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Rick's Blog Live—Full Show 9/9/26 · Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog

• Hi, I'm Rick Alsen and this is Rick's Blog Live. This marks the third month we've been doing the show. Thank you for letting it be a part of your life. This week's issue of In Weekly is our fall arts guide, part two, the festivals. We've got so much going on. Almost every week there's a different festival, sometimes two or three. to this issue, pull it out, look at it, ⁓ put it on your refrigerator so you can keep up with what's going on. The story, the news story ⁓ to flock or not to flock. What happened to flock cameras? And just so happened to be in the middle of that story last week and was able to pull it together as for the news story for that. So it's a great issue. Please pick it up or go to nweekly.net and read it online. is I'm excited about this show. We've got Quint Studer. We'll talk about the community maritime park. ⁓ years ago, we had the referendum. We'll talk about it with Quent. ⁓ going to have Walker Wilson. They've got ⁓ the Florida downtown groups are coming here to at Pensacola's downtown. ⁓ and Walker Wilson talks about it. We've got Howe, Corporate Vice President of Workforce Solutions with Landrum. Everybody's talking about jobs. Jim will give us how that's going to come together. And then we have John Peacock. ⁓ county needs a charter. John's going to go through what's needed to make that happen. It's a fast-paced show. ⁓ stay with us. ⁓ just go ahead and get with it. Welcome, I'm Rick Outson. This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. is the week, ⁓ the 20th anniversary of the referendum vote on the community maritime park, where Blue Wahoo Stadium is. it's hard to believe now when you move around Pensacola and you go to a ball game or go to any event there. people believe was a struggle to get that park built, ⁓ to even get vote to allow it to happen on city property, to do the bond issue. public private. it was pushing up a hill, to put it very bluntly. the person who's ⁓ who really was guiding light for it and helped push it all through is Quent Studer and Quint's with me today. Quent, thank you for joining us. I appreciate being here. We've had this conversation a lot, just really ⁓ this summer a just because we remember all the different bits and pieces. I don't think people understand Where you were in 2002, three, four leading up to Hurricane Ivan and which became the impetus the community maritime park, you you and wife owned a little bitty minor league baseball team and you kind of backed into that just because of love of baseball. you were a national health care consultant, spent most your days traveling. it it seems You were willing to step into this this fight, when only when you to Pensacola, this is where you came to rest. And now you walking into every weekend when you came back, it was gonna be was gonna be a fight. Well, first of all, I into it not knowing what I was walking into. Right, right. I've been asked periodically, ⁓ knowing what you know now, you have done it again? And of course the political answer ⁓ yes. I'm not sure. not sure. It was I I just was optimistic walked into not realizing exactly what what w it meant. And then once you get halfway into it, sort of like having baby, once you're dilated to six, you ain't going back. And and ⁓ that's sort what happened and just sort of got into it and then I it's probably more emotional. I just didn't wanna I felt we were being bullied. And I didn't want to give these people that were saying things that weren't right, weren't accurate, victory. And think it was not only a victory for themselves, but really would stop our town ⁓ being what could be. Right. ⁓ Well, and so other big projects had failed before. That that that there was a a an a huge element that won't change at all, that always was fighting against Going into ⁓ Hurricane Ivan and before the big meeting to decide to do the park. we had Admiral Jack Fetterman, who was, you know, the head of the Navy Foundation, was looking for a maritime museum spot. He was the city council and the city council wouldn't make a decision whether it would be ⁓ at what called the Trillium property where the Wahoo Stadium is, ⁓ or at port, and they wouldn't make a make a call. You were looking a ballpark space. Yeah. Basically working with Morto Sullivan has been with me for a long time as financial advisor. was just looking at other cities. And, know, I ⁓ go other cities. I travel a lot and say, Well why why does Lansing have this? Why does Wayne have? Why do these other cities have these things? And at the time even Mobile, in fact, people said, We don't need a team here, Mobile's got one. And so I just curious why not? And then we sort of got excited. I was actually meeting with Miller Caldwell. on our team Mort ⁓ we were looking at sites and were gonna put a stadium ⁓ at site ⁓ and I was gonna commit to put my office building on the site and then we wanted to put a conference area for seminars and things like that. ⁓ So site we looked at is still in the news today. ⁓ It's down Garden Street past j or past Jump on Main Street, sort of with that big busy street. You know, the train cart was they sell golf carts at the corner now. And we looked at that EPA site and they said there's absolutely no way you could do anything. We actually had blueprints and drawings there. Right. They asked me about a downtown and I had just seen how these people are beat up. And I said, No, it's too political, too sensitive, don't wanna go on that site. Then Hurricane Ivan came. Mort sort of knew my ⁓ Miller my plan, knew Right, he was working with Jack on the expansion of the Naval aviation museum. So they were having meetings after Hurricane Ivan and they asked me to attend and Jack was there and and basically said he thought the trillion properties where this could fit. ⁓ That's where he wanted it. And he'd so hard and I said him, I d I don't want to interf I don't want to let this be so controversial that you lose what you're trying to do. So I offered to nothing. And he said, No, no, it's perfect, it's a bookend. And the thing is he that he pushed. Yeah, yeah, that was the the big story was that that Admiral Fetterman act like he was playing poker and he he pushed that he was all in. The other thing about that property and the thing that you you meant you touched on was years before, there had been another referendum about putting making it a festival park with possibly an auditorium there because they were tearing down the Bayfront Auditorium. and the council voted on it in Many of the same players that ended up opposing you with the Maritime Park also had opposed that project. It was called the Trillium Project at the time. for the first time ever in the city's history, the did a drive ⁓ and overturned council vote for that piece of property. And that created atmosphere where city snake bit. They really want to do it, and it put you in a position and Jack. Of of this only gonna happen if y'all made it happen. Yeah, Tom Bomfield was really good to work with and he he's in your book you mentioned Tom Bomfield, which is a great book. ⁓ People wanna know the story, they should read their your book. and he said, you know, if we lead this, I'm afraid it it you know, they got collateral damage. Right. ⁓ Will you guys it? Now at the time, remember I didn't know the city council members or but you know, people like Alice Bullock did and ⁓ Dickie Appleyard, Fetterman certainly, you bigger than life, Jack Fetterman and that. ⁓ So met with the city council and walked through. also did some other things. We drove went to So we didn't just say go do this. We did some work on other cities, looked at it. Mort sat down with the financials and studied what this would mean to the CRA. ⁓ I was very scared because last thing I wanted to do is build something and have them say 10 or 20 years from now, ⁓ my God, what a disaster this was. So we're very cautious. So we did probably more research than most would do. And then what ended up happening, and we're gonna break for a few minutes and come back and tell the story of the referendum itself, but what ended up happening in January and February, the council approved the concept. Yes. you committed to doing bringing in Ray Gindros, internationally known ⁓ planner, designed project. We went through a whole year of you jumping through hoop after hoop after hoop. then we had the vote in March. And that's where we're going to take a break. We'll come right back. When we come back, we'll get more in the Maritime Park. I'm Rick Altson, and this is Rick's Blog Live. I learned during my military service to train every day to fight and fight to win. you've been injured in an accident, you already know one thing for sure. The companies are gonna fight you for every dollar you deserve. At Michelson we settle most of the cases we handle. But if the companies choose to fight, well, ⁓ we're okay that If you've been injured in accident, choose a law firm that's got the resources, training, and stomach for the fight. Michaelson Booth, don't be a victim Take a breath step into something green. At Seed and Garden, both of locations are open seven days a week, ready when you are. We don't just plants, we grow many of them right here, with care you can see. And once you take home, you'll find everything you need help it thrive. Visiting from out of town? ⁓ unique exotic plants you can home, often for less than ordering online. Pensacola Seed and Garden. something beautiful. My name is Bill Sadler. I'm the general manager with Empire Truck Sales here in Pensacola, 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. ⁓ reaches the local community. It's an advertising venue that really reaches our target audience ⁓ 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. Marine, your one-stop shop for all your boating needs. We offer a vast selection of parts, accessories, and electronics. ⁓ our range of used boats in every size, shape, and brand, ⁓ ready to get you on the water today. ⁓ we provide expert advice and top-notch customer service to ensure you have the best boating experience. ⁓ service all outboard, inboards, stern drives, jet drives, and personal watercraft. Our certified staff will get you back on the water. Visit Gilmoreen at thirty five forty one West Fairfield Drive, Pensacola. Hi, I'm Rick Altson, and this Rick's blog live. We're talking about the community maritime park. years ago was the vote, a of a referendum that made the whole thing possible. ⁓ Quent I had spent just a few minutes going through ⁓ what up to the big council vote. and that didn't happen until ⁓ March 2006. Quent, when you at it, there were a couple of big Events that happened that changed the course of it. was losing Fetterman, wasn't it? Yes, yo gosh. When it started, Jack Fetterman, ⁓ who everybody everybody loved, at I think everybody loved, you know, he was larger than life person. Right. So he was gonna be the face of it. The backup plan Vince Wibbs, who ⁓ got really excited because said you know, as mayor, I should have done something like this. wanted to almost do something because realized we want to miss this opportunity. So as Jack and Mayor Mayor Emeritus Wibb, in fact they'd call me on Friday afternoons, a happy hour at Jack's to tell me to relax, ⁓ down. Cause you know, I your powder dry. Yes, I I had never been through anything like ⁓ like having ⁓ people say to You should have heard what Luke McCoy said about you today, and I said, why? Or you should hear what's happened. Facebook was out of control back then. So yeah, they were gonna be the face of it. ⁓ was gonna be sort of the dollars that supported the project behind the scenes. Well, what ended up happening is the council voted almost you know, ⁓ Jack died out right before the vote, suddenly. he'd been sick, but but passed. The vote happened. It was a 9-1 vote. They had 10 council members at that time. Donovan was the sole vote against it. ⁓ almost immediately ⁓ were ready to galvanize the same group of people before that opposed Trillium with new organization called Save Our City. And they began a petition drive. ⁓ But there something two things were different this time. One was Pensacola Young Yes. Talk about their role. Well, that's you and Yvonne Emerson got them together years ago and I went to one of your early meetings ⁓ Hausman, James Housman and the group, ⁓ Jason Crawford, they really together and they you know, the message was don't wait for else to lead. This is your city and you're the ones are gonna be raising your kids in it. And I think they really galvanized, in fact, ⁓ they really galvanized the professionals which we needed desperately. 'Cause they need to also tell their parents, we need you to support this. Right. We we need you to back. And they were sort of the ground troops. They're the ones who ⁓ you know, walk the neighborhoods, explain the park, they worked the precincts the day of the vote, but they were writing letters to the editor, they were they were doing a lot of the debates with Save Our City. it was really something we hadn't seen before in the community, that I think really truly made a difference. And you mentioned Facebook, really. Where things were b fought politically was the opinion page N Weekly and the opinion page of the News Journal. Yes. Because you were gonna have there were viewpoints, there were all constant letters, ⁓ lot of misinformation. And we ended up doing to fight the misinformation became the birth of the blog, Rick's blog, which gave an opportunity to if ⁓ one of Donovan or Charlie Fairchild or somebody went on radio. And there was radio back then that was important. Go on COA and they would say something, we could respond right away. Jeff DeWis, was a fantastic worked for Mort at the time, he's a great CPA. he would go to their open meetings and tell what they were doing. ⁓ And it a of constantly being able to respond ⁓ very, very quickly, today happens without If you look marketing. They have what they call a rapid response team. Right. So every business, business, has a rapid response team. This shows up on TV or this shows up on radio, this shows up on social media. There's actually full time paid people to be rapid responders. We had nothing like that until And your became the rapid response ⁓ organization and people that were trying to were so frustrated with it because they'd always been able to say things. ⁓ I remember remember one of the that were against it. got up at a city council meeting, looked at me, took his wallet, held it out, and put it in his front pocket, like I'm pickpocketing the city. And they got away with this. Inappropriate behavior in many ways. Because no really couldn't say much because it doesn't that way. But you're rap ⁓ without blog, there wouldn't be a maritime party. We're showing the cover, one of the big covers of the News Journal, and and that was a constant theme of the summer of two thousand and six. City divided, sets of Save Our City was seeing it ⁓ representing as a dollar giveaway that a hobby baseball team that we couldn't do this ⁓ unless we moved sewage treatment plant first. ⁓ The city could handle it, and if they tried to do it, the CRA would go bankrupt and general fund city services would have to go ⁓ to cover this. but don't think it we really worked hard, but There are a lot of things you committed to that I don't think any baseball team o owner would ever do. No, the craziest one was I five million and and said, Well, what if you die before fifth ⁓ what if you die? ⁓ So I had to take a life insurance policy out and I paid fifty two thousand a year for this life insurance policy and because it on to like two thousand ten, right. I paid like a quarter of a million dollars for a life insurance policy. Then I'll build a state I'll build an office building that I didn't need. You know, and you get to a point and I cause I didn't know how to do this, that finally probably if I had to do it again, I probably would have said, No, stop it. ⁓ But you get close to the finish line. ⁓ You we brought in Ray Gindros 'cause Charlie Fairchild said, bring Ray Gindros. So it cost two hundred fifty thousand then after Ray went I said, what did you think, Charlie? So it didn't count because you paid. I said, I wish I would have known that. and we we we I just had never been through anything like this before. Well, yeah, as it is it comes down and I've got you know, I'll go ahead and plug the book, but it's a great book. This ⁓ really breaks almost week by week, by month, the whole fight. ⁓ The night of vote, and we're we're running out of time. I knew this would happen when we do this, but the night of the vote we had All day PYP had worked the neighborhood and Juanita Scott. Juanita Scott, Lumen May and Juanita had galvanized the the black community. They they worked really hard pretty quickly we knew as the precincts came in we knew we had won. But you guys knew I'd never been. ⁓ no, you weren't you weren't that confident. But but I think the the statement that you made and that's the the the day after what it was like. Yes ⁓ that's you that's what the cover of the news journal was. But you know, that night, that feeling, what ⁓ you kind of summed it up pretty well about how you felt about the victory and what it meant for Pensacola. Yeah, ⁓ Channel Three interviewed me and they said, What would you like to say? And I said, Tell children they can come back home. 'Cause this thing was never about a stadium, never was about just a park, and that's vital. ⁓ It about creating a type of community that keeps your talent home. And you the are your kids living here would they like to. At that time nine percent of people ch students that went away to college came back to Scambia County. Today we're about forty five percent. Right. It's a So it was about keeping your children home or getting your children back. Right. And we've seen what's happened in downtown how it's changed. Quent, thank you so much for coming on. We the have a n we'll have a part two someday until this one again. But thank you so much for really encourage people to buy your book. It's a great, great book. Thank We'll do it. We'll go ahead and break. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's Blog Live. Well I think it's all about local and I'm a big believer in local. So I think anytime 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 product 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 just so grateful that we have this local opportunity with Blab TV. name is Quint Steeder and I am Blab TV. We personal injury. We have processes down. We know what the next step's going to be and we're anticipating the next step. And so we can move a case along more quickly than a firm that dabbles in personal injury and it's an interruption to their practice. they're outside of their wheelhouse. Why would they know how to do that well? And the insurance companies, of course, they know who they deal with. The ⁓ defense lawyers, they know who they're dealing with. And they will, and that will be reflected in the value they put on the claim. Many who consider facial plastic surgery are concerned their results will look unnatural. with over 20 years of serving the Pensacola community, ⁓ thousands of satisfied patients have made Dr. Derek Jones a trusted reconstructive and facial plastic surgeon ⁓ for industry-leading results that look natural. Call to schedule a consultation at one of our locations in Pensacola and Golf Brays. I'm Dr. Derek Jones. ⁓ Trust 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, to sustain vital HIV and STI care across the Florida panhandle. Inspired the Wizard of Oz, ⁓ rooted inclusion and dripping with character, ⁓ Dorothy's a welcoming space ⁓ with Oz-inspired cocktails, food by 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 Altson. This is Rick's Blog Live. You can follow us about anywhere. Rick's blog.biznweekly.net, Instagram, TikTok. You know, and if you see us on YouTube, it's We Don't Color on the Dog. Please like and subscribe to That helps us with the algorithm and we can keep doing more shows like this. There's a conference Pensacola's this week, it's hosted by the Downtown Improvement Board. It's Florida Downtowns. And to tell us about it, we've got Walker Wilson, who's the executive rector of the Downtown Improvement Board. Walker, thank you for joining me. Good to be back, Rick. tell me about Florida Downtowns. Yeah, so this actually was an organization that had started previous executive director of DIB here, Lisa Dees, who's now at the city, and signed the DIB up to be a a member of Florida Downtowns. that was six years ago. Six years ago, yesterday I was my start date. so it's kind of crazy full circle now they're back here or coming here for the first time really many of have never been to Pensacola. So ⁓ it's just group of my peers from around the state ⁓ and we're different in how we're funded. the size of budget, you've got us, ⁓ right? And our a little over one point one, one two million dollars ⁓ this upcoming fiscal year ⁓ to Miami's DDA ⁓ development district ⁓ down there which is their DIB at twenty two million dollars. Wow. and you know we've got Orlando coming into town, St. Pete, Delay Beach, ⁓ Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, ⁓ and it's just kind of a ⁓ chance pick each other's brains and, ⁓ you see kind of processes we might have in place in our organizations that we might try and mirror in what we're doing in here in Pensacola. And they do the same a around the state with their organizations. And also gives us a chance to follow what's going on in Tallahassee and ⁓ there's some legislation coming through that somebody's been made aware of that might affect special districts, 'cause many of us are special districts. So we were created in Tallahassee in nineteen seventy three. the D I B here was. And so we kinda keep an eye on that and ⁓ really just a chance to get share ideas and ⁓ and see kind of we can help each other through different issues as we pr get to them. Now how does the DIB is it different than Visit Pensacola and different from the city's CRA, community redevelopment agency? How you s how are you different from those? Yeah, so ⁓ your visit is gonna be funded a lot through your bed tax that's collected when people come and stay here for a trip, go out to the beach or stay up by the airport. Your CRAs are actually that doesn't create any new property tax being paid. CRAs are collecting money from entities, so the county, the children's trust, not the trust anymore, I guess, City Pensacola and DIB. the DIB is actually a separate taxing authority outside of the county, outside the city, that we've got about parcels within the DIB district. All those property owners pay an extra two mills on their property tax each year, and that's how we're funded between that and the Pow Fox market. ⁓ which is a separate kind of revenue stream that we have. So what can the what can the funds be used for? What are the type of projects that DIB can do? Yeah, so really w able to spend them on what the gives us direction to to spend them on, and ⁓ as well as a city council because we are dependent on the city as a special district. So city council can certainly give us a of leverage on their opinions of how they think ⁓ our Our funds should be spent. you know, tonight I've got to go, they've got to approve our budget tonight down at City Hall. but the big focus is always safety. so we hire extra police officers to be in in the downtown area to keep it biggest ticket item on our ⁓ our budget every year for cleaning ambassadors to be downtown. Since I've started six years we've been able to increase the number of ambassadors we have downtown Pensacola. We had one and a half, two and half employees on that contract. We're now at five full-time employees on that contract. And we've also moved that from an the area company to a local business here in Pensacola, which was a huge help. And we also, you know, work to ⁓ give people reason to come downtown and support our businesses and market the area and and let people know going on, whether it's an event that we're doing or an event that somebody else might be doing. ⁓ like you'll see some of the shops do their sippin' shops. Right. Now with the conference here, what are some of the topics that we covered at the conference? Yeah, so we'll we'll our kind of our formal business meeting and over lunch. would talk about kind of what we see in the upcoming year, if anybody's seen anything legislatively that might have changed this past year ⁓ that affect us or if they're hearing any rumblings of something that might be coming forward. and then it's really a showcase of Pensacola. So we're gonna ⁓ ⁓ Go eat some at some good restaurants in downtown. We're gonna do a tour of the port and kind of what that's meant for economic development in downtown and and we've a lot of job creation going on at the port right now. we're gonna tour the Palafox Market on Saturday and before they all get out of town. And we're also check out the Wahoo and kind of do some walking tours around downtown of different development that's that's occurring and and and just kind of give a an idea of what downtown Pensacola is all about. there a a downtown improvement or district that you look at as ⁓ a for you to follow? Yeah, I that St. Pete does really good job. ⁓ St. Pete is much different than us. not ⁓ they're not ⁓ funded property tax. It's mostly a member organization, so imagine a chamber, but they do a a very job ⁓ of putting events on keeping their downtown clean and working with their city on improving the parks in their area. that's one of their big focuses. And I think that's one thing you'll see from us this year moving forward is the board really wants to put an emphasis on Plaza Ferdinand and that park kind of back up to at least, you know, that everything's working in there and then how can else can we improve it moving forward. And and we're kind of lean on them on on some stuff for the the park improvements that they've done in downtown St. Pete where they had a lot of issues with just It's an older downtown also. It is. It is. There's some challenges with that. Yeah. and we we did have Tallahassee was was in the group. They've kind of had some issues over the over the years with just some organization stuff and and with the city of Tallahassee. but they were about the same size as us as a comparable organization. we certainly much smaller than else, but it's still good to be able to hear from what everybody's doing and and maybe take snippets from their larger projects to do as as something that we could pull off here in Pensacola. About how many people will you expect? We'll have ten to fifteen with us kind of in and out. we've got some that can come for one day or some that are gonna stay all the way through Saturday morning to check out the Powell Fox market. and we've got we've got one that's leaving Friday ⁓ afternoon and her her husband's coming in, they're gonna go to New Orleans and go check out New Orleans for a couple days. So it's it's worked out well. ⁓ you know, they're excited to come to Pensacola and like I said, I I don't know that many of them have have been here before. Well, one of the cool things is ⁓ your attendees will be able to check out the new hotel downtown, Hotel Margot. That's right. And that's it. It's our second hotel in the inside the DIB district, right? So we've got the the holiday in there on Main Street and then Hotel Margot's opening up. been very gracious to to kinda get things ready for us so that they can stay there. And you you know, you've got ⁓ the Hotel Tristan that's gonna be coming online and the hotel ⁓ that's that's by the Hilton down south of Maine where the New World Landing and Scopelos work. So yeah. Well, I I think it's great that this is happening. It's great I it's a high mark for y'all for the D I B to be able to host this event and I really appreciate you coming on. Yeah, thanks, Rick. We'll do it. Listen, we are very, ⁓ happy ⁓ to see growth happening in downtown. We had Quentin Studer with the Community Maritime Park, Walker Wilson, seeing what's happened downtown since we built the park. And a lot of the growth that we see downtown, the park was the catalyst for it. There's no doubt about it. You talk to business owners, you can anybody who used to downtown can see the difference. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's Vlog Live. At A1 Automotive, we do it all. kinds of repairs for all kinds of vehicles. We AC repairs, ⁓ we suspensions, we do inspections. We'll diagnose your and get it fixed. Free brake inspection. We provide financing for work we do. Veteran-owned, ⁓ military, and first responders A1 403 Beverly Parkway, Pensacola. I'm Emily Echeveria. I'm the Marketing Communications Director for Council on Aging of West Florida and the host of Coming of Age. the past, Council on Aging has relied heavily on print and radio, but in the age of social media algorithms and smart devices, we know how highly prioritized and sought-after video content has become. Our really responds to video content, and yours will too, especially the quality of video that Blab produces. I'm Emily Echeveria I am Blab TV. Many who consider facial plastic surgery are concerned their results will look unnatural. with over 20 years of serving the Pensacola community, ⁓ thousands of satisfied patients have made Dr. Derek Jones a trusted reconstructive and facial plastic surgeon ⁓ for industry-leading results that look natural. Call to schedule a consultation at one of our locations in Pensacola and Gulf Brays. I'm Dr. Derek Jones. ⁓ Trust face to a facial plastic surgeon. I had a client who unfortunately was in a car wreck, real bad rear end accident on on 110. And I said, well, you know, also be sure to take pictures of the tag of the car, right? ⁓ because some people say they don't have insurance, but we can we can run a a search and find out whether they do. Some people have changed insurances. It's not necessarily about I want to make the claim, right? It's if I have a claim, I need to preserve the evidence. And I can help people, I can walk them through that. Welcome back. I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's blog live. Jobs, jobs, jobs. mayor had a workforce summit just a couple weeks ago, brought brought in all the major players along the Gulf Coast, primarily on how are we going to find trained, skilled workers for ST for shipbuilding. Burdon, American Magic, of course there are a lot of other businesses along the Gulf Coast ⁓ that need skilled Landrum has been providing workers. For y for decades. They they put out a press release this week about it's a shared responsibility in building ⁓ the type of workforce that we want to have. We're very fortunate we've got Jim Howe with Landrum, Vice President of Workforce Solutions. Thank you so much for joining you. Yeah, when you think about shared responsibility of building a workforce, what the role that Landrum can play that? ⁓ Yeah. So I think there's a there's a couple different roles, first of all, we play on a very micro level. certainly it's it's in our DNA to help companies solve people problems. So, ⁓ you we definitely play a part in in doing that and helping companies. ⁓ but on the on a broader, on a macro scale, it's really about being a connector ⁓ of in our area. So it's know, supporting economic development and their initiatives to bring new business to our area. It's working with education partners to develop the right programs and training. and certification process for individuals. working with private industry and with government to kind of get all those pieces unified working in the same direction ⁓ to look at the long term goal ⁓ of do we continue to ⁓ not build the workforce we need today, but the workforce for tomorrow because we also know ⁓ workforce are changing and what companies need from an individual ⁓ is different from what it was five or ten years ago even. ⁓ so it's really trying to stay connected in all those different areas and to be a conduit to have conversation. workforce development is it's it's not an easy problem to solve. it it has to work hand in hand with economic development ⁓ so as we're attracting new opportunities to our area, we're creating the workforce behind it to support that and to initiate growth. You know, y'all are you know, you're a huge company in a lot of different communities. What communities are doing it well? Well, I think everybody's trying. Right. You know, I I I think I think what happens so often though, Jim, is that ⁓ we break the ground on the building, don't about the workforce until the building's finished, and we're already behind by then. A little bit. A little bit. Sometimes. Sometimes sometimes. ⁓ You I'll I'll you know, just you know, we we've talked with ⁓ the folks from Burton and I think they're doing it right. They've already started kind of their talent development pipeline. I think you know, each organization really has to be incumbent upon themselves to develop a talent acquisition strategy that makes sense for them. And there's a lot of different things that can go into talent acquisition. It's not creating from new, but it's also attracting talent to our area that maybe we don't have today, but as we build the the of supporting that in the future. So you those are those are all part of the the the workforce development platform that we all kind operate in. ⁓ You know, Landrum we work across a lot of the Southeast. You know we're heavily invested right now in the upstate ⁓ of South Carolina. We see a lot of similarities from a growth standpoint as we do here in in the Pennscola and the in the panhandle of Florida. and I think this is a common problem that a lot of communities are facing today. And ⁓ feel that's where, you know, Landrum kind of steps of, you know, how do we support the and how do we look at solving the macro issues, right, around workforce and and people development and consistency, because we also know that, ⁓ you know, we connect in communities and create a better environment for all ⁓ Companies and all employees, we create better communities, right? People are more satisfied, there's better opportunities for everybody, there's growth, there's career path progression, and that leads to a lot of great opportunity just for the individuals that are in those communities today. Good point because you can so often you can ⁓ know you can get caught in a silo. If you if the community's not growing, ⁓ you can feel trapped in the job. It could be a good job, but you've there's no lateral movement or or that you can see ⁓ in more vibrant type community. Yeah, absolutely. And I think part of that companies need to look a little internally sometimes too. And ⁓ we were just talking about, you know, I came from an event today talking about being an employer of choice. And there's a lot of different elements that go into being an employer of choice. And part of that is creating career path for folks and giving them the necessary training ⁓ skills to upskill themselves. So it's not always attracting new, but it's taking your existing workforce, ⁓ them, training them into the next level job or position that you're gonna need them to be successful in. It's not simple. It isn't simple, right? If it was simple right, everybody could do it, but you're looking but I could see w so in this in this environment that you're talking about, Jim, you you're looking at at recruiting new talent in, if the talent's not here, talent that's within the community and then possibly talent that's within the within the comp company itself. That's right. Yeah, I think all those things have to be part of that equation. And ⁓ we learn in some other communities is like process of education ⁓ For the opportunities that are here in our community way before high school. They have to be moved into the middle school and sometimes even into the elementary school ⁓ that we start building the kind of the mindset of the future workforce ⁓ the opportunities are here and the skills that we're gonna need from as they mature into our workforce over time. everybody's still trying to I I think everybody's still trying to figure that out. I think individual companies ⁓ companies are doing that fairly well. ⁓ ⁓ I know that we work with GE here locally. we helped create a program through the University of West Florida ⁓ called the Program, which gives students that are currently enrolled in college today an opportunity to part-time in their field study ⁓ in a ⁓ existing with the that As they progress over their college career, that they get hired by that host company at the end of that time. So more than just an internship, it's really a workforce development initiative helps connect that looking to get in certain industries with opportunities that make sense for them. And so the university's done great job. It's expanded, I think, past 20 or 21, 22 companies in our area that are participating in this program now. ⁓ Just a unique opportunity for these college students to get real work experience in an area. So what do you like most about your job? you seem to be excited already. Yeah, well thank you. I appreciate that. I love the fact that you know we we help ⁓ companies their people problems, quite honestly. And you know, a lot of organizations struggle because they don't know where to start or how make an impact and make it different. And so there's a lot of different ⁓ kind of within that equation that you know, I personally get excited about is uncovering where the issues and the challenges are and how do we change what we're doing to chart a different course, to make it impactful. And at the end of the day, you know, COVID taught us one thing. You know, we went from an employer driven marketplace to an employee driven marketplace. companies that have switched with that, you know, dynamic are the ones that are being successful today. Ones that are looking internally their existing employee base figuring out how do I continue to make them more effective and how do I upscale them. How do I connect in my community to show what we're doing and who we are as an organization, to bring our culture to the forefront of who we are as an organization as a way to attract people before they're looking for their next job. So there's a lot in that kind of talent development pipeline that organizations can do internally that I think helps, you know, create a better community for all of us. So if if individuals looking for work or to get plugged into some of these jobs that are coming, we've got we've got about two minutes left. But how do they plug in how can how they plug into Landrum to get plugged into the ⁓ these jobs? So we've got a lot of first of it's it's it's certainly, you know, we we love Landrum and and we have our website and at any given time, you know, we've got a hundred plus jobs that we're recruiting for, right? So Apple opportunity to to find us at landrum.com. but you know we've got great partners, Career Source Escorosa does a tremendous job in helping individuals looking for work get connected in the community. We've got some great trade schools and community college schools that have apprenticeship certification that help individuals get into new industries or environments and new roles. So, ⁓ you know, would say look at all those opportunities. There's great grant programs that are out there that can help individuals who are looking ⁓ to either a new skill or upskill where they're at today. and so we've got just a a a lot in our community that's working in the right direction. So I wanna ⁓ say that that in really good hands and there's a great partnership that's that's evolved. through all the segments I talked about that that's helping us to get better. That's great. Well Jim, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. Good to meet Very nice to meet you too. It is job market is rich in this community. I think the news general is something about it's a it's abundant, but it's that you got to get trained for for the new the next generation of jobs. We're gonna go ahead and take a break. I'm Rick Alson. We're Rick's blog live. Hi, I'm Emily Echeveria, Marketing Communications Director for Council on Aging of West Florida, where we're dedicated to helping seniors and their families live healthier, happier, and more connected lives. That's why I'm proud to host Coming of Age, engaging show highlighting local experts, community partners, and ambassadors of the programs and services making a difference locally. ⁓ Coming of Age Wednesdays, 3.30 on Blab TV and anytime on YouTube. And remember, ⁓ life. You've it. I learned during my military service to train every day to fight and fight to win. you've been injured in an accident, you already know one thing for sure. The companies are gonna fight you for every dollar you deserve. At Michelson we settle most of the cases we handle. 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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 Alson. This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. We try to cover a lot of different topics. This is one that's been around for almost 20 years, and it's one that that is, I think, gonna come back before us again. Escambia County does not have a charter. separates city from county government, the city of Pensacola has a charter. It's a charter that created strong mayor. it sets all the rules, ⁓ how they govern themselves in their elections, their salaries. ⁓ there it it can go down even into what departments they are if they wanted to. the county doesn't have a charter. It's all dependent on state rule. the legislature decides ⁓ salaries, the organizational charts, and sometimes can pit constitutional officers against each other. one person who helped to make strong mayor, I think John, John Peacock, I think John, you and I were having this conversation long time about Strong mayor, I think I found a video that we did ⁓ WWF when we were talking about the whole concept of what having a strong mayor was. But county's in a worse shape because the at least the city had a charter at that time. now the the county doesn't. And there's a big difference when you get a charter where you can do ⁓ So much more control. Significantly. Right now everything's dictated by the state, Rick, which kinda makes no sense, right? We have no self-control. When you have a a charter versus non charter, charter, whether it's you've mentioned salaries, et cetera, all dictated by the state. We get to pick all that stuff in a charter. We get to decide. The citizens get to decide. counties have their own, you know, self-government. It's all state. We get to pick anything we want to. We get ⁓ recall provisions, any initiatives, referendums, all that's dictated by how we want to do it. versus the state. There's significant differences. And I think when you look at we've progressed over the past twenty-something years since the strong mayor effort since the Maritime Park, it's for some leadership, right? And now we have a difference we can visually see. Back when tried chartered before, people didn't really most people were from Askamie County. Now we have so many new people here. Plus we've seen the benefit of the city. You know, we have ⁓ the strong mayor leadership which is responsible for ST aerospace, Burdon, I'm drawing a blank, ⁓ the Palafox project. There's so many things that have happened because the leadership from Ashton and and now DC, and we get to pick that leader, right? the in the county, the you've heard me say this a million times, Rick, is we get vote for one of five. You can't affect change your vote. If I'm my county commissioner, if he the best commissioner in the world, three or four other people can stuff that I don't agree with, and I have no say-so on that. If I'm upset with the county administrator, I can't vote against that person. If I'm upset with the economic development or lack thereof, I can't vote for or against that. That's why we need that, Rick. I and I think some of the pushback against that is you're putting almost billion dollar budget in the hand of one individual. That's where charter comes effect. How you set in the checks and balances, are gonna be probably have to be different than the checks and balances that you had at the city, 'cause the city's a much smaller unit and Definitely, you know, know, 20% of population ⁓ of county, maybe a little bit more than that. ⁓ But it it's a different type of animal. The the process is what's the you see needs to happen? Yeah, so it can happen. Let me address that other issue first. People go, well, how would that work? I said, Well, remember Schoolhouse Rocks? You know, you have an executive branch and you have a legislative branch, and as you mentioned, that has to be checks and balances, right? Think about the governor and legislative branch. President and Congress. Same concept, right? In the mayor, we have a council. Do we need a strong checks and balances? Absolutely. But guess who gets to write that? We do. Right? We get to write that. Now we, John Peacock and Rick Alison, we as citizens, that appointed body and we get to vote on it. As citizens, we get to vote on that. how it would work was one of two ways. Either we get fifteen percent of the electorate to sign a petition, which is a lot of work, or get the county commissioners to step up and go, We realize that maybe this of government isn't the right one. Let's appoint a county com ⁓ commission study get some people together, eleven to fifteen people is what the state statute says, appointed by different folks, and get those people together in a room and let's figure out ⁓ a way to do business. Then the electorate gets to vote on it. If we all want it, great. If we don't want it, that's great too. But it's to at least look at it. It's been too where we s been stagnant. I mean, even guys like Chip Simmons, who's been leader in this community for a long time, both in the city and a county, has said, and you quoted him. It said this community will never move forward with this form of government because there's no electorate. You know, the 250th year celebration of our country, I did some history work again and look back and our was originally founded with the Articles of Confederation. And quickly they realized, shoot, there's no executive branch, nobody in charge. We need a we need to put an executive branch in there. So even two hundred and fifty years ago, they figured out not an effective branch, executive branch, we're not gonna move forward. So and the other thing I think people need to realize is You're not talking about consolidated government. This'll this would be the city government stays its same with its strong mayor, then the county would have its own charter. Absolutely. And that would be so that takes some of haze off the issue. Because that was the issue back in in twenty ten ⁓ when we had consolidation committee that it ended up getting you had All the constitutional officers got upset, ECUA got upset, yeah, because it was it was a huge swallow take. and ⁓ this not that. No, that's not that. I think that that's that's needs be pointed out. And there are some protections now from the state level for constitutional officers. They they remain separate, right? So ⁓ this is about having ⁓ us as have accountability to what happens in our community and we don't have that now. ⁓ We all you know, fired up about our county commissioner and all the things that happen there, but again you only get the vote from one of five and that's crazy. It's almost un American to me when I can't effect change with my vote. I want to be able to vote for a governor, a president, a mayor, a ⁓ county county mayor, county administrator, whatever you want to call him, that that person leads. You know, DC Bruce has been an effective mayor. I don't always agree, as you can imagine, we butt heads a lot, but I get to choose in August I said I picked one of six, having to get three percent of our electorate. But if somebody else ran against him, they they they would have won. And that's a great thing when you have s different ideas and different opinions. know, often people Rick say, well, who it be? Who could be that county mayor? ⁓ Well didn't think Ashton was going to emerge. ⁓ We think DC would emerge. ⁓ And I asked those people and people like Tom Murphy was the mayor of Pittsburgh, ⁓ Joe was the mayor of ⁓ Charleston, ⁓ would have run for office if there an executive leadership role? And they said, Hell no, right? It doesn't make any sense. Tom Murphy was vilified in Pittsburgh when he was mayor because he did all these great things, what turned out to be great things, ⁓ the waterfront. later they gave McKee to the city, but they want to run his ⁓ butt out of out of Pittsburgh, you and Joe Riley was mayor for forty years and look at Charleston now. So it'll be interesting to see how if a charter commission gets formed, ⁓ they ⁓ like the city and make the races nonpartisan? So th when we then open it up for everybody to be able to vote. Wouldn't that be a great thing? It really would be. Because now we get everybody's in part. Right now the minority community really don't get to vote for one. Right. the most part. I mean obviously we have minorities outside the S free, but certainly concentrated there. it it's it's great to be able to vote for if I'm upset about how ⁓ things going on in a minority community, I really don't have a say so on that. I can vote for my commissioner and he may may not do anything. I mean look at the stuff going on at the beach. I mean, ⁓ twenty something ago when I was on the SRIA We said we we need a parking garage. And of course nobody cared about that then, right? Now all of a sudden we have a parking crisis out there and all this There's got to be a leadership and a plan. And that's what you have when you have an executive that's accountable. You have a five-year plan. You used to push the ballsy the ballsy plans. And those were leaders pay to that. Leaders pay attention that though, Rick. Managers kind of rearrange the the chairs based on what the committee talks ⁓ about, right? And the former government we have now is supposed to be a CEO with a board of directors. not how it works. Right. We gotta five people that think they're all c county county of their own little district and nobody ever because they can't, Sunshine Law, and nothing ever really gets done. Well, we've gone through it quick. We have we have. ⁓ We'll see what happens. you know, the we'll start pushing. I do that it's time to be looking. It this is the perfect time to do it. We're coming up on the the know ⁓ we got two more years for another election. We have time to start the process and it's a two year process to do this. So we we're gonna go ahead and break. John, thank you so much for joining me. Always a pleasure. We are Rick's blog. I'm Rick Altson. I'll be right back and try to wrap this up. I'm Dr. Derek Jones, a double board certified ENT and facial plastic surgeon. And I'm Andrea Housen, Practice Coordinator for Dr. Jones. Join us every third Tuesday at 8 p.m. as we explore today's most popular facial rejuvenation and cosmetic procedures. We'll discuss both surgical and non-surgical options, answer common questions, and help you understand what treatments may be right for you. You'll see real results from patients. Plus, we'll keep you updated on our offices and where you can meet us in the community. The most important thing for any client once they first call us is let's get you into the treatment that you need. Right. Let's get you better. Right. Let's make let's help you come back stronger and let's take all these other details of how you're gonna deal with the rental car, how you're gonna deal with the insurance agent. Let's take that off your plate. Right. Give it to us and you go work on getting better ⁓ and gonna you updates and you're gonna call us with questions instead of five or or ten other people. Nestled in the heart of Pensacola, Dorothy's is a one-of-a-kind community-driven cocktail bar by Oasis Florida, to sustain vital HIV and STI care across the Florida panhandle. Inspired the Wizard of Oz, ⁓ rooted inclusion and dripping with character, ⁓ Dorothy's a welcoming space ⁓ with Oz-inspired cocktails, food by Pony Diner, and an unmatched atmosphere. Join us seven a week in downtown Pensacola, located directly across from Maritime Park and the Blue Wah News Stadium. A lot going on in one show. I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. Quentin Studer, Jim Howe, Walker Wilson, John Peacock. This is the type of lineup I love having and I love these type of conversations. ⁓ can follow us here on the show. You can go to Rick's Blog. ⁓ can go to ⁓ Don't Color on the Dog on YouTube ⁓ catch all of these clips or watch the whole show. I mean even on Spotify now if you just want the audio part of it. So we're doing everything we can to get the news to you. is just I I'm enjoying this so much and I'm glad the feedback we're getting is extremely positive. So thank you ⁓ doing it. And ⁓ is just another piece of the Inweekly Empire. ⁓ tell the news journal. They'll up in a couple weeks. We're gonna ahead. ⁓ Thank you much for watching us and we'll be next week.