Neighborhoods

Every day we all encounter things that we would like to see improved in our community--the poorly up kept property across the street, the safety of their kids on their way to school.

The decisions the council makes are aimed at improving our citizen's daily lives. But, ultimately, we rely on the citizens to help us direct our resources. The best tools the city has for addressing needs are our neighborhood associations.

I have visited many of our neighborhood associations. I've shared information about planned neighborhood improvements, learning about specific neighborhood issues. In Scenic Heights I even got to be present for the birth of a new association. Every meeting is a reminder for me of the central role of neighborhoods in our city.

Neighborhood associations help us get the right city services to each neighborhood. The city has a number of programs available to help associations build their neighborhoods. These include the Pensacola Community Initiatives Program (PCIP) grants, neighborhood planning, and an urban infill program. Many associations have city staff give presentations at their regular meetings, like safety presentations by the police or fire departments, or have councilmembers speak on city issues and hear concerns.

The PCIP grants, in particular, are a great resource for neighborhoods and the city. They are a matching grant for neighborhood improvements, with the city providing dollars and neighborhoods matching with cash, in-kind contributions, or volunteer time. Recent project from these grants include new gazebos in East Hill and Eastgate, entryway signs, right of way landscaping, and park improvements. Applications for the next cycle of PCIP grants are being accepted until Dec 11--more information is available.

Associations also push for additional improvements or targeted services. For example, Cordova Park lobbied hard for sidewalks, which they recently got. Others might request increased code enforcement activity or traffic calming. By coming together the residents can speak with a louder voice.

And ultimately, building community comes down to knowing your neighbors. Associations organize movies in the park and Christmas celebrations, things that help neighbors know neighbors. These relationships are the backbone of our community.

City government, government of all kinds, is a partnership with the citizens. However we structure our government, those in the leadership positions need advisers, need citizens to speak up and share their ideas, thoughts, and concerns.

If you want to get involved in your neighborhood association but need more information, let me know. Or if you don't have an association and would like to start one, I can help get you the right resources so that together we can create the Pensacola we all know it can be.

Tryon Library event at Barnes and Nobles

Get an early start on the holidays or just bring the kids for some Halloween fun this Saturday starting at 11 am at Barnes and Nobles on Airport Blvd. It is all for a good cause: raising money for the new Tryon library.

There will be:

• storytime by city councilmembers (I'm at noon)
• Wii sports
• refreshments

How does it raise money for the library? If you are wearing a special sticker, 10% of the price of your purchase will be donated to the library. An important caveat, though, is that the stickers won't be available at the store--you will need to pick them up at a library before the event. You will also have an opportunity to buy books directly for the library from their wish list.

So stop by the library (any branch) this week to get a sticker (and a good book), then come to Barnes and Nobles on Saturday for some fun and fundraising to support our libraries.

Hollice Williams Park Visioning Workshop

The community is invited to a visioning workshop for Hollice Williams Park. That's the park under the Interstate, from Cervantes to Yonge. The workshop will be a chance for the community to weigh in on their hopes for the site. A professional landscape architect and planner will be on hand to hear your thoughts and ideas as plans are developed to fully utilize this park as a community asset for multiple purposes.

This linear park encompasses over 5 acres and currently includes Hunter pool, basketball courts, football uprights, and extensive open space. But with your input, we can make this park even better. This park has lots of potential, but we won't know what you would like to see unless you tell us.

What would you like to see? Bike trails? Exercise trail? Skate Boarding? Jogging? Strollers? Come share your thoughts with your neighbors, landscape architects, and city staff.

The workshop will be held Thursday, October 29, 2009 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Loaves & Fishes, 257 E Lee St.

Hope to see you there.

West Florida Public Library

With the opening of the new Tryon library, it is a good time to consider the value of the investment in the public library system. Public libraries are invaluable for a community. They are a statement about the importance of an educated population, one that continues learning throughout their lives. Libraries today are also more than just a book repository. They provide resources of all kinds, from travel videos to books on cds, from language tapes to internet access. (When we visit my in-laws, we spend time at the local library for high speed internet access so my husband and I can continue to work on our vacations.) Children's programs expand learning opportunities and create life-long library users.

From last October to this July, for example, our library:

• circulated 646,000 items
• responded to 65,500 information requests
• had 510,000 people using one of the branches
• had 140,000 people using computers
• had 9,300 children attend programs

Think about this. If, instead of checking things out from the library, people bought 646,000 paperback novels, it would have consumed about 300 trees. Those books would fill 10 miles of shelves. And they would have cost several million dollars.

Sometimes I hear about the future demise of libraries. As more people gain internet access, they will have greater access to online information and there will be no need for reference desks. Kindles and other electronic books will replace print. So far I haven't seen it. Recently I was picking my son up, and another mom was standing reading from a Kindle. I asked her about it. She loves it, particularly having a selection of books for her recent flight, moving here from Okinawa. But, she said, she also loves libraries, browsing the stacks, thinking about all of the people who have read the book before.

As Rebecca Ryan, who recently spoke to the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, has noted, young workers pride themselves on lifelong learning; one of her metrics for an area's success at recruiting and retaining young professionals is the Learning Index. Strong libraries can improve the lifelong learning opportunities in our city, improving our local economy.

The new Tryon branch is open on Langley. Soon the geneology department will move to the old Tryon location. The city is working on the plans for a new downtown library. I look forward to the strengthening of our library system to improve education opportunities, from teaching kids to read to supporting life-long learning, in our city.

Hope to see you at the Tryon library grand opening Friday (Oct 23) at 2 pm!