Barbara Albrecht, the president of the Bream Fishermen Association, is upset with the bureaucratic nightmare at Pensacola City Hall. Her group, which supports, develops, and implements programs which promote the conservation and recreational benefits of fishing, hunting, camping, and related outdoor activities, has being trying to get the city to repair the historic building located at 17th Avenue and East Belmont Street at Miraflores Park.
Albrecht had been told that monies had been set aside in 2010 out of the Pennies for Progress budget to upgrade the bathrooms to make them handicap accessible and to improve outdoor lighting. She was recently dismayed to learn that the monies instead were spent last fall for new furniture for Mayor Ashton Hayward’s office and other improvements to the seventh floor at city hall-reportedly $60,000. The repairs and improvements that BFA and other groups had requested for the building totaled $55,000 (see below).
Early last month in an email to the Pensacola City Council, Albrecht went through the history of her group’s efforts to repair and renovate the building that was built in 1934:
In 2010, we (BFA Board) were notified that Pennies for Progress $$ would be available to upgrade and maintain several areas w/in the bldg. The BFA notified all the user groups to gain their input in the process. We were delighted. The list we developed came to an estimated $55K to complete the work.
By 2011 the city was in a reorganization model. In early 2012 we were picking up rumors that Dave Flaherty (new Parks & Rec Director, now called Neighborhood Services) was considering tearing the bldg down because no one was using it.
By May 2012 we were busy moving out of the Bldg and shortly before Aug 2012 we moved back in. Few of the items we had identified had been completed. Everyone was disappointed. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect was that C. Morgan was re-assigned and told not to be a part of the oversight of the work. The City chose a vendor that provided very poor quality and the individuals who had oversight really had no interest – as was clear by their actions or in this case in-actions.
I won’t bore you with my monthly attendance and requests, including pleading with the Parks & Rec Committee, to have raised toilets and grab bars installed in these bathrooms from Sept 2012 thru April 2013 – because even the organization of that committee could not follow their own rules for bringing requests up to City Council.
So let’s fast forward to Tues, 28 May 2013. Brian Cooper & I met at the Bldg to discuss the $5K Councilman Johnson had appropriated for this issue from his discretionary funds. I was informed that Atkins conducted an accessibility review of the bldg and found it required handicapped accessibility parking and a sidewalk. The total amount remaining for the raised toilets, grab bars, and repair of the light above the front door…and door handles for universally challenged individuals is $3,200.
Tomorrow night the group meets. The doors, lights and bathrooms still have not been fixed.
Monday morning, Brian Cooper, the new head of Neighborhood Services, told Albrecht, “Charlie (Morgan) is planning to begin this week.”
She promptly contacted Morgan, who is in the city’s Public Works department : “Charlie, would you please place a priority on the light above the front door…I don’t want anyone to trip on that last short step.”
Morgan replied this morning: “I have not been given the go ahead to do anything at the Scout Building. This is a beauracratic (sic) nightmare. What a mess.”
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The question we have repeatedly heard since the first of the year is how does an average citizen get anything done in the city of Pensacola. This incident isn’t isolated. The BFA has tried to work with two department heads, the city council and the city’s Parks & Rec committee. Three years later, the building still hasn’t been repaired.
The daily newspaper’s editorial board wrote on Sunday, “Leadership is more than handing out awards to one another, cutting ribbons and announcing new jobs.”
I agree.
Leadership is taking care of the basic needs of city residents and making the day-to-day operations of the city a priority. We are in Year 4 of the new city charter and city operations don’t appear to be running smoothly. The BFA’s problems provide the proof.