The Pensacola Young Professionals is hosting on Tuesday, Jan. 14 a forum to get an update from Mayor Ashton Hayward on his implementation of the final report from his Urban Redevelopment Advisory Committee. The report was published in November 2012.
A year ago, PYP held a forum on The Fish House Deck at the request of URAC chairman and PYP board member Brian Hooper. Those members in attendance voted on the three recommendations that they favored the most.
Mayor Hayward has come under fire for not doing much with the URAC report. When asked at his last “Mornings with the Mayor” session, he gave few details on what he had done with the report. He admitted that the city could only work on the recommendations as funds became available.
The mayor said, “It does come down to dollars. The URAC committee–Brian Hooper did a great job chairing that. We have to make sure that we can pull off those goals–if it’s one at time, two at time. With the money we get, we can put into realization some of the things out of the URAC committee, but it definitely comes down to dollars.â€
Last spring, Hooper was told by the city administrator that the city simply didn’t have the funds to do much with the report. The bollards have been installed on Palafox, thanks to the Escambia County Commission contributing $50,000.
The PYP’s top three URAC recommendation in 2013 were:
1) Increase Pensacola’s cultural heritage tourism,
2) Support the initiative for an infill housing program that will create more affordable housing in the downtown area, and
3) Help the City simplify the Land Development Code (LDC) and create a “one-stop shop†for investors and developers.
Most recently the URAC members have been meeting privately to figure out how to get the mayor interested in their report. They have tried to put together a timeline to prioritize the recommendations sequentially. In December, City Administrator Colleen Castille asked to be briefed on the URAC report and wanted the members to give her their top recommendations. A few days later, several PYP members held a fundraiser for Hayward’s re-election campaign.
Now the 2012 URAC report has resurfaced and is getting attention. With The Fish House and Collier Merrill no longer in favor with Hayward and since several PYP members work for the city of Pensacola, PYP has shifted its forum to Artel Gallery. It wasn’t that long ago that PYP was honoring Merrill for his support of the organization and service to the community. When the Independent News was helping PYP get off the ground in 2006, we held monthly gatherings to recruit members on The Fish House Deck.
In the invitation sent out to its membership, PYP leaders gave some details on the agenda for the meeting:
- Mayor Hayward will attend and speak on the report.
- Jerry Maygarden and Dr. Brendan Kelly of the UWF Historic Trust will then speak developing cultural heritage tourism.
- Mayor Hayward and Alan Gray will speak on in-fill housing prospects for downtown, as well as a new one-stop-shop for investors.
- John Myslak, an original URAC member, will speak on the topic of Land Development Code simplification.
PYP URAC REVISITED FORUM
TUESDAY, JAN. 14, 5:30 pm to 7 pm
ARTEL GALLERY, 223 Palafox Place