At last Thursday's meeting of the Escambia Board of County Commissioners--two long simmering projects in District 1 were finally approved by the board. I incorrectly predicted that neither of these stories would be covered by the media--and I was right until I saw that the PNJ actually did a fair piece on one of these two projects--District 1's first public library going to contract.
The second project, a decade long struggle to get the necessary easements to effect a repair of a storm drain that was literally resulting in several residents of the Floridian subdivision off of Blue Angel Hwy losing their back yards to this ditch-- received no coverage. (Part 1 of this heavy lift for the Floridian Ditch occurred on February 6, 2020 [p.21-22] when the board approved the $940,000 necessary to fund the construction and design of this repair)
But both of these projects represent the good things that happen in the county every month. Every month our staff works to finish worthwhile projects like this library and the regional drainage solution for Sarasota Street within the Floridian subdivision.
These and similar projects--including dozens and dozens of smaller ones--are completed by our dedicated staff week in and week out.
I get it that it is extra sexy to only run us down and report that which is salacious and unflattering. We get it, fixing the ditch so a family does not see their backyard slide down into it, is not something that many are going to find intriguing.
Covering the repaving of a community or the installation of a drainage pond is just too mundane for our media and their minute by minute news cycle.
So today, at least in this one instance, we got one good story out that is not a negative shot at elected commissioners and dedicated county employees just trying to do their jobs as best they can....
And...they are so absolutely desperate for anything to spew over on ECW, they are literally trashing a new library being opened. Unbelievable.
ReplyDelete"We have enough libraries in this town!" "It's not the job of the BOCC to educate people!" "Our BOCC is so corrupt they are building LIBRARIES!"
In other words, it's official. That site is so twisted in knots trying to support Doug Underhill's perverse positions that they they have sunk to trashing library projects. How the mighty have fallen.
Oh, and FYI everybody sees right through the garbage about staff suddenly having all these issues with it. Or wait, woops, did they really? Because all I saw was Chairman Bender saying that staff told him they had all these issues, but gee, not a single one would come to the podium to speak to it.
Congratulations, Commissioner Bergosh. So many people are really happy this is coming to fruition, and I can't to see the remodel of the old bank...they're either screaming about old buildings being torn down or screaming that they're not. (It's hilarious to me when the CivicCon devotees conveniently forget their repurposing mantras.) This is a fantastic thing. We need more libraries and community centers in the unincorporated areas! Let's keep going!
--Melissa Pino
The platform cry heard mostly used to be "Roads and Drainage" with both being taken as a cry that would always be the issue never to be resolved but always the promise.
ReplyDeleteThank you and staff for getting these 2 projects moving and bringing the library.
Right on, good news.
Thank you
Good Job.
ReplyDeleteYes unfortunately good news isn't covered and responded to like bad news.
Just glancing over the library thread on ECW.. Seeing people display ignorance on social media has been an eye opener for me. You can learn a lot by watching. The really scary part is the people bragging they don't go to the library. That is telling, I snuggled up with piles of books my whole life and assumed others knew as much as I did. They don't.
At least the fire union didn't say the money should have gone to them again. A little bit of progress was made there. The budget and pots of money are not well understood.
Perhaps calling people out for spreading falsehoods and propaganda is important.
For instance USA Congress should be holding a hearing asking WHY would people come in the Capitol and attend the Jan 6 rally? They should be looking into election problems instead of playing the blame game and thinking because they label election challenges a "lie" that anyone with critical thinking skills believes them.
The goal of the Democrat-Fascist party, currently in the majority position, is to label any challenge to the fraudulent JoeBama administration as an insurrection; and any Americans who would question their authority to be labeled a domestic terrorist.
ReplyDeleteI like how Doug voiced opposition to the library and you told him to vote against it and vote against the kids. Then he voted for it. Seems he doesn't another 4-1 vote against him used in his opponent's campaign literature. He desperately wants (really financially needs)a third, fourth and fifth term.
ReplyDelete