Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Full Live Show: 8/19/26

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Full Live Show: 8/19/26 · Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog

• Hi, I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's blog live. Thank you for watching. Yeah, this was a pretty quiet election night on August 18th. All the incumbents went back. Mayor Reeves won 53% of the vote so that he didn't have to face a runoff yet again. Pretty nice mandate for him this time. The races that we watched, very, you know, we weren't that surprised at it. The voter turnout was a little bit less than we thought it would be. City vote was a little bit better than the county, ⁓ but still everything was down. We tried something new this time. We tried to go ahead and do a live show on ⁓ using on YouTube and Facebook. We tried it on Instagram and the technology wasn't quite perfect yet. But we were able to to broadcast for an hour Tuesday night and have people come in. We had Jeff Deweys talk ab from the Patronist Watch Party, State Representative Alex Andrade from Byron Donald's watch party, Commissioner Lumen May ⁓ from David Jolly's party. Then we brought in a bunch of politicos, people that understand politics, former Commissioner Jeff Brigash, Walker Wilson, Ryan Wiggins. We had the supervisor of elections, Robert Bender give us a report. You can still watch it on YouTube, but it it was a nice experiment to try. I think we were the first to give the election results because we were watching them so closely. ⁓ and what happened this time is what has happened, gosh, every year that I've been following and in reporting on elections is that when that early vote turnout comes in, which is within the first five or ten minutes, the supervisor of elections can publish what the results of the early voting and the vote by mail are, and those percentages hold, and they did again this time. ⁓ it so it was a real interesting thing to watch. This also is the week, the cover. We are best of the coast. This is the granddaddy of them all. This is the issue that you get to decide who are the winners. That we have been doing this since 20, well, 2000. Golly. 26 years now. It is the one where you vote, we count every vote. We have a system. We know when someone's cheated. We take out those votes that aren't valid. No one can pay to be on there. It's not who our advertisers are. It's not somebody paying to stay in some phony competition where the ad department's gonna finally decide who the winners are. No, this is done with a spreadsheet, checking each ballot, running it through the system, checking IP addresses, and it takes about two to three weeks to work out the list and then another ⁓ six weeks. to come up with this issue. Joni Dellison, our editor and creative director, is really the one, the genius behind this, and it really is the list. So it's the one that you want to hold on to for sure all through the year. That is being ⁓ it's only it was went online at ⁓ two o'clock on Wednesday and it's available wherever you work, shop and dine in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties. ⁓ it is the issue. ⁓ next week we'll have Rest of the Best which are ⁓ the Those who didn't win their category but were a finalist. And we've seen those people rise over the years to become best of the coast winners. It is a labor of love for the community, but it is your poll. It isn't ours. So please check it out at inweekly.net. ⁓ And ⁓ it is ⁓ something that's very special for us to do. Now on this show we're gonna have City Councilman Charles Baer. There are a lot of issues before the city council, curfew, data centers. What's going on with the TDC? We'll have him on. We'll have Melissa Pino saving Predietto Beach, you know, keeping it open to the public. She's working on that. We'll have her. We've got Robert Bender giving us his overnight report on the election results. And Cole Stevenson, young leader coming back from college in the community, working on a local campaign. But I wanted you to get to know him too and know the quality of the people that we have coming back into our community. Pensacola is where people want to live and they're proud to show it off to their friends. That hasn't always been the case, but it definitely is the case now. It's a worthwhile show. I think you're definitely going to enjoy it and want to stay stay with us through the whole part of it. I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. Listen, if you want to follow us, you can do it on YouTube, almost all the social media. Like, share, be a part of this. The show goes live every Friday for you to catch up on what's going on. So if you're watching on YouTube right now, you can watch the full show on Blab TV starting on Friday. So please be a part of all of this. This has been fun to do. I've got with me K City Councilman Charles Baer. Charles, thank you for coming on. Hey, Rick, great. It's great to be on here. Thank you. You know, it with the we've known each other over the years. ⁓ you've been on the city council, run for office, several different offices. You now serve District 2 in the City Council. A lot of issues have come up this summer. the one that's that's been on a lot of people's mind, at least the mayor's mind at the press conference today, is curfews. It was on the agenda. ⁓ the council ⁓ had a lot of questions about things they'd like to see changed, ⁓ and in the end it was pulled off the agenda to give time to work it out. What were some of the things that concerned you about that? Yeah, you know, when the f the all this first happened and Fourth of July, I was in favor of a curfew. It was kind of a knee jerk on my behalf as well, and so I I kind of felt like we needed to do something. So yes, I did I reached out to the mayor and said I was interested in working on an ordinance. But then I started listening to people, listening to my family, listening to people in the community, and I've not had a single person tell me they want a curfew. ⁓ and I don't think it's gonna solve the issue. I really think, and I said this at our meeting, we need to have a workshop on this, because clearly there were concerns on council about a number of issues, and I think it would have really benefited us to have a council workshop to discuss it. Let's talk about that a little bit. What's the difference? Because this was the first reading of the ordinance that happened on the thirteenth, keep my date straight in my head. ⁓ and and but what would be different if it was a work what's the difference between doing it in the meeting that y'all were in and doing in a workshop? Well when you do it in a workshop, it's pretty much open for anyone to say whatever they want. You know, and really it's it's designed to have more of a a free thinking discussion, more brainstorming about what this ordinance should be. ⁓ and clearly the mayor had an idea of what it should be, but instead of having the pressure of having to take a vote that night. And the limitations of of that and having that first reading, a workshop gives us time to delve into it more, get our staff engaged, and I think just give us an opportunity to discuss it more fully. Well, it seemed, you know, I think the consensus was to to have it did need more work. In watching the meeting, I think Council President Patton ⁓ listened to the room. She did. ⁓ and I think that that was effective. What were some of the things that that you saw? Ideas that were brought up that should be considered. Well, I know and the mayor has mentioned this one, the twenty-one versus eighteen. The state statute provides that the person can be eighteen, they're an adult. ⁓ you're about the one the adult who can accompany them. Yes, yes. And the fact is is that you know an eighteen year old is an adult, just like a twenty-one year old, and it's not necessarily more responsible if you're twenty-one. So that's definitely a concern. The chief kept talking about who he wants to protect with this ordinance. Not enforcement, he wanted to protect 10 and 12 year olds. So why is it we're focused on 17 and under? Maybe we should change it to under 16, people that can't drive. So I think there's some some concerns about that. There's concerns about what's going to happen if someone who is the adult says they're in charge of all these kids and they're just going to take their word for it. I mean, is that true? I mean, and what if you find a st ⁓ child out there and you ask them? If they have permission, are you gonna then have to call their parent and find out? I mean, we're gonna end up babysitting kids. I know that's not what the mayor wanted to do, but it is gonna be babysitting children. Was there any concern about it being citywide? I didn't hear anything about that. I you know, I know that the focus has been downtown, but I think it's really hard to just carve out one part of the city and make it applicable there. I think it needs to be something that can be, you know, used citywide, and I'm not saying I'm supporting The curve for you, but I feel like carving out just downtown is not the best way to do it. ⁓ Mobile does that. Some other cities do that, but I can understand and and I think the mayor and when I've questioned him during the press conferences, that's been one of the things he's brought up that it that the boundaries would be difficult, would make it harder to figure out are you on this in this block or that block, it what's downtown. What's you know, what's the Cordova part or mall area, how do you define it? Right. I can understand that. All right. Big another big issue that's come before the council this summer has been data centers. You've been a very outspoken ⁓ critic of of data centers. Talk a little bit about that issue. Okay. I I just don't think in the city limits or in the county for that matter, we need to have a data center. ⁓ could be an AI data center. That's the main one we're talking about, is AI data centers. And I feel like what we did the moratorium gives us plenty of time to a year to study it, make sure we get it right when we go to change the land development code, make sure we take into account private property rights, the Bert Harris Act, all of those things that could affect, you know, our ability to enforce this. So and fifty megawatts to me is is so small compared to the thirty two hundred megawatt one they're putting in, you know, w I guess west of Savannah. So I feel like fifty megawatts covers just about everything. I don't think anyone's gonna build one that's Less than that, you know, at this point. There right now that issue seems to be settled, although ⁓ it's still it's a national issue. It's it's an issue that it's gonna be probably part of the governor's race. Data ⁓ Byron Donalds has been ⁓ has received some pretty good contributions from the AI companies. Right. ⁓ and I'm sure David Jolly will use that ⁓ in his campaign against him. ⁓ the I think the other challenge in looking at it is ⁓ where we go from here as far as how we gonna get the data to figure out what data centers are gonna be permissible because that's the part I keep seeing Charles that's missing is that everyone's there's a group that quietly wants does didn't want a moratorium, doesn't want a ban, but they haven't defined what a data center means to them. Right, right. I I I think that's a challenge. I think that's why I We've gone the moratorium route to give ourselves time to look at all sides of it and see, you know, is this truly a threat? You know, I I know that there's we're talking about water issues, environmental impacts, power, power grid, you know, and some of these bigger data centers, they're closed loop systems, they don't have as many impacts, you know. So the problem to me is that data centers don't produce a lot of jobs. They put a lot of strain on the, you know, the resources. And so until they find a way to deal with that. I I just don't think it's the right fit for us. Now I'm not saying we don't need data centers somewhere. That's the hard part, is because I think most of us use AI to some extent now, so there's gonna have to be data centers. You know, and the question is where. You know, you also serve on the Tourist Development Council. Yesterday they had a meeting. You got to chair the meeting. I watched it this morning. it is ⁓ David Baer, who's been on the board for a while, former chair, has brought up that there's still problems with ⁓ Tourism partners getting paid. Fufu Fest, according to Mr. Bayer, is still sitting from last year waiting to get paid, invoic get reimbursed from invoices, ⁓ and it's impacting them as far as people doing things this year. I've I've I've I heard just recently that the night moves, which has been a fairly successful concert, ⁓ that they're they're not gonna do it this year because of the funding issues, whether they can get paid or not. I How do you see this issue? It's it's very frustrating. And we even the the group that came yesterday to present to us, African American Heritage Society, they even had concerns about the documentation they had to submit ⁓ every month to the clerk's office. And you know, I have to do it with Keep Penskill Beautiful. We we get funding and we have to submit documents to the county, then they go to the clerk's office. Sometimes they delve deeper and have to get more information from us. We haven't had the issues with not getting paid, but A number of organizations have and you know it this is a fight that's gonna end up I mean it's in the courts right now, I think, not necessarily with TDC money but with the nonprofits. With the nonprofits. Right. And a lot of these are nonprofits, they're getting TDC money. So it's it's all kind of connected. And the county commissioner and the clerk need to work it out. I mean, they're the ones that appropriate the money. We TDC just recommends, they appropriate, and so they have to make sure all these people have signed contracts. You know, we sign a contract, keeping school beautiful. And When we sign that, we expect to get paid and and it's it's not happening and that's frustrating. You know, it was v amazing you had Ray Palmer with Pensacola Sports get up there and say that he had nine hundred pages for one month's worth of reimbursement, which is you're almost having to run a whole separate staff to to deal with stuff where no one's found any fraud. There hasn't been that hasn't been an issue. Right. ⁓ which which makes it very, very difficult. We've got more on that on the blog, and you go to Rick's blog and check. that story out. ⁓ it's one that's still developing. ⁓ we're we're coming up close to the break. Charles, I know you have been you've you're you're a really unique position on the council in that you have served under three mayors in this strong mayor of government. what are the what have you seen you the the pluses and the minuses in strong mayor? Well I you know it it kind of parallels the superintendent discussion, you know, do you want a group of legislators to pick the executive leadership or do you want someone to be elected? and the challenge to me is that no matter who gets in that position, you know, that person, however they got elected, they now have incredible power in the in the city and a charter that gives them that power. The powers and duties are very empowering to the the the mayor and giving them the ability to do things that without the council ⁓ really having a lot of input. It only needs a few votes on council, and you can just set this agenda and go on about it. ⁓ and so I I feel like it's still a work in progress. You know, the council and the mayor need to have good communication. That's not really happening very well right now. And I think that's the source of a lot of the issues. It was with I think with Mayor Hayward, with Mayor Robinson, and it continues. It we talk about communication a lot, and it's important, and we just need to have more of it. Well, it the I think the council has done a better job of defining its role. Yes. O over the you know, over the years it was really ⁓ the th that you know, the the first four years it was a lot of working out whose role's who and and how do you set the agenda for a council meeting, who gets to p present stuff, how d all those things, staff, whether the where the council could have staff or not. All those things have been worked out, which I think are it seems to be evolving properly. I mean it it it you know we're gosh what we're sixteen years into this so hopefully it has. But it is an amazing y some of the things that have been accomplished have been huge. ⁓ the and I think for the most part what I see on the council is that y'all are working better together now than than past councils that we've had. And I would agree with that. I know my first council I was on it was not A lot of fun. We did not work well together. Well it so well. Well well Charles, thank you so much for coming on. I I think ⁓ it is you can follow the city council, city of Pensacola dot com. Their meetings are televised online and replayed on YouTube. You can see how they're doing. ⁓ I try to cover as much of it as as I can. The Bayers press conferences are every Wednesday at ten o'clock unless something comes up, but it is ⁓ A great way to follow what's going on in city government. All these issues are important. This dictates w the quality of life that we have. And we're very fortunate to have people like Charles and and the other council members who put up the give their time for this for not a whole lot of money and spend a whole lot of their time doing this. So it's a really ⁓ it's not quite volunteer, but it's very close. We'll go ahead and take a break. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Allen. I learned during my military service to train every day to fight and fight to win. If you've been injured in an accident, you already know one thing for sure. The insurance companies are gonna fight you for every dollar you deserve. At Michelson Booth, we settle most of the cases we handle. But if the insurance companies choose to fight, well, we're okay with that too. If you've been injured in an accident, choose a law firm that's got the resources, training, and stomach for the fight. Michaelson Booth, don't be a victim twice. It's baseball season. From heart-stopping plays to legendary victories, this is baseball at its finest. Grab your seat, bring your energy, and witness greatness live. Don't just watch it, feel it. The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are back, and you can watch Pensacola Blue Wahoos home games live, on Fridays and Saturdays, only on Blab TV. Love the Blue Wahoos, but can't watch? Get your tickets now. My name is Bill Sadler. I'm the general manager with Empire Truck Sales here in Pitzcola, Florida. I've been advertising with Blab TV for well over 20 years. Blab TV has been a huge success for the growth and success in our company. Blab reaches the local community. It's an advertising venue that really reaches our target audience and customers. It's not a week that goes by that we don't see somebody out in the community that says, hey, I saw your show on Blab TV, it was great. My name is Bill Sadler and I am Blab TV. Gil Marine, your one-stop shop for all your boating needs. We offer a vast selection of parts, accessories, and electronics. Discover our range of used boats in every size, shape, and brand, all ready to get you on the water today. And we provide expert advice and top notch customer service to ensure you have the best boating experience. We service all outboard, inboards, stern drives, jet drives, and personal watercraft. Our certified staff will get you back on the water. Visit Gil Marine at 3541 West Fairfield Drive, Pensacola. Welcome back. I'm Rick Alston. This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. This is a labor of love. I think great to work with Blab and their team to bring you the stories we were covering in the blog and in the newspaper so that you can really get to meet the newsmakers. One big newsmaker I've got with me right now, Melissa Pino. Melissa, thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me, Rick. You know, we actually became ⁓ really got to know each other during COVID. More. Those two hour drives back to Gulf Breeze, we talked all the way back on what some of the issues were. You've been very active in the community. The big issue now that that is definitely on the southwest part of the county is customary use, public use of the beaches at Perdido. Talk about why you got involved in this issue. Well, and thank you for having me. What a nice what a nice way to spend the the day after, Rick. And I appreciate you devoting some time to this because we've only got a little bit left to get to the testimonials. So hopefully with the primary in the rear view, we can get a few more of those. But I'm actually wearing an old vintage t shirt. This is a throwback. It's an eight-year-old t shirt. This was the first one we had printed up, ⁓ when we got a loose coalition of beach advocates together ⁓ to start trying to get that That beach pride back open out on Perdito Key. And so the first thing that we got accomplished was ⁓ well we blocked an attempt to close access one and then we pushed to get ⁓ beach access that had already been purchased by the public down near the crab trap. It was sitting there waiting. You would have thought that would have been easy, but it wasn't. We finally did get that open and cut the ribbon. And then a member of our team, Michael McCormick, discovered language in the deeds in front of the Gulf Beach subdivision that had somehow fallen out of much of the chain of title. And we all realized, whoa, this was supposed to be perpetual access for the public from the conveyance from the ⁓ federal government. And so little by little we've been ⁓ recovering and restoring what has always been public access. on the key until the unfortunate two thousand and I think people will be surprised if they don't go if you haven't been to Perdito Key r you know over the last few years, I think you'll be surprised at how different it is than Pensacola Beach. In Pensacola Beach you can walk the beach ⁓ from pr ⁓ from Fort Pickens past Portofino to Navarre ⁓ and not have any problems. But at Perdito ⁓ s some you know condos have Stretched out chains or do not trespass signs ⁓ behind ⁓ the beach behind their buildings and it just ⁓ it's a whole different another feel of Perdito versus what we have on Pensacola Beach. Truly, and it's such a shame and the irony is it's really only three week Three excuse me, three months out of the year during the high sea sh season that there's such contention down there. But while it's going on, it's it it's really unfortunate, it's very bad. The climate is very hostile and toxic to day visitors, families who come, people who come to have access to the beach, and then they realize that, ⁓ we didn't rent in a gulf front facing condo. We're in one across the street, or we're in the Grand Caribbean, or at Beach Access Three, for instance, we're across the street on one of these newer condo developments that are on River Road, and they're finding they don't have access. And it has only been eight years since that started to happen. But we do, particularly at Beach Access One, is very contentious and they have crime scene tape and constant deputies their uniform, badge, guns, and they are paid, ⁓ they're off duty to enforce trespassing laws and it's debatable. The the legality of it is debatable, but I think the sheriff's office for the most part handles it very professionally, but ⁓ not not the office itself but the duty the the deputies that are off duty. But it is still a very dicey and sad ⁓ situation. When you'll be at the beach and you will see a deputy come tell families to take their blanket up off the dry sand and get down to the wet sand area. Yeah, it is customary use is I guess the simplest way to say it is it what has been the customary use of the beach at ⁓ on Perdito Key? The beach is there. ⁓ there is a process going on for the county commission to show that it has been public. ⁓ and it requires ⁓ affidavits testimony ⁓ y'all had a big ⁓ meeting at Hub Stacy's on the quay ⁓ l last Friday the fourteenth ⁓ had a really good turnout ⁓ talk about the affidavits or the testimony what's what are y'all looking for to help prove that the beach has a history of being used by the public I think that what's so cool about the the the testimonial process And you're right, that what's that root word in customary use? It's custom and you can really think about it more as historical. ⁓ and that's all the commission has to do is declare that there has indeed been historical public access out there and they have to set that by ordinance and define the geographical parameters. And so what is so amazing is that your memories in this case become a legal instrument towards recovering the public access there. And what staff really needs is just some very basic ⁓ information, ⁓ tell your stories, and if you could, if you will, just peg down about when did you go? where did you go? and we don't need lad latitude longitude. Well we we used to hang out near the old reef or the Cuddy Sark or our favorite spot was to the west, just to the west of where the state park area is now. For some of the old timers that are filling out affidavits going back to the forties and even earlier, they used to head down to the reef or the Cuddy Sark area there around Beach Access One. They'd get on their dune buggies and go all the way to what used to be ⁓ the end of Florida there on on the quay and 'cause there was no road. There was no road there. And so we have an information sheet ⁓ That provides the very short list of things that are helpful, but your memories and i if you want to include them, photographs as well. That they're not required, but if you really want to share them, ⁓ so it's a wonderful way to to convey the sense of this wonderful public amenity that has always been that way until a short eight years ago when the condo owners started driving towards privatization. So the there's a deadline. The theyight. The twenty eighth of August. They have to be into the county at the twenty eighth of August. Yes, and people ⁓ there are really two ways to go about it. The county has a ⁓ portal for people that are ⁓ they like to use technology and are comfortable with it. So if you just Google Escambia Perdido Beach You will, you know, ask for a portal if you have to use that search term. It will take you to that page. It will give you instructions, and then it has the fields for entering a little bit of information about yourself, what's your name, ⁓ where do you live. And something that's very important is that you don't have to currently live in Escambia County. You don't have to have ever lived in Escambia County. If you live in Timbuktu and you spent a glorious wide open week on that beach in May of nineteen ninety nine. That is that is still a a valid testimonial. So you can go to the county's website or we found that a lot of people weren't comfortable with that. So instead we made a short page of instructions for people to either handwrite or to ⁓ type and then get them notarized. You can pick those forms up at Per Perdito Pack and Ship. ⁓ which is down on ⁓ Sorrento across from ⁓ o ⁓ the the Walmart there on the corner of Dog Track. Okay. Or you can email us. Do I have time to give the email? Yeah we'll we'll add it to this. Okay. Yeah. The first part is easy. It's open Perdido Key Beach. Okay. Open Perdito Key Beach. Gets a little tricky from there because it's at protonemail dot com. P-R-O-T-O-N proton email dot com and everyone is like, why did you do that? And we say, because it's free. And we're just ⁓ we're just an ad hoc group of of people trying to help with this. You can see that on the screen. We'll be able to get it to help. It is ⁓ I I think this is to me it's a no-brainer as far as the beaches should always be open. ⁓ the ⁓ I can understand if if There's a a pool r next to the condo and wanting to protect the property itself, but it it's always been an issue. It's been an issue in Gulf Breeze with peers, it's been an issue ⁓ in a lot of different ⁓ who owns the shoreline. And I think the shoreline is everybody's. ⁓ but that could be a unique, unique feel to it. ⁓ so you've got a deadline, it's August 28th. You know, you're looking at ⁓ an opportunity to to be a part of the process. It and what happens after this? What happens after all the the testimony is sent in, what happens next? ⁓ staff has a built-in review period of ninety days ⁓ so that they can review everything that's being submitted and then we're into the Christmas season and don't really expect that you know there's gonna be anything of this really important legislative sort of thing going into Christmas. So We're expecting that January or February of next year, ⁓ twenty twenty seven, that it will come onto the agenda and the commission will be able to vote really ⁓ with a sense of confirmation that what we've been saying all along is that the public will show up. of course the concern has always been that if they pass this the goldfront condo owners might bring a lawsuit. ⁓ which is ⁓ unfortunate, but if they do and if it gets anywhere, it might not even get anywhere because they'll all have to be on the same suit and they'll all have to hang together. But if it does go to court, you need people to testify that it's been public and this has happened other places like ⁓ the town of Ruddington. Right. There are other stories of this. We're coming up on the hard break, but ⁓ this isn't a unique just to Perdito, it's happened. It's been an issue in Walton County. ⁓ for quite some time, but in other cities and other beaches are having the same issue. ⁓ the this is ⁓ I thank you for coming on the show. Thank you. You know, I think that that the people that are behind this that really care about the beach. There is no other agenda than the beach here. and it's you know the commissioners need this. I mean gosh, when we look at the County Commission, we're coming ⁓ right up on the break. But the county commission for the most part, for the majority, have been in favor of customary use. They need this evidence for them to go ahead and and validate it with an ordinance. We're gonna go ahead and break. Melissa, again, thank you for coming on. I appreciate it. ⁓ we will ⁓ we'll be back after we pay a few bills. I'm Rick Alton and this is Rick Swadlife. Well I think it's all about local and I'm a big believer in local. So I think any time you can carry a message out locally it's important. And I think it's any time the person that delivers the service can also deliver the message, which is unusual. Do you have the people that actually deliver the project doing the talking and I think that's a huge difference and a lot Really makes a huge value difference for the consumer. So I'm really so so grateful that we have this local opportunity with Blab TV. My name is Quint Steuter and I am Blab TV. Take a breath and step into something green. At Pensacola Seed and Garden, both of our locations are open seven days a week, ready when you are. We don't just sell plants, we grow many of them right here, with care you can see. And once you take one home, You'll find everything you need to help it thrive. Visiting from out of town? Discover unique exotic plants you can bring home, often for less than ordering online. Pensacola Seed and Garden. Grow something beautiful. Many who consider facial plastic surgery are concerned their results will look unnatural. But with over 20 years of serving the Pensacola community, his thousands of satisfied patients have made Dr. Derek Jones a trusted reconstructive and facial plastic surgeon known for industry-leading results that look natural. Call 850-484-FACE to schedule a consultation at one of our locations in Pensacola and Gulf Brays. I'm Dr. Derek Jones. Trust your face to a facial plastic surgeon. Nestled in the heart of Pensacola, Dorothy's is a one-of-a-kind community-driven cocktail bar by Oasis Florida, created to sustain vital HIV and STI care across the Florida panhandle. Inspired by the Wizard of Oz, rooted in inclusion and dripping with character, Dorothy's is a welcoming space with award-winning Oz-inspired cocktails, food by Steel Pony Diner, and an unmatched atmosphere. Join us seven days a week in downtown Pensacola, located directly across from Maritime Park and the Blue Wahoo Stadium. Welcome back. I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching us. If you're watching this on YouTube, this show goes live every Friday in the afternoon, so you can first see it there. Of course, if you're watching on YouTube, like and and subscribe. You'll help us a whole lot by doing that. We also have an audio version that's available on Apple Podcast and on Spotify. So you can just if you want to listen to this while you're in the yard, you could do that too. But We want to connect with you as many ways as possible. August 18th, election is over. It is the cruelest poll ever taken because there is no doubt about it. You know exactly how many friends you have and who told you the truth, whether they were going to vote for you or not. ⁓ we had a little bit less turnout than we had hoped for. And to help us talk about it, we've got Supervisor of Elections, Robert Bender. Robert, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it, Rick. ⁓ you know, we We did better than we did in twenty four, sort of split the difference between twenty two and twenty four primary. So ⁓ record breaking ⁓ for early vote, ⁓ but again our vote by mail numbers are down, which are they're down across the state, ⁓ with having everybody to renew that. ⁓ again, you're also on the heels of twenty twenty, ⁓ 'cause when you made a twenty a request for vote by mail in twenty twenty, it was good for two two election cycles. So a lot of people in twenty two got those vote by mails from twenty twenty, but ⁓ and then ⁓ also split the ⁓ election day numbers almost in half. We had thirty thousand on twenty in twenty twenty two, twenty thousand in twenty twenty four, ⁓ and we were right there just above twenty five thousand. So ⁓ again, ⁓ of course liked it better, but again a little bit above the state average in in terms of turnout and and and about the best in the panhandle. So well you look at you know you look at I was looking right before we came on I you know I was following the mayor's race and seeing how the precincts were working And it it was not down nearly as much. ⁓ about seven hundred fewer votes were cast this year than four years ago in the primary for the mayor's race. ⁓ about a five percent, four point eight percent drop. So that ⁓ you could see when you have a lot of candidates that are really working hard, that generates interest and even though the overall count was down, you had a lot of interest in that race. ⁓ it is It when you look at it maybe too early, I know but i have you looked at the number of ⁓ vote by mail ballots you sent out and how many returns, you have an idea what that percentage is. So we're we're probably closer to seventy five percent on that. Which wow. Which usually we do have a little bit higher per percentage of of returns. ⁓ I think we sent a little over twenty three thousand and and ⁓ we're right around fifteen thousand that have been been returned. So maybe a little less than seventy five percent, but but usually I think For ⁓ for the 24 general, ⁓ again, send out a little over 40,000, and I think we were right there ⁓ north of 35, maybe 37 range. So again, a little bit higher percent of of the return. ⁓ sometimes somebody maybe got their ballot and and they only had that school referendum on there and and didn't feel the need to to send it back or something like that. But ⁓ but yeah, usually a little bit higher on the return side of ⁓ vote by mail. Well, and and usually this is the year that you have the K Florida cabinet, those races are are up, and they in the past have generated a lot of excitement of of those races could be hotly contested, particularly for governor, and that can drive people to the poll. This year it was and it turned out the way everybody thought it would be, with Byron Donald's being the Republican nominee, David Jolly being the Democratic nominee. That ⁓ that didn't drive as many people to the poll. It's funny you look at these type of years, it's the governor's race that makes a big difference. In the other ⁓ two years from now will be the presidential race. And usually the sheriff's race is the one that generates a lot of excitement and gets people to the polls. Not so much the last few years, but but that that's definitely part of this. Yeah, you what do you see as far as the early voting worked well this time, Robert? the ⁓ will we have as much time to early vote in the general So So we'll have more time for early vote. We'll we'll go from the mandatory eight days to include those optional days on the front end. So we'll have thirteen days of early voting. We'll also expand it thirty minutes on the back end. So we'll go from eight AM to six PM. ⁓ great. ⁓ every one of those thirteen days, we'll have the ten sites, same ten sites will still be up. ⁓ but talking about turnout a little bit, ⁓ you know, I think sometimes when it's an open seat, you see a little bit higher turnout. So for Escambia County, our highest percent turnouts ⁓ even in presidential years, Clinton's first term, Obama's first term. Right. ⁓ so maybe seeing that that the open mayor's race from four years ago drove out a few more people than it did this time, it might might be in line. In terms of a gubernatorial, ⁓ eight years ago when we had an open governor seat, we hit sixty one percent turnout, where ⁓ typically would be in the low fifties. ⁓ and so of course we're expecting ⁓ turnout to be a little bit lower than it is in a presidential. Some some people think that the president actually impacts their daily lives more or something like that. You it's there's more excitement around. around a presidential than a gubernatorial. And in fact I was even feeling it this time. I I said, I just feel like there's something mi missing. Right. And and there's not the excitement, there's not the energy in the air that you have with a presidential. ⁓ and so I'm I'm glad my staff was able to explain that to me on why I was feeling a little ⁓ a little different. but but hopefully again with an open gubernatorial hop hopefully this is a a great matchup between the ⁓ the two primary candidates and and ⁓ the the others that are on the gubernatorial side. ⁓ and that it drives that turnout to where we are more closer to that sixty-one percent that we were eight years ago versus ⁓ the f the low fifties that we're historically are for a gubernatorial race. So we'll also have a Senate race, we'll have ⁓ congressional districts in the area, so ⁓ lots to vote on, just not school board and mayor, just like we said, it could be decided and it was decided in the in the primary. You were right, you were totally right. And so for for the public too, there's a if you're not registered to vote, there's the books will open back up. Where you can register to vote. You can change parties, but it doesn't really matter in the general because you can vote for whoever you want to vote for. But if you if you want to register to vote, this is the time to do it. We'll give you all the dates that you need to keep in mind when that book closes, when you can the deadline for requesting vote by mail. If you've got a vote by mail now. ⁓ for the primary, you're automatically in for the general. As long as you've asked to to do all elections. Some some people may only have requested the primary and and we'll we'll do that. But if you have a we call it all request, it would it'll be good through November and so you'll get one ⁓ when we send those out. So when do you get to take a break? Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, okay. Thanksgiving. So you know so right now we we are are finalizing ⁓ the reports and and and so we're we're Today we're scanning the ballots from yesterday in into into clear ballot, ⁓ which is our audit system, and and then we'll perform that audit. In Scambia County, we'll do one hundred percent of the precincts, one hundred percent of the ballots, all the races, compare that to the tabulation system again, 2024, 99.998% match. Right. ⁓ again, some of those just nuances that you see are the are the differences. And so ⁓ we'll do that. We'll start designing the ballot ⁓ for November now that we know who's gonna be on it. ⁓ still waiting on amendment three language to come out, which which should be here by the end of the week. ⁓ and and and so we'll we'll we'll design that ballot and get it ready. We'll start printing those and and getting ready for a vote by mail that are are just going out. I think it's ⁓ early September. ⁓ gosh, right on top of it. Robert, I hope that you'll I hope you'll stay with us. I like having Robert on the show because I w it's very important that we vote. Our democracy depends on voting. ⁓ this is how we get to shape our government and shape our future as a community. So Robert, thank you for coming on as often as you have. ⁓ we'll do a lot of it towards the end of September and heading into November. Again, this is important for all of us. All the election results they're on the blog, ricksblog.biz. Of course, Robert's site is scambia votes.gov has all the information. ⁓ so you can check out how your candidates did if you haven't done so already. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Allen. At A1 Automotive, we do it all. All kinds of repairs for all kinds of vehicles. We do AC repairs, we do suspensions, we do pre-purchase inspections. We'll diagnose your problem and get it fixed. Free brake inspection. We can provide financing for any work we do. 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I mean, you look at ⁓ for twenty years ago we were always fighting over could we keep our talent. ⁓ now we're we're doing a much better job of it. ⁓ one ⁓ young man that I have followed since he was Going with his dad into the courtroom wearing a bow tie and his own little briefcase is Cole Stevenson. Cole, thank you for joining us. Yes, sir, yeah. Yeah, recent graduate, University of the South, ⁓ your IB program at Pensacola High School. how did I B prepare you for SWANE? So I mean, really, I I heard like my freshman year of IB that all the seniors who graduate say college is easy after that. I wouldn't say it made it easy. I think college is a lot more than just the classes and the classwork, but I definitely became a much stronger writer and I I had friends who were completely different majors from me, biology or or ⁓ history majors, and they'd be telling me about stuff they learned in their sophomore or junior year class that I learned my junior year of high school. So there was it was just super comprehensive. You kinda learn Everything about everything pretty extensively. So Yeah, the ⁓ I remember one of the first times I interviewed you was ⁓ you'd written a paper about Beastie Boys. Yeah. Which we which was great. Of course you were still late turning it in. Yes. but it it's it's been fun to watch you grow up. How d you know, you've been away, ⁓ you've come back to work during the summer, but how much has Pensacola changed from when you graduated from high school to where we are right now? I mean, so one of the first things I noticed is the traffic is you know, at five o'clock it is thick. It's it's not Atlanta or something, but it is you you would have to stay off Main Street. Right. Right. I noticed, you know, at night I used to be able to see the stars from my house and now there's a lot of not that it's an issue, it's a lot of people living here now, but it definitely does kind of fog up the sky a little bit. Definitely a lot of more developments. Seen a lot of apartments. in Gulf Breeze and just sometimes I'll drive somewhere new and I didn't even realize they were building something there. So yeah. How about how about the entertainment and that what we have right now? How does downtown's changed? Yeah, so I've definitely I mean now I'm twenty one so there's a lot more I can do, but ⁓ you didn't do it before, right? So Mom and Dad don't watch. ⁓ yeah, vinyl ⁓ Is definitely I think they've gotten a further reach for artists. I know the handlebar has been doing well, getting a lot of talent from just out of states. I think nightlife is pretty good. if if you're on the further stretch towards Jackson Square. It's definitely I have friends that are actually excited to go have fun downtown. ⁓ cool. Instead of this is what we kinda have to do. Yeah. Is it is there a place that your friends from out of town like to come to? ⁓ I think Seville is definitely where I take everybody. It's just all the rooms and I think Fast Eddies is a pretty cool bar. So cool. Now you have you're working on the Jolly campaign here. You you're one of the ⁓ working for them. Talk about getting involved in politics. What w how do you how have you liked it? Yeah and and what do you what drew you to that? Yeah, so ⁓ I was a psychology major, ⁓ political science minor, so ⁓ people obviously are interesting to me. I've always found ⁓ politics to be something I'm interested in. I'm not sure that that's what my career might be in, but marketing is kind of where I'm headed I think. And there's like my dad's told me there's not much better marketing than selling one person. So you kinda get a lot of experience with that. it was Lumen May who I talked to that really got me involved because he's been involved with Jolly ⁓ especially in this area, ⁓ rallying support and so he said, you know, what's Cole doing? And I was looking for stuff and he said, How about working on a campaign running a office? So making a lot of connections, just trying to get people to help spread the message. And just the excitement. Excitement of being in in in in any any race is exciting, particularly about a gubernatorial race is that They they've got money, ⁓ they've got a they've got a lot going on. So to be at the ground floor or something like that, ⁓ and then get to know your city better. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean with the canvassing we gotta go to different neighborhoods and just go door to door and talk to people. So I've been in a few areas I didn't even know that were like ⁓ the DeVilliers area, there's a lot of new ⁓ houses and stuff set up near there. seemed like a lot of young people and anyway, it's been kinda cool. It's a good transition coming out of college. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I'm not sure yet if I'm staying here, so I've kinda you know, I'm getting a feel for like what it's like to live here really. ⁓ cool. Well we're we're k we're coming up to the break, but I you know, I I wanted to have you on the show. ⁓ it'll be fun to see this this you know, this election cycle. We tried we tried our first live broadcast. ⁓ and it went fairly well. This during the general we'll be able to call you in on the show. Yes sir, definitely. So that that should be fun to do. The ⁓ and you know, I think it's ⁓ it's fun to see you come back. It's fun to see that that we have a town that's attractive. Mm-hmm because gosh, you really Cole, you know, it wasn't that long or well it it's in my world it's long, not you know, in your world it's you know, not long at all. But, you know, or it's you know, twenty years ago, people would never think when they got out of college coming back here. Yeah, absolutely. So I think that is a huge, huge thing and I think there's so much the community has to offer. But Cole, thank you for coming on. I appreciate it. They ⁓ it it is fun to see the talent that we're keeping and the talent that wants to be here in Pensacola and Escambia County. We are a place that people want it want to come and they're they want their friends to come here too. We're gonna go ahead and take a break. I'll try to wrap this show up. We're Rick's blog live and I'm Rick Out. It's baseball season. From heart-stopping plays to legendary victories, this is baseball at its finest. Grab seat, bring your energy, and witness greatness live. Don't just watch it, feel it. The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are back, and you can watch Pensacola Blue Wahoos home games live on Fridays and Saturdays only on Blab TV. Love the Blue Wahoos, but can't watch? Get your tickets now. I learned during my military service to train every day to fight and fight to win. If you've been injured in an accident, you already know one thing for sure. The insurance companies are gonna fight you for every dollar you deserve. At Michaelson Booth, we settle most of the cases we handle. But if the insurance companies choose to fight, well, we're okay with that too. If you've been injured in an accident, choose a law firm that's got the resources, training, and stomach for the fight. Michaelson Booth, don't be a victim twice. I'm Andrea Housen, practice coordinator for Derek Jones Facial Plastic Surgery. Dr. Derek Jones is amazing. He's double board certified. He's skilled. And he's been doing this show with Blab TV for almost two decades. If you're looking to grow your business, Blab TV has an amazing reach in this local viewing area. We always hear we saw you on Blab Television. I'm Andrea Hausen with Derek Jones Facial Plastic Surgery, and I am Blab TV. Gil Marine, your one-stop shop for all your boating needs. We offer a vast selection of parts, accessories, and electronics. Discover our range of used boats in every size, shape, and brand, all ready to get you on the water today. And we provide expert advice and top notch customer service to ensure you have the best boating experience. We service all outboard, inboards, stern drives, jet drives, and personal watercraft. Our certified staff will get you back on the water. Visit Gil Marine at 3541 West Fairfield Drive, Pensacola. Hi, I'm Kathy Hallsworth, Artistic Director at Pensacola Little Theater in the Clark Family Cultural Center. Join me the first Monday of every month at 7 p.m. for the center stage where I get to talk to my friends and your neighbors about all things on PLT stages. What a show. We covered a lot in a very short period of time. Of course, I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's Blog Live. You can follow me ⁓ just on all the different social media platforms. Of course, Rick'sBlog.biz every day where you want to go, what the latest news is, in weekly.net. We don't color on the dog in here on Blab with Rick's Blog Live. We try to reach you in as many ways as we possibly can. I think I went through all my questions today for who we had, of course, Charles Bear. City Councilman were able to talk about curfew and data centers and a whole lot more. Mel Pino on the the fight to keep Perdido Beach open to all of us. That's a huge story. Robert Bender giving us a breakdown of of the primary as well as what can we can expect in the coming weeks. She still can register to vote for the general election. We'll keep you on top of that. Then we had Cole Stevenson, ⁓ just a great, a bright young kid, young man, ⁓ who's back in town after graduating from college. ⁓ and just to get his take on what he's seeing in the city. This is a segment that we've developed over the last few shows that that I want to keep doing as much as we can. ⁓ it is fun to do the show. It is great to work with the Blab team. They've done a great job in presenting ⁓ working with me and trying to make this presentable for you. ⁓ but please stay with us because I think that this is something that we could develop more and more. ⁓ we we're trying to get it make the news as timely as we can. ⁓ so that you can get the latest on what's going on. Try to get the newsmakers in front of you so you get to see them, hear them, ⁓ and and make some decisions on your own about whatever they're they're talking about or the pro the projects that they're doing. ⁓ because I think the more you get to know these people, the better decisions you can make ⁓ in your life and in on the issues that are going on. And most of all, most importantly, get involved. We need you involved. You know, vote. It's very important. That has a huge factor. Watch what's going on in council meetings. Let your representatives know what you think on issues. It's very important to do that. The blog we try to every morning to give you the hottest news story of the day, and we do our best at trying to get that in front of you. Please follow us. Thank you for watching. I'm Rick Altson and this is Rick's Blog Live. We'll be back again next week.