Escambia-Gulf Breeze Bridge-Naming Committee Holds Organizational Meeting

Last night the Escambia County-City of Gulf Breeze Bridge-naming committee held its first meeting.

The purpose of this committee is to take public input and decide on a name for the replacement structure for the existing Philip D. Beall Sr. Memorial Bridge that is being built over Pensacola Bay.  Current FDOT policy states that absent legislative action, a replacement structure carries the existing designation

However there is a movement afoot to pull the existing designation and rename the replacement structure in honor of General Chappie James.

My personal feelings on the subject have been well documented:  I will never vote to remove a historical memorial designation on a whim.  Never.  I also believe that the aviator Chappie James was truly a great American Hero and that we should honor him locally, in his hometown, by re-naming Pensacola's airport in his honor--as Louisville recently did for their hometown hero Muhammad Ali.

Ultimately, the committee will make the final recommendation for our consideration, though.

8 of the 9 members of this newly-formed committee were present, along with an equal number of members of the public, myself, Commissioner Robert Bender, and media representatives from the PNJ and WEAR ABC.

At this meeting, and after we went around the room and all in attendance were recognized and allowed to introduce ourselves, Gulf Breeze attorney Timothy Burr was selected as chairman and some initial housekeeping items were addressed as follows:

--County staff gave a brief overview of the sunshine law and its applicability to this group.

--Chairman Burr took input from committee members and the public and the group decided upon three meetings for input from the public and an eventual decision meeting where the committee would hopefully vote on a name.

(Public comments were allowed in a very informal manner and will be a part of the meeting agenda's going forward; Kirke Beall spoke (grandson of Philip Beall Sr.) and I spoke as well. Multiple  members of the committee and the public spoke and were heard.)

--June 11th, 5:30 PM  Escambia County Commission Boardroom
--June 12th, 5:30 PM Gulf Breeze (venue TBA)

--July 9th, final committee meeting for decision, 5:30 Escambia County Commission Boardroom

Escambia County staff committed to taking for action the committee recommendation that an email address be established and monitored and advertised that will allow citizens to give suggested names for the bridge.  This information will be shared with committee members one-week prior to the next meeting on June 11th.

10 Initial, Potential Ideas for Our Bridge Naming Committee's Consideration.....

Here are ten initial thought's for our "bridge naming" committee's consideration (below).  This committee should consider ALL alternatives on THEIR timeline--not an artificially-created timeline.

The Board of County Commissioners wisely voted to impanel a committee to look at the issues surrounding the naming of the replacement bridge being constructed over the existing 3-Mile Bridge.

Most folks had not realized the bridge has an official designation already, the Philip D. Beall Sr. Memorial Bridge.  According to FDOT and absent any legislative change in Tallahassee, the replacement bridge will carry the same designation as the original bridge.

A group of motivated citizens, however, are asking us to remove the designation from Beall and vote to advocate to our legislative delegation that the new structure be named for General Daniel R. "Chappie" James instead.

General James was born in Pensacola and he was a war hero who ultimately rose to the rank of 4-Star General and he was the first Black man to achieve this rank.

Sadly, upon some initial push-back being applied to this idea of ripping one man's memorial down in order to honor another man---some have resorted to the politics of personal destruction; they have actively begun to run down the Beall family name.  They have called Beall Sr. a racist and even a white supremacist.

This is all untrue and it is disappointing and disgusting that folks would lower themselves to this level in order to rip one family's good name from the bridge to get what they want. 

I believe that if General James was here to witness these machinations, he would be deeply disappointed;  I do not believe he would want to watch one family name be stripped from a monument so his name could be placed on this same monument.  But because nobody knows what he might think, because he has passed away, this is simply speculation.

So again, I'm proud that Escambia County voted to take a step back--just  as Gulf Breeze appears poised to do as well.  I'm glad we will be forming a committee to look at all aspects of this issue with the goal of giving the BCC a good, solid recommendation that we can act upon-- based upon rational, reasoned, and measured consideration of multiple alternatives by a committee of citizens taking input from the entire community.

I am going to advocate for giving this committee broad berth in looking at multiple ideas with the intention of asking them to bring back their preferred alternative (s) from which the BCC can choose.

Here's an initial list of 10 things that I feel should be considered by the committee:

1.  Maintain status-quo-take no option on the naming and let FDOT protocol prevail.

2.  Name replacement bridge for General James (thereby removing Beall memorial from bridge)

3.  Joint designation for bridge "James-Beall" bridge or "Beall-James" bridge

4.  One Span (Pensacola to Gulf Breeze) named the Philip Beall Bridge and the other Span (Gulf Breeze to Pensacola) the Chappie James Bridge

5.  Focusing resources on naming Airport for James instead of bridge (Like Louisville, KY, recently did for Muhammad Ali)--This is the alternative I prefer, as it makes the most sense in my opinion..

6. Switching Designations (e.g. Chappie James taking the name of the new bridge and the Beall family taking the designation from downtown's "Chappie James" state building on Government st.)

Escambia County Going with the Committee Approach to Naming the Repacement Bridge---Wisely

The Escambia BCC voted 3-2 today to move the naming of the replacement 3-Mile Bridge to a citizen's committee... a good decision for all!

Today the Escambia BCC voted by a 3-2 margin to go with a committee approach to the idea of renaming the 3-Mile Bridge over Pensacola Bay that currently carries the official designation of the "Philip D. Beall Sr. Memorial Bridge."

A local citizen's group had come in with a request that we adopt their plan to rename the structure for a local war hero-- with no additional consideration-- and to the detriment of the Beall family--as to do this would strip the Beall name from the bridge.

Nobody is saying, outright, NO WAY!

Folks are just asking that we consider alternatives.

Can we compromise and do a dual designation that honors both families?  How about we find a way to honor General Chappie James without stripping an honor away from the Beall family?

How about we name the airport at Pensacola for Chappie and keep the bridge named for Beall?

Taking a step back and listenting to stakeholders for a decision of this magnitude is smart, and I commend the board for not kowtowing to the loudest voices in the room and holding fast today with a vote to impanel a committee of concerned citizens to help us with this decision.

This was the wise, measured, and rational way to proceed on this issue!

Let's Name Pensacola's Airport for Chappie James!

General Daniel R. "Chappie" James was our nation's first Black 4-Star General and he was a decorated combat veteran aviator. He was also a native of Pensacola. We should think big and  name our city's airport in his honor!"

There may be disagreement over the naming of the Three Mile Bridge for Chappie James (as this would require a current designation be stripped from the bridge and a family that gave much to our community)--but there is absolutely NO disagreement with the fact that General Daniel R. "Chappie" James, the nation's first Black 4-star General, a Pensacola Native, and a decorated Combat Veteran of the Korean and Vietnam War--deserves to be honored in a profound way.

I have made it clear I do not favor honoring one man and his family by tearing down a designation and a memorial to another family.

And I do not buy the nascent and dishonorable arguments blooming and festering about one man being a bigot.

I believe that is ridiculous and it is also a really, really slippery slope to start picking and choosing which historical figures remain "worthy" of memorials based upon today's standards, norms, culture,  and laws.

So let's all agree that Chappie deserves to be honored in a big way--much bigger than a bridge plaque.

Let's think big and name our airport in Pensacola after Chappie James.

He was an aviator, what better symbol could we use to express our thanks to this man and his family for his service to our nation than to name our airport after him?  And doing this means we don't have to disregard and tear down the Beall family's monument on the bridge.  Let's change Pensacola's airport name, and give Chappie the memorial he deserves!

Right now, the name of the airport is "Pensacola International Airport."

How about this, though:

"General Daniel R. 'Chappie' James International Airport at Pensacola."

The static display and the statue could be installed, and an entire section of the airport could be dedicated to the memory of this great American.  Hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly would learn about this man, which is a lot more that would ever stop long enough to see his name on a plaque on a bridge leading to the beach.

Come on Pensacola---let's do something we can ALL agree upon and let's do the memorial to General James the right way.

"General Daniel R. 'Chappie' James International Airport at Pensacola."

Committee Approach to Naming Replacement Bridge a Prudent Way Forward

The committee approach to selection of a memorial namesake for the replacement 3-mile bridge is the prudent, rational, and intelligent way forward that the BCC will pursue.

Today at the committee of the whole, Commissioner Bender added an item to the agenda at the table.

The item was a discussion on the process of determining a name for the replacement bridge under construction over Pensacola Bay.

A citizen's initiative movement has been gaining momentum with the singular focus of having the designation of this replacement bridge changed from the Philip D. Beall Sr. Memorial Bridge, (which the new structure, the replacement structure would carry absent legislative action) to the General Daniel "Chappie" James Bridge.

I have called for a compromise that honors both men.  This idea has been met with significant resistance.

Pensacola has voted to request the legislative delegation move to rename the bridge.

On Monday, the Santa Rosa County Commission voted unanimously to change the designation to honor Chappie James.

The Gulf Breeze city council, at their agenda review session yesterday afternoon, DID NOT add this issue as a discussion item for their meeting next week.

And today, at the BCC's committee of the whole, Commissioner Bender brought forth the idea of slowing the process down and perhaps organizing a committee to study the issue and provide alternatives that may honor our unique heritage and all area veterans that have served the country in the armed forces.  He also stated that he did not want to feel rushed into this decision.

I concurred, as did Commissioner Barry.

So next week we will discuss the formation of a BCC committee to analyze the naming protocols with the intention of having this committee make a recommendation to the BCC for us to consider.

This is a reasonable and rational approach to this issue that I believe will be favorably voted forward next week--because it is a balanced and measured, non "frenzied and harried" way to logically work through this issue so that all sides can be considered.

I look forward to this discussion next week.

You can watch the deliberations and discussions in this video.  Good discussion!

Viewpoint Submitted last Week Brings an Attack in the Sunday Paper

This email (above) to PNJ was sent Thursday morning from the dais while I was at the BCC meeting.  Instead of considering my op-ed for publication, PNJ wrote a hatchet piece attacking me three days later in the Sunday edition.....

I wrote a very balanced viewpoint and sent it to PNJ on Thursday morning from our BCC meeting. I did this in reaction to a speaker at our meeting's public forum that made several statements that were inaccurate.   The viewpoint I sent in was a condensed version of this blog post from Monday morning of last week.  (This particular blog entry has been crushed with views this week--and has received numerous positive comments.)

But Instead of publishing it or considering it for publication--PNJ instead wrote a hit piece attacking me this morning which is ridiculous and disappointing.  Most folks who take a step back and look at this whole bridge-naming issue can clearly see that a compromise is in order here.  And this is exactly what I have proposed in my viewpoint.  Too bad PNJ didn't print it.

But then I started looking into the PNJ's previous writings on the plan to name the bridge after General James--and lo and behold apparently they have already made a decision on this via an editorial that was printed over the Christmas holiday last year.  I was out of the state and did not see it when it was first printed.  Okay, so PNJ believes that this is a great plan--no problem.

But what is wrong with taking a step back, asking some important questions, and figuring this whole thing out via a rational process--or even a citizen's committee?  What is wrong with my idea of honoring both men?  I guess this must simply be "TOO Controversial"---not my idea of having a dual designation on the bridge--but rather having the audacity to disagree with a position with which the PNJ have already taken.

Wow.