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Century Residents Offer Ideas For Local Economic Development
January 22, 2014
About 20 Century residents turned out Tuesday night to discuss the good — and the bad — about their town as part of a process to create a future economic development plan.
“We have everything to go forward,” said Robert Mitchell, a Century resident for 59 years. “We always come up short. We always end up with nothing.”
When Century updated its Comprehensive Plan in March 2012, the need for an economic development strategy was identified as one of the critical issues facing the Town.
Last July, Century was awarded a $25,000 a Community Planning Technical Assistance Grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The grant provided the Town the opportunity to contract with the University of West Florida’s Haas Center to develop the plan. The public input from Tuesday night will be used in the plan’s development.
“We can’t seem to land anything; they always pack up and leave,” Mitchell added, pointing out Century had lost it schools and there had been (false) rumors of the post office closing. “We can’t stop, we can just plead for everybody to give us a chance here in Century. We always get cut short; the support is not there. We can’t up with the right support to land something in Century.”
“We need to have something here in Century where we can be proud; we deserve the very best,” stated Sandra McMurray-Jackson, town council member.
Jobs in almost any industry sector should be a top priority, said resident James McMurray. And Century needs a motel for a prospective businessperson to stay, according to Rozetta Hamilton.
The public input, along with input gathered last week from business owners and input to be gathered next week from economic development agencies, will be invaluable in preparing a future economic direction and plan for Century, according to Cindy Anderson, recently hired to manage economic development for the Century Area Chamber of Commerce. She said it will be the tool she needs — all the facts and figures – to help market Century.
The group also learned the choosing Century is not always about facts and figures, with several discussion panel member saying they had returned to the town after retirement — some to be closer to relatives, some to open a business and some to care for an aging loved one. And for Robert Lasher, the choice to move to Century was a bit more divine.
The financial consultant and his wife were looking to move somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a change of lifestyle. “We were just generally looking for hte country; God put us in Century,’” said.
Picture top: Robert Mitchell (left) speaks as Century council member Gary Riley (right) listens during an economic development planning meeting Tuesday night. Pictured inset: Resident James McMurray. Pictured below: Lomonica Shoemo and Dorothy Newton listen during the meeting. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
13 Responses to “Century Residents Offer Ideas For Local Economic Development”
There are economic development grants out there that would “clean up” streets, plant beautiful plants, fix curbing. Also, there are those that will provide money to build sidewalks along Hwy 4 instead of people walking in dirt or on the highway.
There are ways to beautify Hwy 29 coming thru the city and there are grants out there to help. Century is eligible for anything that Pensacola can get, both are alike only different in size. I would like to see all this done in Century but everyone must work together and get some nice grants. So far as keeping the streets clean, that can be done by having city workers take prisoners from the local prison each day and this town could be made beautiful with that work force and a few city workers. Thru economic development grants a lot of things can be done and I will come to meetings when I know about them and see what can be developed. I do not live in Century but nearby.
How about quitting all the worry about chickens, and clean the town up. Yards full of junk, abandoned buildings, trash everywhere,overgrown lots. If you pay attention, you can even see a street walker once in awhile. What in the above picture is there to intice any business to the north end?
Ghandi said Be the change you want to see in the World. We’re starting with cleaning up my Grandparent’s old house and moving in. Sorry I didn’t make it to the meeting but I hope good comes from it all. We felt “drawn” to the area also.
It would be a blessing if our county commissioner would take a genuine interest in the north side of the county. Yes, the economy is partly to blame. I agree that a real “clean up ” should be in order for Century and Cantonment. These areas of Hwy 29 are deplorable. It is an outward sign that this is not a good place to open a business. And not only that, but all tourist that travel to our beaches that come from the north drive through these ugly towns and see all of the trash on the highway and the dilapidated buildings. Ashton Hayward declared a clean sweep in the city of Pensacola. Some didn’t like it because they didn’t want to part with their junk. It took a couple of years to “clean up ” Pens. The city demanded that abandoned building be demolished, and that junk appliances & cars etc. be removed. I wish our commissioner would work on something like this. There are so many abandoned properties, properties that have been abandoned for 15- 20 years or more. Find out who they belong to and “clean up”.
The residents of Century that want a decent job and are qualified for a decent job, likely already have one. The remainder either don’t want any job or don’t qualify a decent job. As far as a high school education and eventually college, the opportunity is there. If you don’t or didn’t take advantage of it, shame on you. You have sentenced yourself to a life of poverty and/or dependency. Educate yourself, learn a skill and you will still likely have to leave Century or commute to any decent job. Employers looking for a skilled workforce will drive straight trough Century, without even slowing down. There is nothing on the face of Century (Hwy 29) that says skilled workers are here. When I drive through Century, all I see is a lack of pride in self and neighborhood. It gives the impression that Century is full of drunks, street walkers, crackheads, meth heads and dope dealers.
First impressions are everything. It don’t matter is you a looking for a job for yourself or many jobs for your citizens.
Higher median educational level will help. Everyone go to school. Get more people with HS education and send more kids here to college somehow. In time…
Good luck Cindy, from these comments even the people here, don’t want to be. It just seems that Century winds up at the alter by themselves everytime, no luck.
Start with a cleanup and better highway scenery passing thru.
FIRST, WE NEED SPEED BUMPS ON BUSY ROADS THAT SMALL CHILDREN LIVE ON!!! WE ADTHEM AND THEY TOOK THEM DOWN… PEOPLE DRIVE DOWN MY ROAD LIKE NO ONES AROUND.. ALSOSPEED LIMIT SIGNS, THEY TOOK SIGNS AND BUMPS DOwN ON MY ROAD
I just don’t see much hope for Century as she is just wound too tight to contemplate thinking or stepping outside the box.
Industry is not coming. Century needs something that people want and will pay money for and is convenient to acquire or engage there.
Be it novel or time tested, Century is going to have to venture into unfamiliar territory.
A motel in Century? I can only imagine how that would turn out. A quick look at highway 29 is all most prospective employers need to see to make a decision.
Try more freedom and lower taxes and less regulation.
No business, no jobs. Why would a business move here? Our schools closed. Most of the population is retired or on the government dole. Our kids have no reason to stay. Start at the overpass and drive south to the city limit, is there anything that would attract someone to want to come here. If there is no tax base the town can’t grow.