The League of Women Voters invited the Mayors of Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Milton, Century and Jay to speak to their group a “The State of the Cities†Saturday at Tryon Library.
Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward didn’t show, but sent Assistant City Administrator Keith Wilkins in his place. Century’s Fred McCall also failed to make the meeting as he continued to deal with the destruction of 40-50 homes in Thursday’s storms that tore up the small Northern Escambia community.
Gulf Breeze Mayor Matt Dannheisser, an attorney who has represented the town of Century for 25 years, urged the crowd to call the United Way and donate to help Century recover. Dannheisser said if people mentioned his name, he would match donations up to $5,000 for the devastated town. Dannheisser said the town isn’t likely to receive any state or national aid.
Dannheisser also spoke about concerns the Pensacola bedroom community still has with the state Department of Transportation’s plans to replace the Pensacola Bay Bridge. He said the city worries about traffic jams during the five-plus year construction in their primary commercial area. He formed a regional committee that presented a list of recommendations to help traffic flow but he said DOT officials ignored the list.
“We’re very, very afraid,†Dannheisser said.
With a popular design projected on a screen, Dannheisser pointed out other concerns that included: 1) moving the boat ramp to the northwest end to offer more space to maneuver boats into Pensacola Bay and create less conflict with other cars; 2) expand Wayside Park east by using rubble from the existing bridge to reclaim more land on that side; and 3) studying a different route that bypasses downtown Gulf Breeze by cutting the route east of the Gulf Breeze hospital.
The bridge contract is scheduled to be rewarded to a firm this summer.