Tag: Florida

Better education necessary to diversify Bay County economy

JuliannBy: Juliann Talkington

Juliann Talkington is the administrator of the Panama City Renaissance School. Reach her on 850-215-8712 or jtalkington@pcrschool.org.

With the state of the economy in Bay County, we are all searching for ways to improve conditions. People talk wistfully about the new airport and what it will do for the area. The champions speak about more tourists, more permanent residents and high-quality employment opportunities.

With rising gas prices and a nationwide recession, many people are starting to wonder how realistic these projections might be. Even though it would be nice to think Bay County is insulated from tough economic conditions elsewhere, it is probably unrealistic. Like other tourist-based economies, Bay County suffers when outsiders don’t have extra money to take vacations.

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SAVE THE CIRCUS!!

Well, I had heard that it wasn’t doing that great, but I didn’t know that it was possibly being shut down. What are they doing to be sure the local tourists know about this? Is our local TDC helping? Has the circus asked for help? I see their signs in all the windows, but are they providing enough information to draw people over to the circus? Are the show times even on the flyers?

If something isn’t doing good, it either isn’t being accepted or whoever is marketing it is not doing their job. I’m sorry to be critical at this sensitive time, but we’ve all been yelling for more stuff to do here and now one of the things we got is threatening to leave. Is everything being done to ensure its success?

Below is the press release put out by the Beaches Chamber:

Panama City Beach, July 7, 2008 – Last Thursday night I took my young son to the FSU Flying High Circus at Frank Brown Park. The show was incredible and we had a great time, but as I drove home a déjà-vu sensation hit me, and I remembered the last evening of the Miracle Strip Amusement Park – in late summer 2004. That was an enchanted evening, full of rides, laughter, people…but it was also sad. There was the sense of the passing of time…. nostalgic, sweet but heartrending. After that night it would close down forever. My own family, who has lived in PCB for-almost ever, was with me and introduced me to Buddy Wilkes that night. I couldn’t have known what he must have been feeling. I had only just moved here weeks earlier and had not yet acclimated to the culture, the community, or the multitude of childhood memories existing within the walls of that amusement park.

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Life Guards on Panama City Beach – everyone else is doing it!

Ok, so the big question is, lifeguards on Panama City Beach – everyone else is doing it, why aren’t we? Local officials have argued that the cost is too much and the liability is too great. What!!?? What is everyone else doing? I should quantify “everyone else.”

As reported by the News Herald’s Ed Offley (great article Ed!) lifeguards can be found on the east coast from Jacksonville to Miami and on the Gulf Coast from Sarasota to Naples, not to mention most of the Panhandle has lifeguards posted on the beaches, including Walton County and Destin. As reported, the 43 miles of shoreline in Gulf County doesn’t have any issues with rip currents as it is protected in large part by Cape San Blas.

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Toll Road Voted NO in Washington County

In a 3-2 vote against the proposed toll route from Montgomery to Bay County, Washington County, Florida commissioners expressed their concern for the new toll road slated to come through their community. Supporters of the toll road claimed that they had contacted all but 1 of the 27 property owners affected by the new road and that all had given indication that they would be willing to work with the development in order to prevent eminent domain.

Commissioner Jerry Sapp and Commissioner Joel Pate voted for the new toll road.

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Your County Tax Dollars at Work – Thomas Drive and Joan

The intersection of Thomas Drive and Joan Avenue in Panama City Beach is getting a bit of a facelift with sidewalks going in, the curb structure being redone, and the pedestrian island being rebuilt.

Recently the lift station on Joan Avenue was redone and landscaping and sidewalks were installed.

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Bay County should take the lead in educational innovation

JuliannBy: Juliann Talkington

Juliann Talkington is the administrator of the Panama City Renaissance School. Reach her on 850-215-8712 or jtalkington@pcrschool.org.

With the dismal state of primary and secondary education around the country, Bay County has a tremendous opportunity, if we are willing to lead.

According to Michael Hodges in Dangerous Erosion of Education Quality and Productivity, the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) * shows advanced US high school seniors continue to score poorly in international science and math comparisons – near the bottom of all the countries tested.  In addition, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) * shows the general US student population scores well below the international average in math and science.  And worst of all, this trend has continued for many years.

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Economic development in Northwest Florida depends on education

JuliannBy: Juliann Talkington

Juliann Talkington is the administrator of the Panama City Renaissance School. Reach her on 850-215-8712 or jtalkington@pcrschool.org.

On Friday, Florida’s Great Northwest, the economic development organization for our region, presented details on a target industry study. The event was attended by government officials and business and community leaders from Bay County and the surrounding areas. The study suggested our region has a competitive advantage in four target industries: 1) aerospace and defense, 2) health sciences and human performance-enhancement, 3) renewal energy and environment and 4) transportation and logistics.

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Free Municipal Wifi in Panama City – Is Wired Mag Wrong?

Over the weekend I was reading a fascinating article in Wired Magazine that explained that although many may think the idea of free municipal-sponsored wifi networks was dead, it was actually becoming a reality any many large and small cities alike.

The idea came a couple of years ago, from google, to set up free city-wide wireless networks all across the country.  The idea, of course, came with much criticism and concern from the big tel-com companies out of fear they would eventually lose the market or become obsolete.  The cost would be offset by advertising.

I actually hadn’t heard much about it is a while, but apparently San Francisco (the pioneer city), Chicago, and Atlanta just to name a few are in the process of getting this.  In addition, Cupertino, CA, Athens, GA, and Ft. Lauderdale are up and running.  Can any of our readers in these area verify this and give us feedback as to how this works?

I was surprised to see that among the “little” cities that was functioning was Panama City with a mark on the map to verify its location.  I like to consider myself somewhat on the up-and-up, but I stay busy so maybe I missed something.  I called around to the City of Panama City, the City of Panama City Beach, Callway and Lynn Haven, and all of them answered the question with a pause and a belittling “no, I mean, we have a router in city hall, but I don’t think it will go across the whole city.”

After doing a little research, I found cnet.com had a map that supposedly shows all the municipalities that offer free wifi city-wide.  Panama City is on that map too.

Interesting.  I wonder where they are getting their information.

Wired pdf map.

Destin property owners refuting beach renourishment?

An article in the News Herald this morning reported on a case before the Florida Supreme Court addressing the Walton County beach renourishment efforts. As the article reads, property owners are suing to prevent this and it may cause renourishment efforts to be their responsibility when they want to do it and how much effort/money they want to put into it.

The argument is that it may be the “unconstitutional taking of private property from beach-front homeowners.” Am I reading this wrong? Beach renourishment, in my opinion is a great thing for the property owners. As a property owner on the beach, why would I not want this? If I had 100 feet of beach in between my home and the water, and now I had 50 feet, I would want back that extra 50 feet.

I know the beach restoration project in Walton County has had problems in the past, with concerns of the sea turtle nests.

As reported, if the renourishment is found unconstitutional, the property owners would have the responsibility to cover the restoration costs.