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No One Shows Up For Escambia All For One Meeting
January 21, 2009
No one from the local community showed up for an Escambia All for One public meeting Tuesday night in Walnut Hill.
The group pushing for a consolidated government in Escambia County called the meeting at the Walnut Hill Community Center. They even announced that District 5 Escambia Commissioner Kevin White would attend the meeting.
But when meeting time arrived, the community center was still locked. All for One Co-Chair Jason Crawford, three All for One members/supporters and our NorthEscambia.com reporter were the only ones at an impromptu meeting held outside the community center.
White said he was made aware of the meeting late last week, but he was unable to attend due to concerns about Florida’s Sunshine Law that requires public notice be given prior to commissioners attending public forums. Such forums and meetings, White said, usually appear in a legal notice but there was no time to include the All for One meeting in the weekly legal notice printed in the daily newspaper.
Another informational meeting will be held Wednesday evening at 5:30 at New World Landing in Pensacola. The legislative delegation meeting will be held at 6:00 Friday night at the WSRE Amos Theatre on the campus of Pensacola Junior College. Both meetings are open to the public.
The Northwest Florida legislative delegation will meet Friday night to discuss the latest draft of the legislation support by All for One. That legislation would create a commission to draft a consolidated government plan to be presented to the county’s voters in 2010.
The group has made a list of supporters available. Click here to download the All for One supporter list (pdf).
Escambia County, the City of Pensacola and the Town of Century all passed resolutions in favor of the consolidation. But the Town of Century later backed out and rescinded their support, with town officials saying that they were misled by All for One.
“We think consolidated government would bring a number of benefits to the community, including a reduction in duplication of services, lower taxes and job creation,” said Jason Crawford, co-chairman of All for One. “The purpose of these meetings is to talk about the benefits of consolidation and to hear from the public.”
Comments
6 Responses to “No One Shows Up For Escambia All For One Meeting”
I am so proud that no one showed up for this meeting I could bust! Now Jason And Scott Iisten very carefully, We do not wish to be part of your (greater plan). We know what we will lose, and we know how we will be taxed. Just looking at how the city is run now ,no one would want to even be part of that. Pensacola is a dot on the map at the very south end of ESCAMBIA COUNTY! It can not run it’s self and is not qualified to run the county. The greatest message in no one showing up is this, We do not believe in your cause, We do not care to listen to you, and we do not trust you.Sometime’s a silent voice is the strongest voice of all .
I understand the issue of not wanting to roll up government services under one umbrella, especially in light of the attitudes in Pensacola and surrounding areas that think north Escambia is Cantonment, but not appearing was a mistake. It indicates a “don’t care” attitude. If you don’t like something in government, you should take whatever soap box is available and say so. If enough people do that, then just maybe something will happen.
In a broader sense, anytime government officials want to make a change, they have the responsibility to present to the public the reasons and benefits of such a change. If they can’t do that, then there should be some citizen vocalization and backlash!
Bigger government doesn’t mean better or more efficient government.
Lower taxes, job creation – a sure ’nuff deal for the people. Sounds like we ‘ll all be drinking that free bubble-up and eatin’ that rainbow stew!
Rather than an obscure cloud of vague promises, can the people pushing this agenda provide some ACTUAL facts and figures to support their claims?
What has actually happened in Jacksonville for instance? Were property taxes lowered? County sales tax options? City taxes? What jobs were created? Any actual improvements in quality of life or cost of living? Emergency response times? The list goes on and on.
All I see are the closeknit north escambia communities being swallowed up by more populous south escambia, losing both their idividuality and their voices – sacrificed to the Great God Consolidation. This is likened to having Dade County make decisions for the entire state.
Could the people pushing this agenda have some personal gain in mind? In Tallahassee/Leon County a few years back, this same type proposal was repeatedly and resoundingly defeated again and again. Obviously not concerned with the will of the people of Leon county, the backers of this political abortion kept trying and trying and trying. What could have possibly fed such a strong desire to steamroll over the local people?
How many of us Joe Sixpacks (just a common man drivin’ a comman van) will have any earthly idea what this Consolidated Government Plan would really mean? What ramifications would we suddenly discover when it was too late?
If they pry the door open here, you will face exactly the same tactics as Leon County – again and again and again, regardless of whether you trounce them at the polls.
I realize I am preaching to the choir here in North Escambia, but the people supporting this deal need to know that Utopia it can no way be.
If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it!
It’s not just the north end of the county that doesn’t support the “All for One” utopia, I don’t know anyone on the south end that supports them either.
That’s awesome! That is the best news I have heard in a while. Nice job! I’m sure that Jason Crawford and all the others were very dissappointed to not have a chance to brag about how smart he and his constituents are and how they know best for our communities. I mean after all, we are just a bunch of uneducated farmers and mill workers, right? We’s don no wat we’s doin. We’s needs tha smart folks of downtown pcola leading us in the right direction. NOT!
Why can’t you guys just accept the fact that your ideals will not be supported in the northern part of the county?