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| A toy Gumby doll is, of course, very malleable and easily manipulated; real human people should not be.... |
Another form letter is being sent out to unsuspecting Escambia County residents, with the urging that "this be sent to the commissioners," regarding OLF-8. We had similar, even more inaccurate propaganda going around a few weeks back.....
I've received a couple of these latest renditions, exactly the same letters. A chain letter, a form letter.
But it has embedded within it positions that are emotionally-charged opinions--touted as facts-- that are simply not based in fact.
Here's the latest complete letter being promoted:
"Dear Commissioner Bergosh,
I’m very disappointed that the Escambia
County Board of Commissioners rejected the plans that DPZ presented at the
December meeting. These are the plans that were developed after meetings
with you and us , the residents in the area, to develop a highest and
best use plan for the OLF-8 property across the street from NT and met all the
criteria you put in the contract you signed with them. Many of us participated
either at meetings or online and voted for our favorite of the 4 plans. The
Market plan and the village plan, both mixed use plans, were by far the most
popular and were considered to have the best return rate. We didn’t like the
commerce park plan and neither did DPZ. I am completely opposed to the type of
commerce park that the board seems to continue to favor despite opposition from
the many constituents that have contacted each of you.
I expect you to listen to us and the expert planers. This waste of taxpayer money on yet another new Commerce Park when we have so much acreage already developed but unused in the current county owned parks, affects the whole county.
No Commerce Park At OLF-8"
Here's the inconvenient fact check:
1. Non-Factual Claim in Latest "chain letter": "I’m very disappointed that the Escambia County Board of Commissioners rejected the plans that DPZ presented at the December meeting." Truth: This is not factual, the board has made no final determinations and has NOT voted to accept or reject any plan yet presented by DPZ.
2. Non-Factual Claim in Latest "chain letter": "The Market plan and the village plan, both mixed use plans, were by far the most popular and were considered to have the best return rate." Truth: The planners failed to bring a complete economic analysis for all four plans and failed to answer questions put to them before the meeting by the BCC regarding the value of the positive impact of the payrolls that 1000's jobs on the field would/could create. They (DPZ) are now finally doing this. Absent this key metric---the previous assertions by DPZ that the Market and Village plans had a higher economic impact/value were simply inaccurate-- not founded/based on an appropriate, complete, and apropos comparison. Additionally--the amount of acreage for jobs in each plan varied greatly--which did not make sense. Apples must be compared to apples.
3. Non-Factual Claim in Latest "chain letter": "I am completely opposed to the type of commerce park that the board seems to continue to favor despite opposition from the many constituents that have contacted each of you." Truth: This is obviously an opinion. Where it is disingenuous is that it intimates that we are not listening to citizen input--which is false. In addition to the charrettes and other inputs to DPZ--there have now been at least 2 published polls conducted county-wide that clearly illustrate that a vast majority of ALL COUNTY Residents favor high-tech jobs on this field. Very FEW want retail and residential. Are we not to look at these scientific polls of Escambia County Citizens that point to differing opinions/visions for OLF-8?
4. Non-Factual Claim in Latest "chain letter": "This waste of taxpayer money on yet another new Commerce Park when we have so much acreage already developed but unused in the current county owned parks, affects the whole county." Truth: Our 5 general use commerce parks in the county have been a smashing success story--employing 13,800 citizens and contributing $1.7 Billion yearly in area economic impact. Additionally--we do not have "so much acreage...unused"--according to Florida West--we only have one (1) large available parcel (greater than 25 acres) and it is up in Century. We have only a little over 100 acres available in publicly owned parks, as our utilization rate of our over 1576 acres is above 87%. Before folks compliantly send out emails based on inaccurate information they really should read the FACTS (about our General use commerce parks here) first. Otherwise, they are being manipulated unnecessarily.
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