On WCOA this morning, Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson said he would try to get the Downtown Improvement Board officers and homeless advocate Mike Kimbrel to the negotiation table to discuss the homeless issue and the charges the DIB has filed against Kimbrel for allegedly cutting a lock on a port-a-potty near Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza on North Palafox Street.
However, he wasn’t optimistic about the discussion, saying that he has tried to get Food Not Bombs to move its weekly food distribution from MLK Plaza to Pensacola City Hall.
The mayor said, “I’ve met multiple times with Mike and said, ‘Why don’t you move this? And if you move it to down to City Hall, we put in some benches…I’d put in a restroom.’ We do whatever we need to create less conflict. That’s not what Michael wanted. He’s had that opportunity. I mean, that’s been there, standing offer.”
I pressed Mayor Robinson to try and bring both sides to the table. Last week, a meeting scheduled between the DIB officers and Kimbrel and his attorney fell apart with the attorney got delayed in court.
“Well, I’ll be happy to do it,” said Robinson. “I’ve done it multiple times–so, always trying to figure out those solutions, and I’ll reach out to Walker and I’ll reach out and see what I can do to help them get to that point.”
He continued, “But I mean, at the same time, once they get to the table, somebody’s got to be willing to work. It can’t just be one side working.”
