Mayor D.C. Reeves covered several topics on WCOA and at his weekly presser. Here are the podcast from my show and notes from the presser.
Club Climax: After last week’s shooting, Mayor Reeves and police officials have met with the owners. Yesterday, PDD conducted an onsite CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) and will issue a report to the club owners with recommendations to improve security and discourage criminal activity.
“The best path forward for us right now is that we all take this very seriously,” said the mayor. “And as I said to owners at end the meeting, I don’t want to meet again like this,this is it. So, I think everybody agrees with that , and we hope that this will be the last meeting about this issue.”
Admiral Mason Park: The PNJ reported this morning that the Veterans Memorial Park Foundation is proposing taking over the adjacent city park. The mayor said, “We’ve had no conversation of substance, at least with this administration, about that at all. That was as big a surprise to me as anyone else.”
Truth for Youth Building: At his presser, Mayor Reeves announced that city staff had check the clerk of courts’ website and found the lien on the Belmont-Devilliers property had been removed. Rev. John Powell did receive the funding to avoid a foreclosure auction tomorrow.
The City has everything they need already in their Municipal Ordinances to bring peace and safety back to the nearby community IF they choose to enforce existing laws. It is an illegal adult entertainment operation. Club Climax advertisements indicate that they have Police officers (off-duty I’m sure) working all of these exotic dancer events as Security. The City can gather data from these officers and prosecute the owner for running an illegal adult entertainment venue within the City limits. Once convicted, the owner would lose their liquor license with the State of Florida.
Here’s all you need to see to understand – https://www.facebook.com/ClubClimax850/
Please publish a copy of the CPTED report here so we can all see what the Reeves Administration intends to do, or not do. By the way, Club Climax is a fictitious name. Its owner lives in Bellview. The parent corporation is based out of her home. I can think of a half-dozen short-term and long-term ways to solve this and similar chronic problems but the two easiest actions today would be to do what Pensacola City Hall so often refuses to do – enforce the existing city laws in the Code of Ordinances. Just based on a quick review of the city code related to alcohol and adult entertainment establishments, and looking at various documents related to Club Climax posted to online state databases, and looking at Google Maps, Club Climax that began operations in 2021 may be in violation of at least two city laws. How did it even get a city “certificate of compliance” in 2021?