This letter to elected officials is similar to the one Bill Young published before. He blames Rodney Rowe who says has disappeared. However, this time Young says that he has “legal concerns” with Rowe—I’ve sent him a request for clarification of what those may be. To date, Young hasn’t released any financial information of his non-profit corporation or his list of contributors.
Rowe, according to Young, has many of the written petitions and misrepresented the total of electronic signatures. However, Young doesn’t tell us how many signatures his group has in its possession now, although he claims “over 99% of the thousands of citizens that participated in our survey said they believe an aquarium will have a positive effect on our economy.”
We have no proof that he has $50,000 in the bank to pay for the feasibility study.
He also blames his lack of due diligence because he had to “organize on the fly.” The proposed demolition has been first of 2011 for over two years.
It’s time Young be completely transparent: Show us the petition signatures, the corporation’s financial statements and its pledges for the feasibility study. Until then, quit wasting the community’s time.
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The Honorable Marco Rubio
United States Senate 1 N. Palafox Street Suite 159 Pensacola, FL 32502
Aquarium for Pensacola
1812 E. DeSoto Street â— Pensacola, Florida 32501
February 2, 2011
Dear Senator Rubio:
Thank you for your work in improving the economy and quality of life for the citizens of Escambia County. As President of Aquarium for Pensacola (not-for-profit), I represent thousands of Escambia County citizens that have expressed interest and support of conversion of Pensacola’s downtown wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to a world-class aquarium and marine research center. Aquarium for Pensacola has in a true sense become trustee of the will of the citizens of Escambia County and their desire for such facility.
I am aware that my words to public bodies have created problems for all of us. I would like to apologize for my lack of due diligence in verifying that we had a letter or spoken support from you when we didn’t. Such misrepresentation was brought to my attention by Jamie Page, an investigative reporter for the Pensacola News Journal who reported the outcome of the crucial meeting we had January 19, 2011 with the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA), the owner of the WWTP. We went before ECUA’s board to ask them for a delay in the plant’s demolition that would allow us time to conduct a feasibility study for the project.
Mr. Rodney Rowe, our former board secretary, told me he had either spoken to you or received a letter of support from you and allowed me to publicly state that we had such support from you when we didn’t. Prior to the meeting, Mr. Rowe even verified my prepared statement stating that we had such support. Mr. Rowe was supposed to present documentation of your support along with that of other elected officials following my public statement, but failed to show up at the meeting. I accept responsibility for not verifying the support and again apologize for my lack of due diligence and thus passing misinformation forward.
Mr. Rowe was also responsible for reporting to me the number of electronic signatures we had obtained on our website at http://goaquariumpensacola.org/. He also misrepresented the number of electronic signatures and allowed me to publicly state an erroneous figure. Furthermore, we are missing a large portion of our written signatures that were in Mr. Rowe’s possession. We have not been able to locate or contact Mr. Rowe since the day of that crucial meeting to ask him about the missing signatures. We have spoken with authorities and they are assisting us in locating him because of legal concerns.
I met Mr. Rowe back in October when he called me from the Republican campaign booth at the Pensacola Interstate Fair, which he was manning. He spoke very passionately in support of our proposal. He said he had spoken to political candidates and they were supportive of our proposal. He told me he was the campaign manager (Escambia County) for governor candidate Rick Scott and introduced me to him upon arriving at the Fair on his campaign tour bus. He also told me he was a lobbyist. Since the revelation by Mr. Page of misrepresentation of support, we have found that Mr. Rowe misrepresented his credentials as well.
When I met Mr. Rowe I saw him as someone with political clout and connections that could help move our proposal forward and trusted him. Mr. Rowe’s misrepresentation and my lack of due diligence have damaged our effort and may likely cost the citizens of Escambia County this great economic opportunity. We have removed Mr. Rowe from our board.
Aquarium for Pensacola from its humble beginnings in July has faced considerable odds from that of overcoming the stigma of converting a WWTP to an aquarium and winning huge public support and raising 50K for the feasibility study. With completion of the new WWTP ahead of schedule, the timeline for our grassroots effort to delay the demolition and conduct a feasibility study became truncated. We had to organize on the fly and under great pressure and lacking experience in this kind of endeavor made a mistake. But, the will of the citizens of Escambia County and the good merits of this proposal should not be discredited by such mistake and the bad publicity it caused. As I have publicly stated, “shoot the messenger, not the idea.â€
The aquarium and marine research center will draw tourists and serve as an anchor for economic development of downtown Pensacola like the Tennessee Aquarium has for Chattanooga. According to a study by Economic Research Associates, the Tennessee Aquarium is credited for creating over 100 new businesses within a few blocks of it, 1600 jobs and putting $132 million in direct and direct spending into the local economy within the first year of opening. There are many examples where aquariums have had a huge economic impact on their local economy, including the Maritime Aquarium, Norwalk, Connecticut, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, Oregon and others. Over 99% of the thousands of citizens that participated in our survey said they believe an aquarium will have a positive effect on our economy.
The nearest aquariums of the caliber we are proposing are in New Orleans, Atlanta, Orlando, and Tampa, thus making a Pensacola aquarium a regional aquarium. The marine research center will serve a consortium of landlocked colleges and universities across the country. The many students using the research center to conduct research will likely stay in housing located in downtown Pensacola.
We are not proposing City or County funding or earmarks for this project, but will seek funding from appropriations, grants, private investment and funding from corporations. The value of the plant’s tanks, other infrastructure and the property can be used as an investment match to leverage $ millions in grant money.
Again, I apologize for my lack of due diligence in not verifying your support. I am asking that you reconsider your position and provide us with a letter of support to help secure funding, or at least conceptual support.
Sincerely,
Bill Young
President
Aquarium for Pensacola