Some Disgusting Age-Inappropriate Books are being Removed Immediately from our Library

I'm a free speech Republican--always have been.  I say what I think and I stand by what I say.  Read this blog and you'll know that.

With this as the backdrop--I was contacted by a constituent yesterday who was distressed about some policy issues regarding the library in Bellview, District 1. (and other branches)

  So I called her and listened to her issue about several books that were/are ABSOLUTELY age-inappropriate being in the young adult section of the library. She told me Commissioner Kohler would not return her calls.

These books had pictures, discussed masturbation, sex, and also said that regardless of what some religions might preach on the topic of masturbation----that masturbation is not a sin and is normal.

Look, I'm not a prude, I don't believe in book burning, and I am a fairly open-minded individual.

BUT EVERYTHING has to be age appropriate and the job of discussing these sensitive topics like masturbation and how it is juxtaposed with religious beliefs--- to children------ belongs to the family and the parents---not liberal, woke rubbish masquerading as "children's" books in the children's section.

If a family wants to buy those sorts of books, they can.  This is America.

But I don't want to see this garbage in the kid's section of our public library. Period!

So, I immediately contacted Todd Humble and he sorted out the problem instantaneously.  Kudos to him.

Then I was forwarded this email from a group of constituents that were very pleased with the responsiveness of Todd and his team at the Libraries.  Here is the email:

"On Tue, Jun 11, 2024, 8:03 PM XXXXX<XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX> wrote:

Finally!  I have put in three calls now to Mike Kohler , and 1 to each of the other county commissioners. The only one who returned my call today was Jeff Bergosh. He told me that he would immediately contact the head of the Escambia County Public Libraries, Todd Humble, and have him call me. About 30 minutes later, that is exactly what happened. This guy is the real deal. They are removing several books that somehow , he said, trickled through. He has also called all his librarians (One is also no longer employed, btw.) and told them they had to start going through the books, especially in the Early Reader and Juvenile Section. Several of the ones that I shared with him (several parents had too) are going to be shredded. Others will be moved to the appropriate sections. I was so pleased with this conversation. I sent him links to the books that we have found in our public school libraries, in case he wanted to cross-reference. I also told him he has helped to avoid a major media situation.

This is the way things should be handled. Jeff Bergosh earned a lot of brownie points with me today, and so did this Library Director!

God is good.

XXXXXXX"

On Real News with Rick Outzen later this Morning

I'll appear later this morning on the areas best and most popular morning drive news radio show, "Real News with Rick Outzen"

I've been invited to appear on tomorrow morning's "Real News with Rick Outzen" radio show. the best and highest rated morning drive newsradio/entertainment program on the area's #1 news/talk radio station, 1370 WCOA.   

I'll be on with Rick at 7:10 to discuss the grand opening Friday of the Bellview Library, current county issues, and also tomorrow's "Coffee with the Commissioner" event live from the county's animal shelter.

When Rick posts the podcast, I will link it here.

 

Huge Win for District 1 and West Escambia Residents with the Grand Opening of the Bellview Library!

Bellview Library grand opening and ribbon cutting event--9-16-2022

Yesterday was a great day.  One of those days when everyone is happy, the atmosphere is festive, and the event is a massive, positive win for a community!  That's what the day felt like as we celebrated--- with over 300 residents, students, elected officials, Escambia County Public Schools personnel, Escambia County personnel, and various media outlets---the grand opening and ribbon cutting of District 1's first public library in Bellview.

Bellview Library grand opening and ribbon cutting event--9-16-2022

The Bellview Library, at a little over 12,000 sf, is a striking facility visually.  As I said during my brief remarks prior to the ribbon cutting--some will like the design and color scheme--others won't.  I can tell you this though:  The folks on hand, particularly the senior citizens and the students, were extremely impressed with the way the library came together and thrilled to have a new location for  books, media, internet access, and a meeting space all together under one roof in a clean, modern, and safe west side facility. 

So many people worked so hard to make this day possible--and I tried my best to recognize all of them that were present.  I thanked the assembled citizens as I told them one simple fact:  It is THEIR library, they paid for it with their tax dollars.

All media outlets were present and covered this groundbreaking--which I appreciated.  I'm also greatly appreciative of WEAR channel 3 for running multiple stories about the grand opening prior to yesterday, which I believe combined with CMR's efforts within the county drove the massive turnout.  At one point, I was even told we had exceeded fire code capacity!

See the media coverage here, here, here, and here.

I look forward to all the ways this facility will improve the community by imparting knowledge to the citizens, youth, and students of the west side of the county.  Making communities better requires local governments to provide great amenities and infrastructure.  As the neighborhoods and communities accumulate such amenities (both publicly and privately funded)--such neighborhoods and communities improve.  And as the communities go---so goes the local public schools.

So I anticipate this facility will help our students, families and schools in this area.  That is my optimistic outlook.  

Yes, it was a great day yesterday.  The first of many more to come.  😀  See additional photos of yesterday's event, below.

SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BY CLICKING "READ MORE" BELOW

Agonizing, Delayed Final Stretch for the Bellview Library Project.....

The Construction of the Bellview Library--District 1's First Public Library--has been beset with calamaties from day 1 to present which will push back the opening to late summer.  But we are now, thankfully, entering the home stretch in the process......

Earlier this afternoon I had the opportunity to tour our currently-under-construction, newest area libray, the soon to open Bellview Library.

Driving by the site, I had seen some progress ----but I had the lingering impression that the project was not progressing as it should.  Come to find out, I was right.  More on that, below.

So with this as the backdrop of my concern(s)--our office scheduled a site visit and walkthrough at the construction site and we brought in and included the project construction superintendent, the project architects from STOA, the county's project management team, the library services director, Administrator Moreno, and Asst. Administrators Hall and Bowers.  It was an all hands on deck evolution today.  And here's what we found out:

This project is months behind schedule, and more than likely several months away from completion.  If I had to guess--I'd say by the looks of it---- it will be a September or even October rather than a July grand opening.  This is disappointing for a number of reasons, but there are some explanations as to why this project is so far behind that were described by the folks assembled at the site meeting today.

Theft and property burglaries have been a recurrent theme.  "We've been robbed 7 times in the last 6 months on this jobsite!" explained job superintendent Brad.  He continued--"They've stolen tools, broken into storage lockers that had been double-bolted, they've stolen some high-dollar metal products we need for the next steps in the construction along with some tubing they probably thought was copper but that wasn't -- it was lengths of HVAC drain tubing that had a long lead time to order--so that has set us back."   I asked him point blank:  "How much in materials have these thieves made off with?"  To which he replied "The tools were $10K, the metals and other products from one of our subs was more than $15K--but more important than the costs of the materials stolen is the lead time in getting some of these specialized products, and so now we have to wait to finish until we get re-supplied."  he said in an exasperated tone.

Another issue that apparently was a problem was nobody had decided on what type of door to use for an emergency egress point that was found to be necessary during construction.  "Who decides?"  I asked--to which several looked at me for an answer.  So I quickly determined (by asking staff) what door we needed (which will be a $33,000.00 change order the library board will be funding)--and I said "Okay--there's the decision--get that one, the one Todd (Humble) wants."  And the decision got made on the spot.

So there have been construction delays, difficulty getting some odd-shaped windows, difficulty getting the right doors (due to supply chain issues) and we earlier had issues with stormwater and getting the appropriate sized drain lines funded.  Prior to all of this we had several revisions to our plans based on sonme site condition anomolies and other issues.   Then we had COVID and the resulting issues that brought forth. So we are now through with a lot of these problems, issues and setbacks.  And hopefully the visit today will provide some additional impetus on getting this project over the line.  I hope.

Because what I saw of what has been done on the inside, combined with some renderings that I was given during the visit, point to a really, really neat facility once it is finished.  I mean, it will have some really great amenities for the residents, students, and citizens who will utilize this library.

From multiple large meeting rooms, to state of the art computers and video games, to 3-D printers and maker space, to lots of digital media available for checkout from vending machines onsite, to the latest, most recent fiction for our adult citizen users--this facility once complete will have a litte bit of something for everyone.

It's just getting it finished that's the issue now.  We're in the pipe, headed for the checkered flag--but it's an agonizing, delayed final stretch.

SEE ALL THE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BY CLICKING "Read More" below

What Were the Causes/Costs/Explanations for each of the Bellview Library Change Orders?

Ahead of yesterday's BCC meeting, there were some voices online and other places that were questioning the size and number of change orders necessitating approval by the board to keep the Bellview Library project on track.  This build out has been costly due to a number of factors--some unforeseen--some self-inflicted.  Nevertheless, the board did approve the change orders by a unanimous vote as the consent agenda was approved.  I had a one-on-one meeting with the Facilities Department and the project manager--and we went through each change order--why they were needed and why the costs shook out the way they did.  Below is a summary of each of the change orders approved and a short explanation of the "why."  I provided this information to each of my peers yesterday before the meeting so they would have awareness prior to the vote.

A Great Day for Celebration in District 1's Bellview Community This Monday!

MEDIA ADVISORY: Ground-Breaking Ceremony for the Bellview Library

Published Apr 05, 2021

The media and the public are invited to a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Bellview Library located at 6425 Mobile Hwy. in Pensacola on Monday, April 12 at 1 p.m. The 12,500 square foot building is expected to be completed Spring 2022. COVID-19 precautions are being taken so please RSVP at https://bit.ly/31ydSrD by Wednesday, April 7.

Speakers will include:
Chairman and District 4 County Commissioner Robert Bender 
Vice Chairman and District 1 County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh
West Florida Public Libraries Director Todd Humble
Escambia County School Board Member Kevin Adams
County Administrator Janice Gilley
(One or more Escambia County Board of County Commissioners may be in attendance)

Escambia County is adding on to a prior bank facility, which was 2,500 square feet and 10,000 square feet will be an addition. The architect for this project is STOA Architects. Hewes and Company is the contractor.

Features:

• The main portion of the library will consist of a large open space that is divided into areas such as a lobby, a story time area, a youth area and an adult reading area. This large open space will provide entrances to other support spaces such as multiple study rooms, staff rooms, a PC area and a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) room.
• Most of the existing bank footprint will be utilized primarily as a meeting room but will also function as a multipurpose room to use for programs geared toward the community. This room will have the existing bank structure exposed with some acoustical clouds to control the reverberation time.
• The development of the building’s façade was inspired by origami, the art of folding paper, which is why there are angles throughout the building.
• The new library will include an exterior lawn area with the ability to project movies onto the building for events.
• Most of the old oak trees on the south side of the property will be preserved. This south side will also serve as the location for a future park and playground so the large oak trees will be able to provide natural shade.
• A sidewalk will be built that provides a direct connection between the new library and Bellview Elementary providing accessibility for children to enjoy after school programs.

Good News Gets Covered!

 

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....