by Jeremy Morrison, Inweekly
With his term winding down, Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson took some time during his weekly presser Monday to reflect on his time leading Pensacola, as well as his time serving as an Escambia County Commissioner. Next week, Robinson will be sharing the presser stage with incoming mayor D.C. Reeves, so this was his final solo appearance.
“For my part, I’m mostly looking back,” Mayor Robinson said, before tearing off on a run down memory lane.
Considering his efforts during his time as mayor, Robinson said that he considered as his biggest accomplishment, creating a administrative flow chart and working to foster an employee-centric work environment.
“What we came in here to do was to change culture, really establish what was going to happen from the employee side,” the mayor said, describing the effort as a “tremendous success” and one that can be further honed. “I’m excited that that can continue to be built on even after I leave.”
Listing off other efforts of note, Mayor Robinson said the city had made considerable strides in various areas. In Parks and Recreation, a new soccer complex was developed on Langley Avenue, improvements were made to Legion Field and a new pool is currently being put in near downtown.
The mayor stressed how he felt the city’s recreational offerings were second only in importance to the public safety: “Right behind public safety, that is the reason why people want to live in the city of Pensacola.”
Where its enterprise funds are concerned — Pensacola Energy, Pensacola International Airport and the Port of Pensacola — progress has also been made, with record numbers logged at the airport and a new niche-focused vision emerging at the port.
“They have done incredibly well, all of them setting records for where they are,” the mayor said of the city’s enterprise funds.
Working to expand the boundaries of downtown’s core was also on Robinson’s list, such as the improvements being made along Jefferson Street. The goal here, the mayor explained, was to broaden urban horizons beyond Garden Street, where much of the action drops off.
“Not just think of the downtown district being south of Garden, but north of Garden, and create opportunities into the future for a whole new sort of hospitality and entertainment district,”
“Not just think of the downtown district being south of Garden, but north of Garden, and create opportunities into the future for a whole new sort of hospitality and entertainment district,” Robinson said.
While the mayor did have a list of accomplishments to reflect on, Robinson said it was the trial-by-fires that forged his tenure in office. During his time as mayor, the city traversed a worldwide pandemic, national and local discussions on police violence, the long-coming removal of the city’s Confederate monument, and a whopper of a hurricane.
I think probably the one thing that most defined us was dealing with adversity,” the mayor said. “Nothing we did in four years was really normal, all of this was done in the backdrop of facing tremendous adversity and difficulty that didn’t just challenge our region, but our nation, but really the world.”
The pandemic, in particular, acted to sideline some municipal efforts. This, Robinson noted, means there’s unfinished threads that Reeves will need to pick up and continue working on.
“There are so many things that we are leaving that we are just starting, but, you know, the reason we didn’t finish them is because we really had about two normal years and about two years that we were really dealing with the pandemic,” the mayor said.
Despite having to contend with elements such as the pandemic or other adversities, Mayor Robinson said that he tried to instill within his team a come-what-may ethos. Holding up a lemon he brought in from a tree at home, the mayor threw his staff a knowing glance.
“What does this mean staff? C’mon, answer it at one time, what does this mean?” Robinson asked.
“Make lemonade,” came the reply.
“No matter what you want this to be — a tomato — it’s not gonna be a tomato or something else, it’s going to be a lemon,” Mayor Robinson said, “but it has value, you can create value out of it, you’ve just got to do things a little bit differently, you’ve got to think a little bit differently.”