The Pensacola City Council and city staff are still upset over the City losing Avalex and Appriver to the City of Gulf Breeze. No, let me clarify. They are upset that they are being blamed. The truth is the City of Pensacola doesn’t adapt well to businesses. There is no one with an attitude of “how can we make this work”…..unless it was an enterprise operation under former asst. City Manager Robert Payne.
Gulf Breeze got Avalex because of that city staff’s “can do” attitude. City Manager Buzz Eddy and the Gulf Breeze City Council got all the necessary players together – FDOT, Team Santa Rosa, CRA, etc – and figured out how to do it. No one on the Pensacola City Council paid attention. No one on City staff cared.
To find the problems with economic development, the Pensacola city government needs to look in a mirror. Heck, the Pensacola City Council approved a plan for mixed use at the Port of Pensacola years ago. Yet staff has not done anything about it – except bring more industrial leases to the council.