Citizens wanting to keep the Malcolm Yonge Gym aren’t going away without a fight. Jonathan Green has filed a motion asking for an emergency temporary restraining order against the City of Pensacola to allow the Committee to Save Malcolm Yonge Community Center 60 days to collect petition signatures for a citywide referendum.
The court document doesn’t contain the referendum’s wording, but the intent is to block the demolition of the old gym that the Pensacola City Council approved last week by a 6-1 vote.
Green, who ran for Pensacola mayor in 2018, and Teresa Hill will appear on WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” today at 7 a.m. to discuss the Committee to Save Malcolm Yonge Community Center and its effort.
- I spoke with Mayor D.C. Reeves late Thursday afternoon. He will have a response later today after the new City Attorney Adam Cobb has time to review the filing.
How Petition Works: The City Charter lays out the process to get a referendum on the ballot.
Section 7.03: Within 60 days following the effective date of a measure passed by the City Council, City electors shall have the power to require reconsideration by the City Council of any measure passed by the City Council.
- If the City Council fails to repeal a measure so reconsidered, the electors have the power to approve or reject the reconsidered measure at a City election.
- The electors are not empowered to reconsider measures that extend to providing an annual budget, levying taxes, or setting salaries of City officers or employees.
Section 7.04: Any 10 electors may commence initiative or referendum proceedings by filing with the City Clerk an affidavit stating that they will constitute the petitioners’ committee and be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form.
The affidavit shall further provide their names and addresses, specify the mailing address for notices to be sent to the committee, and fully set forth the proposed initiative or identify the measure sought to be reconsidered.
Promptly after the petitioners’ committee’s affidavit is filed, the City Clerk, at the committee’s request, shall issue the appropriate petition forms to the committee at the committee’s expense.
Section 7.05: Number and Signatures: Initiative and referendum petitions must be signed by City electors equal to at least ten percent (10%) of the total number of registered electors in the City, as shown by the compilation by the Supervisor of Elections for the most recent general election of the City Council.
All initiative and referendum petitions must be filed with the City Clerk within 60 days of the commencement date of the initiative or referendum proceedings. The City Clerk shall submit the petitions to the Supervisor of Elections within three business days of receipt of the petitions.
How Many Signatures Needed: I will ask Election Supervisor Robert Bender for the city’s total registered voters in November 2022. As of Feb. 1, 2024, the city has 37,950.
No referendum petition has succeeded under the new charter passed in 2009. Under the old charter, such efforts required 15% of the registered voters.
- A petition drive to overturn a council vote that would have built an auditorium and festival park where the Maritime Park sits today gathered 5.650 signatures – topping the 15% (5,500) needed – in 2003 to force a vote. The voters reversed the council decision.
- In 2006, Save Our City collected enough signatures to force a referendum on the Community Maritime Park. The group got 9,136 signatures, but the referendum failed.
