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Blog: North Escambia Is An Urban Area? Huh?

January 25, 2008

We can’t have a rural system of delivery in an urban county.

Let’s read that one again: We can’t have a rural system of delivery in an urban county.

That is what Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson said about the consolidation of our rural volunteer fire departments into a countywide unified Escambia County fire department.

Bogia is urban? Walnut Hill? Bratt? Century is an urban metro? What?

Let’s get visual on this one, Mr Robinson. You can scroll down past the pictures to read more, but I want to use some pretty little pictures. First, the busiest intersection in heart of downtown urban Walnut Hill:

That’s urban Walnut Hill’s busiest intersection. We did get all urban and metro and all when the state put in a flashing caution light a while back there where the lines for Highway 97 and Highway 99A come together. If you sit in the 80 acre cotton/wheat field next to this very busy metro urban intersection, the light can be pretty darn distracting from the urban sprawl around you. Why, you might not even notice the fields stretch over a mile behind you.

For visual exhibit two, we have this:

This is the busy urban sprawl here in our urban county where Highway 97 and Highway 29 intersect in Molino. I mean, there is ONE business at the intersection. And it is a Tom Thumb, much like every other corner in Pcola. But look behind the Tom Thumb. There’s just so much cotton sprawl. No, no, I’m sorry. Robinson urban sprawl again.

Now visual demonstration number three:

The above is the busiest intersection in Century there where Highway 4 and Highway 29 come together. Granted, there is the great urban sprawl in the picture there with the gas station, the Panhandle, the bank and the Burger King. True urban area. Four lane highway. A strip of businesses. And behind the businesses, you have the urban sprawl of, ah…oh wait. It’s those pesky little fields again.

Now, here’s another intersection in Escambia County:

That’s Davis and Creighton. It looks so much like the other three pictures.

Mr. Robinson, perhaps you need to ride around your county. It does not end at 10 Mile Road. That’s not even half of the county below 10 Mile Road. In fact, 10 Mile Road is, well, ten miles from the bay. The urban metro shopping center in Davisville, which is also in Mr. Robinson’s county, is 45 miles from that same bay. If you don’t know where Davisville is, just ride up this way and ask. It’s a great urban area just north of Mr. Godwin’s Regional Airport (which, Mr. R. is so much identical to the Pensacola Regional Airport it isn’t even funny).

But, perhaps, the commissioner from District 4, might argue that a house fire is a house fire, regardless of it is just off Davis Highway or just off Pineville Road in North Escambia. Yep. You’ve got a house, flames, a family losing everything.

It’s 2:30 a.m. It’s dark. No, Mr. Robinson, it’s really, actually dark on Pineville Road. Regardless of the urban sprawl there between the Enon County Manor and the Enon Baptist Church, it’s dark enough to see the stars up here. The neighbor wakes and sees the fire next door, calls 911.

The Walnut Hill Volunteer Fire Department is dispatched, along with the volunteers from Century, McDavid and Molino. The Atmore FD responds too. The firemen know when they walk out into the 20 degree cold night where the house is, who lives in it and how to find it. They know there’s no mailbox, no number at the end of the little trail that leads to the house back in the woods. They know the man that lives there is 82, lives alone, sleeps in the back bedroom when he’s not staying with his daughter in Bratt, likes to fish and likes to play catch with his grandson.

Would a paid consolidated Escambia County fire department guy from Pensacola sleeping at Walnut Hill’s Station 15 know that? His fancy county GIS mapping system won’t tell him those things, nor will it help him find the house. When he does find it, he won’t know that the man that lived there is going to be spending the night in Bratt and won’t need to be rescued.

And here in our urban neighborhood, his urban neighbors and firemen will make sure he’s OK when he arrives the house to find it burned. They’ll give him a hug. Cheer him up by asking about his grandson who’s playing little league this spring at Bradberry Park. They’ll make sure he gets some clothes, a little money to get the things he needs. His church will do what they can to help him begin his life again in the urban community of Pineville.

It just does not work the same in North Escambia as it does off Davis Highway, Mr. Robinson. We can’t have a rural system of delivery in an urban county. Perhaps. But we are not an urban county. When a fire truck is speeding toward your house, it all comes down to time and distance. More of land in this county is rural than it is urban.

You are right, Mr. Robinson. We can’t have rural system of delivery in an urban county. Nor should there be an urban system of delivery in a rural county. And this is a rural county.

I know you disagree. Ride north, Mr. Robinson. This is a rural county. It ain’t Miami-Dade. We can’t have an urban system of delivery in our rural county. You need to discover just how rural this county is. C’mon up. We’ll take you snipe hunting.

If you want to contact Mr. Robinson, his email is district4@co.escambia.fl.us. Email him a link to NorthEscambia.com and tell him to read the blog. His phone number is 595-4940 at work. That number will get his assistant. Don’t won’t to talk to his assistant? His home phone number is 430-4552. He lives in one of those urban neighborhoods where the nearest house if 15 feet out the window. So much like urban North Escambia.

Comments? I’d love to hear them. Fill our our contact form, or email news@northescambia.com.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Blog