The City of Pensacola ARB voted 5-1 to allow Bodacious Brew Thru to have an Early Learning play area. This fits the Studers’ goal for making Pensacola “America’s First Early Learning City.”
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Next month, the new Bodacious Brew Thru will open, bringing a drive-thru and walk-up coffee and smoothie establishment to downtown. The Bodacious Brew Thru will also the have an early childhood learning outdoor kid’s play and educational area.
“Age 0-3 is such an important time in a child’s development and we are trying get the Pensacola Metro area more involved in early learning,†says Quint Studer. “We are excited that Pensacola is attempting to be America’s First Early Learning City and to build this play area and take the initiative another step forward.â€
The play area includes:
- Sensory Garden to learn different textures
- Natural Grassy Play Areas for all around fun
- Log Course with numbers to help through the course
- Alphabet Tree Stumps featuring different colors and each letter of the alphabet
- Grass Maze to stimulate mental development
- Tree Cookies and Creative Play for building imagination
- Chalk and Sidewalk Art Station to let the little creative juices flow
In 2015, the Studer Community Institute developed reports on graduation rates in the two-county area, and the factors that go along with what causes low rates. The result of the reports? Not enough focus on early childhood learning during ages 0-3 that can paint the picture for the rest of a child’s academic career.
Earlier this year, SCI held the Be The Bulb Challenge, challenging the community to put on their thinking caps and come up with the best ideas to promote kindergarten readiness in Escambia County.
“The key pieces of an Early Learning City are health care, public schools, community resources, architecture and the environment, and the media. Each segment can have a hand in building a culture of lifelong learning that supports early brain development, parent engagement and school readiness,†says Studer. “We are now onto the architectural and environmental aspect of it all with this play area at the Bodacious Brew Thru, but we still have a long way to go.â€
A lot of time and research went into making the play area the perfect early learning piece. Miller Caldwell III with Caldwell Associates, along with Rishy Studer, designed the play area, taking every aspect into account and efficiently utilizing all the outdoor space available.
“We wanted to build in natural learning elements into the city,†says Caldwell. “Kid’s learn by engaging all their natural senses and this landscape is centered around the 0-3 aged child to have those learning experiences with their parents.â€
On Thursday, the Bodacious Brew Thru early learning play area, along with parking for the business, went in front of the Architectural Review Board for approval. The Board approved with a 5-1 vote.
The article stated, “On Thursday, the Bodacious Brew Thru early learning play area, along with parking for the business, went in front of the Architectural Review Board for approval. The Board approved with a 5-1 vote.†Unfortunately, the Architectural Review Board granted the request of a business that is not registered with the State of Florida. This is the information on the Official State Site, sunbiz.org. Entity Name List
Corporate Name Document Number Status
BODACIOUS BODIES T12224 INACT
BODACIOUS BUNS, INC. K16473 INACT
Bodacious Brew Thru should be between these two listings if registered but it appears that this business if not registered in Florida. The Bodacious Olive, LLC is registered to Mary P. Studer.
I have repeatedly reported that many members of the Advisory Boards are not legal because they have a conflict of interest. This is according to Florida Statute 112 PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES: GENERAL PROVISIONS
112.313 Standards of conduct for public officers, employees of agencies, and local government attorneys.—
(1) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the term “public officer†includes any person elected or appointed to hold office in any agency, including any person serving on an advisory body.
7) CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP.—
(a) No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he or she is an officer or employee … Individuals (or their employers) who have contracts with the City are not allowed to be Members of Advisory Boards since that would be a conflict of interest (see paragraph above regarding contractual relationship).
The current members of the Architectural Review Board are listed online as: Ben Townes, Chair, Carter Quina, Vice-Chair, Nina Campbell, Michael Crawford, C. Ray Jones, George ‘Eric’ Mead, and Susan Campbell Hatler. There are seven members of the Architectural Review Board and none should do business with the City but three do business with the City. Ben Townes, Chair – contracts with the city including the new library and new construction of Fire Station #3 (2016); Carter Quina, Vice-Chair – contracts for Master Planning for Bayview Park, Master Plan for Roger Scott Athletic Complex and Exchange Park, Master Plan for Tippin Park; Michael Crawford – granted money from City to Long Hollow Neighborhood Association, Inc. where he is a member.
The Pensacola City Council refuses to obey Florida Law, Florida Statute 112, and continues to appoint illegal members. These advisory boards appear to be unable to make legal decisions since they have illegal members but City Council members and City Officials send decision requests to these Boards and accept the decisions as legal. I have repeatedly asked Pensacola City Council members and Pensacola City Officials to stop these illegal actions which are violations of Florida State Law but they refuse to stop. This appears to be part of the massive corruption which is harming our City and the people in it.