The February 17, 2000 issue of the Independent was devoted to the additional penny being added to the bed tax – the tax added on condo rentals and hotel rates – and…
Tag: SRIA
SRIA considers parking garage
Back in 2000, Escambia County passed an additional 1-cent bed tax for a soccer complex and Pensacola Beach convention center with a parking garage. The county commissioners figured a way out of…
SRIA will decide what’s a hotel
SRIA chairman Vernon Prather is drafting an ordinance to define what is a hotel room. The broad will discuss and vote on it at its May 8th meeting. What’s at stake: Pensacola…
SRIA pays for drowning
In 2001, the Santa Rosa Island Authority resisted pressure to increase lifeguard protection on Pensacola Beach. Less than a half mile of Pensacola Beach’s 8.5 miles of shoreline was guarded that year…
MOBy misses the point
PNJ columnist Mark O’Brien (MOBy) misses the point on the county commission’s debate over hotels vs. condos on Pensacola Beach in his column today (Less government,’ some say, until meddling suits their…
New Poster for SRIA
It just needs the right caption
Who really owns the sand on the beach?
 SRIA GM Buck Lee wants leaseholders to return the sand that’s blown on their property to the SRIA – SRIA takes up coarse issue. This brings up some interesting questions: If…
RB Buzz: Lee wants county job
There are consistent rumblings from Pensacola Beach that Santa Rosa Island Authority Buck Lee has been lobbying Escambia County Commissioners to abolish the SRIA and his job. Lee believes that he would…
PNJ advocates shutting down SRIA
The new editorial board of the PNJ has come out swinging. First, they ask the city council to delay any referendum on the expansion on the DIB. Today, they’re for Abolishing Island…
As predicted – County Commission wants to dissolve SRIA
Over the summer, we had heard the Escambia County Administrator George Touart was pressuring County Atty. Janet Lander to write a legal opinion that the county commission could abolish the Santa Rosa…