TDC Meeting Agenda – Marketing: Summer Updates, Fall Preview

Tuesday’s combined Panama City Beach Tourist Development Council/Convention and Visitors Bureau (TDC/CVB) should shed some light on upcoming marketing programs. Expect to hear an insightful update on 2009 summer marketing programs. This topic has been discussed in previous meeting s but as summer is nearly upon us, expect tangible updates on the program’s implementation process.

For the first time this year we’ll also get early discussions on the Fall/Winter marketing programs. You’ll want to bring a pen and pad for this one. Also there will be a discussion on the 2010 vacation planner.

The three board action items include consideration for approval financial statements, consideration for approval the disposition of the loan to Flying High, LLC, and consideration for approval Coastal Planning & Engineering .

You can download the agenda here, or view it below.

AGENDA

COMBINED BOARD MEETING

Bay County Tourist Development Council

Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.

Panama City Beach

Tuesday – 2:00PM – May 12, 2009 Council Room, PCB City Hall

CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

A.Invocation

B. Pledge of Allegiance

III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV. UPDATE ON BED TAX COLLECTIONS, Ms. Charlene Honnen, Tourist Development Tax Specialist

V. BOARD ACTION ITEMS

A. Discuss and Consider for Approval CVB/TDC Financial Statements Dated March 31, 2009, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

B. Discuss and Consider for Approval the Disposition of the Loan to Flying High, LLC, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

C. Discuss and Consider for Approval Coastal Planning & Engineering Invoice #90428, Invoice #90432, and Invoice #90435, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VI. BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

A. Mid-Year Update, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

B. Update on 2009 Summer Marketing Campaign, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

C. Discuss Fall/Winter Marketing Programs, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

D. Discuss 2010 Vacation Planner, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VII. PRESIDENT’S REPORT

VIII. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

IX. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

X. ADJOURNMENT

Free Kid's Fishing Clinic: June 6th 2009

On June 6, 2009 pack up the kids and head down to the Panama City Marina for the Panama City Kids Fishing Clinic.The Kid’s Fishing Clinic is a one day free educational event established by the Outreach and Education Section of the Division of Marine Fisheries Management in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

This free event teaches children fishing ethics, angling skills and safety while providing a positive fishing experience. Kids can have fun fishing and learning about the vulnerability of Florida’s marine ecosystems as well as fundamental saltwater fishing knowledge. For attending, each child receives a free rod & reel, tackle and lunch. So mark your calendars.

This event is still in need of sponsors and volunteers. To become a sponsor or volunteer please contact Ellen at (850) 234-2621 or Ellen@halfhitch.com

In The Works: Beach Volleyball League

After the AVP volleyball Pro Volleyball tournament hit the sands of Panama City Beach, people all over the beach wanted to show off their volleyball skills in competition. If you are one of those people, now you have a chance. On the week of May 18^th, PCB Sand Sports in partnership with Sharky’s Beachfront Restaurant & Tiki Bar, will be offering a competitive league for you to get your spike on.

Interest in the sport has always been a local staple on Panama City Beach but, as of late, that interest has become a desire to provide a permanent place to play. PCB Sand Sports, in an attempt to address that desire, plans to create leagues, tournaments and events for the local community as well as for tourists in the area.

Leagues during the week will be available in several categories from fun-loving novice to expert competitor. PCB Sand Sports is part of the AVPNext program which is the membership organization for AVP Pro Volleyball tour. AVPNext is working with Barefoot Wine to offer the winners of the Barefoot Men’s division or Women’s doubles a change to win prize money of $1,000.00 along with a trip for two to San Francisco to take part in the Barefoot Championship Cup held in August.

All leagues are $50.00 per player for registration along with a $10.00 per player membership fee to join the AVPNext program. All leagues will run for about 8 weeks. It should be all sorts of sandy fun.

Tuesday: 4 person co-ed (at least one woman on court)
Wednesday: Barefoot AVPNext Men’s Doubles
Thursday:6 person co-ed “fun” league (at least 2 women on court)
Friday: Barefoot Women’s Doubles

For more information email beachresearch@yahoo.com or contact Roman at 850-769-4802

Dunkin Donuts Falls Victim to Bay County Health Director

In a bold move, Bay County Health Director, Dr. Jason Newsom recently included shots fired directly at Dunkin Donuts in the rotation of the regular rotating messages on the digital billboard in front of the Bay County Health Department. The digital billboard flashes in rotation a number of “health-messages” that often chime in to the tune of “french fries = thunder thighs” or specifically what the Health Director came under fire about, “Dunkin Donuts = death”, and “Dunkin = diabetes”.

In a letter to Dr. Jason Newsom, Commissioner Mike Thomas requested Dr. Newsom’s resignation citing that this was not the only time his messages were too edgy. No complaints had been made on the Dunkin Donuts message, but many complaints had been made in the past to County Commissioners.

The frankness of the messages exceeds the tolerance of many in the public, and although I can understand, sympathize and even endorse a consistent message conveying good health habits, I would think naming businesses directly would be counter-productive as to the purpose of the messaging to begin with. Surely there could be a better way to convey a healthy message other than to say “fries = thunder thighs“; try “apple = healthy heart“. Maybe conveying a positive message could be more productive and less criticized.

I don’t know Dr. Newsom, nor have I followed his actions as Bay County Public Health Director, but I would think it irresponsible as a public official to participate in slander on a business.

This particular incident fired up Commissioner Mike Thomas because of the use of the name Dunkin Donuts, which is slated to open in the next 30 days at Back Beach Road and the newly renamed R Jackson Blvd. Thomas cites that the use of a business name could put Bay County at risk of lawsuit. I think the message is short-sighted and irrisponsible and agree with Thomas that Dr. Newsom should have the sense to not single out a business in his “public-health” messages. I don’t know that I would call for his resignation, but this clearly shows a lack of capable discernment and emulates poor judgement.

On a side note, although I think donuts are delicious, they are terrible for you.

What do you think?

Edited 5/11/09: Dr. Jason Newsom offered his resignation Friday and is no longer the Director of Public Health for Bay County.

Pet of The Week – Friends of Bay County Animal Control

Working with The Friends of Bay County Animal Control, we’ve started a new feature called the Pet of the Week. Each week, we’ll feature a pet that is up for adoption, whether she be a soft, furry cat that will try and climb your curtains or play with yarn or a puppy with big brown eyes, be on the look out for the perfect pet for you.

This week’s pet is named Mali (pronounced Molly). Mali is a lap kitty who loves long talks and long petting too. She loves to play and often entertains herself with adorable antics. She is a small, green-eyed female who loves attention and is very sweet. Mali has been in foster care and is estimated to be about 1 year of age.

If you are interested in making Mali part of your family, please call 850-303-1083 or email FriendsOfBCAC@comcast.net.

A Word from PCBDaily – Updates, etc.

I love using etc. to capture anything that could possibly come after a statement. It’s just so . . . all encompassing.

I just wanted to write a post to you the reader from me, the owner/publisher/editor/whatever-else-you-want-to-call-me to tell you some of the new things we have going on with PCBDaily.com and some of the things you can expect to see in the future.

Cebo!

We’ve been growing by leaps and bounds, expanding our content base and adding new features utilizing technologies that aren’t necessarily new, but really hot, non-the-less. Many of you have noticed Cebo writing for us, and we are greatly appreciative of your acceptance of him. He’s super awesome and a very welcome, long overdue addition to our staff. Welcome aboard Cebo! I guess that makes it official, even though you’ve been on the payroll for 4 weeks already. Has that much time flown by already? sheesh.

Sister (or brother?) Site, SeePCB

Cebo is helping me spread the news about Panama City Beach on PCBDaily.com and he’s also been hard at work on our sister site, SeePCB.com. SeePCB is an all new site that is filling in the gap that is left by PCBDaily. In other words, SeePCB is everything PCBDaily can’t be. PCBDaily is news as it relates to real estate, growth and tourism in Panama City Beach, and SeePCB discusses everything there is to do here. Whether you are a local or a tourist, you can read SeePCB to learn about everything there is to do in our awesome town. SeePCB is a blog, just like PCBDaily and we’ll publish regular content all the time, just like PCBDaily (try 30 to 40 new articles each month) and we’ll include great pictures, video and, of course, very awesome writing about all there is to do in Panama City Beach. So, if you have an attraction, event, or shop or restaurant you’d like us to feature, let us know and we’ll come on out and write all about it. And, if you want to know all about what its like to ride a flat bottom airboat through West Bay or dine at Shan Kishi, come on over and check it out.

Visit www.SeePCB.com to check it out.

All About Real Estate TV Show

Many of you have noticed our new internet TV show all about real estate in Panama City Beach, The Beach Show. This was an idea that I’d been mulling over for quite some time (since last fall when I lost my job, frankly) and I finally took the time to get it going. We worked on the concept for weeks before we finally nailed it, and turns out, we’ve really hit on something. We’ve been flooded with emails and phone calls of both buyers, agents, and friends with nothing but great things to say – Thank you! I’ve been buddies with Karen for a long time, and she’s always been great with finding very hot deals, so we decided to team up to bring you these hot deals every week, on video.

So, here’s the scoop: every Wednesday at 9 am, we air The Beach Show at www.TheBeachShow.com. Each week, we feature three properties that are the hottest deals listed on Panama City Beach. Many times, over the last couple of weeks, the deals were so hot that they were sold by the end of the week, not necessarily from our efforts, but because they were so hot. So, that’s why it’s important to call right away if you see something you like.

If you are an agent and you want us to feature one of your properties, we’re totally willing to look at it, but we can make no guarantees that it will make the cut. I’ve been asked many times to spell out how it qualifies, but I can’t give a definitive answer; each property is looked at differently. The only thing I can say is that it has to be such a great deal that it won’t last long. Many questions are answered on our About page, you should check it out.

Visit www.TheBeachShow.com.

Oh, and just on a side note, a little tip would be to subscribe to our YouTube page, you’ll be notified as soon as a new video is posted. We shoot Tuesday, and I cut the movie Tuesday night, and typically try and have it to start uploading right before I go to bed. We do everything in HD, so it takes about 2 hours to upload, but if you are a late (or early) bird, you could get the scoop before everyone else!

Visit www.youtube.com/thebeachshow

Totally Social, dude. Wow, this could be a long section.

If you are a Facebook junkie, or spend too much time Tweeting, then you probably know all about how all this works. If not, read on. In an effort to spread the word in different mediums and be sure that everyone can access our content in ways they feel comfortable, we’ve tied everything together and made it to where we can give updates on the run. First off, we’ve got PCBDaily (and all our other sites, for that matter) tied right into Twitter. Whenever we publish a new article, our Twitter account is notified, and Tweeted the article title and a link back to it. At this point, all of the “Twits” that are following us, can be notified on their mobile devices, or by email (depending on how they have their notifications settings configured) of new content being posted to the site. Many people ask me what Twitter is for, and I actually have a difficult time in explaining how everyone can use it, although I can pretty well explain why I like it. I would, however, recommend watching this video.

I love Twitter because I can send in Tweets from my cell phone whenever I have something small to say or need to give a quick update that wouldn’t warrant a whole blog post. Many times, you can follow the things we’re up to throughout the day. TDC meeting? We tweet it. Photo shoot? We tweet it. Meeting with Governor Crist? We tweet it. Get the picture?

Visit www.Twitter.com/pcbdaily

Many of you are my friends on Facebook. If you are not, then you should sign up and join in on the fun. I have my Facebook page all set up so that whenever I send in a new tweet, my Facebook status is updated with the message. I get comments all the time of people thanking me for keeping them informed right through Facebook. I also upload all our videos to Facebook and link off to our Flickr photo gallery.

There are three things to look at on Facebook. We have my main profile page, and we have a Fan Page for PCBDaily and The Beach Show. We’re building the one for SeePCB.

Visit Jason Koertge’s Facebook Profile Page.

Visit PCBDaily’s Facebook Fan Page.

Visit The Beach Show’s Facebook Fan Page.

We’ve just recently changed our policy on video hosting sites. For the last year or so, we’ve been using Vimeo. We switched because, frankly, I got tired of all the garbage that would come up after one of my videos that I embedded in PCBDaily would finish playing, plus, the quality was very crappy and they didn’t take HD. Well, times have changed, so we have too! YouTube not only will let us upload HD, but the HD videos also look as good there as they did with Vimeo! Plus, they’ve given the user more control over what plays after each video.

We also have another motive for the change. With all the videos we are publishing through The Beach Show, PCBDaily and the video show we’re going to run through SeePCB, we hope to flood out all the videos that might have a less-than-favorable protrayal of Panama City Beach. Right now, when you search Panama City Beach in YouTube, most of the videos that come up are from spring breakers drinking copious amounts of alcohol and doing who know’s what. Some of you may like that, but for the rest of you, we going to try and even out the ratio. Should be fun.

Visit www.YouTube.com/pcbdaily

Pictures, pictures, pictures. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, we want to be sure that there is no short supply of pictures of Panama City Beach. And, to be sure that we have them hosted on one of the most searched and indexed photo sharing sites our there, we upload everything to Flickr, Yahoo’s photo sharing mecca. Everything is tagged and sorted in their own photo sets. Each set is named beginning with the date, then what it’s all about. Right now, we have over 1200 pictures and growing.

Visit www.Flickr.com/pcbdaily

Visit www.Flickr.com/seepcb – 207 pictures already, and growing every day!

It’s all about the Mobile

The mobile population is growing, fast. In order to keep up, we’ve got a whole new addition to the PCBDaily offering – our very own mobile site. If you want to visit PCBDaily.com from your cell phone, just type in the normal URL, http://www.pcbdaily.com and our super smart site will automatically detect that you are on a mobile browser and redirect you to the mobile version of PCBDaily. The mobile site is optimized so that you don’t have to wait for images to load, giving you all the plain text your eyes can muster reading.

Oh, and by the way, all of the social sites can be found in the sidebars of all of our sites (or will be soon).

All Legal Actions Against Airport are Over

A recent ruling ended all pending legal actions against the airport as the United States Court of Appeals denied all legal challenges to the relocation of the Panama City Bay County International Airport. The legal challenges were brought upon by The National Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife and Friends of PFN, who argued against the FAA and Airport on January 23, 2008. Baring an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, all legal challenges should be over.

Here is the press release:

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on May 1 denied a pending petition for review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Record of Decision approving the relocation of the Panama City – Bay County International Airport to a new site in West Bay, Florida.

The National Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife and Friends of PFN argued against the FAA and Airport on January 23, 2008. The court ruling denying the petition for review ends all pending legal challenges to the airport relocation, absent a petition for rehearing or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The new airport is currently under construction and is 55% complete. The Panama City – Bay County Airport and Industrial Board’s current schedule anticipates a May 2010 opening for the first international airport built in the United States since Denver International Airport was completed in 1995.

The airport is being built on 4,000 acres donated by The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE) and is part the West Bay Sector Plan, a 75,000-acre regional planning effort, one of the largest ever in Florida.

The West Bay Sector Plan includes 41,000 acres of conservation land. Already approximately 10,000 acres have been permanently protected through an irrevocable conservation easement to the State of Florida as a result of the relocation of the airport. Ultimately, 33 miles of undeveloped West Bay shoreline and an additional 44 miles of creeks and tributaries that feed the bay will be protected forever.

“We are very grateful to the Court for its conscientious consideration of the case,” said Airport Authority Vice Chairman Bill Cramer. “I do not believe that a petition for rehearing or appeal will be successful if attempted. Therefore, the Court’s ruling should bring full closure to all pending legal challenges. We continue to move forward building an airport that will better serve Bay County and Northwest Florida for many decades to come.”

In it’s ruling, the Court found:

The FAA complied with the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in evaluating the proposal to build the new airport at West Bay, and
The FAA’s decision that no prudent alternatives to the proposed West Bay Site existed was “not arbitrary, capricious, and abuse of discretion or otherwise contrary to law.”

“We are focused on building a state-of-the-art facility that will be one of the greenest airports in the world,” said Cramer. “The Court’s ruling and the consequent resolution of all pending legal challenges will provide a boost to our airline marketing and business recruitment efforts.”

“The Court’s action last week represents another important milestone in our effort to improve air service for the people of Bay County and Northwest Florida,” said Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill. “We are now past the halfway point with construction. We are ramping up our airline and economic development marketing efforts, and we have redoubled our commitment to building and operating a ‘green’ airport. We are looking forward to opening the new airport in less than thirteen months.”

Episode #5 – Wild Heron Bungalow for $142/foot

This week on The Beach Show we have a beautiful 3 bedroom 6th floor condo in Carillon that’s in imaculate condition, a brand new, never-been-lived-in bungalow in Wild Heron for $142/foot and a huge 3300 square foot 4 bedroom home in Bay Point for $75/foot.

The Beach Show – your ONLY internet TV show all about Real Estate on Panama City Beach.

Continue reading “Episode #5 – Wild Heron Bungalow for $142/foot” →

An Exercise in a Positive PCB

Positive things are always happening on Panama City Beach, ventures that provide a real service to the community. Here at pcbdaily, we want to acknowledge them and their efforts. This shout out goes to Lord’s Gym at 1616 Allison Ave.

Lord’s Gym is a no-obligation sports center for adults and teens funded on a donation basis. And if you think because it’s free this gym has to be paltry, think again. They offer 10,000 pounds of free weights, a full circuit of hammer strength weight equipment, treadmills, ellipticals, stairmasters, indoor basketball and a pool table. To top it off, they have a nice café that sells cappuccinos, sports drinks and free wireless internet. This is only part of the Lord’s Gym program. The LG provides a positive and safe environment for teens and adults and emphasizes a goal to build people up on the outside, but more importantly, on the inside.

Imagine if you are a single mother and want to work out to stay fit. In order to maintain your fitness you’d have to buy a gym membership and buy childcare. In today’s economy, that’s enough to keep you on the couch. But Lord’s Gym, in addition to being a no-obligation donation based gym, offers $2.00 per child childcare for kids ages 6 months to 5 years every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. All the childcare teachers are background checked so you can work-out without worries.

The most important service, I believe, is a teen hangout called, The Spot. Every second Tuesday of the month, teens ages 12 to 19 years of age can hang out at THE SPOT at the Lord’s Gym. There is free pizza, snacks, drinks, pool table, playstation, basketball, and more. The only thing they are required to bring is a signed Lord’s Gym liability waiver.

All this is donation based with a singular goal of providing adults and kids a positive environment to get fit body and mind. I spent the afternoon working out and playing basketball and I have to say, the donation to the positive cause was well worth it.

Lord’s Gym is located at 1616 Allison Ave. For more information please call 230-9030.

They also offer:

Aerobics Classes

Every Thursday we offer two types of classes.

Walking Class Thursday 9:00 – 9:30 AM

This class is for all fitness levels. Especially beginners.

Optional: Bring a pair of 1-2 lb wrist weights to burn more calories.

Circuit Training Class Thursday 9:45 – 10:30 AM

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-05

Hot deal number 1 this week on the beach show in panama city beach – Photo: http://bkite.com/07ayq #
Woohoo, just reached 100,000 miles on my car! Sweet! Trusty old bmw’s are great – Photo: http://bkite.com/075Id #
shewy, I’m wiped. we got some awesome video today at thunder beach. we’re going to publish a few videos from today. #
Shooting timelapse of thunderbeach – Photo: http://bkite.com/075eb #
Just watched nick lee do a burnout until the tire blew. Whoa, sweet. #
Thunder beach panama city beach coverage. #
Just got some video from the roof at pier park, man is it hot and bright up there. #
Break from thunder beach for cubscout rocket day – Photo: http://bkite.com/074E2 #
These guys are crazy – Photo: http://bkite.com/074qm #
At shan kishi on panama city beach. You can read all about it at http://www.seepcb.com #
Going to frank brown park to check out the thuinder beach madness #
At boardwalk, checking stuff out. Not too impressed with some of the shirts. #
I’m going to a commercial shoot for the sake house. Cool! #
Great day in panama city beach, thunder beach is ramping up, bikers everywhere. #