Mayor Ashton Hayward calls for beautification of west side

AN ECOLOGICALLY WONDERFUL MOVE. How very smart of the city to relocate some of the crepe myrtles displaced by the airport renovation to the sadly treeless "A" St. corridor. These were planted between LaRua and Belmont. The city has a landscaping plan that will cover the West Side with natural beauties like these.

A few more photos I took while there. That's Helen Gibson in the background.

Good news - the Committee of the Whole passed the mayor's proposal unanimously!!!

Here is the signed resolution that was presented to the Committee of the Whole during their meeting that addressed the mayor's "A" Street beautification project:

Belmont-DeVilliers Neighborhood Association

Pensacola City Council Members

City Hall

Pensacola, FL

3/07/11

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE “A” STREET TREE PROJECT

The members of the Belmont-DeVilliers Neighborhood Association voted unanimously at their March 2 meeting to support the proposed beautification of the “A” Street corridor from Main to Cervantes. We are pleased that Mayor Ashton Hayward has placed an allocation of $275,000 before the City Council to fund this long-sought and much-needed enhancement. We urge you to vote for this funding, which will not only improve the quality of our neighborhood, but also enhance a major artery leading to the Community Maritime Park.

The Westside Sunshine Neighborhood Association and the Tanyard Neighborhood Association join us in voicing their enthusiastic support for this project as well.

Most cordially,

Dolores Curry, President

Belmont-DeVilliers Neighborhood Association

Allen Gibson, President

West Side Sunshine Neighborhood Association

Jason Wilkins, President

Tanyard Neighborhood Association

http://www.pnj.com/article/20110307/NEWS01/103070313/Mayor-Ashton-Hayward-calls-beautification-west-side?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Ken Griffin Landscaping employee, James Arias fertilizes a relocated Crepe Myrtle tree along A Street Friday morning March 4, 2011. Pensacola City Mayor Ashton Hayward will be asking the City Council to reallocate $256,000, from various funds in order to begin beautifying the west side of Pensacola. / Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

 

Written by Jamie Page

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward, who made the need for city beautification a major part of his campaign, hopes to launch his first such initiative on the west side of the city .

Hayward has submitted to the City Council a request to allocate $256,000 from various city funds to pay for landscaping and streetscaping projects in western neighborhoods, which most City Council members agree have been neglected when it comes to beautification. The request will be considered at today's committee meeting.

If the request is approved, it would be consistent with the city's West Side Redevelopment Plan, which was approved by the council in September 2007 but never implemented.

Implementing the plan was one of the "20 Solutions for 2011" that Hayward issued during his campaign.

"Let's be frank: This has been a neglected part of our city, and the citizens and businesses of the west side deserve better," Hayward said.

"I've said all along we're not going to move our city forward, attract new businesses and create jobs when we've got a third of our city that is being left behind."

Under the proposal, the money would be used to plant 200 trees along

A Street

, from

Main Street

to

Cervantes Street

, and for landscape maintenance and irrigation installation.

It also would include projects such as curbside wheelchair ramps, parking improvements and intersection and crosswalk enhancements on

A Street

, which is part of a neighborhood corridor that includes Belmont-DeVilliers, Westpointe Heritage, Westside Sunshine, Tanyard and North Hill neighborhoods.

For at least two years, Delores Curry, president of the Belmont-DeVilliers Neighborhood Association, has been pressing city officials to start the west-side improvements.

"It's about time they spent some money over on the west side," Curry said. "It's going to be the area leading into the Maritime Park, and we want to give a good impression when people come down there. I'm glad to see the mayor sees the importance of trying to beautify the city."

Reallocations required

In recent years, city Code Enforcement has been trying to clean up the look of the west side, which has had issues with blight, litter and vehicles parking on sidewalks and city rights of way.

Residents there say identifiable crosswalks, trees and a sense of ownership by the neighborhood have all been missing.

Allen Gibson, president of the Westside Sunshine Neighborhood Association, has been working with Curry on the west-side improvements and believes they will help property values.

"I think it will bring in people who would like to look at the area close to downtown, which is close to a lot of the happenings," Gibson said.

The beautification money is proposed to come from multiple funding sources, including $150,000 from the Tree Trust Fund, which currently has a balance of more than $750,000 from assessments on new developments in the city. The request also allocates $50,000 from the Community Redevelopment Agency and $56,000 from the prior year's Pensacola Community Initiative Program's neighborhood grants program.

Council support

The mayor's proposal already has the support of the two council members — Brian Spencer and Ronald Townsend — whose districts include the area of

A Street

to be beautified.

Townsend has been complaining for years that the west side is overlooked.

"I applaud the mayor for starting the plan in that particular area," Townsend said. "Some folks think it shouldn't be a priority. But I always talk about the tale of two cities here, and now with what's going to happen with the Maritime Park, it needs to be done."

On Friday, the city began planting trees on the east side of

A Street

, between Belmont and LaRua streets. The trees were transplanted from the city's airport because of its renovations there and are not part of the 200 new trees.

Spencer, an architect, ran his political campaign heavily on beautification and feels

A Street

is "a great place to start."

"There is no wrong starting place on the west side plan," Spencer said. "It's the public realm, and attractive streetscapes have a history of inviting or encouraging private investment.

"Anyone who has studied the demographics of the neighborhood condition knows it certainly has not trended upward, and as a city we need to commit funds to exactly these types of neighborhoods to re-establish their identity and heritage."