by Jeremy Morrison, Inweekly
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves recently returned from a trip to Tallahassee, where he met with state legislators and officials.
“And certainly, with a new administration, to make introductions and put a face with a name with a lot of the key departments in the state of Florida was really productive — folks with DEO, FDOT and DEM, every state acronym that you can come up with,” Reeves said Tuesday during his weekly press conference at Pensacola City Hall.
In addition to introductions, the mayor also pursued agendas important to the city, such as an attempt to secure funds from Triumph Gulf Coast — the body responsible for dispensing funds stemming from environmental penalties associated with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill — for the luring of an America’s Cup sailing venture to the Port of Pensacola.
“We were there for two days and spent a lot of time speaking about our Triumph asks, like American Magic, as well as some of the DOE Sally infrastructure grant projects and our priorities that we’ll be talking about a little bit later this week,” Reeves said.
“We also did a temperature check in regards to Amtrak, and how some of our leadership and legislators felt about us pursuing that,” the mayor added. “And we left with a very positive feeling about continuing to move forward.”
City Gets Into Education
The city of Pensacola has been awarded $1.7 million by the Escambia Children’s Trust. Mayor Reeves said the city intends to use that money for after-school care purposes.
“That’ll allow us to offer some after school to our city children at no cost for families who qualify for free or reduced lunch, with the goal of ensuring equal access to low income families,” Reeves said.
Public schools with the city of Pensacola, as well as the wider Escambia County School District, have long been struggling. Former Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson, and now Mayor Reeves have both explored ways in which the city — with no official function in education — might better the area’s educational prospects.
“It falls into what we’ve talked about all along,” Reeves said of the city’s plans to use the grant to fund after-school care. “Even though we may not run the school district, you know, education is our job. And this is a perfect example of what we were talking about, that the city can do more to be an active participant in our children’s education for city of Pensacola residents. So, we’re excited about that.”
Laying the Track for Amtrak?
In addition to speaking with officials in Tallahassee about the potential for Amtrak to restore passenger rail service to Pensacola, city officials are also coordinating with regional meeting. Last week, Mayor Reeves said the city hosted a conference call on the topic.
“We had a great call on Friday, with about 30 people, from all different sectors,” Reeves said, explaining that participants ranged from regional public officials to track owners and train operators. “Really, just to say, ‘hey, guys, we’re here to help take the baton and let’s just move it another inch forward, another foot forward,’ and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Soon, Amtrak will restore service between New Orleans and Mobile. It’s a stretch that was abandoned following damage during Hurricane Katrina. Now, with the federal government committing funds for the expansion of rail service, communities east of Mobile, all the way to Jacksonville and elsewhere in Florida, are looking at having further routes restored.
Currently, the city is working towards a March 23 deadline to apply for a $500,000 Federal Railroad Administration grant. The grant would be used to assess the potential for restoring service to the area.
Mayor Reeves said that while in Tallahassee recently, he discussed the potential for restoring passenger rail service to Pensacola with officials at the Florida Department of Transportation, just to make sure the agency couldn’t provide any information that would sink the effort.
“Any blind spots, anything we should be concerned about?” Reeves explained. “What is the temperature of, you know, our state government, in terms of know that at some point there will be some kind of subsidy that will have to take place, even though the federal government is doing a significant portion of that. And it would seem to be all positive.”
This isn’t the first time local and regional officials have looked at the possibility of restoring passenger rail service to routes long abandoned. But this time is different. Now, stressed Reeves, money is being put on the table.
“If we get to a point where it doesn’t make sense for the city of Pensacola, then that’s ok,” the mayor said, “but this is the time to look at it now, with all of this federal money coming down and the federal government looking to expand service, really, significantly, on their dime.”