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- Welcome to Rick's Blog Live. I'm Rick Alton. Thank you for joining us. We've got a new issue out this week. is our movie guide. All the big movies coming out between now ⁓ and end of the year. We also have a story on the Hollis T. Williams Park, how it reconnects that side Pensacola that was really torn apart Interstate when it was built. We've got a great show lined up for you. We have Lisa D's downtown parking that can become again. We'll go through those rules with you. We've got Gil Clark Jr., the new CEO for the Pensacola Interstate Fair. are his plans? Commissioner Lumen May, At-Risk Kids, the Center is opening and the Soul Bowl's coming. We'll talk about all that with him. ⁓ We've Dr. Christopher Burton, who's the medical director of the rehab center at HCA ⁓ West. outdoor facility. learn about it. And of course the elections coming up. So we're gonna have Robert Bender go through all the dates one more time so you'll be able to vote and understand all the things that are coming up as we head to that November election. We'll go ahead and let's just go ahead and get started. Project is finished. on October 5th, paid parking is coming back to downtown Pensacola. We've got a little time to go over all the rules for you. There's some changes, some pretty nice changes ⁓ are being made. We've got with us Lisa Dees, ⁓ and constituent services director for the city. ⁓ you for joining us. Thanks for having me. You know, this is, you know, we've gone nine months without having to pay for parking. Why it back now? Well, as you know, it was a courtesy for during the construction period and as the construction wraps up as you open the segment with, construction wraps up, we'll go back to managed parking. So you all all good come to an Come to an end. Well it But we're better though. We are. Well, I think you are. ⁓ let's talk let's talk a little bit ⁓ just some of the real quick changes. let's talk about the new rate. So the rates will stay the except for on Friday night And Saturdays, which is where we saw the highest you know, occupancy. So supply and demand. When your demand is high, rates go up a little bit. So we'll see dollar seventy pending council approval on Thursday. I don't When this is gonna be ⁓ yeah, we'll be on Friday, but this Thursday. Yeah, this Thursday twenty fourth. Correct. Pending their approval, the rates will go into effect October fifth when par when managed parking comes back. Well and the point and the mayor does a great job of bringing it up is that you want spaces to turn over, that that by charging for the space that's closest to the businesses, it allows the space to to come open and available for more customers to be able to take ⁓ advantage of it, That's correct. So the whole goal of managed parking is so that we can provide ⁓ safe, reliable parking as many people as possible. It not just be dominated by, you know, first person that shows up. Right. Well eight o'clock in the morning. Right, it's it all day. Right. That's that and we and I've seen that happen ⁓ the time that we've had the free parking. Th but there's gonna be a free day now. Y'all added another free day for parking. ⁓ In addition to Sundays being free and federal holidays being free and about sixty percent of the city's parking being free all the time, ⁓ also taking to counsel that Mondays are free. the motto is that ⁓ city parking ⁓ made easier. How's it being made easier? Well, of education. if if you don't know about this, it's because you you didn't want to know because we've got billboards, we've got commercials, we're doing this, we've got print ads. so education is really, really big for us. ⁓ We've had we've private lots the downtown area for about ten years now and just trying to educate The public on those are the red signs. Red signs. Green signs. They will boot you the red zone. The green zone. If a parking space on the street right beside ⁓ this is much better deal. Yes. It truly is is. So education is is big for us. ⁓ we've got new signs that are coming out. So if I hear it all the time. I'm so scared to come downtown because I don't know the difference between a private lot and city parking. So we've made our signs different we worked with a company out of Amsterdam and I didn't know there's a whole science behind signs, but this company, that's all they do is the science behind signs. So we've designed a sign that's very identifiable I mess words all the time. Look for the two digit I have to say that very cl very slowly. But city parking is always two digits, so if you pull up your app and you see four or five numbers in that zone, that's not city parking. That's cool hint. I hadn't I hadn't thought about that. you've got there's a senior citizen discount and there's also a local resident ⁓ discount. about those and how those work. So the senior pass is actually a it's a permit. So you sign up one time as long as you're sixty five or older. ⁓ Doesn't where you live, sixty five or older, you sign up one time in You can get it for a month, you can get it for three months, you can get it for a year, it as long as you like. it's a it's a month how much is it is it's a one month? Ten dollars month, yes sir. And then you just ⁓ come and in a city spot. You don't have to do anything else. So it has your tag? Has your tag number. ⁓ so that when your people walk around and look at it, they can s check the tag and you're already taken care of. Yes, sir. ⁓ and you don't have to be a Pensacola resident for You don't. Sixty five qualifies you. right. I'm there. ⁓ let's talk the local resident one. Local resident is a little bit different. You still have to start a parking session. You just get a discount on all of your parking through park mobile. ⁓ So have a a program set with them. You enter same concept. You enter in your tag number in the resident discount. And when they that tag number on your app, now if you have multiple cars on your app like I do, make sure it's the one that you right you permitted. But as long as you pull up that tag, it's gonna see that you're a a city resident. It's gonna give you a seventy five cent an hour rate regardless of where you park downtown. And how do you sign up for these? to parkpensacola dot com and click on the permit page. Okay. And then for the senior citizen, do you have to go through the city at the city website or is that done the same way? You it's done the same way. We actually have it's all all the information is on the city website. Okay. But it pushes you over to the Park Pensacola website. So you can save a click and just go to parkpensacola dot com and click on permits. ⁓ Another change is going on with Jefferson Street parking garage. That y'all have made that much easier. still working on that one, so I just want to make sure everybody's clear about that. the cameras have been installed, so we're making progress. ⁓ It won't roll out on October 5th with the other stuff, but it's a great amenity to Jefferson Street Garage. So if you park in that garage all the time, you sign up with your park mobile app, you select express pay. It's just one extra click, select express pay, you in. Captures your tag. You drive out, it captures your tag and it just bills you. So you don't have to bring out your phone, you don't have to go to a pay station, you don't have to do anything. You just pull into the garage and then pull out and you're done. ⁓ that's great. I know. I mean it's great how the technology's improved so much from when we s we started this. ⁓ you know, can do you've got an app, you've got ⁓ text, can go to a pay station. Which one's easiest? If someone's coming new to the city and they want, they know they to they're gonna be coming downtown on a regular basis. What's the best way for them to do this? you're new ⁓ you're gonna be coming downtown on a regular basis, get sign up the app. Mm-hmm. Park Pens Park Mobile. Get app. It's you sign up, it's it's easy. Once you know, you sign up, it takes a little bit of time. I always recommend do that before you come downtown. Don't wait till you're trying to find a parking space and showing up, you know, ten minutes your Sanger event starts or whatever and then trying to figure out how to download an app. Download it while you're at home. Then when you come downtown it's It's two seconds to select that tag and select your zone and you're done. you're just visiting and not gonna stay here for a long time, you can a couple of coins in a pay station or ⁓ a dollar the pay station and that's probably gonna be used and you don't have to download an app. But if you're here all the time and you're staying, which I highly recommend everybody ⁓ come and stay. a great place to live. but it's also g know, in other talents. you know, Park Mobile's there also. So it really w it it transfers to other places. The rates will be different depending on where you're at, but it it does work that way. ⁓ you know, in looking at it it is what to this money? How's this why is this money important ⁓ to Well, number one not a tax, it's a user fee. That's that's the thing that try to explain all the time is it's a user fee and all of the money is reinvested back into the downtown area. So last year we had trolley service that ran or before paid parking went free. We had a trolley service that ran, it was free. It ran on Friday and Saturday nights. That was paid for by the parking funds. all your repairs, maintenance, ⁓ upkeep, cleaning, of Maybe a future parking garage possible. The mayor keeps talking about it. It's yeah, but but ⁓ all reinvested. All we're running we're g running out of time. It's always going so fast. It does go fast. But but let's talk there is a grace period. So October 5th, we're assuming you've had ten months of free parking, everyone's not gonna remember, even though we have sign and signage and we've done a lot of ⁓ and marketing on it. we a warning program. So your first ticket will be a warning, just a reminder. ⁓ Your will probably also be a reminder, and by the time we get to your third or fourth, fourth, ⁓ we y y this is not on you know, it's not an accident anymore. No, right, ⁓ Well Lisa, I appreciate you so much coming on and doing this. It is Park Pensacola. ParkPensacola dot com. Dot com is the website. It is it's easy to to find out what they're doing. They show you how they're spending the money, they show you all the different pieces to this. And you can go there if you don't remember this you can go back there again ⁓ and catch up and get refresher. But it is ⁓ it's how We keep downtown active is how we keep downtown moving the way that it needs to move. and it pays for keeping downtown safe. So all those are part of what we're doing now. ⁓ go ahead and take our break, pay a few bills. I'll be right back. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's blog live. 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Visit Gilmore at thirty five forty one West Fairfield Drive, Pensacola. Hi, I'm Rick Alson and welcome back to Rick's Blog Live. Pensacola Interstate Fair is coming up. can get that little bit of nip in the air as you know it, right before the fair. It gets we'll have that real cold snap. ⁓ crossed. We a new CEO of the fair. It is Clark Jr. Gil, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, sir. Glad to be here today. You know, you think about had some serious Navy jobs. Commandant. of midshipmen at the Naval Academy, a command in San Diego. the fair? Well, not that in my transition of of all options we thought we were going down, but this just presented itself and really what drew me the organization, this is the 91st ⁓ annual fair. So this has a staple of this community for a very long time. And it's a not prof not organization. And so really drew me ⁓ as I hung up my Navy uniform, ⁓ was looking for sense of service. And what I've haven't had in my 28 years, I moved 22 times. And I really had that opportunity to build a sense of ⁓ local community and service my local community. And so this presented itself and I thought that was so rewarding with what ⁓ the organization tries to for the community. And it's exciting. I grew up going to fairs and I I love everything about the entertainment and the food and the animals it's just it seemed so special and was the perfect time in my life to transition to something totally different and and that's where we landed. ⁓ Well wife grew up in Cantomat. She did. Part of the state mafia with Desade High School. Class of ninety eight, very frightened. How how much did that connection play into this? A ton. So as this as we started with board members and they were thinking about bringing me in she just brought up stories of her friends and and what 4 H and ⁓ were able to do out there. She had her own stories about the fair when she was growing up. And reason we're here is because this was her hometown. I'd moved her all over the world. And when it time to settle down, I asked her where do you want to go? And she said, I want to go home. Her parents are still here. and our family is is all in the area and so it just made sense for us to come back. And then ⁓ her draw to this town is based off all those great memories and and now I have a six year old that's at ⁓ Episcopal Day School he's in first grade and I can't wait, he's already been out to the farm, the out there at the fairgrounds and and he's I'm excited and I can't wait. And so this is just gonna be a next generation. Yeah, you know, Gil, when you look at you've led some pretty complex ⁓ organizations with Navy. How do how that translate to the fair? How do you think it's gonna translate? Well what I've been blessed with opportunity, which was that's what it was, is because I've always had people around me that maybe look way better than I do. And I have that now. We still have our same general manager, Jamie McDonald. She's with the fair for 41 years. And so day-to-day operations hasn't really changed by putting me in this position. When the board to create the CEO, it didn't change the general manager on down for our staff. And so if you pick up the phone and ⁓ and do business the fair, it's still going to be the same voice as you're used to. But what they really brought me into to try to transition the nonprofit into something bigger. And we have got an incredible property out there. And want to get back to some of our agricultural education roots. And that's probably going to center around a new barn. Our barn w that took some damage in recent storms. And and only redoing the barn where we can have our livestock auctions during the fair and do some other shows. But it it's really an opportunity to build out classroom space where we can bring in and teach our young kids Yeah, agriculture, farming, ranching, and what that lifestyle may be. That was one of the things when I looked at the press release and and was thinking about the fear that that education component some sometimes gets lost in the funnel cakes, in the shows, in the rides, the livestock, you know, it it it it kinda gets lost. So how do you is What's your plan and tapping into that? So for years we have had scholarship programs for all the kids that come out and participate. We usually do about thirty thousand dollars a year in scholarships. And to date, about one point six million dollars have been given out to local kids that participate in our our programs. And so through sponsorships and some relationships that I hope to grow with with the local school system, with universities to bring in those new techniques and and keep things modern, we hope to grow that and eventually. As our revenue, which is mostly generated based off the fare, continues to grow in a positive way, we can recapitalize on that property, meaning new facilities and and I've been asked to build a strategic plan for what the fair grounds will look like so that we can utilize that property all year long. And that includes what was chartered to me, which was come up with a spring event. Initially I said, Okay, well we'll do another fair in the spring. And everyone said, it's not that easy. and it is different. And and so as you get into the the April, May months, what I want to do is make sure that we are complementing opportunities for our families in the region, ⁓ not competing against some of the other events that are going on. And so first off, we're just trying to find the right date. And getting close to landing on what that would be. But I don't know What I wanna do is go through the the fall event, see it, work with our our partners at Rythoffer ⁓ shows. They're the ones that bring all the carnival in and find out how feasible it is to do carnival in the spring. And I've heard that it may not be as feasible as we think it is. And so maybe we pivot to that's ⁓ agricultural festival, whether that's a strawberry or a blueberry festival, ⁓ and it's more centered around food and music and and see if we can bring When you take out the rides out of that gigantic midway in the middle of the property, you can put a lot of people to put down a blanket and listen to some great music. And so maybe it turns into a music festival. So we're not sure yet. We're just in those initial planning efforts. ⁓ but that's what they brought me in, is to have those big dots. We've got a fantastic eleven person board of some of some of the city's finest, and they have day jobs. So they can't think all the time about this. But I do appreciate their their their thinking outside the box. And bringing you in. Yes sir. I think bringing in talent from outside is huge, that that broader picture. And where the military experience can translate into this job. It's because I've I had to have strategic plans before. Right. ⁓ it's far less life and death in this situation and I'm I I greatly appreciate that. I sleep much better at night than the one that ⁓ That I don't have a lot of lives on my hands. Right. But what it is gonna be is hopefully more opportunity for our families to get out and about and enjoy this great city in in new exciting ways. great. Gil, thank you so much for coming on. I wish you all the best. I mean, I I I'm just I'm excited for you. Your energy levels unbelievable. so again, thank you for coming. Thank you, sir. I greatly appreciate it. And opening days twenty two October. Can't wait to have people here. We'll do it. We'll do it. Listen, we're gonna go ahead and take a break. We'll pay a few more bills. I'll come back with Rick's blog live and of course I'm Rick Altson. 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Join us seven days a week in downtown Pensacola, located directly across from Maritime Park and the Blue Wahoo Stadium. Hi, I'm Rick Altson and this is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. This has become a weekly event for us at the newspaper and to bring stories that we've written about. And what been covering with the blog, ricksblog.biz and with the newspaper. Big story last ⁓ children's trust meeting, were voting on their budget, and Commissioner Lumen May up the need for money for programs for at-risk teens at 14 to 17 year olds. ⁓ that kind of falls out of the system. I asked Commissioner May to join us today. the mayor today, Commissioner, also brought up this age group. He is going to San Diego to a mayor's conference with the police chief, and he's very interested in coming with some kind of program. you throw out a number at the trust meeting of trying to set aside a million dollars because we don't really know what program should be yet. Absolutely Rick. Actually I I threw out a million, I think we're at two million now, really in terms of equity distribution of the age groups for the demographics. 'Cause we have we spent close to eighteen to twenty million on after school programs, zero to about age twelve. we know the most vulnerable population are the young teenagers. I mean that's the that we're having downtown. I w spoke with the mayor on yesterday, I ⁓ spoke Councilman Patton, ⁓ terms of, you know, even walking downtown going to dinner. ⁓ on Palafolks and the young people just hanging out there 'cause they have nowhere to go. And so I think that it's incumbent upon us to put together programs ⁓ that's gonna promote youth development but help with juvenile delinquency. I mean unfortunately, Iscamia County ⁓ has the highest number ⁓ teenage who are on probation. and we have one of the highest civil citation rates. I mean, even in terms of numbers and not just percentages and even like more than places like Broward and Dade County and Beth says that there is a real critical need for us to bring services ⁓ for that population. Well know that in in the in the public school system that there's a offered it for the middle school kids. There's no athletic programs there. At one time there used to be basketball. They ⁓ we've we've had over the years, but in but ⁓ that we have And when you get to to the high school, if you're not a gifted athlete, really left. in in the large is trying to find out what to do. Well Rick, you know, when we look at ⁓ step up for children, school choice, ⁓ many of the children are just exiting Scammi County public schools in middle school. ⁓ and you will see all of the middle schools, ⁓ the private middle schools, they have youth football. When you go to Okaloosa and anywhere east they have middle school football. And so I think in order to prepare our kids for the high school level, is one of the reasons you saw Mike Bannon, you saw a coach Shakafort and many of those others come out to support this because our children are coming to high school ⁓ prepared to be able to be competitive. Now with the NIL and all other things that you have, ⁓ you not only do you need to be a good athlete, but your emotional well being, ⁓ physical well being, your athletic well being and your academic is all important. And so ⁓ if we were able to implement this in collaboration with Scammer County School District, we could have behavior technicians, we can have counselors, we can have social workers, we can have tutors and we can have coaches. I mean when you look at the Little League middle school coaches, these guys are getting off work every day, coming to coach. they're former players, former coaches, but they are not subject matter expert in academics. And so I thought that this could be a good collaboration in terms of working with the school district. And another way is to put our kids ⁓ in our schools. ⁓ unfortunately I represent a that does not have a middle school. ⁓ district three we do not have a middle school and daily we're trying to combine Middle school kids and high schools and maybe even male elementary kids on a high school campus at Pensacola High School, which I believe is unhealthy. I think that we give children incentives ⁓ to want to go to schools in their neighborhood and that's by offering them extracurricular activities and just starting with football and r whether it be golf or whether it be tennis or whether it be performing arts, ⁓ we have to give children opportunity to do what we want to do. Live, work and play in your community. you've you've you've got some resistance at the trust level. about setting aside a million of reserves ⁓ this. however, it was part of the motion. so there there is a chance to come back. ⁓ today the mayor in in his conference, I brought up the subject. He actually brought up teenagers and this is he thinks that the city cobble together some money also that could go to a program like this. He said ⁓ it's not ⁓ not gonna the issue. issue is deciding, you know getting the right pilot program started, thinks that's what the challenge is. Yeah, the mayor and I had extensive conversation ⁓ this entire week, Rick, and I and when I said to the mayor, we don't need to study the problem. ⁓ we have the data and statistics and saying what the delinquency is. let's pilot a program and see if it works. ⁓ I you know, the road to ⁓ maybe with good intentions. I mean there are a lot of well-intended programs that actually don't implement the program by including all of the stakeholders. I mean oftentimes we create these programs without going to the end users, which are the children. So we have to give them things that we're going to incentivize them to want to come into our program and not to be forced in after school programs. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of money on after-school programs and you can drive by many community centers ⁓ today at four o'clock, five o'clock and they're empty ⁓ because people think their kids are just gonna walk in and take tutoring because they need it. They don't necessarily comprehend what they need. ⁓ we're dealing with a population that maybe eighty, eighty-five percent live in single family homes. the mentorship and the leadership is critical to make them become positive citizens. Yeah, the let's shift gears a little bit because I think this is something that I think this is a topic that we're gonna be talking about for a while. as when the mayor comes back, I know that y'all will be meeting more often. ⁓ The trust will another sh we'll have another shot at this, hopefully and look at it. but ⁓ there is big next or big event next week, the Rafferty Center, the the gym. right next to the Theopolis May Center is gonna be have a ribbon cutting. talk about what that means to the community. Rick, I we're very fortunate and very blessed to have donors like Troy Rafferty, ⁓ Doug Baldwin. ⁓ Doug Baldwin started playing me when he was a a little kid and his generous donation and in Troy with many others, ⁓ the Studers, the Bears, the Cronleys, ⁓ Pap Antonio, ⁓ we were able to build a essentially a three million dollar facility. ⁓ with no tax dollars. Right, privately funded. Privately funded. That hasn't happened in this county ever. people come to the government and say build us a community center in the community. ⁓ but the donors, ⁓ the supporters, we went to the government in a partnership with the mayor and said, We want to build this facility and partner with the city because we want it to be here forever. And we believe that community centers saved lives. My mother, my grandmother, my mother's mother, ⁓ was a jonather at Fricker Center for thirty three years. ⁓ but she was not just a custodian. ⁓ she mopped the floors, but she tutored She coached, she refereed, she organized leagues. And so people say, why don't you spend all of your weekends and days in community centers? It's because that's where I grew up with my grandmother. And I know it works. I know it saves lives. And I know, you know, of the young men that we have, Terrell Hankins, who works for me now. He said, Coach, the only time I got a hot shower was when I went to the community center. The best meals I've ever ever eaten were the meals that we ate at the community center. And so I think that that was important, not only from our donors, ⁓ from, you know, hundreds of coaches who are volunteering day in and day out. And we understand that. We have a lot of juvenile homelessness. we have parents, literally, Rick, who bring their kids to practice, but they sleep in the car behind the gym. And so this investment gives us an opportunity to say you may not have to sleep outside. You can come in, grab something to eat. We'll take you over here and get you a shower. ⁓ but these children have something that they can be proud of. And you know, there's ⁓ not been any athlete that's come to the program that has given more back to Pensacola than Doug Baldwin. Right. I mean we've we've had we've been very fortunate to probably have seven or eight professional athletes. ⁓ to leave our area and we often say, to whom much is given, much is required and the only thing we ask is that maybe you come back. and but we've never solicited any of our our young people to come back and give donations. But Doug Baldwin has stepped up in a big way to represent Pensacola. ⁓ Actually replicated ⁓ what we're doing at the May Center and Rafferty Center in Seattle. Right. To do a community center and then he stepped up, Jeremy Reed stepped up and, you know, over at S Y S we're just blessed, man. We've had Reggie Evans, Lady Confort, Trent Richardson, Doug Baldwin, So many great athletes. Jeremy Reeves, ⁓ they're going with us. Devin Weatherspoon, ⁓ actually his fiancee works for us now. And so we've just been blessed to be able to invest. But ⁓ more importantly, not just those athletes that are coming back with but I'm talking about Reggie Smith that owned the drywall company. I'm talking to the person that owns the custodial company. ⁓ we know that if you invest in human capital, it will return two, ten, twenty folds if we just give them an opportunity. And you know, i ⁓ we if you drive by Legion field today, you look at that field and you And you don't realize that it was pretty much abandoned by the city twenty years ago. And it was SYA SYSA who Southern New Sports Association that helped bring that back and the city now is investing in in a big way in the in the private community is Lumen, thank you so much for coming on as always. Thank you, Rick. That's a beautiful hat. ⁓ thank you. It's for the soul bowl. Getting ready for the soul bowl. October 3rd. next to the Blue Wahoo Stadium, man. And we're going to have a great I was just talking to my dear friend Kendrick at HCA. And so, you know, we have to thank all of our sponsors. I mean, yeah, it's the largest Little League football game in the country, and it's because we have a great community that supports us. Always, always. We're going to go ahead and take a break. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's Blog Live. We'll be right back. 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 your face to a facial plastic surgeon. I had a client who unfortunately was in a car wreck. Real bad we ran 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, ⁓ 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. Florida West, their rehabilitation center last week had a ribbon cutting for outdoor physical therapy area. It state of the art, and to help us understand it and learn more about it, we've got Dr. Christopher Burton, who's the medical director ⁓ for the center. Thank you so much for coming. It's a pleasure, Rick. Glad to be here. What's the reaction from the patients? I mean it the pictures I've seen are amazing. You know Our parent the patients, the members, the staff are all just so excited. When they walk in you know, to a a rehab facility, they expect, ⁓ you know, walls, a gym. But when they to see our outdoor area where they get to try new things, you know ⁓ for them, it gets outdoors, it them part of the community again and they really feel engaged. They've really been very enthusiastic about it. Well, yeah, I I've you gotta you know well Describe for our for our viewers what are the what are the s the the that are available in the outdoor area. Yeah, so ⁓ course we basketball, one my first loves. We've got a putting green, we've got a court, and then we've got area where you can walk on uneven surfaces because that's one of the things we measure in our physical therapy activities. So there's everything from ⁓ you know, grass, gravel, stepping over curbs, inclines, slopes, ⁓ for wheelchair access, and course sand for ⁓ imitating on the beach, just like you would want to do here in Pensacola. Well you would think you would think then that would make for for team using that facility come up with creative ways to do rehab ⁓ rather than ⁓ you said, more of a you know, a medical clinic type setting, but to do it when it's outside, ⁓ gotta add that's gotta add some excitement for your team. ⁓ yeah. Like I said early on, they they love doing that. They love being able to get outside with the patients. You know, you go anywhere and walk on a treadmill, but where are you going to get to go walk outside, get to test your patient, make sure they can do everything they need to do, whether it's going up a curb, getting out of their ⁓ their wheelchair walking on gravel, if they have a gravel driveway at home. So we get to test them on just about any kind of an environment that they might encounter on a daily basis. and and to do it in a real a little bit more of a real life type of Definitely real world. ⁓ world. Yeah. What what kind of patient ⁓ this good for? I mean, this the the outdoor. Is a particular one that this is best? Yeah. Well we ⁓ have ⁓ all of our patients who are capable, we'll like to encourage them to be outside because nothing like fresh air, sunshine to really energize the soul ⁓ in the green space, the trees, the Beautiful oak trees we have there, a that's a healing environment. So we try and get as many out there as possible, but definitely our stroke patients, we're certified in stroke, brain injury, and spinal cords, so we do focus on the neuro rehab patients. but we also get a lot of injuries, hip fractures, sorts things. So, you know, getting people to walking again ⁓ after you've just had a surgery or hip replacement, for example, and getting them back to their normal activities again, whether that's somebody who didn't do much, they just needed to be able to to walk, or if it's somebody who was active playing pickleball or golf on a regular basis, we want to get them back to at least a minimum of where they were at before, if not exceeding ⁓ prior level of function. Yeah, you gotta think that that or you know, ⁓ my end looking at it is, you know, of course rehabilitation, lot of it is the physical side, but for to able to this outside and do it in a It's got to be a a huge win. it makes a big difference when you can do in a your real world environment. if you go home you've never tried going over a real curb taking that step on on uneven like ⁓ gravel or paved stone, then you're gonna be anxious, you're gonna be So it does give them a lot more confidence when they go home. And we're blessed 85% or more of our patients actually end up home, which is well above the national average of around seventy percent for most rehab facilities. And part of that is giving them that real world experience, giving them the confidence, hey, they can do this when they go. Is there I know it's still early in in in opening up that area, but is there any patient moment that sort of out that you've s noticed? It it would almost be hard pick just one, but it ⁓ because the ⁓ The reception has been so overwhelmingly positive. we had a bilateral amputee ⁓ ⁓ able to get up ⁓ use the the the mini golf actually won our challenge for that first day. Right. So yeah, taking somebody that and giving them the opportunity to see, hey, you know, you had ⁓ negative health event, bad happened, but you can make the best of it. Your life is not be limited because you do everything you do. ⁓ Yeah, and that's what our therapists are there for. Help them help patients see what's possible. enjoy this, don't you? ⁓ I love it. I wouldn't do anything else. Yeah, I just I could tell it it it's it's got be ⁓ reaffirming f ⁓ you know, education, life to be able to see ⁓ making these real life with people. It's very when you get to get people to back to their family, back work, back to their hobbies, back home again. That that the we can hope for in medicine. You know, a lot of times you know, you go to primary care, they they give you a medicine or they you know try and help you ⁓ ex minimize symptoms extend in some ways. ⁓ You know, ⁓ for it's about the function, like making the quality of life so much better, making it enjoyable. Well, it it's it this a a an unbelievable good f facility. your that number, the percentage that y'all get back ⁓ home is huge. that is it's it's amazing. So I I really appreciate you coming on and to learn more about what y'all are doing. It's yeah. Y'all are way up there on on Davis Highway. So Well, we are up on the north side of town, but yeah the community has expanded much since I started working here years back and it's amazing to see how we've and developed. And it's great to see the the abilities that we have now that we didn't have before because of the investments ⁓ the HCA's put in. Yes. They're they've invested twenty three million dollars in interior renovations on our inpatient rehab unit for all new private rooms, redesigned, modern everything. plus the half a million dollar investment in the the outdoor space. It's I work there, but you know, for the community as a whole, it's a great to see that level investment in ⁓ Keeping our patients here locally to help them rehabilitate, helping them to to maximize their return to the community. Well great. Well thank you so much for coming on. We'll have to do this. We'll have to do this again. get you into the get you come downtown one more time. It's a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you. Listen, this is I have this is Rick's blog live. I'm Rick Outson. We're gonna take a break. We'll be right back. 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 Michaelson 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 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 saw you on Blab Television. I'm Housen 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 Gilmarine at 3541 West Fairfield Drive, Pensacola. Hi, I'm Rick Altson, and this is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. You can us on YouTube. We don't color on the dog. ⁓ and subscribe. That helps us keep this show going. Of course, you can always reach out to me at the paper at any time. ⁓ The ricksblog.biz, inweekly.net. And this is ⁓ the part the inweekly media empire. And so who knows we'll go ⁓ and this isn't this is real. This is me. ⁓ one thing we want to bring in ⁓ every week is is newsmakers and what's happening in the news. The election is approaching. There are a lot of dates to keep in mind, a lot of opportunities for you to to vote and to help us understand it. I've asked supervisor for election, Robert Bender, to come in. Robert, thank you for coming. See ya, thank you, Rick. Appreciate it. Yeah, the ⁓ and we'll do this just like we did going into the primary. You've done the final through of the primary. How did you do as far as accuracy? We did great. Of course, we we take every one of those ballots, run it through an independent system, and they had a 99 over 99.99% match. ended up being 29 individual votes that were different. four of those were just from one ballot that hadn't been read in the machine. And so so again, twenty-nine votes out of a couple hundred thousand were the were all the the differences. And again, most of those are ⁓ ovals not being filled in properly and the two systems reading one as an under vote and one as a as a vote in that contest. So again just different parameters and and how they're designed, but other than that, we we can identify usually each one of those and and what caused it. and so again nine votes off over ninety nine point nine nine percent. we've had that in every election that's been used so we know we'll again ⁓ show that the results are properly tabulated in November. Yeah, you had new volunteers this time. how did how you know, how did they They they you get trained by fire. It it is and and unfortunately, you know, again you sometimes find those little mistakes or errors that happen. I usually tell them that ⁓ election day is like chaos. ⁓ Right. ⁓ and really there on the back end to ⁓ to unravel that and find everything. ⁓ The important thing is and really also that election day is really what when the election starts for us and terms of making sure that we send the proper voting history to the state because if somebody comes in and and ⁓ gets ballot ⁓ and doesn't vote it, we have to make sure we can try to back that history out because they ended up not v not voting. and again depends on what happens. But you know, those all things we send in the state. If we're up one, you know, we had one where someone got a wrong ballot style in a in a reprint at an early vote site. So again we we want to focus on that it during training to where it didn't affect the races they were voting, but you just little things like that that happen when you're trying to to manage eighty precincts on a single day or do all that. And and ⁓ and ⁓ our our election workers are great. We wouldn't be able to do it without they haven't really worked since last April, ⁓ you know, so know, only do twice every other year or something like that. It it it does take a little bit. So we're very thankful to have them. Appreciate the new people that stepped up 'cause ⁓ you know, we had a little over five hundred. It's amazing. We we probably did have about fifty people that called out the week before the election to say they weren't gonna make it. And so you're trying to fill those gaps and everything like that with the the the people that have been trained because you know, just like in football we have to sort of kinda say who our election worker is gonna be. Right. B it ⁓ the there's a deadline to appoint somebody as an election worker, and they have to have that mandatory training and things like that. So yeah. Well it's yeah, we we've we I think the most important thing that we need to do is is go over the dates. It's not you know, this is gonna be an interesting election, I think, Robert, because we're we're we haven't had a lot of excitement ⁓ the y you know, the last ⁓ you know, two years ago, four years ago. We're having a new level of excitement at the state level. A very, very competitive races this so if someone wants to vote ⁓ and they have they still have time to register, right? They do. October fifth is the deadline. ⁓ you can go online to our website. It it it takes you to the state's website and do that. There are paper forms available in libraries. They're available in our office. ⁓ come by and do that. But needs to be postmarked by October fifth or done online by the end of the day on October fifth, to to register to vote. Again, party change it it would still apply but 'cause we we do ⁓ close the books, but doesn't matter, everyone's getting the same ballot style at a in a precinct. So but yeah, you know, if you think about it, You know, typically in a in a midterm election like this, a gubernatorial cycle, election turnouts are are in the low fifties. but eight years ago, the last time we had an open ⁓ gubernatorial we were at sixty one percent in this Gambia County. ⁓ we also did do about two percent higher than the state average in terms of turnout for the primary, but twenty seven percent. But but again, hopefully are close to that sixty one percent. that we'll see. you know, looking at we were ordering ballots last week. Usually it's about fifty to sixty thousand is where we've averaged election day. ⁓ it's really gonna see who turns out for early vote. we'll have thirteen days of early vote, October nineteenth through the thirty first, ⁓ eight to six PM at our ten locations around the around the county. ⁓ I go to any one of those those ten locations. Now as as vote by mail, there's a deadline the last time that you the la there's the last there's a deadline for last time you can request a vote by mail. Yes. So October twenty second is the last day to request a a vote by mail ballot to be mailed. You can still come in the office and and do an over-the-counter or emergency affidavit if if ⁓ if you need to pick it up for someone who who may not meet that deadline. forms are available online to do that. But yes, October twenty second is the deadline. We'll also be sending out sample ballots to everyone who doesn't have a vote by mail request on file. because we're starting early vote October nineteenth, they'll they'll come a week earlier. ⁓ so we look to probably getting them out in the mail October eighth or ninth ⁓ so that they you almost get it a full week before early vote, give you a time to review everything. We have three constitutional amendments on the ballot. it is a two-sided ballot. So we have under each race on both sides, that's the the last race on that page, vote both sides and then also again on the corner. So four places on the ballot we say we tell you to vote both sides, but ⁓ really we wanted a more uniform backpage. So the back page is the second amendment, third amendment, and then the county referendum on the LOST. cool. And I think I g the reason in sending it out a week early is to give the a person an opportunity to do more research on who's on the ballot. Do that but also because we're we're moving from eight days to thirteen days for early voting. So the fact that it it gets in their mailbox about a week before early vote begins. ⁓ gives them a time to review the ballot, make the plan to come and and and come to that early vote site. also it'd it'd be about ten days before that VBM deadline. so that if if once they get it they they have time to to think, okay, I need to request that vote by mail ballot. So So it's starting to rev up. It is. We've ⁓ last week we mailed out about eighteen hundred vote by mail our military and and oversea voters. Did another 700 email ballots for the so for those those same voters that are are military in the US, they can get emailed ballot. if they're in the US, they have to mail it back, but if they're overseas, they can fax it back. ⁓ so a little over 2,400 ballots went out last week. and now ⁓ we're actually at the office right now inserting ballots, and and again, probably a little more 22,000, 23,000 will go out this week ⁓ to what we call all of our domestic voters. so if you're local. And have requested that vote by mail ballot. it should it should be getting in the mail shortly. Well great. Well Robert, thank you so much. Yeah. We'll do this again. November third is the election day. That's right. I love support. Yes, November third, seven a.m. to seven P. ⁓ have to go to your your polling location on election day, but ⁓ hope to see you out there again. We have our new two fifty America stickers that we're giving out. Had had great reviews on that and ⁓ looking forward to seeing you at the polls. All right, good deal. Let's go ahead, let's take a break, we'll be right back. I'm Rick Alton. 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. Yeah. 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. When I came back from the war, I was barely hanging on by a thread. here today because of Tanya's relentless efforts in trying to get me healed. She Michael, I know you've got a plan to take your life today, but if you give me just five more minutes to love you. Five more minutes, honey, five more minutes. Michael has actually taught me what it looks like to accept help. 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. 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You can find all the rules at parkpensacola.com. We had Gil Clark, the new CEO of the Pensacola Interstate Fair. It's unbelievable resource. I he's going to get more out of it. We had Commissioner Lumenbach ⁓ here, SYSA. opening the Center. We're also going to have the Solbo coming up, and he's working with the mayor helping at-risk teenagers. We looked at the new rehab center ⁓ out HCA Florida ⁓ or West ⁓ I'm used calling by either one. It's an unbelievable facility. Dr. Burton really walked through all that for us. Then we also had Robert Bender. We got important dates. You can still register for this election ⁓ on October ⁓ But go all this out and ⁓ really I you watching.