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Independent News | March 18, 2021 | Volume 22 | Number 11

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winners & losers

outtakes

news 6, 7

We've had enough of growing the fruit and eating the rind.

cover story

buzz 8

publisher Rick Outzen

graphic designer Tim Bednarczyk

editor & creative director Joani Delezen

contributing writers Savannah Evanoff, Jennifer Leigh, Jeremy Morrison, C.S. Satterwhite

a&e 15

Independent News is published by Inweekly Media, Inc., P.O. Box 12082, Pensacola, FL 32591. (850)438-8115. All materials published in Independent News are copyrighted. © 2018 Inweekly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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*Board Certification by the Florida Bar Association and the National Board Of Trial Advocacy. Statistical information current as of April 2020.

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Idea Development and Customer Discovery

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Marketing with guest speaker Nicole Stacey

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Business Plan Conclusion and Evaluation

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winners & losers

Keith Hill / Courtesy Photo

winners

KEITH HILL Baskerville-Donovan's board

of Directors has named the professional engineer the firm's president. Hill has more than 22 years' experience, including most recently a decade of strategic development and execution as Baskerville-Donovan's Chief Operating Officer. Prior to his role as COO, Hill managed BDI's environmental engineering division, accounting for about half of the company's revenue and size. As Hill takes on day-to-day management, former longtime President Fred Donovan Sr. will remain involved at the company as chairman of Baskerville-Donovan's Board of Directors, supported by Fred Donovan, Jr. as vice chairman.

ROGER VINSON The former president of

the American Camellia Society was presented in January with the ACS 2021 Tablet of Honor for his efforts for the organization. Vinson served as ACS president from 2008-2010 and has continued his work on the board since. His and his wife Ellen's names will be inscribed on the Tablet of Honor that stands between the Annabelle Lundy Fetterman Building and the Lois and Leon Silver Camellia Center at ACS Headquarters in Ft. Valley, Ga.

SARA RATFLIFF With school libraries closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media specialist at Warrington Middle School created a "mega cart" to deliver books directly to her students. With the help of a coworker and her husband, the cart has lights, music and bubbles that advertise its arrival. CHADBOURNE FOUNDATION, INC.

The University of West Florida received a gift of $10,000 from Chadbourne Foundation, Inc. to provide scholarships. The Chadbourne Company and The Chadbourne Family Foundation have donated over $500,000 to UWF over the years, providing scholarship support to 277 UWF students.

COUNCIL ON AGING OF WEST FLORIDA For the second consecutive year, SAGECare has bestowed on the nonprofit its bronze certification in LGBT cultural competency. SAGECare is the leading training and consulting group on LGBT aging issues. The Bronze Certification authenticates that all Council on Aging management staff commit to treating all older individuals with dignity and sensitivity, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification. 44

Ron DeSantis / flgov.com

losers

RON DESANTIS Florida's governor reject-

ed Desmond Meade's request for a pardon, the second time in six months the appeal has been denied. Meade is the executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and the face of the movement behind what appeared on the 2018 ballot as Amendment 4. He was named to Time magazine's 2019 list of the world's 100 most influential people. While in the Army, he began using cocaine after being caught stealing on the base. He was dishonorably discharged and served three years in a military brig. Upon release in 1995, his drug use escalated. Meade was in and out of jail for felony cocaine possession. In 2001, he was convicted of possession of a firearm as a felon. He was sentenced to 15 years but got out when his conviction was reversed on appeal. In 2005, he checked himself into a drug treatment program and began to rebuild his life, earning a law degree. DeSantis said he rejected Meade's pardon because of the dishonorable military discharge over 25 years ago.

#FREEBRITNEY Our Congressman Matt

Gaetz has put the issues on the back burner once again in his fight to stay in the limelight. Gaetz wants Congress to get involved in the Free Britney movement. He sent a letter to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the House Judiciary Committee chair, urging a hearing on the conservatorship process after claiming he has watched a documentary that focuses on the pop star's public perception and the conservatorship implemented by her father that currently governs her life. We think he was actually watching Spears' "Toxic" video.

ONLINE SELLERS State lawmakers want

to require online companies that sell to Florida residents pay sales taxes on their transactions. By not collecting sales taxes, the internet vendors have had a huge advantage over our local stores. The Florida Senate staff analysis figures general revenue for the state will increase by $973.6 million in the coming fiscal year, and $1.08 billion in the next year.

TED CRUZ The U.S. Senator from Texas,

whose campaign slogan is "Tough as Texas," is rising political donations by handing out the Dr. Seuss classic "Green Eggs & Ham." For a contribution of $60, donors receive signed by Cruz. What a deal! inweekly.net

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ASK QUESTIONS When my editor, Joani Delezen, shared her plans to feature the four-female majority on the Pensacola City Council (Inweekly, "Meet the Councilwomen," 3/4/21), I was excited to open Women's History Month celebrating the milestone. Jennifer Brahier, Teniadé Broughton, Ann Hill and Sherri Myers bring diverse professional and personal backgrounds to the city council. I first met Brahier last spring when she expressed concern over how officials were tracking COVID-19 cases and deaths in our community. A Pensacola State College math instructor, she is the daughter of an Air Force pilot. Her father later worked as a diplomat with NATO and SEATO. Broughton watched her mother unsuccessfully run for city council two decades ago. As the head of the John Sunday Society, she has been a champion for educating all of us on our community's Black history. Hill is a retired journalist and news desk editor who was inspired to run in 2018 by the inaugural Pensacola Women's March. Before she ran for council, Hill served on the boards for the BelmontDeVilliers Neighborhood Association and the Community Maritime Park. Myers is the veteran of the quartet, serving her third term. She has been a persistent and vocal advocate for abused women and the disabled. As a council member, she has refused to be bowed by the harassment from some of her male counterparts in city government. All four council members know the people in their districts well. Brahier and Broughton are the newcomers. Brahier won her District 1 seat against a six-term incumbent by only three votes, thanks to an aggressive door-to-door campaign. Broughton won an open post in a hardfought campaign, in which both candidates scoured the District 5 neighborhoods. Hill's training as a reporter has taught her how to listen, which helped her win her seat with 59% of the vote. Myers has been battled tested, and her district loves her. She upset a favored young professional when she first won in 2010 and then

beat a candidate backed by Mayor Ashton Hayward four years later. In 2018, no one ran against her. These women are worthy successors to the female council members who preceded them—Dorothy Dyson, Mary Ann Harrell, Cynthia Russell, Joyce Reese, Lois Benson, Joan Gillson, Rita Jones, Sharon Wakeman, Marie Young, Debra Thompson, Jewel Cannada-Wynn, Maren DeWeese, Diane Mack and Megan Pratt. Brahier, Broughton, Hill and Myers have come under attack from the daily newspaper and others for their refusal to rubber-stamp the Silver Hills proposal for the Community Maritime Park. Inweekly supports the project because we believe the parking garage will make the other parcels more attractive to developers, and the apartments will help the viability of retail in the downtown area. However, we also believe the condemnation of these women for doing their due diligence is unwarranted, if not sexist. These women aren't stupid, and they aren't ignoring the effort put into bringing the proposal to their agenda. They aren't bullies or demagogues, but these council members also aren't pushovers. Yes, the West End Sector Plan had public input, and the developer selection panel had diversity. But the council members are stewards of city assets. They need to understand the proposal to not only live up to that responsibility but also to be able to explain the project to their constituents. I'm glad that they have asked questions because we learn details about the Silver Hills project and its potential through their inquiries. The only revenue parcels 4 and 5 have generated over the past decade have been parking fees for events. Silver Hills can be a catalyst for the new wave of economic growth for Pensacola, creating another Southtowne-style project that will pull more people into the downtown area. We shouldn't vilify city leaders for reviewing the details. Instead, we should encourage them to continue with their queries. In the end, I believe they will see the facts prove the value of approving the project. {in} rick@inweekly.net

They aren't bullies or demagogues, but these council members also aren't pushovers.

March 18, 2021

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DEBATING MARITIME PARK'S FUTURE By Rick Outzen and Jeremy Morrison For nearly a decade, Pensacola officials have tried to find developers for the remaining parcels at the Community Maritime Park. Last week, city leaders were presented with a plan that might be the catalyst for completing the park and expanding downtown Pensacola west of Palafox Street. On Monday, March 8, the Pensacola City Council held a special workshop to hear about a potential deal between the city and a pair of developers, Silver Hills and Edwards Communities Development Companies, for parcels 4 and 5. The proposal includes between 375 and 450 residential units, a parking garage and 10,000 square feet of commercial space on the two areas currently used for surface parking and green space between the Blue Wahoos Stadium and Main Street. The garage is more extensive than what the apartments require, costing an additional $10 million, but the developers are willing to do it in exchange for a 99-year lease and the ability to apply the extra $10 million to their land lease payments. The developers also asked for a 10-year tax rebate through the Community Redevelopment Agency, which is equal to $4.4 million over the 10 years. Mayor Grover Robinson described the need for a parking garage as essential to attracting further development at the park. "For us to reach the potential of what Maritime Park could become, it was always expected that that piece was an integral part," he said at the workshop, imploring the council to seize the deal. "All we have to deal with is the Silver Hills deal, and we'd have our parking deck and could move forward." Council appeared to agree with the mayor's logic—"I think everybody agrees we need to build the parking garage," said Councilwoman Sherri Myers—but there were still a lot of questions. "I like the project," Myers said, "but it's the finances that I have a question about." Council members seemed iffy on the proposed tax break and using lease payments to reimburse the developers for the larger garage. And they wondered if those breaks would be passed on if the developers sold the properties. "Like what happened to Southtowne?" Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier pointed out, referencing the mixed-use development downtown. Southtowne, a 258-unit apartment complex built by Studer properties in downtown Pensacola, received an economic development exemption, known as an EDATE, from the city and county. The complex was sold in late 2019, and the property tax exemptions were passed on to 66

the new owner. Even with the exemptions, the new owner paid $412,204 in property taxes and stormwater assessments in 2020—$282,706 for public education and $95,380 for the downtown improvements. In 2013, the last year the News Journal had its operations on the property, the newspaper only paid $54,754 to the tax collector for 101 E. Romana Street. Brahier asked, "Is it 99 years they don't pay a lease?" According to Chris Rowe, an outside attorney brought on board by the city, the tax break would most likely be passed along. He said, "My sense is, the developer would probably want to preserve that." Mayor Robinson was quick to reframe the math during the, at times, tense discussion. He contended, "In reality, we're not giving up the ground lease; we're getting $10 million." Commercial realtor and former Studer Properties president Andrew Rothfeder negotiated on the city's behalf with the developers. He told Inweekly that the lack of a parking garage has hampered development at the park because the average surface parking spot costs $3,000 while structured parking costs about $18,000 per space. "Yes, you will save money by not doing a parking garage, and you're going to have five of these parcels with individual small buildings— a Mexican restaurant, a bank, a gas station, a Red Lobster and a Taco Bell," said Rothfeder. "And you're going to see parking around them and a drive-through—about a third of the ground lease, property tax and jobs created." He continued, "No residential, no placemaking, but the city doesn't have to spend any money." The parking garage is currently estimated to be seven decks with approximately 1,050 spots: •375 exclusively for Silver Hills tenants •195 shared with Silver Hill tenants and city •480 exclusively city If the additional parking spaces' resulting expenditure is less than $10 million, Silver Hills will compensate the city for the difference. The city will retain ownership and operation of the entire parking garage. Rothfeder believes the parking garage makes sense because the city gets additional parking spaces that can be leased to the public and other developers wanting to build on the other parcels. The city is also getting a $19 million parking garage for $14.4 million—$10 million in lease fees and $4.4 million in property tax exemptions. "We don't have to come out of pocket for a penny, and we get an entire parking garage," said Rothfeder. "They effectively do pay $10 million for the land but do it in parking spaces instead of cash over 99 years." He added, "Again, they're still paying the $9 million of their own money for their own parking that they need." At the workshop, Councilwoman

Teniadé Broughton expressed concern that the players involved in downtown development efforts tended to be part of a recurring cast. "What I see in a lot of this is opportunity hoarding," Broughton said, suggesting that perhaps some other developers and real estate players, specifically from the minority community, should be brought into the circle. The Silver Hills proposal was part of a deliberate process that began in the waning weeks of Mayor Ashton Hayward's administration. According to Rothfeder, Hayward approached Quint Studer and him and said, "Guys, we've had no success on Maritime. We had CBRE for four years. Then we had NAI. We got nothing. You guys clearly know what you're doing. Would you be willing to come in here and try to figure out how to get these projects developed?" Studer paid the city for an option on the seven parcels, Weitzman Associates for market analysis and DPZ CoDesign for a master plan for the parcels, Bruce Beach and the nearby former ECUA property that Studer owns—about $700,000 total. Community charettes were held, and the West Main Sector Plan was developed. A request for proposals was sent out in April 2020, and six developers responded. The selection panel included Rothfeder, Marina Khoury of DPZ, Hayward, Rev. Lonnie Wesley, Michelle Snow, Tia Robbins, Mort O'Sullivan and Joe Carrico.

"I wanted people who had no connection to us—no one can ever say it was an inside job. I wanted diversity of age, race and gender. Honestly, I also wanted diversity of expertise." Andrew Rothfeder "A lot of thought went into this panel," said Rothfeder. "I wanted people who had no connection to us—no one can ever say it was an inside job. I wanted diversity of age, race and gender. Honestly, I also wanted diversity of expertise." The panel reviewed the proposals and selected Silver Hills and Edwards Communities Development Companies to develop parcels 4 and 5, and the city council granted exclusive rights to negotiate for them. Broughton also voiced concerns about what impact such a development—the first under the West Main Sector Plan—would have on the surrounding area. She noted the constant creep of downtown development ever farther to the west, into the historically African American Tanyard neighborhood. "I'm really concerned about the effect of the gentrification of this project, espe-

cially when you start talking about luxury apartments so close to the Tanyards," Broughton said.

"I'm really concerned about the effect of the gentrification of this project, especially when you start talking about luxury apartments so close to the Tanyards." Teniadé Broughton The councilwoman pointed to another downtown development as an example of gentrification—Aragon, formerly known as Aragon Court, a low-income housing project constructed during the segregation era. "I'm old enough to remember Aragon," Broughton said. "I don't want to see that for the Tanyards." The councilwoman shared that longtime residents of neighborhoods like the Tanyard have long lodged concerns about issues such as flooding, but only now, with high-dollar development on the doorstep, is the city getting serious about addressing the issue. She quoted poet Maya Angelou in making her point—"They grow the fruit but eat the rind." "We've had enough of growing the fruit and eating the rind," Councilwoman Broughton said. "And what I'm here to say is if the Tanyards does not eat, no one will eat." Rothfeder believes the city's Covenant for the Community answers some of Broughton's concerns. The covenant requires 70% of the labor dollars spent on building the project be for locals. "Silver Hills says this is a $60 million project," he told Inweekly. "Probably half of it is labor, $30 million; 70% of that figure is $21 million. That's $21 million in local people's pockets." Mayor Robinson further discussed the proposal at his weekly Facebook Live Q&A session on Wednesday, March 10. "It will be a significant parking garage, and it should be able to handle all of the needs for that area," Robinson said, calling the arrangement a win-win deal. "There was always the anticipation that there would be what you call structural-vertical parking." Questions posed to the mayor during the Facebook session regarded the perceived lack of involvement of the city council in the process. "The people voted for a system of government that allows the mayor's office and the executive to negotiate; that's the whole purpose of this, is a one-person negotiation process," he said. "It's the council's job to approve or disapprove, and they have that opportunity." The project will come back before the city council in April. {in} inweekly.net

SLIPPERY SLOPE?

By Rick Outzen The Florida Legislature is considering legislation (SB 498 and HB 259) that on any private elementary, middle, high school or college campus if any religious institution is also located on the property, guns would presumptively be allowed to be carried anywhere on that campus by concealed weapon license holders. The bill does allow religious institutions or owners of the property to continue prohibiting firearms should they so choose. The House bill has strong support from Northwest Florida's delegation, with Jayer Williamson introducing the bill and Alex Andrade and Michelle Salzman as co-sponsors. Currently, Florida law does not prohibit a licensee from carrying a concealed firearm or weapon in a church, synagogue or other religious institution. However, licensees aren't allowed to bring their guns on school campuses. Therefore, it's a crime to carry a firearm in a place of worship that also has a school on its property. Rep. Williamson said he introduced the bill to fix what he considers a glitch in Florida Statute "Even if a Pre-K met Monday through Friday, law-abiding permit holders would be breaking the law by carrying on Sunday," he said. "HB259 will treat those types of properties just as all other religious institutions are currently treated. The bill also helps fill a void for private schools housed on the property of religious institutions and allows them to ensure their campuses are safe and secure." Rep. Andrade told Inweekly that he and Rep. Williamson talked about the bill during his first session because they felt the March 18, 2021

current law penalized small churches that hold services on public school property. "These small churches were forced to either hire off-duty law enforcement or go without armed security," Andrade told Inweekly. "All the bill does is reinstitute the ability for churches to use volunteer security teams during church activities, just like they did before the school safety bill." He added, "If a church does not want to allow firearms at their services, they still have that ability. But with the examples we've seen in the past few years of attacks targeting houses of worship, I believe the option is needed now more than ever." Rep. Salzman told Inweekly that she co-sponsored HB 259 because "this bill allows law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families while attending church." Other groups see the legislation differently. The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged lawmakers to oppose the bills and "keep our school campuses safe and gun-free." The bishops' concerns are that the legislation places onus on schools that support current law and not on the few who seek this change. Schools that establish more restrictive policies may be recognized as softer targets. At a Zoom press conference held by the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence last week, Dr. Danielle Thomas, the Florida PTA's vice president of Educational Development for Florida PTA, said, "The Florida PTA believes the most effective day-to-day school climate to be a gun-free climate. We believe the only people on our school campuses who should be armed should be trained law enforcement officers." Rep. Williamson told Inweekly that he never takes offense to opposition on his bills. "Sometimes, I do scratch my head,

though," he shared. "The Catholic Church will have the right to prohibit guns on all their campuses if they see fit. That is their decision. Nothing in this bill removes the rights of property owners, so their concerns seem null." Williamson continued, "The PTA has shown concern for making sure this bill is not a loophole to get guns in public schools, which it is not. We have school resource officers and the guardian program set up for public schools." However, Carrie Boyd, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Action Fund's policy director, believes guns in schools on church grounds is a "slippery slope issue by design." "It takes a bite out of the legal apple that disavows guns in schools as good public policy with the goal of additional bites becoming the norm until the prohibition against guns in schools is gobbled up for good," said Boyd. She said the first bite is allowing guns in private schools where there is a religious house of worship attached or on the same property. The second bite is opening the door to guns in churches with taxpayerfunded pre-kindergarten programs or private schools. The third bite involves churches renting space from public schools for events. "Will people be allowed to carry on public-school premises if they're in attendance for a religious function?" said Boyd. "These bites are not aimed at protecting public safety. Rather, this is an agenda put forward to slowly chomp away at the prohibition against guns in schools in the state of Florida." The executive director of the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus, Andy Pelosi, echoed Boyd's points saying the bill's current language was at best vague and at worst silent regarding when guns must be prohibited, such as extracurricular activities. "What about religious instruction classes held during the week that might coincide with a school event? Can people carry their firearms?" asked Pelosi. He believes worshipers who bring guns on public school campuses during nonschool hours contravene the Federal Gunfree School Zone Act, which prohibits any unauthorized individual from knowingly possessing a loaded or unsecured firearm in a place that the individual knows is a school zone. "There are many cases where guns have either been left behind or unintentionally discharged in houses of worship, as well as schools, which should give Florida lawmakers pause before proceeding with this legislation," said Pelosi. "Our hope is that Floridians will reach out to their state lawmakers and urge them to oppose this legislation and not to allow guns to be carried in our schools or college campuses."

Angela Gallo, the co-chair of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said the push for these bills is coming from the National Rifle Association (NRA). She said, "This is not the first time we've seen this bill. It's a different variation of bills that we've seen in the past. Last year, it was more of an opt-in versus an opt-out. This year, they've strengthened it a little so that churches will actually have to opt-out of the concealed carry. "

"This is not the first time we've seen this bill. It's a different variation of bills that we've seen in the past. Last year, it was more of an opt-in versus an optout." Angela Gallo She added, "It's important to know that churches on private property without schools can already determine their own rules for their private property and they can conceal carry." Pelosi said, "It's not surprising that the gun lobby is trying to do this because the gun lobby's playbook is to push guns into every single public place that they possibly can, whether it be schools, parks, libraries and so on." At the Florida Senate committee hearing on SB 498, Marion Hammer, former president of the pro-gun NRA and now head of Unified Sportsmen of Florida, said, "People who go to church are being deprived of the same rights [to carry concealed firearms] that they have when they go shopping. Just because a church has a private childcare program or a private preK program does not mean the government can hijack its private property." The day after the Zoom conference, the Florida chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety's grassroots networks, came out opposed to the bills. "This proposal presents a danger for students of all ages," wrote the groups. "Research strongly supports the idea that children will access guns when they are present, and there have been numerous incidents where guns carried into schools were misplaced or stolen." "I know the dangers that allowing guns into schools poses firsthand—my daughter was at Episcopal School of Jacksonville in 2012 when a recently fired teacher shot and killed the headmaster and then himself," said Rev. Deacon Dianne Larson, a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action. "Our lawmakers should reject this risky legislation and keep guns off of school grounds." {in} 7

Grover Robinson, John Kirby and Matt Coughlin / Photo Courtesy of City of Pensacola

FLY SPIRIT Spirit Airlines has announced plans to bring Spirit Signature Service and its low fares to Pensacola International Airport starting June 10. Spirit will offer the only nonstop flights to Columbus, Ohio (CMH); Indianapolis (IND); and Louisville, Ky. (SDF), along with nonstop service to Austin (AUS) and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (DFW) and Kansas City (MCI) and St. Louis, Mo. (STL). "As Florida's Hometown Airline, we are excited to launch service to Pensacola, our first destination in Northwest Florida," Spirit Airlines Vice President of Network Planning John Kirby said. "With seven nonstop destinations, Spirit Airlines is making it easy and affordable for travelers to enjoy Pensacola's emerald-green waters and sugar-white sands. In addition, our new guests in Florida's Panhandle will enjoy low-cost nonstops to many popular cities stretching from Texas to Ohio." Pensacola is the eighth new city added to Spirit's network in the past year. The airline continues to seize growth opportunities as demand for air travel increases, having announced new service to Louisville, Milwaukee and St. Louis in the past two weeks. Last month, the carrier reported an accelerated delivery schedule for new Airbus aircraft joining Spirit's Fit Fleet™, which is among the youngest in the industry. "We are thrilled to welcome Spirit Airlines to the Pensacola International Airport," Mayor Grover Robinson said. "Bringing a new airline to Pensacola is an incredible achievement at any time, but the fact that it was accomplished during a global pandemic is truly a testament to the airport's success and resilience." 88

KINDERGARTEN READINESS Escambia County's Kindergarten Readiness improved by one percentage point over the 2019-2020 school year, 47% to 48%, while Santa Rosa jumped 21 points, from 57% to 78%, according to the Florida Department of Education. Statewide, the average readiness rate improved four points, from 53% to 57%. Escambia's percentage is below Achieve Escambia's goal for 2020—60%. The nonprofit has set a "bold goal" of 75% by 2025. Achieve Escambia Executive Director Kim Krupa explained, "This aligns with the Florida Chamber Foundation's Business Alliance for Early Learning strategic plan, which calls for 100%—every child in Florida— ready for kindergarten by 2030." She explained the bold goal was set to "inspire the community to achieve bold results." Krupa added, "Over the past few years, our Escambia County bold goal has helped our partners establish a clear focus and commitment to sticking with it over the long term." One of the reasons Achieve Escambia supported the Escambia Children's Trust ballot referendum was its recognition that the organization and its partners could make incremental changes without "seismic interventions." She said, "We look forward to the ECT funding innovations that expand the exemplary work that is being done in pockets and to fund the missing pieces of the local birth-5 system, to ultimately raise kindergarten readiness overall." Currently, to improve kindergarten readiness, Achieve has supported Parent University—a parent education program that the Escambia Children's Trust may fund—and funding the 3-year-old preschool at C. A. Weis Community Partnership School. Krupa said,

"The first 3-year-old preschool cohort is now in kindergarten, and on the most recent assessment, 89% of them were ready for school, compared to 40% of their peers who had only attended one year of preschool, VPK." She added, "This outcome holds such promise and shows that when we align resources and invest in high-quality early childhood experiences, we really can achieve these bold goals. Obviously, Achieve Escambia cannot control kindergarten readiness results directly as we aren't a direct service organization, but as a collaborative group, we view our bold goals as goals for the entire community—with all partners working toward this bold goal." Seven of the county's 35 elementary schools have rates above 60%—Cordova Park, Sherwood, Byrneville, Suter and Pensacola Beach. Ten schools have rates below 40%—Weis, Semmes, Longleaf, West Pensacola, Lincoln Park, Navy Point, Holm, Warrington, Ensley and Oakcrest. The Studer Community Institute's Shannon Nickinson noted of the data, "In 2020, 18 Escambia schools had readiness rates less than 50%; in 2019, it was 19 schools. All but three of those 18 schools made improvements in their readiness rates." Krupa pointed out the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on kindergarten readiness. She said, "Achieve and our partners are gravely concerned about these results. This year, as more students opted out of brick-and-mortar schools, the testing cohort dropped dramatically." She continued, "Just 2,247 took the assessment in 2020, down from 2,908 in 2017. Where have the children gone? There is so much variance in the data across the state, so many unexplained ups and downs and no consistent storyline to explain them."

RELIEF DOLLARS COMING The Ameri-

can Rescue Plan, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Thursday, March 11, will provide $61.1 million to Escambia County and $19.1 million to the City of Pensacola. Each will receive half of the funds this year and the other half within a year of their first payment. The monies need to be spent by 2024. Like the Trump Administration's CARES Act, local governments can use the funds to respond to the public health emergency to the COVID–19 pandemic or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses and nonprofits or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality. County Administrator Janice Gilley bumbled through putting together a plan to distribute CARES Act dollars to households and small businesses. Maybe she will do a better job this time. Fortunately, Pensacola won't have to wait on the county to get its funds under the new plan.

NAVY FEDERAL INTERFERENCE Marina Khoury and her DPZ CoDesign team held a Zoom conference with Inweekly the day before the Escambia County Commission agreed to move forward with its hybrid master plan for Outlying Landing Field 8 (OLF-8) at the Committee of the Whole on Thursday, March 11. Khoury was emphatic that Navy Federal Credit Union, which is reimbursing the county of the master plan work, never told the planners what they wanted at OLF-8, which is adjacent to its Beulah campus. "Navy Federal, even though we have said to them, 'Please make your opinions known,' they have not told us to draw one thing," said Khoury. "They have just repeated the same thing, which is, 'We want to see this process play itself out. We value your judgment, and we stand behind your professional recommendations.' But they have in no way, shape or form, told us to draw a plan, to delete something, to not draw a plan. They have just not made one recommendation." She later added, "There's been no conspiracy—Other than Commissioner Bergosh disagreeing with us on the fact that he thought we were compelled by our contract to forward Teresa's email, which I categorically refute." Khoury didn't see the team's role was to pass on negative comments shared by Theresa Blackwell and others in the Beulah Coalition. She said, "In public engagement, you engage with people on their terms, and they tell you things that you don't necessarily go and repeat, and we kept it to ourselves." Travis Peterson said the DPZ team tried to stay out of the politics of Beulah and OLF-8. He said, "Maybe we should have been more conscious of them, but it was not on our radar." He added, "Our job was to get as many people participating, to get as many opinions as possible, merge that and meld that with the technical expertise of the team and try to find a way to align them." NEW CITY DISTRICTS Pensacola will soon be assessing its seven municipal districts, but it's unclear how soon this will occur. As per its charter, a redistricting commission must submit a plan to the Pensacola City Council a year ahead of the November 2022 election, but that looks unlikely to happen. City Attorney Susan Woolf informed council members this week that she considered meeting the Nov. 8 deadline a "highly unrealistic expectation." "We are in no different position than anyone else, for good or bad," Woolf said, explaining that the city's process is being held up by a delay in the release of U.S. Census results. She told the city council that inweekly.net

the census results—on which the city will base any redrawing of its districts—were not expected to be released until September. "When they say September," Woolf said, "they mean the last day of September." Due to the delay, the council should consider tweaking some dates outlined in the city charter. While a specific timeline is still being worked out, she suggested that the commission's final report would land in the February or March timeframe of 2022, or about five months late. While the final deadline would be pushed back in this scenario, Woolf said that the city should still assemble a redistricting commission by early June as laid out in the charter so that the members can begin learning about the process. "So that when the information is released, they can immediately hit the ground running," Woolf said. The attorney said that to extend the final deadline, the council would need to formalize the move with an ordinance. However, not all council members agreed. Councilwoman Sherri Myers said that she would not be seeking reelection and that whoever decided to run for her seat would need to be making decisions based on the city's revised districting before the spring of 2022. "I would hope we could have this done before the end of the year because of that," Myers said. Woolf said that she was basing her time estimates on the city's last redistricting process in 2011. "It was five meetings over four months to get it done," she said. Mayor Grover Robinson said that he agreed with Myers that the commission should wrap up its work by the end of this year and that if the commission took care of all of its work except that which required the hard census data, maybe it could be accomplished. "By the time the actual data comes

March 18, 2021

in, you can have a lot of that stuff worked through," the mayor said. Woolf said that she would work to draw up twin timelines for the council to consider, one that ended by the end of this year and another that extended the deadline into 2022.

THE SPRING VMS The Spring Entrepre-

neur Hub has accepted five companies to its VMS program, increasing its mentees to 15 businesses. The Spring VMS is based on the model used by the mentorship program developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The free program offers confidential team mentoring services to small businesses in the Pensacola area. The 2020 cohort was selected from 80 applications. The additions were chosen from 56 applications. The new mentees include companies in light manufacturing, health care, dining, service and transportation industries. Bird of Prey Fishing Tackle was started in 2013 by Brian and Bill Arnold to manufacture quality fishing tackle products that allow customers to help provide for their families while making memories that last a lifetime. InHer Physique Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy and Wellness offers one-on-one, private pelvic floor rehabilitation sessions to women, men, children and transgender individuals who suffer from pelvic dysfunctions. Native Café is operated by the Brown family and has been a Pensacola Beach staple since 2008, serving breakfast and lunch. Station 96 is a niche cleaning, maintenance and repair company serving the restaurant community along the Gulf Coast that specializes in ensuring commercial kitchens maintain compliance with insurance and fire code requirements since 2018. WM Martin Transport is a third-party logistics company specializing in domestic flatbed freight shipments in the Southeastern United States. The Spring VMS also added three

new mentors—Capt. Sterling Gilliam, Bob Hart and Kathy Sandstrom. Later this year, the program will add more companies. If interested, complete an application at thespringpensacola.com/programs.

LANDING PAGE LAUNCHED In Janu-

ary, the Escambia County School District kicked off "Celebrating our Past. Designing our Future. Together." The first step of a strategic planning process focuses on gaining insights from stakeholder voices, gathering research needed to define ECSD's goals and producing a blueprint for action to guide the school district's future over the next five years. The district has launched its landing page, thefutureofecsd.org, which provides more details on the initiative and will be updated as each step is taken through the planning process. "We are laser-focused and committed to building a plan that invites the unity needed to ensure every child in our community has access to an education that maximizes their potential," said School Superintendent Timothy Smith. "This website serves to document and inform everyone as we move along our development process. I invite you to join us on this learning journey, and I look forward to what we will learn together."

LEGENDARY VOICES To honor its team

members for their outstanding response to the past year's challenges presented by COVID-19 and Hurricane Sally, Baptist Health Care (BHC) has named its entire workforce as Legendary VOICES. The tribute is a new iteration of the organization's annual Baptist Health Care Legends team member awards recognition program that honors individuals who go above and beyond their work's daily demands to live the BHC values. "This year, it's just not possible to single out a few team members for recognition," said BHC President and CEO Mark Faulkner. "Throughout the challenging

year that was 2020, our team members raised the bar. They consistently lived our VOICES, which stands for our Values of Ownership, Integrity, Compassion, Excellence and Service. For that reason, we are celebrating all Baptist Health Care team members as Legendary VOICES." The recognition comes exactly one year after Baptist treated the first patient to be diagnosed with COVID-19 in Northwest Florida. A year-in-review video produced especially for the recognition can be seen at ebaptisthealthcare.org/about/ team-members. The webpage and BHC social media channels will also feature the work of BHC teams, units and departments throughout the coming months.

SPECIAL FISHING RODEO Vision of Hope is inviting children and adults with developmental disabilities to participate in their Vision of Hope Annual Fishing Rodeo from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday, April 10, at Roy's Pond on Todd Street in Pace. Vision of Hope is a Christian-based charity that provides young adults with developmental disabilities the resources to learn life skills and receive vocational training, job placement assistance, and other services and support they need to develop their potential fully. The event offers the community of persons with developmental disabilities the chance to gather in the great outdoors and learn how to fish recreationally. There is no entry fee, and all supplies and fishing gear will be provided. Participants will also receive a free T-shirt on the day of the event after completing and returning the registration form. Printable registration forms are available at visionofhopefl.org. The event is limited to the first 100 completed registrations, and a parent or guardian must accompany each participant on the day of the event. Vendor lunches will be available for purchase from Chick-fil-A, Our Daily Bread Soul Sisters and Kona Ice. {in}

Community Maritime Park (CMP) / Stadium

TRILLIUM PROPERTY

On September 5, 2006, 9,684 people voted to move the city forward COMMUNITY MARITIME PARK REFERENDUM ON COUNCIL ACTION FOR THE APPROVAL OR REJECTION OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS BY THE CITY COUNCIL: THAT THE MASTER DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT (MDA) AND MASTER LEASE AGREEMENT (MLA) BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE COMMUNITY MARITIME PARK ASSOCIATES (CMPA) RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF THE COMMUNITY MARITIME PARK BE APPROVED.

The promoters of the project felt that this project would do the following: • Increase funds to the CRA which had been decreasing. • Lead to the revitalization of the City by attracting new investments. • Increase the number of young people that stay home or move back. CRA’s Urban Core tax base has increased by over 80% from $663,058,724 in 2012 to $1,014,258,099 in 2018.

CRA Urban Core Amounts by year from 2010 – 2018

2010.............................................. $674,859,510 2011.............................................. $664,449,542 Stadium 2012.............................................. $663,058,724 2013.............................................. $716,623,880 2014.............................................. $669,127,240 2015.............................................. $797,693,428 2016.............................................. $849,285,988 2017.............................................. $917,937,273 2018........................................... $1,014,258,099 SOURCE: City of Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency Annual Report • FISCAL YEAR 2018

Some of the significant projects that have occurred within the CRA Urban Core since 2012 include: • Redevelopment of the east and west corners of Palafox & Main Streets (Bodacious Brew, SOGO, Carmen’s Lunch Bar, SoChopped, The Artisan) • Development of the Southtowne Apartment Complex and Mixed Use Development • New Bank of Pensacola Building at Palafox & Main • Bear Levin Studer YMCA • Completion of One-51 Main, a three story mixed-use building at the Community • Maritime Place Office Building • New Headquarters for the IHMC on Romana Street • Renovation of the Brent Block • Renovations underway for East Garden District • New KESCO Kitchen Supply building, W. Main Street • New Bodacious Brew Thru Coffee Shop • New Centennial Bank Building, 201 E. Garden Street • New Holiday Inn at East Main Street • New Mixed-Use Office Building adjacent to YMCA • New ServisFirst Office Building • New Everman’s Grocery Store • Renovations of SunTrust Building into SCI Building • New Members First Credit Union • Many more examples large and small are chronicled in the CRA annual reports: www.cityofpensacola.com/2649/Annual-Reports

Brought to you by the Studers 010 1

inweekly.net

Like many of you, we're having a hard time believing that it's March 2021. When the pandemic started, no one could have predicted that it would last so long, that we'd lose so much or all the other ways 2020 would demand our attention and call us to action. In addition to the more than half-a-million American lives taken by the coronavirus, there were major protests for racial justice, a presidential election, a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and an attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol. Add to that the ongoing economic trauma of surviving a once-in-a-generation crisis with little to no aid, and it's no wonder most of us are exhausted and are finding it hard to process the past 12 months.

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a ke b re rn e d to b

ad and p

c h tu rn re t t y m u

e d into B

in g C ro e t t y fu c k

nc … then u

e re m o n

185 days

I will forever be grateful for the This year has been long enough that I managed to get in shape (for the first time in years) and out of shape. Weird flex, I know.

To do so, we asked ourselves, plus our friends and followers, a series of questions about what they did and didn't do this past year—like what made you irrationally angry, what did you binge and what or who did you miss? We promised to publish everything anonymously so we'd get more honest replies, and we combed through the responses for the ones that felt relatable and made us laugh out loud. That’s just what we need right now, you know? We hope these confessions and rants make you say "It me!” at least once. We also hope that the optimism we’re feeling every time someone we know shares a vaccine selfie becomes more frequent. We all need that. {in}

Here at Inweekly, we debated a few different ways to look back, and honestly, any attempt at summarizing the year just made us mad and really, really sad—mad because it didn't have to get this bad and sad because we personally lost loved ones, people we love lost loved ones and we know that grief is being felt by countless others around the world too. So we decided not to do it. There are going to be more than enough COVID think-pieces and timelines published this month anyway. Instead, we opted to use this, our one-year anniversary of shit-getting-scary issue, to reflect on our time in quarantine (or our time of staying home a little more than usual, depending on how much you heeded CDC recommendations).

c ke r .. .

t ire d m io u s ly re

y a p ro n w

t back t h e n I we n

o wo rk .

I secretly love being able to pretend my usual adult acne is maskne.

I went without wearing socks or underwear.

Ugh, Facebook. I unfollowed my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and my sister. I have zero regrets. March 18, 2021

live music?

Y'all remember

I realized I know a lot of assholes. (And if you're wondering if I'm talking about you, I probably am.)

Yeah, me neither.

I broke up with coffee and fell in love with hot tea.

Comfort food & comfort shows that's how I made it through.

Anybody else order two entrees (you know, to reach the delivery minimum) with plans to save one for lunch the next day but just end up eating them both straight away?

Sourdough starters are supposedly really hard to kill, right? Not for me.

Very proud to say I shaved some minutes off my Rubik's Cube time.

God, I miss

I binged old shows with a sense of urgency that made zero sense.

What did you totally forget about? Pants.

The first week of the stay-at-home order, I was drinking morning margaritas while I waited for my coffee to brew. Yikes, huh?

I finally quit Facebook and I sleep better because of it.

Like, I already know who Gossip Girl is, but that didn't seem to matter at 3 a.m. when I was just two episodes away from the reveal.

I bought yellow curry paste in April to learn to make one of my all-time favorites at home.

I still haven't opened it.

I learned that I really miss malls; I hated them before the pandemic. I know "Emily in Paris" was trash. But I watched all 10 episodes. Twice.

Oh, let me tell you about the violin I bought on wish.com and touched once...

Nachos were an every-night ordeal.

Not the good nachos either—I'm talking tortilla chips, taco sauce, sharp cheddar, baked in the microwave and served with a sour cream chaser. Those nachos held my hand while I cried my way through "Grey's Anatomy" or when I was swooning over Wayne from "Letterkenny." 212 1

inweekly.net

Dating is a skill and, man, spending a year on the bench has made me rusty.

Remember when Zoom happy hour was kind of fun? Those were the days.

Taylor Swift will forever remember quarantine as a time when she made two amazing records. I will forever remember quarantine as a time when I listened to those records every damn day.

It wasn't planned or an official taste test or anything, but I definitely tried all the different Cheez-It types. My unofficial results? Glad you asked! The Extra Toasty ones are amazing, especially when tossed in hot sauce, and the Cheese Pizza ones are nasty AF.

Yes,

I had more time at home to cook.

If you didn't show up, at least once, to the Graffiti Bridge protests this summer, I probably won't show up for you anymore.

No,

I still don't want to do it.

Working from home 100% solidified the reality that I love my coworkers … but that I love them even more from afar.

I LEARNED TO SAY "NO."

I've always been bad at it, but here's hoping I'm better going forward, even when I can no longer use the pandemic as my reason.

I felt personally attacked every single week my iPhone told me my screen time usage was up.

I miss going out for

"just one drink" after work and ending up on the Seville Quarter dance floor at 2 a.m.

I won't be mad if

buy-it-for-yourself and eat-it-all-by-your-damn-self birthday cakes remain socially acceptable after this.

I will forever be mad at 2020 for a million things, and taking Chadwick Boseman will forever be one of them. March 18, 2021

What "old" thing did you fall in love with again?

My husband.*

*We got this answer four times—four! So husbands, considered yourself loved … but also on notice. 13

It only takes one person to slash the statistics.

Did you know that 1 in 10 children Escambia County are victims of child abuse? It’s time to change that number. Visit KnowChildAbuse.org to learn to recognize, report and reduce child abuse.

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inweekly.net

WEEK OF MARCH 18-24

Arts & Encouragement hope, help and other signs of humanity at a time when we really need it...

Mothers with a Mission By Carollyn Taylor

Carla Davis / Courtesy Photo

During the month of March, we celebrate women making history all over the world with Women's History Month. This month, we uplift past and present noteworthy women breaking barriers. One local organization of mothers is making waves to support the next generation of African American children. We sat down with Carla Davis, chapter president of Pensacola's Jack and Jill of America Inc., and learned how this group of mothers is making a lasting impact. The national chapter of Jack and Jill of

America Inc. was founded by Marion Stubbs Thomas on Jan. 24, 1938. She had a desire to create an organization that would serve as a national resource to help provide social, cultural, civic and philanthropic opportunities for children. "Jack and Jill of America Inc. is an organization for mothers; we are dedicated to raising the next generation of African American leaders while enhancing the lives of all children. We work to accomplish our mission through diverse programs focused on leadership development, cultural exposure, community service, legislative advocacy and philanthropic giving. What we aim to do in the community is to ensure we create programs and activities for our children and also for children within the community that coincide with that mission and those aims," Davis said. Most recently, in January, the local group held a community service project that created a forum for children from various schools. These dynamic mothers partnered with Creative Learning Academy to discuss the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how it lives on today. While promoting diversity is key, giving back is very near and dear to the hearts of

Davis and the other mothers of this organization. With food insecurity growing during the pandemic, Davis was particularly proud of their work in collecting 1,000 items to donate to Pensacola State College in Escambia and FoodRaising Friends in Santa Rosa County. "It was truly a great impact," Davis told Inweekly. "There are many families suffering at this time, so being able to provide nonperishable food items can assist them where they can utilize their resources in other areas and be able to reach out to those agencies to be able to have food for their families. And also for students at our local colleges and universities who may actually be on site attending classes or part of the Pensacola community and are attending junior college, those resources are able to offset their budgets." Though this is Davis' last term as chapter president, she is looking forward to passing the torch to another mother while still staying involved. When we asked her how to become a member, Davis told us, "This is an organization you have to be invited to, and so I was able to be invited through a sponsor. And I've been in the organization for 10 years this coming May. I came in when my daughter was 5; she's now 15. Through sponsorship from any current mother member, a new mother is able to go through the intake process, and with that, if they are then voted upon, they're able to join this organization." "One of the things that's really great about Jack and Jill is it's an organization for mothers. It was founded by moms,

and it really allows us to be able to form a cohesive bond but be able to do it with our children. And that's the nice part about it, is that we're working together in order to ensure that we're raising some great young ladies in the community," Davis said. When asked how the community can be of further support to the group's local efforts, Davis said there were a few ways. "I definitely think the community can support in a couple of areas—one being our annual food drive where we partner with Super Bowl of Caring in that event which occurs in January. The other way people can provide support is as we're hosting different regional activities, we always have various community service activities," she said. "Another way people can give back is through our foundation. We have a national foundation called the Jack and Jill of America Foundation, and that foundation is able to provide scholarships … we started last year a thing called Closing the Gap, and what that program does is that it allows us to be able to provide funds to college students who would not be able to finish out the last year or last two years of college because they are just shy of a couple thousand dollars. And mothers and members of the community can contribute to those efforts, and they actually will allow their money to reach a much broader arm." {in} For more from the Jack and Jill Inc. Pensacola Chapter, including posts related to community service involvement, health related posts and upcoming activities, visit facebook.com/pensacolajackandjill.

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March 18, 2021

a&e happenings Attending "normal" events might not be happening yet—but that doesn't mean local businesses and nonprofits aren't still keeping the community connected in creative ways.

EASTER DINNER AND EVENTS CELEBRATE EASTER DINNER AT GREAT SOUTHERN RESTAURANTS

All Great Southern Restaurants will be open Easter Sunday, April 4, with each restaurant offering special features as well as their standard menus. Seating will be limited. Reservations are required at each restaurant. For more information, visit greatsouthernrestaurants.com. The Fish House Brunch service from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner service begins at 3 p.m. For reservations, call 470-0003. Jackson's Steakhouse Brunch service from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner service from 5:30-10 p.m. For reservations, call 469-9898. Five Sisters Blues Café Traditional Jazz Brunch from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For reservations, call 469-9898. Angelena's Ristorante Italiano Brunch service from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. For reservations, call 542-8398.

EASTER GRAB AND GO FROM FIVE SISTERS BLUES CAFÉ Enjoy a full Easter

dinner from Five Sisters Blues Café. The dinner includes smoked ham with apricot creole mustard glaze, roasted carrots, parmesan whipped potatoes, dinner rolls and homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The package is $65 and feeds six people. Orders can be placed until 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 31. To reserve your dinner, call Kady Reeves at 293-3148 or email kady@fivesistersbluescafe.com.

BELLVIEW'S OUTDOOR EASTER EGG HUNT All are welcomed to visit Bellview

United Methodist Church at 4945 Saufley Field Road for an Easter Egg Hunt, 10-11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 27. A rain-out day is scheduled for April 3.

COMMUNITY EGG HUNT Echo Life

Church, located at 1000 College Blvd., is hosting a community-wide egg hunt following Palm Sunday Service on March 28 with more than 10,000 eggs to hunt, food trucks and ice cream for all. Event begins at 10 a.m.

NONPROFITS + FUNDRAISERS CAT AND KITTEN ADOPTIONS IN MARCH Animal Allies will be at Pet

Supermarket at 6857 N. Ninth Avenue on Saturday, March 27, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Come by and find your fluffy BFF or talk to Animal Allies about opportunities to donate, foster or volunteer. All cats are up to date on shots, tested negative for leukemia, and adoption fee includes spay or neuter with microchip and flea pill. Minimum donation fees are $85 for kittens up to one year and $75 for adults. For more information, visit aaflorida.org. 616 1

CALL TO ARTISTS

KEEP PENSACOLA BEAUTIFUL PIECES ADRIFT ART SHOW Pieces Adrift is a

community art exhibition and auction that educates viewers about the harmful effects marine litter has on our coastal ecosystem. All pieces submitted to this show are made of at least 50% reclaimed waste material to inspire onlookers to rethink their trash in a creative way. Art that is donated will be open for public auction, and proceeds will benefit Keep Pensacola Beautiful's programming initiatives in 2022. To participate in Keep Pensacola Beautiful's upcoming Pieces Adrift Art Show & Auction as an artist, visit facebook.com/keeppensacolabeautiful for a link to the signup form. Artists of any level are welcome to join.

EMERALD COAST REVIEW SEEKS REGIONAL WRITER, ARTIST SUBMISSIONS The Emerald Coast Review

is collecting quality fiction, nonfiction, poetry, contemporary, emerging and experimental works along with the best of art, graphic design and photography. Residents from the following counties are encouraged to submit—Escambia, Santa Rosa, Walton, Okaloosa and Bay (Florida); Mobile, Escambia and Baldwin (Alabama). To view guidelines and submit work, visit wflf.org/ecr. Submissions close April 30. Accepted submissions will be announced and writers will be notified that their piece(s) will be published in the ECR in Fall 2021.

VENDORS AND CRAFT EXHIBITORS FOR JAZZ PENSACOLA 2021 Jazz

Pensacola is calling arts and crafts exhibitors to submit applications for the 2021 Pensacola JazzFest planned for May 15-16 at Seville Square in historic downtown Pensacola. Application forms can be downloaded at jazzpensacola.com. Only original art and handmade crafts will be accepted. No commercial/ mass-produced products will be accepted. All entries are $200 for a 10-by-10-foot canopy or smaller. All fees go to support Pensacola JazzFest, a free event for the community. For more information, call Jazz Pensacola administrator Alice Crann Good at (850) 433-8382, Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., or visit jazzpensacola.com.

FOO FOO FEST GRANT APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN Pensacola's Foo Foo

Festival officially announced its plans for its seventh annual events, taking place Nov. 4-15, 2021. In 2021, the Pensacola Foo Foo Festival will once again fund top-scoring grant applicants, with the number of grants to be awarded contingent upon the number of submissions. This year, the Foo Foo Festival will provide up to $315,000 in grant funding, and grant applicants can apply for up to $100,000 in grant funding. All organizations, businesses and community partners are encouraged to participate as "Friends of Foo," receiving visibility at the 12-day event. To apply for this year's Foo Foo Festival, visit foofoofest.com.

The Foo Foo Fest team will continue to monitor developments surrounding COVID-19 leading up to November's events and will fully cooperate with any instructions heeded for Escambia County by local and state officials and the CDC. The Foo Foo Fest grant application is Friday, April 30, 2021. On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, there will be an announcement of the public grant scoring. For more information, visit foofoofest.com.

ARTS & CULTURE

PENSACOLA ARTS MARKET Enjoy the first day of spring with local art, music and food at Pensacola Arts Market in Historic Brownsville, Saturday, March 20, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at New Market Antiques & Lighting, 2725 W. Cervantes St.

BEETHOVEN & BLUE JEANS Pensacola Symphony Orchestra's annual showcase will feature Symphony No. 3 and "Eroica." Shows are 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 20. The performance will also be available to stream. All tickets, in personal and streaming, are $20. For more information, visit pensacolasymphony.com. THE DUTCHESS MODEL CASTING CALL AND DANCE CLASS The

Dutchess will be hosting a model call from 7-8 p.m. Saturday, March 20, and a dance class from 8-9 p.m. with live DJ Frose' at Dolce and Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave. For more information, visit facebook. com/dukexdutchess.

PENSACOLA LITTLE THEATRE PRESENTS: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM PLT will present a family-friendly

version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" 7:30 p.m. March 18-20 and 3 p.m. on March 21 at Pensacola Little Theatre, 400 S. Jefferson St. Tickets are $16-$31. On Thursdays, tickets are half price. Streaming is also available. For more information, visit pensacolalittletheatre.com.

BROWN BAG OPERA Join Pensacola Op-

era at the Opera Center, located at 75 S. Tarragona St., for a free performance by an artist in residence at noon on Tuesday, March 23. Masks and reservations are required. Reserve your seat by calling 433-6737.

GALLERY 1060 MEMBERS' SHOW First City Art's annual Members Show will be on display through May 1 featuring works of art from past, present and future FCAC members and staff. A virtual reception will take place in April. For more information, visit gallery1060.com.

A JOURNEY THROUGH SONG: THREE SONG CYCLES BY DEBUSSY, RAVEL AND MAHLER Pensacola Opera 2021 Artists in Residence will perform three beloved song cycles—"Ariettes oubliées" by Claude Debussy, "Histoires naturelles" by Maurice Ravel and Gustav Mahler's powerful "Rückert-Lieder." Capacity is limited at

the Opera Center, and audience members will be socially distanced and required to wear masks throughout the performance. Reserve your ticket at pensacolaopera.com.

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN THEATRE PLT's night of short plays with big stories runs begins March 26. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on March 26-27 and April 1-3 and 3 p.m. on March 28 at Pensacola Little Theatre, 400 S. Jefferson St. Tickets are $14-$20. For more information, visit pensacolalittletheatre.com.

BALLET PENSACOLA PRESENTS: SNOW WHITE Ballet Pensacola will

conclude its 2020-2021 season with "Snow White." Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday, April 9 and 16, and Saturday, April 10 and 17, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 11 and 18, at the Pensacola Cultural Center, 400 S. Jefferson St. Tickets are $28-$40. For more information, visit balletpensacola.org.

PENSACON RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 21-23 After extensive consultation with

partner venues, Pensacon organizers have announced the convention will now take place May 21-23. To ensure safety, attendees will be required to wear face coverings while on all Pensacon grounds and within all Pensacon venues, outside of designated, distanced eating spaces. Among other precautions, handsanitizing stations will be set up throughout the convention, and social distancing policies, including seating/capacity limitations at some venues, will be employed. For those who have already purchased tickets for the original February dates, your tickets are already rolled over to the new dates. For those who are unable to attend in May, your unused tickets will be rolled over to Pensacon 2022, which is expected to return to the convention's usual February timeframe. Those who still need tickets can get them at pensacon.com. Weekend passes, which include admission for all three days of the convention, are $80. Single-day tickets are available at a cost of $35 for Friday, May 21; $45 for Saturday, May 22; and $40 for Sunday, May 23. VIP Experience weekend passes are $155 and include early admission to the Pensacola Bay Center, preferred seating at panel venues, front-ofline privileges for celebrity autographs and photo ops, and exclusive T-shirt, spaceavailable parking and other perks. Additional taxes and fees apply to all tickets. For a complete list of guests scheduled to appear, visit pensacon.com.

STAND-UP COMEDY AT THE REX THEATRE Visit The REX Theatre every

Friday at 8 p.m. for national stand up acts. Tickets are $26-$35 at the door. For more information, visit rexpensacola.com.

COMEDY MAGIC SHOW AT THE REX THEATRE Comedy magician Tom Coverly,

known as "The Illusionist," performs Satur-

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a&e happenings day nights at The Rex Theatre, located at 18 N. Palafox. Shows start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10-$35. For more information, visit rexpensacola.com.

OPEN MIC COMEDY AT BIG TOP BREWERY Try out some new jokes or

enjoy some homegrown talent every Monday at 7 p.m. for Open Mic Comedy at Big Top Brewery, located at 21 W. Romano St. Everyone gets five minutes depending the number of sign-ups. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.

MONTHLY ARTIST MINGLE AND ARTIST Q&A Safely mingle with friends

and neighbors and meet new artists with the monthly event at Gordon Community Art Center, located at 306 N. DeVilliers St. Next date is 5 p.m. Saturday, March 20. For more information, visit thegordon.org.

NEW EXHIBITS AT PENSACOLA MUSEUM OF ART The Members Show is

now on view through April 25. This annual celebration of the talent and creativity of our museum member community features the work of more than 50 artists working across a range of media and techniques. "Hot Mess" is also on view through April 25. This exhibition of recent paintings, prints and animations by 2020 Members Show winner Laura Hydle is about self-reflection and coping with life, happily and, at times, reluctantly. Other exhibits on view include "Antarctica" through April 4 at the downstairs gallery. For more information and hours of operation, visit pensacolamuseum.org.

GREAT GULFCOAST ARTS FESTIVAL 2020 LIMITED-EDITION POSTER AVAILABLE ONLINE With the cancel-

lation of this year's Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival due to COVID-19, the festival committee invited local artist Kreg Yingst to create a poster for 2020 in his original woodcut print design. The 250 limited-edition posters are each signed and numbered by the artist. Festival posters have become a local collector's item and are available online this year only. The posters are available at ggaf.org for $27, including shipping and sales tax. Yingst, a long-time GGAF artist, received his B.A. from Trinity University in San Antonio after attending the University of Texas and his M.A. in painting from Eastern Illinois University. After graduation, he taught art for 13 years and has been a full-time artist since 2003. The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival returns Nov. 5, 6 and 7, 2021, at Seville Square, Fountain Park, Bartram Park and Museum Plaza in Downtown Pensacola.

DRAG SHOWS AT DOLCE AND GELATO Head to Dolce and Gelato, located at 2050 N. 12th Ave., for regular drag shows. Drag and Gelato will be Friday, March 26. For more information, visit facebook.com/dolcegelatopensacola March 18, 2021

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PENSACOLA OPERA AL FRESCO

Pensacola Opera's outdoor live concerts are Saturdays at 2 p.m. in the UWF Historic Trust Museum Plaza. For more information, visit pensacolaopera.com.

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OPERALIVE: THROWBACK THURSDAYS Take a walk down memory lane with

friends of the Pensacola Opera. Learn more about the craft and look back on past productions with live discussions on Facebook Live Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. Viewers are encouraged to join in the conversation. Tune in at facebook.com/pensacolaopera.

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NEW CLASSES AT MIXON MAGIC PERFORMING ARTS Mixon Magic Per-

forming Arts (MMPA), a boutique performing arts studio located at 1010 N. 12th Ave., Ste. 238, will be offering a limited class schedule this fall. MMPA offers professional dance, fitness and "Mommy and Me" instruction for all ages and skill levels with weekly classes including, but not limited to, Creative Movement, Ballet/Jazz Combo, Broadway, Tap, Showstoppers, Acting and Voice. Classes will be provided for children as young as 2 years old (with a parent or guardian) through adult. MMPA is dedicated to the safety and well-being of all students and families and has implemented protocols based on guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Masks are required for entry into the building and studio. More information about Mixon Magic Performing Arts can be found at mixonmagic.com, by contacting hello@mixonmagic.com or emily@mixonmagic.com or by calling 221-7438.

BLACK CITIZENSHIP IN THE AGE OF JIM CROW On view at Voices of Pensacola

is "Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow," a traveling exhibition from the New York Historical Society Museum & Library with additions from the African American Heritage Society of Pensacola. To learn more about it, visit africanamericanheritagesociety.org. Voices of Pensacola is located at 117 E. Government St. and open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

CRAFT CLASSES AT STUDIO SOUTH ON NINE MILE Learn a new craft or meet

up with other makers at Studio South. Tuesday is Knit Night 4-7 p.m., and Sit & Stitch is Saturdays 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Both classes are free. For a full calendar of events, visit studiosouthon9mileroad.com. Studio South is located at 955 E. Nine Mile Road.

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS AT FIRST CITY ART First City Art Center of-

fers a wide range of classes and workshops for artists of all levels. Classes include glass blowing, ceramics, painting and drawing, kiln-forming, stained glass and more. For a complete list of classes and times, visit firstcityart.org. for more listings visit inweekly.net 17

free will astrology WEEK OF MARCH 18 ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Poet Ocean Vuong speaks of the Hawaiian word "kipuka." It refers to a patch of earth that doesn't get covered with lava when an active volcano exudes its molten material. "Before the lava descended," Vuong writes, "that piece of land was insignificant, just another scrap in an endless mass of green." But now that piece of land is special, having endured. I encourage you to identify your metaphorical equivalent of "kipuka," Aries. It's an excellent time to celebrate the power and luck and resilience that have enabled you to persevere. TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): "Extraor-

dinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look," writes Taurus author Jodi Picoult. Luckily for you, Taurus, in the near future, you'll be prone to look in exactly those places—where no one else has thought to look. That means you'll be extra likely to find useful, interesting, even extraordinary things that have mostly been hidden and unused. You may also discover some boring and worthless things, but the trade-off will be worth your effort. Congratulations in advance on summoning such brave curiosity.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): "When we

ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice," said Gemini author Saul Bellow. So if you have come here today to read my horoscopes, it's possible that you're seeking an accomplice to approve of you making a decision or a move that you have already decided to do. OK. I'll be your accomplice. But as your accomplice, the first thing I'll do is try to influence you to make sure your upcoming actions serve not only your own selfish interests (although there's nothing wrong with that), but also serve the interests of people you care for. The weeks ahead will be a favorable time to blend self-interest and noble idealism.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): A char-

acter in Barbara Kingsolver's novel "The Lacuna" is told to "go rub his soul against life." Now I'll advise you to do the same. Why? While it's true that you have a beautiful soul, you sometimes get in the habit of hiding it

By Rob Brezsny

away or keeping it secret. You feed it a wealth of dreams and emotions and longings but may not go far enough in providing it with raw experience out in the messy, chaotic world. In my judgment, now is one of those times when you would benefit from rubbing your soul against life. Please note—I DON'T mean you should go in search of rough, tough downers. Not at all. In fact, there are plenty of pleasurable, safe, educational ways to rub your soul against life.

oscillation, and because these themes will be especially meaningful for you in the coming days, I'll ask you to meditate on them with extra focus. Here's my advice—To be healthy and resilient, you need to be aware of other possibilities besides those that seem obvious and simple and absolutely true. You need to consider the likelihood that the most correct answers are almost certainly those that are paradoxical and complicated and full of nuance.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): If you love the work of self-help author Paulo Coelho, you might be inclined to adopt his motto as your own—"Being vulnerable is the best way to allow my heart to feel true pleasure." But maybe you wouldn't want to adopt his motto. After all, what he's suggesting requires a great deal of courage and daring. Who among us finds it easy and natural to be soft and receptive and inviting? And yet according to my analysis of the astrological omens, this is exactly what your assignment should be for the next two weeks. To help motivate yourself, remember the payoff described by Coelho: the possibility that your heart will feel true pleasure.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): In her

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Virgo author

Michael Ondaatje celebrates "the hidden presence of others in us—even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border we cross." As you approach your own upcoming border-crossing, dear Virgo, I encourage you to tune into memories about seven specific people who over the course of your life have provided you with the most joy and the most interesting lessons. Close your eyes for 20 minutes and imagine they are all gathered together with you in your favorite sanctuary. Remember in detail the blessings they bestowed on you. Give thanks for their influences, for the gifts they gave that have helped you become your beautiful self.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): "A balance that does not tremble cannot weigh. A person who does not oscillate cannot live." So wrote biochemist Erwin Chargaff, who did crucial research leading to the discovery of DNA's double helix structure. Since you're the zodiac's expert on balance and

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Historian and author Thomas Berry described "wildness" as the source of our "authentic spontaneities." He said it's "the wellspring of creativity" at the root of our lust for life. That's a different definition from the idea that wildness is about being unruly, rough and primitive. And Berry's definition happens to be the one that should be central to your work and play in the coming weeks. Your assignment is to be wild—that is, to cultivate your authentic spontaneities; to home in on and nourish the creative wellspring of your lust for life. CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Some

of the great discoveries in the history of physics have been made while the trailblazing physicists are lolling in bed or in the bathtub. They have done the research and carried out the rigorous thinking and are rewarded with breakthroughs while relaxing. I think that will be your best formula for success in the coming weeks. Important discoveries are looming. Interesting innovations are about to hatch. You're most likely to gather them in if you work intensely on

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): My

typical horoscope is an average of 108 words long. In that limited space, I can't possibly tell you all the themes and threads that will be active for you during the upcoming phase of your cycle. I have to make choices about what to include and what not to include. This time I'll focus on the fact that you now have an opportunity to deepen your relationship with your sense of smell—and to purposefully nourish your sense of smell. Your homework—Decide on at least five scents with which you will cultivate an intimate, playful, delightful connection in the coming days. (P.S. You may be surprised at how this practice will deepen your emotional connection with the world.)

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): No one had ever proven that there was such a thing as electromagnetic waves until Piscean physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) did so in 1886. He was the innovator who first transmitted and received controlled radio waves. Alas, he didn't think his breakthrough was useful. In 1890, he confessed, "I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical application." But other scientists were soon capitalizing on his work to communicate long distances. Radio broadcasts were born. I will encourage you not to make a Hertzian-type mistake in the coming months. Always follow through on your initial labors. Have faith that the novelties you dream up will eventually have practical value. THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK: If you believed everything you see in the "news," you'd be so full of despair you couldn't move. Describe how you protect yourself. Truthrooster@gmail.com

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poem "Sandra," Scorpio poet Ariana Reines testifies that she has too many feelings— and that's not a problem. On the contrary. They are her wealth, she says, her "invisible splendor." I invite you to regard your own "too many feelings" in the same way, especially in the coming weeks. You will have opportunities to harness your flood of feelings on behalf of transformative insights and holistic decision-making. Your motto: Feelings are healing.

preparing the way for them, then go off and do something fun and rejuvenating.

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news of the weird NAMES IN THE NEWS Shoe Zone, a footwear retailer with stores throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, announced March 8 that Terry Boot has been named its next chief financial officer effective immediately, according to the Evening Standard. Mr. Boot takes over the role after the unexpected departure in February of Peter Foot, who had been with the company for seven months. QUICK THINKING An unnamed maskless woman waiting in line at a Pick 'n' Pay supermarket in South Africa was caught on cellphone video being confronted by a store guard who demanded she put on a mask or be thrown out of the store. On the video, she is next seen reaching up under her dress, pulling out her underwear—a black thong—and placing it on her face, the New York Post reported. Witnesses were mixed in their reaction. "Good lord," one shopper was heard saying. "Brilliant," said another. OOPS! Federal Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Feb. 16 that Citigroup could not expect to receive repayment of nearly $500 million of the $900 million it mistakenly wired to a group of lenders last year after a contractor checked the wrong box on a digital payment form. Intending to make only an interest payment to the lenders on behalf of its client Revlon, Citi instead wired payment in full for the entire loan, and after realizing its error, asked for the money back, but some of the lenders refused, according to The New York Times. Judge Furman found that the lenders were justified in assuming the payment had been intentional. "To believe that Citibank, one of the most sophisticated financial institutions in the world, had made a mistake ... to the tune of nearly $1 billion, would have been borderline irrational," he said in his ruling. Citi vowed to appeal. CAN'T HELP HIMSELF Garrett Monds, 30, was sentenced to 3 1/2 to seven years in prison on March 10, following his sixth conviction for unlawful surveillance in women's restrooms in central New York state. Syracuse.com reported Monds spent two years in prison for the first five incidents, in which he set up hidden cameras in restrooms in college buildings, a warehouse, a mall and a Walmart. He was released in March 2020, but within four months was arrested again. "That wasn't a long turnaround," County Court Judge Stephen Dougherty remarked, adding, "No offense, but I don't want to see you again." Monds agreed, telling the judge, "I really am remorseful this time around." CREEPY! Samantha Hartsoe noticed a draft in her New York City apartment and

By the Editors at Andrews McMeel

traced it to the mirror in her bathroom, the New York Post reported on March 4. With the help of friends, Hartsoe removed the mirror and found a hole in the wall behind it leading to ... another apartment. As she documented her adventure on TikTok, Hartsoe climbed through the hole into a hallway leading to a room at the end and "a whole other apartment" with three bedrooms, a disconnected toilet, a staircase and an unlocked door (which she promptly locked). Hartsoe returned to her own apartment, showered and vowed her landlord would get an unusual call the next day. LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINAL Authorities in Camden County, Missouri, arrested Leigh Ann Bauman, 43, a prominent Lake of the Ozarks real estate agent and self-described "cheer mom," on March 4 for plotting to kill her former mother-inlaw. Prosecutors say Bauman offered to pay $1,500 to a person in St. Louis who contacted the Missouri Highway Patrol and then turned informant, recording Bauman's request that the "look like an accident," and later saying she's a Christian but she could ask for forgiveness later. According to The Daily Beast, Bauman also texted her daughter, saying, "Your grandmother will die." She is being held without bond in the Camden County Jail. CRIME REPORT Detectives investigating recent thefts of catalytic converters from vehicles in Pasco, Washington, went to the mobile home of Dustin Allen Bushnell, 30, in nearby Burbank with a search warrant on Feb. 26, and not only found converters, but also discovered a 400-pound playground slide that had been removed from a city park in December, KEPR reported. The slide had been repainted and mounted to a bunk bed in the home. Bushnell was arrested for possession of stolen property for the slide; no charges were filed for the converters. WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Alexandr Kudlay, 33, and Viktoria Pustovitova, 28, of Kharkiv, Ukraine, are experimenting with a new way to preserve their on-andoff relationship: On Valentine's Day, they handcuffed themselves together and have vowed to stay that way for three months. "We used to break up once or twice a week," Kudlay told Reuters, but now when they disagree, "we simply stop talking instead of packing up our things and walking away." They take turns taking showers and give each other privacy in the bathroom by standing outside with one hand inside. {in}

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com March 18, 2021

Independent News | March 18, 2021 | inweekly.net