Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson,
I implore you to stop these recently announced stall tactics that you are a perpetrating upon the citizens of Escambia County. The latest public forums that are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week are merely attempts to try to put ” lipstick on a $25 Million Dollar pig”. Trying to resell the $25 Million Dollar elevated expressway has all the indications of a politician trying to please his special interest supporters. With 1700+ petition signers against, it has to be apparent to you and everyone concerned that you are fighting a losing battle as far as the public input is concerned. I liken your 2 additional meetings and the delayed Final Vote tactic to the same one hour “let’s wear out the public” session that SRIA Board put us through at the start of the public comments session at the Feb. 8th meeting. Case in point, your representatives on Pensacola Beach Tammy Bohannon and Jim Cox are really not representative of the majority of the citizens on Pensacola Beach. They are not qualified to represent Pensacola Beach.
First of all, Board members of the Pensacola Beach Advocates have stated that they asked Jim Cox to do a straw poll amongst their 247 members to see how they felt about the proposed Master Plan and were told NO , we do not have time and are not going to do that now. Can Jim Cox really represent the PBA under those circumstances? How many Portofino condos does he own? I know that the SRIA Board and PBA serve as a sounding board and probably more importantly, an insulating factor to you as a commissioner, but I can assure you that we are holding you accountable on this matter and we are not getting fair representation by the present make up of the SRIA Board members. If the SRIA is to stay intact as we know it, I suggest that all members be duly elected by their district voters. There has to be accountability and the present system lends itself to abuse of the power entrusted to them by their respective commissioners.
In closing, it is my understanding that at least three of your fellow commissioners are going to vote against the Pensacola Beach Master Plan in its present form. Unless our county engineering department comes up with a much more practical and economical solution to the Steering Committees’ very unpopular vision of what Pensacola Beach needs, we will fight you every step of the way along this democratic process that makes America great.
Sincerely yours,
Charlie Rotenberry
Your Constituent