Call me out if you want, line by line, and I’ll address it individually. I’ll go as long as it takes because I believe this is the right thing to do despite a few disadvantages.

I do read, listen and watch the PNJ and the blogs, talk radio and all four local television news broadcasts everyday. I see as many advantages from the news for consolidation than I do disadvantages. More importantly, I believe that a few of the advantages far outweigh all of the disadvantages.

I do not believe Escambia ends at Nine Mile Rd and I am aware of the prominent news that comes from the North end, particularly the issues that would have a bearing on this discussion.

I live in Escambia County also, it just happens to be within city limits. So I live and support the same community you do.

Consolidation Disadvantages from a county resident’s perspective: (feel free to add to this)
1. Escambia County residents will eventually share in the responsibility for the City of Pensacola and the City of Century’s finances.
2. You will have to re-elect your city or county representative to the new city council/commission position.
3. The incorporated areas (Century and Pensacola) will be renamed.

Advantages of Consolidation: (feel free to add to this)
1. One person charged with leading our community with respect to social and economic development.. No longer have three or four people to contact to get something done. (department, council/commission members and chair/mayor)
2. There won’t be three or four government departments working against each other at times to bring the best service possible to us (ECUA vs. County and City of Pensacola vs. Escambia County) using up our time and money to our detriment.
3. There will be one or two people to go to if a major business wants to locate to our area with a common message and proposal as opposed to three or four (Chamber of Commerce, City, County, CRA’s).
4. We will be seen as the fourth largest city in the State of Florida behind Tampa and therefore have a bigger voice in Tallahassee and on a Federal level.
5. We will have one person in charge so if things are not going our way we can vote somebody else in who has the power to bring in a new staff as opposed to having a chair or mayor who doesn’t currently choose the department heads and has no control over what they do unless they can convince a majority of the council or commission to vote the way they do.
6. Having one person (mayor) serve as a statesman to outside business on a proactive basis. Currently, we don’t have anyone within our government or chamber of commerce who any of us can agree is capable of proactively sell our area as a place to locate to because they don’t have the power to do it.
7. Better organization and communication between our municipal government and our school board.
8. Communities within Escambia County will maintain their identity, only the boundaries between the incorporated areas and the county will be removed.

Bad assumptions:
1. The current county residents will have to pay the current city taxes.
2. The new city will immediately pave every single road and make current county residents pay for it.
3. The names of unincorporated areas will have their names changed (i.e., one person seems to think Bratt will no longer exist)
4. County residents will be paying for the maritime park. The fact is that they subsidize the CRA that will be paying for the park already so that is already happening and will continue to happen unless something changes.
5. Annexxing the county into the city piece-by-piece will be better. What’s the difference? This way we just go ahead and include everyone in and have them receive the same benefits (see advantages above) instead of having to have numerous, costly referendums that create the same amount of discourse as this annexation is creating.
6. Consolidation is being done to bail out the (insert word of choice). The only thing conslidation is going to bail out is the people of Escambia County and the two cities from a poorly structured government. The pensions, civic center, maritime park, whatever you want to include will all be paid for by County residents. How is that you ask? Pensions are covered by city taxpayers who spend money in the county on goods and services. The taxes they pay to pay for those pensions wil not be spent at businesses in the county. Also, a majority of the city employees and retirees live in the county already so the city residents are paying their pensions. See #4 above about the maritime park. The civic center is supported by bed taxes and events. Tourists pay the bed taxes, city and county residents who attend the events pay the ticket prices and the county covers short falls currently when the civic center goes in the red. These things all happen currently without consolidation. How could it get any worse?