- Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier explained what happened on WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” this morning.
How it got ‘wonky’
Soon after she took office, Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier faced a vote concerning whether Malcolm Yonge Gym should be declared surplus property and sold.
“When I look back at my first vote on this exact building, I think I was swayed by that kind of emotion that I just didn’t want to see this building go,” Brahier said on WCOA this morning. “And so, I have my own guilt in passing the vote in getting us to where we are in helping kick that can down the road.”
She has been looking at past agenda packets and viewing videos of meetings held before she took office in November 2020 to “get a better picture of what has landed us right where we are now.”
She found the Pensacola City Council once had $715,000 in the 2020-2021 budget to repair the gym. Brahier said, “On Sept. 9, 2020, Councilwoman Hill had made a motion to move the $715,000 to McGee Field instead of being at Malcolm Yonge. So that motion right there —had it passed at that initial time—would’ve wiped out any funds to repair Malcolm Yonge.”
The minutes show the council voted 3-3 and didn’t pass the motion. Jewel Cannada-Wynn, Jared Moore and Hill voted ‘yes,’ and John Jerralds, Sherri Myers and P.C. Wu voted no. Myers wanted the money allocated to Tippin Park, and Mayor Grover Robinson asked for more time to review the proposal.
Ann Hill and Sherri Myers signed the affidavit for a petition drive that would require a citywide referendum to overturn the council’s vote to demolish the gym. See affidavit.
Brahier said, “Then it came back a couple weeks later as a change in the actual budget. So, the $715,000 was moved fully to McGee Field, and that passed with a 7-0 on Sept. 23, 2020.”
She added, “At the time, the conversation was about where city programs existed, and in those discussions, Councilwoman Jewel Canada-Wynn had pointed out that the exodus from Malcolm Young had been a long time before, and the parks director at the time stated that I believe it was less than 10% of the usage was by the general public.”
The District 1 councilwoman noted that Mayor Robinson had wanted it to be declared as surplus property so it could be sold, and the funds could be used for affordable housing. “Then it got hijacked because they realized there was an MOU by Lighthouse Christian Academy, and that’s where things really kind of started to go wonky.”
Listen to the podcast: 2020 Council passed on Malcolm Yonge repairs
More Information
– Newspaper articles
I’ve reviewed the agenda packets, too, and watched some of the meetings. While she wanted to shift the $715,000 that would have repaired the gym, Councilwoman Hill did not want the city to get rid of the building. She shared with the council a series of articles about the gym’s history.
– Lighthouse Pitch
Hill was very interested in keeping the gym for Lighthouse Private Christian Academy because it helped at-risk youth.
– Historical Significance?
The city’s historic preservation planner, Gregg Harding, found the gym had no historical significance:
Although the Malcolm Yonge building at 925 E. Jackson Street is a historic building (built 1961), it does not appear to meet the criteria for listing in the NRHP and would not be considered historically significant.
I have no doubt that the recreational activities and services offered at the Malcolm Yonge building were important to the surrounding neighborhoods in the past. However, I was not able to identify a historically significant or unique event or series of events that took place there.
Architecturally, it is a fairly common design for the decade in which it was built, and there are several that still exist. It is an interesting fact that Ellis Bullock was the primary designer of the building and that he designed a number of important buildings in the area (the now SCI building being one of them).
However, I would not consider many of these historically significant at this time.
– Value
Appraisal from Sept. 2019: $870,000 – land $780,000; Building $90,000
Councilwoman Sherri Myers said she doubted anyone would pay $870,000, but if they did, she wanted the proceeds spent on Tippin Park.