Escambia County commissioners weak on conviction

Originally published by the Pensacoal News Journal

by Fred Garth

Would someone please buy our county commissioners new backbones? Their recent 4-1 vote not to purchase 217 acres for a youth sports park in the Perdido area revealed how incredibly frightened they are of public scrutiny and the news media.

They all agreed that Perdido desperately needs the park. They even agreed that the price was fair. But, as Commissioner Grover Robinson stated (and I paraphrase), their reputation is more important than a park for our children.Oh please! As politicians, they should have the conviction to make a good decision and stand behind their vote instead of hiding behind it.

Unfortunately, the PNJ's article on Aug. 22 injected our commissioners with the fear of Willie Junior's ghost. The problem is the article had more holes in it than Bauer Road.By saying that "nearly 70 percent" of the property was wetlands, it made readers think the county was getting ripped off. But it failed to mention that wetlands are valuable these days. Developers are required to buy wetlands in order to get permits for environmentally sensitive projects. Some wetlands sell for more than $5,000 per acre. Readers were not informed that those 150 acres of wetlands have a market value of $750,000 or more. That's real money the county could recoup over time or avoid spending on future land deals.So, the $1.4 million purchase price becomes closer to a net cost of $650,000 — less than $3,000 per acre. Recently, two acres of land adjacent to the 217-acre parcel sold for $25,000 per acre.

But that information was not in the article.The article also stated that the $1.4 million price was "four times greater than the $328,420 assessment by the county property appraiser." Anyone who has ever bought or sold real estate knows that the true value of land is based on appraisals, not tax assessments. The tax assessment is generally far less than sales value.

That's just Real Estate 101.Only Commissioner Gene Valentino, who has worked tirelessly to improve our community, voted to proceed with the land purchase. He didn't let the media sway him. He didn't run home crying to his mama. Like the savvy businessman he is, Valentino realized that the county was getting a great piece of land at a bargain-basement price. He was doing what our politicians are supposed to do — improving the quality of life in Escambia County.Sadly, the real losers in this debacle are the 2,000 kids in the Perdido area who have been playing on a tiny ballpark built in the 1970s. Just in the past 10 years the number of kids playing youth sports — baseball, basketball, softball and soccer — has increased by 200 percent in the Perdido area. And those numbers grow every season.

Yet, the kids are still packed into aging Baars Field, an eight-acre, dilapidated ball field on a dangerous stretch of Sorrento Road.Let's hope commissioners rethink their poor decision and vote to give Perdido something they should have had many years ago — a safe place for the kids to develop character, sportsmanship and strong backbones.

Fred Garth is a member of the board of directors of the Perdido Bay Youth Sports Association.