purchased at the ECAT Administrative Offices located at 1515 Fairfield Drive. Any youth 17 years old or younger is eligible for the pass, and parents should bring proof of their child’s age with them to the offices. Student Summer Wheels passes provide users with unlimited rides to any ECAT destination all summer long. Passes will also be available for immediate purchase beginning May 20th at the ECAT offices each weekday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.