News Journal: Editorial: YMCA belongs at Maritime Park

They ignore a huge future issue..."parking"...where r the Y members going to park when games are played? If only the next Ivan that hits us, would destroy the PNJ building...pleeze pleeeze!

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130303/OPINION02/303030003/Editorial-YMCA-belongs-Maritime-Park

The plan to relocate Pensacola’s downtown YMCA to one of the parcels at the Community Maritime Park is a wise one. It will add a state-of-the-art facility to the site and attract more people and foot traffic downtown.

The YMCA is a building that will be built quickly, once the relocation is approved. Many Pensacolians have grown old waiting for the “right fit,” whether it’s a business, a new employer or any of a variety of projects that sit idle. Waiting for a better, commercial offer could take years and it likely will mean millions in concessions to the builder. The YMCA board of directors is not asking for any incentive to move there.

The mark of a city on the move is that a decision gets made without endless debate and moves ahead. The years of delay on the Maritime Community Park is a prime example of wasted time and money frittered away. Baseball should have started in 2009, not three years later.

Here are other points that support relocating the YMCA:

» The YMCA will be fully funded when it breaks ground. The board is actively raising the anticipated $10 million to fund the new facility.

» With Quint Studer involved – he and his wife, Rishy, have pledged $5 million to the new building – the YMCA will be a top-notch facility worthy of a high-profile spot on Pensacola Bay. It will not be the YMCA of a generation ago; it will offer much more. Having access to the water expands the possibility to swimming, sailing, paddleboarding and other activities.

» The YMCA would pay a lease fee for its location. A nonprofit would pay nothing. The once-proposed maritime museum would not have generated revenue to the city.

» Because of its mission, the YMCA will serve a diverse community. Everyone would be welcome to participate.

» The YMCA would be a solid tenant. It has had a long, proud history as a member of this community. That not only would remain, but the Y would evolve into a stronger, more-visible partner.

» There are no business incentives that could be wasted on empty promises from businesses promising to expand or relocate here.

(Page 2 of 2)

» Additional services and programs, especially water-related activities, will mean more jobs are created.

» This facility would be for the community. In the move for economic development, far too often the goal is to offer attractions for tourists.

» We share Quint Studer’s vision of where this community can be. It’s more than buildings. It’s offering lifestyle choices and other amenities to improve the quality of life of people. The Y will be an important partner in that endeavor.

To get this project moving, we urge the YMCA board to begin a pledge drive for new members. This will show there is wide support that cuts across political, racial and social lines.

Opponents clamor that the site is not what many had hoped it would be. The University of West Florida pulled out of the project as leadership and priorities changed.

That was then. This is now.

Let’s face it: This community has a history of missed opportunities because of arguing past slights, real or perceived.

But rather than fall back on debating what might have been, it’s time to seize on this opportunity to keep Pensacola on the move.

Like my daddy used to say: "do SOMETHING, even if it is wrong"

So, the City Council votes to allow a lease and directed the CMPA to "work out the details"... but the CMPA is not made up of a bunch of lackeys and tells the Y to consider other (smaller) parcels. Now the Mayor wants to ram it past the CMPA.

How DARE they challenge "the Great and Powerful Oz"!

Quote :

Mayor Ashton Hayward said this morning that he will ask the City Council to address the controversial decision the Community Maritime Park Associates board made Thursday that appears to have stalled momentum on the effort to construct a waterfront YMCA at the park.

Calling the park board’s vote a “direct slap in the face to the City Council,” Hayward said he wants to clarify the lease process at Monday’s council committee meeting.

In a 6-4 vote, the CMPA board passed a motion directing the Y to consider two other parcels at the park, known as parcels 5 and 6, for its new building rather than the waterfront parcel 8 Y supporters had been seeking.

Last week, the City Council endorsed a lease with the Y on parcel 8 in concept and asked the CMPA board to work out the details of the lease.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130321/NEWS01/130321012/Mayor-wants-council-address-YMCA-controversy-Monday

Here is the article about the CMPA meeting where the YMCA was discussed.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130321/NEWS01/303210024/YMCA-lease-divides-Maritime-Park-board

King Hayward seems to think that it's a "slap in the face" or a personal affront if someone disagrees with him. WTH is that guys problem?? I don't think he's made out for politics!

http://www.pnj.com/article/20130321/NEWS01/130321020/YMCA-committee-recommends-dropping-Maritime-Y-effort

Quote :

Calling the city’s negotiating process broken at best and non-existent at worst, the YMCA’s executive committee on Thursday unanimously recommended dropping the ambitious effort to construct a new $10 million facility along the waterfront at the Community Maritime Park.

The decision follows more than a week of acrimony within Pensacola’s city bureaucracy that Maritime Y supporters had hoped to pass through swiftly, buoyed by strong vocal and financial support from civic and business leaders and elected officials.

"In the past month the Y has tried to navigate the process of negotiating a sublease for a parcel on the Community Maritime Park. Based on two city council meetings, one CMPA Audit and Operations meeting, two CMPA meetings and multiple meetings with city administration, it’s clear to us that the process is broken, if one exists at all,” said Steve Williams, the YMCA board chairman, in a statement.

A final decision won’t be made until the Y’s full board of directors meeting Monday.

I don't think the word "negotiate" is in some of their vocabularies. Most of them are a bunch of self-serving asses with an over inflated view of their own importance who think they can schoolyard bully others to get what they want, and they've no place in city politics.

According to the PNJ...

Quote :

If there were any doubts about whether the YMCA is still interested in negotiating a deal to build a $10 million waterfront facility at the Community Maritime Park, anchored by a $5 million donation from local philanthropists Quint and Rishy Studer, they were extinguished Monday.

The YMCA’s full board of directors met and voted to ratify the recommendation from its executive committee last Thursday to drop its effort to construct the facility, citing extreme confusion within the city’s bureaucracy over how public property is leased at the Community Maritime Park.

“An unclear process, ambiguous jurisdiction, and a contentious political environment make it impossible for the YMCA to negotiate a good faith agreement under the current circumstances,” Steve Williams, the Y’s chairman, said in a statement after Monday’s vote.