Massive Turnout for First D-1 Perdido/Innerarity Town Hall, Post Redistricting

Audience Members from half the room signal their strong support for Escambia County's work in pursuing good jobs from top notch employers through taxpayer funded economic development........ at the Perdido Key/Innerarity D1 Townhall held on 1-31-2022 

We had a massive, spillover and standing room only capacity crowd at last night's townhall meeting in the newest parts of District 1 post-redistricting, Innerarity/Perdido Key.

More than 130 folks attended the town hall that we estimated would bring 50 or so participants, therefore many attendees stood at the back of the room while others peeked in through adjoining hallways at the venue, First United Methodist Church of Perdido Bay.

We kicked off the meeting with a moment of silence, the pledge of allegiance to the flag, and staff introductions.  This was followed by brief remarks from Administrator Wes Moreno and School Board Chairman Kevin Adams, followed by D-1 ECUA Board Member Vicki Campbell.

After the remarks, we went into discussions about various county-wide issues of concern, then narrowed the conversation to areas of specific concern to the southern portion of D1--Perdido, Perdido Key, Innerarity, and nearby, adjacent communities and neighborhoods.

We took in dozens and dozens of thoughtful questions and comments of concern.  Fortunately--staff from the county representing nearly every department were on hand to answer most issues on the spot.  

Others were referred to relevant staff who were tasked with finding the answers and to getting the information back to the constituents that asked such questions.  

Multiple staff members spoke and gave input on the big issues:  Traffic, Sorrento Road, Innerarity causeway, Galvez Landing, Perdido Key Beach Access, Public Beach Access at Perdido Key versus private beach ownership, equitable funding for this part of the county (as a large portion of the county's revenues are funded out of Perdido Key yet the sense of the group was that a reasoanble, proportionate share is not being spent back in this area), FPL light bills, The 401(a) issue, and a host of other topics.

One of my favorite parts of these town hall meetings comes when I solicit audience information and input on a rapid-fire series of questions.  I was pleased to see nearly everyone in the room participate in my "Agree/Disagree" agenda item.  I'll go through each of these questions and the subsequent audience reactions in a follow-on, stand alone blog post.

We ended the meeting at about 7:45, and I expressed my sincere appreciation to those who came,  and particularly the ones who stayed to the end to come up and introduce themselves and elaborate on their particualar issues with me,  one on one.  This was the best part of the event--meeting the people, hearing their issues, and taking what they requested to staff for solutions.

This is how government is supposed to work!

My thanks to the citizens that came to the event, the staff that showed up and participated, and my counterparts from ECUA and the School Board who gave remarks and made themselves available/accessible.  Also, thanks go out to Mrs. Debbie Malsberger-Legislative aide to State Representative Michelle Salzman, for attending on behalf of Rep. Salzman.

The staff had a major issue with Internet Bandwidth at the location and therefore, unfortunatley, the livestream was not of very good quality.  But the event was recorded and a better recording will be posted on the county's webpage later this morning.  When it is posted, I will link it here.