Tuesday on the Wake Up Call: Navy Point Park to be Protected in Perpetuity

Today on the wake-up call live on WPNN 103.7 --We welcomed to the show Melissa Pino, a Navy Point resident and community activist.  We spoke with her about the wildly popular move by the Escambia Board of County Commissioners to pass an ordinance this Thursday which will prevent any development on the 60 acre Navy Point park project.  We also went through a list of local, national and international stories of interest- discussing multiple issues from around the country that traditional media outlets just won’t cover.  We will always cover interesting, important stories that are not politically correct and won’t otherwise be reported.  That’s what we do on the Wake Up Call! 

We are live each weekday morning from 6:00AM-8:00AM on WPNN-Pensacola's Information Station, where local, conservative morning-drive talk radio is ALIVE and Well and where we give you the most powerful 2 hour(s) in local morning drive talk radio.

Pensacola's only conservative, local morning drive talk show giving you information, weather, traffic, humor, and educated, intelligent discourse with no PC filters....The Wakeup Call with Jeff Bergosh on WPNN FM 103.7: Radio UNRESTRAINED!

- you can listen to this morning’s show here

 

What are the Study's Conclusions?

Would you want to trade a sandy beach for this in your neighborhood?

 

The living shoreline project at Navy Point has had some issues through its history post-construction.

Folks in the area have passionately requested the project be removed--as the oysters have come loose from the piles and the area's swimmers, boaters,  and kayakers do not like the obstructions and potential for injury from the sharp shells that in many cases have washed ashore and been left scattered on the bayou's sandy bottom near the beach.

Folks are rightly concerned about Vibrio--a flesh destroying and often times fatal condition that is found in shallow, brackish and warm bayous.  Many feel these oyster piles are an unnecessary risk to water sports enthusiasts in the area---given the issues with Vibrio. 

Now, I am a supporter of thoughtfully considered living shoreline projects, like the one constructed in Pensacola Bay along Bayfront Parkway.  The difference there and here is this:  That area is not normally home to folks who swim and snorkel--so there hasn't been a "loss" of recreation opportunity for nearby residents.  Same scenario elsewhere.  Areas where folks often swim and kayak should have a different system implemented to improve water quality, in my opinion.  I mean, imagine if Bruce Beach was targeted for a wall of these oyster bags like Navy Point was?  What reaction might that trigger?  Or here's a better one:  What if these oyster bags were piled all over the shoreline near the Bayview Community Center near the dog beach down there?  What would those residents think?

You know the answer to that.

So now comes a privately funded study of the effectiveness of this 5 year project at Navy Point authored by a licensed, professional Coastal Engineer.

Videos of what looks like a messy, yucky disaster of a project can be found here.

I'm not a scientist, but I can sure watch these videos and read the study's conclusions (p. 19 of the study), combined with the numerous emails I am now receiving, combined with videos I have now been sent combined with what I have seen with my own eyes as I have personally visited this area on multiple occassions.

Tonight we will discuss this project at our BCC meeting.

I do not yet know what the outcome of the discussion will be---but based upon the totality of all the issues around this project combined with the study's conclusions that the project has NOT prevented erosion (which has actually become worse since the oyster bags were deployed)--I would not be surprised if the board votes to remove these bags, regroup, and come back with a better, more effective and community-friendly environemental alternative to try later.