Special Pull-Out Section
ESCAMBIA COUNTY VOTER SURVEY - QUALITY OF LIFE - 2011
Since 2008, the Better Pensacola Forum has annually commissioned the national polling firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. to survey registered voters in Escambia County and produce a Quality of Life Survey that gauges the voters attitudes towards local issues, leadership, expectations and plans for the future. Jerry Maygarden, the executive director of the Better Pensacola Forum from 2008-2010, sees the survey as a valuable tool for county and city leaders. “The first survey created a baseline to measure how the citizens feel about our progress,” said Maygarden in a 2009 interview with the Independent News. “We want to help local policy makers to choose wisely. We also want them to know that someone is going to set a new standard for accountability.” The first survey in 2008 showed voters were concerned about their jobs and jobs for their children. Only one in four voters believed the City of Pensacola and Escambia County were headed in the right direction. They questioned the leadership ability of city and county officials, their vision and plans for the future. MasonDixon said that these were some of the lowest scores of any community that it had surveyed. Since then, the City of Pensacola has turned over the majority of its city council, passed a new charter and elected its first strong mayor. Escambia County elected a new sheriff, superintendent of schools and replaced its county administrator. The 2011 Quality of Life Survey was 22
commissioned as a joint effort of Better Pensacola Forum and Pensacola Young Professionals (PYP). The survey continues to document anxiety about economic conditions and job security. However, the findings also reveal continued positive trends and improvements in attitudes and confidence in progress being made, particularly in the City of Pensacola. These improvements are anchored by a shared vision, confidence in the leader-
Presented by
Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Jim Hizer, new Escambia County Administrator Randy Oliver and the administrative team that newly-elected Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward has assembled. The Pensacola Chamber’s Vision 2015 initiative was launched in 2010. It is a job creation program focused on recruiting new businesses, helping local businesses expand and strengthening the part-
“With our quality of life, our vibrant downtown, worldclass bays and beaches and the caliber of people who live here, why the heck wouldn’t you want to live here?” Mayor Ashton Hayward ship and plans for the city’s revitalization and a sense that things in the city are headed in the “right direction.” These improvements are in response to the new city charter, a stronger and more accountable form of city government and progress in the signature economic development effort on the city’s waterfront. Critical quality of life factors continue to receive net negative ratings, including public education, job opportunities, affordable housing, crime/public safety, and effectiveness of elected leadership. On the economic development front, there is new leadership with the new
nerships between the military and the private sector in the Pensacola Bay Area. It has set a goal of creating 3,000 new jobs in the next five years. This more robust structure supports a more effective and accountable economic development effort. There is also the Escambia-Santa Rosa economic development collaboration that will hopefully bring greater regional leadership and coordination. The voters’ optimism for these initiatives is reflected in this survey. The 2011 Quality of Life Survey also documents striking differences of opinion between voters who reside in the
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City of Pensacola and those who reside in the suburbs outside of the municipality of Pensacola. Survey results from 2011 show that 85 percent of city residents said that they are “familiar with and confident in the vision, plans and leadership for the revitalization of (their) city of Pensacola.” This is a 28-percentage point increase over 2010 survey results. The dramatic increase in voter confidence in the city’s vision, direction and leadership provide Pensacola officials with political capital. With this capital city leaders, elected and otherwise, have an opportunity to more aggressively develop, invest in, and implement policies to improve the quality of life for city residents. It may also be that Pensacola’s current and present progress provides greater Escambia an example and confidence to make similar improvements towards meeting the needs and expectations of residents countywide. “ With our quality of life , our vibrant downtown, world-class bays and beaches and the caliber of people who live here, why the heck wouldn’t you want to live here?” asked Mayor Hayward. He also has a challenge for city and county voters. Once we can get our citizens to buy in to what a great home we have, then we can sell this place to the outside world,” said the Mayor. “ We need to be proud of where we live and tell the world we want them to join us. “There’s no reason why we can’t be successful.”