Senator Doug Broxson, Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May, Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward, Pensacola City Councilwoman Jewel Cannada-Wynn, Florida Department of Transportation officials and Gulf Power representatives will make a joint announcement detailing the plans to bring much needed safety improvements along West Cervantes Street.
When: 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 12
Where: Brownsville Community Center, 3200 W. DeSoto St.
Note: Sadly my friend Raymond Reese won’t be able to attend. For years, he fought for improvements to West Cervantes after he nearly run over a child near Attucks Court. Raymond’s ashes were released into the Gulf of Mexico this past weekend at Johnson Beach, which is named for his oldest brother. Raymond is the person who first brought the issue to me.
They finally listened, Raymond. Â
Because local elected officials even brag about being non-readers, I assume that no one in the city or county government has actually “read” the December 2016 78-page “State Road 10A (US 90) West Cervantes Street/Mobile Highway Corridor Management Plan covering From North “A” Street to Dominquez Street.” It is for sure comprehensive to the point of being terrifying. Included is a pretty resolution signed by TPO Chairman Grover Robinson that emphasizes “low cost strategies and projects.” If the stretch of road were east of Palafox Street, we can assume that “low cost” would probably not be a top consideration and there would have been a sense of urgency. The study identified 457 crashes along the 2.3 mile stretch just from 2010 to 2015 to include 4 fatalities. Money is not really the issue because the state, county and city have plenty of it. The issue is priorities and lack of a sense of urgency. Inside city limits, I bet that Mayor Hayward, Councilwoman Jewel Cannada-Wynn and city staff have devoted far more time, effort and energy to trying to spend as much public money as they can in Bayview Park as to fix the West Cervantes Street death trap. A good way to remember the names of the dead and the elected officials who worked so lethargically to do so little to make this stretch of road a nightmare would be to install markers at the site where each person was killed along the corridor. This way, future generations would know by name which elected officials were in in which elected offices but had other priorities more important than public safety. I think we can all safely say that if this stretch of road was in “white” Pensacola, the problems would have been fixed many years or even decades ago. Cannada-Wynn was first elected in 2004. How many people have died there on her watch? Could the City Council have even done a little bit more sooner if they had not voted themselves a53% pay raise in August 2016? Perhaps the City Council should cancel the Hayward Bayview Park Community Center/Event Center/Boathouse project and fully fund the renovation/reconstruction of this western gateway to the city that is both unsafe and an embarrassment to the city.
Thanks Rick for reminding me of this Raymond Reese story. It troubled him greatly that West Cervantes was so dangerous. He would be outraged that a baby died crossing that street. We should all be so moved.