Last week, WEAR-TV’s Sue Straughn invited me to discuss my new book, “Right Idea, Right Time: The Fight for Pensacola’s Maritime Park.”
Today, it’s hard to imagine Pensacola without the Maritime Park and Blue Wahoos Stadium on Pensacola Bay. But 20 years ago, this landmark destination was at the center of one of Pensacola’s most contentious political battles.
When Vision Met Resistance
In the mid-2000s, Pensacola was still reeling from Hurricane Ivan. The community faced tough choices. The failed Trillium Plan referendum in 2003 had left residents skeptical of ambitious development projects.
- Enter two unlikely champions: Quint Studer and Mort O’Sullivan. Studer, though successful as Baptist Hospital’s president and founder of Studer Group, remained largely unknown to the broader community. He preferred working behind the scenes rather than joining civic organizations or social clubs. Sullivan, by contrast, was the trusted voice residents turned to for honest assessments of public projects.
The “Save Our City” coalition, which had successfully defeated the earlier Trillium proposal, mobilized against the Maritime Park. In an era before Facebook and social media dominance, political battles were waged through letters to the editor and AM radio shows like “Pensacola Speaks.”
Without social media’s instant connectivity in 2006, grassroots organizing required flooding traditional outlets with opinion pieces and orchestrating radio call-in campaigns. Public discourse moved at a more deliberate pace, allowing for deeper community conversations about complex issues.
Legacy of the Fight
The Maritime Park’s transformation from a controversial proposal to “signature event of the last 50 years” offers lessons about vision, persistence, and community building. As Pensacola continues developing the park’s remaining parcels, the book reminds us that today’s treasured spaces often emerge from yesterday’s heated debates.
You can watch the Dayside interview here.
SUE STRAUGHN
In 2021, the WEAR-TV anchor topped the Inweekly Power List.
Why?
For over four decades, Sue Straughn has been more than just a familiar face on WEAR-TV—she’s been a trusted voice and community champion in Florida’s western panhandle.
Straughn never planned to work in television. Originally aspiring to be a social worker, she started at the station in 1973 as a typist, making 96 words per minute. What began as a temporary job became a calling when she realized she could “do social work on a broader scale” through journalism.
Her breakthrough came when she created “Dimensions,” a program highlighting local nonprofits. Despite being “young and dumb” by her own admission, the show’s success led to her eventual role as news anchor—a position she initially declined out of fear.
As one of the few Black women in newsrooms during the 1970s, Straughn broke barriers while staying focused on positive, community-centered stories. Her crowning achievement is Communities Caring at Christmas, launched in 1979, which has helped countless vulnerable children during the holidays.
Despite her influence, Straughn remains remarkably humble: “I don’t have any power. The people are the power.” It’s precisely this authenticity that has made her irreplaceable to her community.