Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Is the Community Maritime Park Dead in the Water?

The Pensacola City Council met last night, discussed the CMP, and Mark O’Brien’s blog reports that “members are frustrated by the slow pace of progress”.

They should be frustrated; it has been almost two years since city residents approved the park and ground still hasn’t been broken on its property. It’s starting to look like the CMP won’t ever be built.

For one thing, the Community Maritime Park’s funding scheme is probably unconstitutional until county residents are given the chance to vote on it. The Florida Supreme Court’s decision has been appealed, but the court could choose to not reconsider the issue.

At last night’s meeting, City Manager Tom Bonfield told City Council members that, "their decision could stand...we might never hear from them again".

This wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the city was considering other funding sources, but they’re not. I've confirmed this with Pensacola City Councilman Sam Hall. Rick Outzen has also been writing in is blog about the city’s failure to look into alternative funding sources for the CMP.

The city and the Community Maritime Park Associates need to start looking for alternative funding sources. If they don’t, the CMP plan might never come to fruition.

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