Today PNJ columnist Mark O’Brien writes: “Judge Lacey Collier may do fine in the court of law, but he lacks the patience and temperament to run an inexperienced, nonprofit group of volunteers…
Tag: Pensacola
PNJ article another indicator of great divide
There is a great divide between local government employees and the public they serve. Sunday’s article on the city compensation in the News Journal shows how out of sync things have gotten….
Two big meetings today
This morning at the Extension offices, the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners is meeting to discuss the 2009-10 budget. The BOCC who failed to get Sheriff Ronnie McNesby to make any…
Pension buying CMPA bonds may work
The idea (Read Outtakes) is gaining momentum. Pensacola City Council member Maren DeWeese has asked Dick Barker to bring to the council his recommendations for financing the City’s $40 million commitment on…
Beitsch reviews signed agreement
How does the developer agreement between the City and the Maritime Park Developers answer the concerns that City Manager Al Coby expressed to the Pensacola City Council? Should MPDP assume [all roles]…
Radical idea – invest in Pensacola
INVEST PENSACOLA This is a radical idea, one that really requires people thinking “outside of the box.†Why we don’t have the city pension funds invest in the Community Maritime Park by…
Dead birds on Palafox
Dead birds are dotting the sidewalk along South Palafox Street. It’s a strange, eerie sight. None have been given parking tickets…yet.
Be a part of history
There will one permanent marker of this City’s 450th Celebration – the DeLuna statue at the foot of Palafox. Fiesta of Five Flags/Celebrate Pensacola are selling engraved pavers – starting at $100…
Fabre challenges park design award
As I reported earlier, County staff is recommending that the Chimes Way Park Design project be awarded to the Hilton Head Island firm Wood+Partners. On December 11, 2008, local engineer Frank Fabre…
Oops, city pensions lost another $40M
At its committee meetings last week, City Finance Director Dick Barker told the Pensacola City Council that the city pension funds have lost about another $40M in value since Sept. 30, 2008.
Public pensions are a national issue
Bloomberg.com reports: Public pensions in the U.S. had total liabilities of $2.9 trillion as of Dec. 16, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Their total assets are about…
CMPA wins Sunshine lawsuit
Circuit Judge Frank Bell has ruled in favor of the Community Maritime Park Associates in the lawsuit filed by LeRoy Boyd and Byron Keesler that claimed the board had violated Florida Sunshine…
Nobles-Wiggins lands state post
Ryan Nobles Wiggins has been named a deputy director of communication for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. She is the daughter of former Councilman Jack Nobles, daughter-in-law of Mayor Mike Wiggins and…
Bring back idea of selling City Hall
In April 2005, the Pensacola City Council considered whether to sell City Hall or repair it. The City Council voted 9-1 -Mike Wiggins was the sole dissenting vote- to repair the building…
Others give preference to locals
The website newrules.org lists these cities that offer preference to local businesses as a means to nurture small businesses and local economies. This is not impossible to do. Local Purchasing Preferences –…
Pensacola does well in healthcare cost study
There is new study by that Dartmouth Atlas project which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine on the rising costs of healthcare. For 20 years, the project researchers have…
Buzz: Pensacola not on stimulus list
The Buzz in the business community is the City of Pensacola failed to get on the 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors report of “shovel-ready” projects. Mayors of this state submitted their projects….
BTW: DROP program cost $2 mil
As per the City of Pensacola’s CAFR: the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) cost us $1,957,764 in 2008.
Nobles: no pension panic
While researching for my Outtakes column, I ran across this quote from then-Councilman Jack Nobles from August 2005: “Let’s reward employees and be fair to them. I’m not ready to push the…
Judge Collier responds to Mack on CMP
Dear Diane: Please let me apologize for the delay in responding to your e-mail of last Sunday, but I just learned of it Tuesday afternoon from a news reporter. Monday, as you…