Pensacola Independent News

COVER STORY | Vol. 5, No. 20, May 19, 2005
(Ballsy Plan 2)
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Ballsy Plan 2

Exactly one year ago, the Independent News unleashed its "Ballsy New Vision For Downtown P-Town."

It's to Pensacola what the Declaration of Independence is to the United States.

No one paid the IN staff and its handpicked thinkers to draft this visionary document. Hell, City Manager Tom Bonfield laughed at our faxed invoice for $250,000.

We weren't joking, Tom.

Oh well, it was the right thing to do at the right time. City planners were still reeling from the crushing blow inflicted by voters when they overwhelmingly rejecting "Trilliumzilla"—the $40 million monster plan for more government buildings on primo waterfront property.

Ballsy Plan 1 thawed the Antarctica-type brain freeze on waterfront development ideas. Of course, urban planning legend Ray Gindroz and the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition also deserve some props.

Anyway, what happened in a year? Quint Studer, Jack Fetterman and John Cavanaugh came forward with an innovative waterfront plan of their own, stealing many of Ballsy Plan 1's ideas.

Ballsy 1's ballpark, corporate center, public park, amphitheatre, and maritime museum/research center all made their way into the $71 million Community Maritime Park proposal spearheaded by the entrepreneur, retired Navy vice admiral and University of West Florida president.

Hey guys, what about the Main Street water park? Sheesh.

With city leaders and townsfolk wetting their pants over the latest development idea for the 27.5-acre Trillium site and the success of Ballsy Plan 1, it's apropos the Independent News urban planner wannabes unveil Ballsy Plan 2 here today.

Meeting for Coronas at New York Nick's downtown pub one night, Ballsy Plan 2 was hatched. This batch of 10 recommendations reemphasizes some unique Ballsy Plan 1 ideas, recommends some new cutting-edge urban plans and offers up some ideas outside of downtown development that need doing to jolt P-town out of its daze and into action for the future.

The Independent News brain trust puts out this ballsy sequel for your consideration and entertainment. We're not afraid of ridicule or not getting paid. What about you?

The status quo is no longer an option.

2004 Ballsy Plan 1 Recap

1. Downtown Pelicans Baseball Park
2. Hotel/Retail Complex on Ninth Avenue by Gulf Power
3. Exhibit Hall/Convention Center between Civic Center and Aragon
4. Convert Port of Pensacola to mixed use with housing, retail, offices
5. Maritime Museum and Research Center
6. Deluna Park on site of old Bayfront Auditorium
7. Amphitheatre on Trillium property
8. Corporate Center on Trillium property
9. Replace Main Street plant with Water Park and Botanical Garden
10. Seville Entertainment District
11. New West Florida Public Library

BALLSY PLAN 2

	1. DOWNTOWN PARKING GARAGES Downtown Pensacola is littered with blocks and blocks of flat parking lots, which are basically wastelands. Still, people who work or regularly come downtown can spend hours each week hunting for a parking space. We suggest a series of parking garages built to allow retail and office spaces on the street level and to store vehicles behind them or on levels above them. Some of the public parking garages would need to go up on currently private land. The city should buy the property and give the former owners a fixed number of parking spots for their tenants. The Independent News' Ballsy Plan 2 calls for five garages: 1. Corner of Jefferson and Romana streets (across from the Pensacola News Journal's bomb shelter). 2. Corner of Jefferson and Baylen streets (behind the Blount office building). 3. Corner of Jefferson and Government streets (behind Seville Tower). 4. Corner of Intendencia and Spring streets (behind the Chappie James building). 5. Corner of Baylen and Chase streets (behind the Bank of America). Surrounding businesses with huge, ugly, flat parking lots would be encouraged to redevelop them into residential, commercial or office space or some other better use. In return, they would be allowed to use the nearest public parking garages. Many of the following innovative ideas are dependent on adding more parking with the garages and shedding downtown of the many wastelands, known as parking lots.
	2. AFFORDABLE DOWNTOWN HOUSING Housing developers have rediscovered downtown. Unfortunately, the condominiums being built start at $325,000. That might be slightly out of reach for the average Northwest Floridian. After talking it over with Charleston, S.C., Strong Mayor Joe Riley, the Ballsy Plan 2 calls for housing in the $80,000 to $175,000 range that the first-time buyer or younger folks and families can attain. Affordable housing will be built if the city leaders set aside some of its vast public property holdings downtown or buy other sites. Then, the city can solicit bids to build townhomes, condos, apartments or houses. If the almighty city powers accept parking garage proposal, then two likely places for affordable housing are the blocks on Intendencia and Reus streets, which is currently parking for City Hall and the Chappie James government building; and behind City Hall along Government Street. Another flat, waste-of-space parking lot—used by the federal courthouse and AmSouth Bank—that Independent News urban planners would like to see become housing exists at the corner of Gregory and Palafox streets.
	3. RELOCATE PENSACOLA CITY HALL Everyone realizes the 200 some odd employees that work in Pensacola City Hall love their view of Pensacola Bay. But the two-block campus on which the building is located is way too valuable to waste on government services. In Ballsy 1 last year, IN suggested a corporate headquarters in this area. But the primo property is also ideal for a mixed-use area. Condos, shops, restaurants, offices, a hotel or other mixed-use could all co-exist peacefully, maximizing this currently wasted public property. Pensacola City Hall could then be relocated at the corner of Main Street and Barrancas Avenue on the Pensacola Appliance property and the American Cresote site. There is enough land there to build an even larger building to house most of the city operations. Plus, the City already owns the American Cresote Works Superfund site. This move would also help stretch downtown revitalization to the city's westernmost boundary, potentially rejuvenating the area around Barrancas Avenue, Garden Street and Pace Boulevard.
	4. SEVILLE ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT This part of the 2004 Ballsy Plan remains a critical piece to the future survival of downtown. Memphis has its Beale Street. Tampa has Ybor City. New Orleans has its Bourbon Street. And Pensacola? Well, it should have Seville Row. The city's Community Redevelopment Agency should help develop an entertainment district that encourages music fans, clubbers and restaurant connoisseurs to park their cars and stroll from nightspot to nightspot, enjoying a wide range of fun and frivolity. A natural hub for this district is the current Seville Quarter. The building of parking garages behind Seville Tower and across from the PNJ frees up most of the block bordered by Government, Jefferson, Intendencia and Tarragona Streets. Currently, most of this block is a wart on downtown's nose. As this district develops, the IN crystal ball gazers see a taxi stand downtown to assist party-goers in getting home safe and sound.
	5. NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY/AUDITORIUM OK, so the Independent News urban designers disagree with themselves. They're not afraid to call their pioneering Ballsy Plan 1 boneheaded when it comes to the suggested location of a modern public library. Last year, they called for a new library on North Palafox Street, but, after much scratching, clawing, shouting, name calling and crying, they changed their minds. Now, IN experts recommend a 21st Century library in the Belmont-Devilliers area. Our inner-city schools struggle to teach low-income children to read and to love books. Building an easily accessible library in this area just makes sense. It also will serve to increase traffic though the neighborhood. Thereby, Belmont-Devilliers becomes more attractive to businesses to locate and capitalizes on ongoing efforts to spur its development. Let's also consider making the new municipal auditorium a wing of the library. This combo has been as successful in other communities, as peanut butter and jelly. Also, it's humbly suggested that the Pensacola News Journal's owners, Gannett, a mega-international media conglomerate, foot the bill for the public library. The local daily's leaders have professed their concern for illiteracy on its front pages and in editorials. And, although its Newspapers in Education program sounds warm and fuzzy, its program falls way short of having the same impact as a new library. Heck, the Independent News' board of directors will even lobby for every library card to count towards the PNJ's circulation, if it'll finally cough up some real money for this community.
	6. QUICK FIXES FOR DOWNTOWN Not every downtown proposal has to be an expensive capital project. Here are four quick fixes that Ballsy Plan 2 participants see as no-brainers: Open Palafox Place, Baylen and Spring streets to two-way traffic. These one-way avenues that start or end at Pensacola Bay are prime business corridors that are hurt by only having one-way traffic. Limit deliveries to Palafox Place businesses to no later than 9 a.m. on weekdays. Delivery trucks make downtown's main drag nearly impossible to maneuver at times. Require all retail stores to open on Saturdays. The Downtown Improvement Board should host concerts or other fun events late Friday afternoons in Ferdinand Plaza. This would encourage downtown workers to hang around after work and could promote the Pensacola area's many great bands.
	7. PENSACOLA BEACH NO-BRAINERS OK, the 2005 Ballsy Plan 2 looks at some ideas outside the downtown box. It considers Pensacola Beach, which possesses two main purposes. One purpose is recreational. The other is serving as an economic generator for Escambia County. Here, IN unveils a six-step plan of no-brainers for Pensacola Beach • Deed property over to the current leaseholders. Start assessing property taxes. • Remove height restrictions and allow high-rises to go up, up, up. • Four-lane Via de Luna all the way to Portofino, but don't put the utilities underground, thus saving $12 million and money for future repairs. • Build parking garages at Casino Beach, Quietwater Beach and adjacent to the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce. • Eliminate the toll on the Bob Sikes Bridge. • Maintain public access to the entire beach.
	8. SOUTH SANTA ROSA TRAFFIC PROPOSALS U.S. Highway 98 in South Santa Rosa County is a death trap. The current solutions on the drawing board are building a new six-lane Pensacola Bay Bridge in Gulf Breeze and expanding the coastal corridor to six lanes from Gulf Breeze to the Midway Wal-Mart Supercenter. We believe expanding current infrastructure just encourages more traffic. We have two ballsy ideas: Build a four-lane express overpass over Gulf Breeze that rainbows straight to Pensacola Beach. People hitting the beach should be able to avoid the Gulf Breeze speed trap gauntlet. Triple the number of traffic lights on U.S. 98. It should slow traffic down and encourage more motorists to use the Garcon Point Bridge.
	9. DOWNSIZE ESCAMBIA COUNTY Escambia County is Florida's poorest large county. It also boasts more layers of high-paid government officials than any of its more successful neighbors. It's time we cut the fat and quit putting so many people on the public dole. The two most obvious eliminations are the Santa Rosa Island Authority and the ECUA. Other city and county departments should also consolidate. The SRIA keeps showing that it's appointed board is incapable of serving the needs of greater Escambia County. In 2001, when tourists were drowning in record numbers along the island, SRIA officials stubbornly refused to hire more lifeguards. The board continues to do nothing to solve the parking nightmare and refuses to reconsider its irresponsible and idiotic decision to hold the Blue Angels Air Show this summer. Can't imagine the lawsuit(s) when a spectator or Gulf Breeze resident doesn't get emergency service soon enough, after all the warnings by Santa Rosa and Escambia public safety experts. The Island Authority treats Pensacola Beach as its own private fiefdom. ECUA has followed the what-we-don't-tell-you-won't-hurt-us philosophy. Boards have turned blind eyes to radium-contaminated wells, the dumping of treated, and sometimes raw, sewage into Santa Rosa Sound and Pensacola Bay, and the relocation of the Main Street sewage factory. It's time ECUA operate as an Escambia County department without a paid political board serving as yes men for the ECUA staff.
	10. CULTURAL INVESTMENT Escambia County and Pensacola are no longer the leaders of Northwest Florida. Okaloosa County with Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field and Destin, South Walton County with Seaside, Sandestin and Grayton Beach and Bay County with development juggernaut St. Joe's Co. are the stars. But what separates this area from these more wealthy neighbors is its culture—the Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola Symphony, Pensacola Little Theatre, Ballet Pensacola and the Pensacola Children's Chorus. Yet, this community so often mistreats these non-profits, forcing them to beg for dollars. Escambia County should give a third of its nearly $4 million in bed tax collections for the arts and such festivals as the Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival, Pensacola Bay International Film Festival, SpringFest and the Pensacola Jazz Festival. All are events that can help tourism and fill hotel rooms in the shoulder seasons. They each set this community apart and are worthy of more promotion.

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Ballsy Plan 2