Mayor Reeves confirmed that the victim of the early Sunday morning shooting on Palafox Street was a transient but had few other details. Police Chief Eric Randall said investigators looking into where the alleged shooter got his handgun.
He said the new recycling drop-off site accepted over 1,100 pounds of recyclables on its first Saturday. City Sanitation will continue the service every Saturday. The mayor continues to work on long-term solutions to bring back curbside recycling.
Reeves said, “I don’t want it to be confused that this is our only solution, long-term for how we handle recycling in the City of Pensacola, but that’s a great first start: 620 pounds of cardboard, 185 pounds of PET one plastic, 186 of number two plastic, 80 pounds of aluminum cans and 82 pounds steel cans over 11 pounds.”
The mayor further explained the City’s two grant requests ($6.4 million total) to enhance the SUN Trail from the Chappie James Bridge to Bayou Chico. He is encouraged that the Florida Department of Transportation has helped with the design for the Bayfront Parkway portion of the trail.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback and support from FDOT, and they’re helping us with design and some other things like that,” said Reeves. “That’s usually a good indicator that there’s support for the project.”
The City also has submitted a grant proposal to build a separate facility on the Fricker Center property. The $4 million would be in addition to the $5.5 million of the Hurricane Sally funds the city has received.
“The building would be a dedicated senior center with health education and outreach, a career education, cyber lounge, and friendly upgrades, like the playground, along with an enhanced resource library,” said Reeves.
The mayor said CareerSource is interested in offering services at the senior center, and he has reached out to Baptist about housing their faith-based services in the building.
I did ask Mayor Reeves about the homeless situation and if the city and county are making any progress. He believes the rise in panhandling in the city isn’t good for the community.
“I don’t care if you’re the biggest advocate for the homeless or the biggest adversary to the homeless, what we all agree on is panhandling isn’t good for a community,” he said, adding panhandling needs to be separated from the homeless issue. “We need to have a conversation as a community about what’s the best way to help the people who really need help and the people who want help.”
He is looking at ordinances similar to what the county is considering to improve public safety at intersections. The mayor is also doing research on low-barrier shelters, but he wants to be sure that it’s financially sustainable.
Reeves used the name “opportunity centers” to signify that the facility would offer services other than just housing. Whatever solution is developed needs to be done in conjunction with the county.
