WHO TO CONTACT ABOUT THESE ISSUES: ▶CITY OF PENSACOLA Mayor Ashton Hayward ahayward@cityofpensacola.com City Administrator Bill Reynolds breynolds@cityofpensacola.com ▶CITY COUNCIL Council President P.C. Wu, District 1 pcwu@cityofpensacola.com Council VP Jewel Cannada-Wynn, District 7 jcannada-wynn@cityofpensacola.com Sherri F. Myers, District 2 smyers@cityofpensacola.com Andy Terhaar, District 3 aterhaar@cityofpensacola.com Larry B. Johnson, District 4 ljohnson@cityofpensacola.com Gerald Wingate, District 5 gwingate@cityofpensacola.com Brian Spencer, District 6 bspencer@cityofpensacola.com
Taking Lipstick Off The Pig | by Rick Outzen In August 2006, the Prosperity Pensacola released the Escambia County Indicator Report. The report presented data on 62 indicators of community well being, spanning seven areas: families, public safety, health, education, economy, community and environment. The report, which was funded by the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, was intended to provide a baseline for identifying priorities, developing solutions and tracking progress toward a better life for all members of the community, particularly the children. “You can’t fix it if you don’t know it’s broken,” said Jean Norman, the former United Way of Escambia County president, when the report was released. “The only way there will be improvement is to measure. These indicators will help us measure progress as we move forward.” Sadly, Prosperity Pensacola no longer exists. No follow-up reports were ever produced. In his book “Results That Last,” Quint Studer writes, “What gets measured gets improved.” Pensacola and Escambia County prove that axiom. The local officials haven’t measured and this community hasn’t improved. What has been measured isn’t reported to the public if the statistics aren’t favorable. Studer also believes that measurements are what hold people accountable, which is why we have published our inaugural Shame Issue. We are not only publishing the numbers, but also comparing them to other communities. The city of Pensacola’s six murders in 2012 might not seem to be many, but when you realize that the city hasless than 53,000 people, the per capita rate is higher than most of the January 31, 2013
state. The same goes for domestic violence and child abuse. This community must get our elected officials to face the statistics. We must measure their performances not by their press releases, ribbon-cuttings and photo opportunities, but by objective numbers. The politicians and bureaucrats don’t really have a choice. Others are measuring our city, county and school districts as they decide whether to move their companies and jobs here or go elsewhere. The numbers published in this article are available online to anyone who knows how to do the research. And if the potential employers and residents don’t know the statistics, other communities do and take advantage of our abysmal numbers to lure prospects away from us.
Megan B. Pratt, At Large District A mpratt@cityofpensacola.com
Incentive programs are nice in attracting businesses, but nearly every community has incentives. It’s public safety, schools and health that can close the deal—all three are sore spots for Escambia County and Pensacola. If the company executives are African-American or another minority, the chances of convincing them to come here are even slimmer because of the huge racial disparities. The statistics in this article have been gathered from local, state and federal government websites. Frankly, they are depressing and an embarrassment. However, nothing will improve unless we face them. There simply isn’t enough lipstick that we can put on this pig to make it a beauty queen.
SHRINKING POPULATION
Escambia County and the city of Pensacola have seen their populations decrease over the past 10 years. The county saw its population peak in 2008 with 317,553. By 2011, its population was 298,259, a six-percent drop. The city of Pensacola was hit even harder. Its population peaked last decade at 56,373 in 2008, but that was below the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1990 figure of 58,906. By 2011, the city’s residents had fallen to 51,839, an eight-percent decline. Meanwhile, the public school enrollment dropped from 2002-2011 by 3,889 students—nearly nine-percent. 2002
2005
2008
2011
Escambia
299, 485
303,623
317,553
298,259
Pensacola
56,271
54,827
56,373
51,839
School enrollment
43,547
42,960
40,391
39,658
Charles Bare, At Large District B cbare@cityofpensacola.com ▶ESCAMBIA COUNTY Interim County Administrator George Touart admin@myescambia.com ▶COUNTY COMMISSION Chairman Gene Valentino, District 2 district2@myescambia.com Vice-Chairman Lumon May, District 3 district3@myescambia.com Wilson Robertson, District 1 district1@myescambia.com Grover Robinson, District 4 district4@myescambia.com Steven Barry, District 5 district5@myescambia.com ▶ESCAMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT Superintendent Malcolm Thomas mthomas@escambia.k12.fl.us ▶SCHOOL BOARD Chairman Jeff Bergosh jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us Vice-Chairman Linda Moultrie, District 3 lmoultrie1@escambia.k12.fl.us Gerald Boone, District 2 gboone@escambia.k12.fl.us Patty Hightower, District 4 phightower@escambia.k12.fl.us Bill Slayton, District 5 bslayton@escambia.k12.fl.us
Source: City of Pensacola, FY 2013 Approved Budget 9