The City of Pensacola invites the public to a dedication ceremony for the Ronald Townsend Tennis Court at Armstrong Park on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. The tennis court was renamed for former City Councilman Ronald Townsend, who served as the District 7 City Council member for more than 10 years.
The dedication will take place at the tennis court at Armstrong Park, located at 300 W. Lakeview Ave. Mayor Grover Robinson, former Councilman Townsend and other city representatives will be in attendance.
During his time on City Council, Townsend was a passionate advocate and worked diligently for his constituents. He was instrumental in having the tennis court at Armstrong Park built to provide the youth in the community a place to play tennis. He had a passion for the Pensacola community and specifically providing recreational and sport activities for local youth.
I still remember the meeting where Councilman Townsend said that he wanted a tennis court named in his honor. One saving grace is that the city has not yet privatized the tennis courts in Armstrong Park so the public can play there for free. The city has 39 tennis courts with 34 in white neighborhoods – 28 at the Roger Scott Tennis Center (privatized and run for-profit as a private tennis club) and 6 public courts at Bayview Park. In the black part of the city there are the two tennis courts at Armstrong Park and three at Hunter T. Williams Park. That’s it. In 2015, the council gave tentative support to Mayor Hayward’s request to rehabilitate the asphalt tennis courts at the Roger Scott Tennis Center. In 2016, it gave formal approval with the cost up a bit but still reasonable at $1.2 million. In 2017, the council approved money for the project’s design. In 2018, the council approved money to rehabilitate the courts. Mayor Robinson was elected and took office a months later. He then refused to execute the project. At one point, he came up with his own tennis center project without telling the council. I saw the design plans at the tennis center on display. I happened to be watching a BOCC meeting and heard Robinson ask for $1.3 million in county dollars for a much more grandiose tennis center makeover costing $2.2 million and unknown to the council. I told Councilwoman Myers. She went to the next meeting, they wouldn’t listen to her and Robinson said that she was a liar…because she was telling a truth he didn’t want told. When the real story is told, Robinson will be found to be even more secretive than Hayward who at least was a nice person. When Robinson’s e-mails are made public, people will see the real him. I wrote the BOCC telling them that Robinson was working counter to the plan approved by the council but they didn’t care. Commissioner Berry made clear that his support for the $1.3 million was contingent on Robinson pulling a string to get his daughter into a tennis camp. Robinson said he would and I presume he did. That’s how local government works with politicians and real estate developers too trading favors. In my letter to the BOCC, I suggested that there was a more pressing need for a tennis center on the west side of the city. I suggested it be named for Townsend. I wrote a similar letter to the council. Townsend was bought off too easily with only two crummy tennis courts. He should have “demanded” that the council build recreational facilities on the west side of the city to include a tennis center like on the east side in the white neighborhoods. In August, the News Journal reported that “Robinson’s” tennis center plan would cost “between $4.5 million and $4.7 million.”