Out and About

I am also asked about “The Boulevard” which is the proposed development just east of Publix. Personally, I’m not sure that it will or would have ever gotten off the ground. Wanting a movie theater, a Dave and Busters, restaurants, a bowling alley and getting them with the infrastructure necessary are two different things. The same person that owns the RV Park owns that land and the proposed development. The RV Park looks like it is full most of the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if that land becomes an overflow RV Park after they are compensated by the FDOT for taking their “business opportunity” away for “The Boulevard.”  Because, with the flyover, we are sure to be the dollar store, storage unit capital of Florida and not have nice places like the proposed intention of “The Boulevard.”

I wish someone with vision and clout had a better vision for Navarre than what our past leadership proposed and lead with.  Navarre could be so much more. We either have a lot of potential or we had a lot of potential. I would like to think we still do but it is harder and harder to have the vision when there is so much apathy and we continue to get rolled-over. Navarre’s elected leadership is in the north end of the county sans our one county commissioner out of five. We should have two out of five because of District 5 in Gulf Breeze but we still have a minority. And, we don’t have a seat at the big table because we aren’t a municipality. We have decisions made for us by those that don’t have to live with the decisions because the majority rules. The last time I checked, ninety-five percent of the people that work for Santa Rosa County, our governing body, lives in the north end of the county. One time I called zoning and asked them how long a conditional use item that was allowed in Navarre – would last near the river in Milton. I was told – it would have never happened. And, another time I called about something that was supposed to have ceased 45 days prior and they were surprised it was still going on – because no one had checked on it. Another example – they give a conditional use for an eight-car used car lot and the next thing you know – there are twenty cars – for months because no one that can do anything about it inspects what they expect. And, Navarre is a long way to drive to from Milton to be proactive in code enforcement.  I hope that changes with our new county commissioner, Dave Piech.

For those of you newer to Navarre and Navarre Press, there was an effort four years ago to investigate the incorporation of Navarre. There was a lot of momentum and a lot of hard work by a lot of people. The effort was squashed with non-binding straw poll with 5,993 voting not to move forward and 4,765 voting to move forward. A positive result to move forward would have allowed the legislature to take us seriously and spend the time necessary to investigate incorporation further and provide additional information before a formal vote. If Navarre were a municipality – it would be the largest city between Pensacola and Tallahassee. At the last minute a small group of people put out signs scaring people saying the additional taxes would be a lot higher. These same people have since said incorporation would be a good idea – with a different group of people leading the effort.  The Inc. Navarre Group in 2004, of which I was a part of, found seven million in tax dollars that would be diverted to a town of Navarre (Beach) and not to the county coffers. And, this was before all the additional taxes that have since been passed that all the municipalities in Santa Rosa County get a chunk of because – they are a municipality. There is only one full time person tasked to looking out for what is best for Navarre and that is your county commissioner. And, he is supposed to also look out for the entire county…so his efforts are limited. If you are going to be governed – government closest to the people is best. Home Rule Rules. There is a better way than just dealing with the hand that has been dealt but it takes people who are committed to do what is best for Navarre whether it directly benefits them in the long run. The last group that investigated this had Navarre’s best interest at heart – not theirs. One of them put upwards of $45,000 cash towards hiring a consultant. You probably won’t find a person like that again…but I’d like to find another person like that. If you are that person, please step forward. If it could be me, I’d do it. It takes more than money though. It takes a lot of good people that are willing to see themselves dragged through the mud on social media and stay on mission. The straw-poll was narrowly defeated in 2014: If we continue our current path, we are always going to be the goose that lays the golden eggs – for Milton to decide how to allocate with the municipalities getting a piece of the pie.

I read a couple pages from Zig Ziglar’s “What I Learned on the Way to the Top” at our staff meeting and this was what we read this week. Navarre needs more men and women who are outwardly and vocally like the “Men wanted” in the following….

“Sen. Frank Carlson from Kansas wrote, “God and the world need men who will stand in the gap … men who are not for sale; men who are honest, sound from center to circumference, true to the heart’s core; men with consciences as steady as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels; men who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye; men who neither brag nor run; men who neither flag nor flinch; men who can have courage without shouting it; men in whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep, and strong; men who know their message and tell it; men who know their place and fill it; men who know their business and attend to it; men who will not lie, shirk, or dodge; men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor; men who are willing to eat what they have earned and wear what they have paid for; men who are not ashamed to say ‘No’ with emphasis and who are not ashamed to say ‘I can’t afford it.'”