Since May, the City of Pensacola has worked on building a huge stormwater pond on West Government Street, two blocks from City Hall next to the closed Corrine Jones Park. Residents have complained to Inweekly, city officials and County Commissioner Lumon May about the dump trucks driving through their neighborhoods on weekends, the diesel pumps loudly running 24 hours a day, and the lack of fencing around the huge holes being dug.
The stormwater pond is being built in a historic African-American neighborhood, The Tanyard. Dr. Gloria Horning, who helped organized the Wedgewood effort against the Rolling Hills dump, lives in the neighborhood.
She wrote Inweekly, “There are so many regulations being ignored – humm.. black neighborhood again?”
Horning is concerned that children in the neighbor might fall into the holes and possibly drown.
Mayor Ashton Hayward, City Administrator Eric Olson, and Pensacola City Council may be seeing Horning and her neighbors soon at a council meeting. I would suggest Constituent Services go door-to-door and talk with the residents. Public works should check to see if the contractor is following state regulations.
Of course, the mayor hosting a town hall meeting at City Hall with his staff present would also be helpful.
Bill, agreed! The specific homes that were referred too on this Sunday morning are owned by people of color. The community is rich with diversity but the homes that are being directly impacted the most right now. The dust hits their homes first, the water build-up surrounds their homes first, the overgrowth that is now the homes of rats, snakes, etc are across from their homes.
The project is great — but the folks that are in the direct line of the stench, dirt and dust should be afforded all the protection that is mandated by regulations. We shouldn’t have to file complaint after complaint — the contractors, the city, the county, code enforcement, the department of environmental enforcement should do their jobs!
As you stated — this environmental issue is facing all of us.
Tks —
Bill,
It shouldn’t be an “either/or” issue. The pond is needed, but the neighborhood shouldn’t have to suffer. The city should require the same safety and operations standards as any other project. City officials should have addressed the concerns of the citizens before the work began.
Good Government 101
-Rick
Our office is right around the corner from here and we have a large mix of residents, not just black! My friends on “A” street have also complained about the noise of the pumps running all night. If the work area is not fenced properly then call and complain. This storm water project is badly needed and this whole area of town has contaminated soils that should have been dealt with long ago. The worse area is where the old creosote plant was and I know of two young men who died of throat cancer and both were white kids that they grew up in this area.
It’s time that I come over there and take a look. If anyone wants to speak with me about their concerns, please contact me at laurie@emeraldcoastkeeper.org.
Just NOW learned that all of that contaminated dirt from the site is being dumped in the Shortleaf Borrow Pit in Wedgewood communities — more of the same. The Shortleaf site is not lined. So, drink up Escambia residents the water is fine…. Oh, for those of you building a house and need dirt for your foundation or yard — have it tested or you house and neighborhood could be the next Love Canal.