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A Study in Contrasts

From: Paul Jensen
Date: Sunday, October 29, 2000
Time: 10:09:22 AM

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The Friday Daily Nothing really brought us a contrast in approaches for economic development of our area.

Much of the front page was devoted to a story about how the St. Joe Company (formerly a paper company and now in the real estate development business) has partnered with 20 other corporations (not government) to form Florida's Great Northwest Inc., an organization that will promote economic development from Pensacola to Tallahassee. Their goal is to bring high-paying jobs to the region, not just minimum-wage tourism jobs. These good jobs will bring more people (better get that Yellow River Dam going!) and thus, economic development. They will invest a half million private (not taxpayer) dollars into their effort.

Of course St. Joe Company is no innocent bystander. They own over a million acres of land in northwest Florida, and they intend to develop much of it. But not in the knee-jerk short-sighted fashion that is so popular with local developers.

One thing they are doing is marketing the entire region. They understand the people they are targeting with their efforts don't know a Pensacola from a Destin, and that it doesn't matter, so long as the region benefits. Tom Powell of the Walton County Economic Development Council was quoted in the article as saying "We all recognize that when you bring in a large company it doesn't have to be in your back yard for the county to benefit from it." Bravo!

Bob Cordes, the economic director manager for Gulf Power, was quoted as saying, "Northwest Florida must unite its resources and become a saleable product if we are to compete for the skilled projects that are going elsewhere in the Southeast." Right on!

Now contrast this approach with that of another article on the same page, in which a misguided Rick Deckert is trying to band together businesses to rally support for the Okaloosa Island conference center. In this article, the general manager of the Radisson is whining because he lost the job of hosting President Bush to the fairgrounds this Tuesday because he couldn't seat 1000 people in one room. Well then, he should construct a facility in his hotel that can! If the conference center is built, he still won't be able to host 1000 people in one room in his hotel, so what's his point?

Max Bruner wondered what the "ex-President" would think when he has to use a Port-a-Let at the fairgrounds. Well, if the fairgrounds is such a dump, then why haven't these business leaders ever done anything about that? Could it be because their businesses aren't located across the street? Bruner, a former Superintendent of Schools, refers to Bush as "ex-President Bush." As a former leader of our school system, it is embarrassing to realize he does not know the proper way to refer to a former President - it's "President Bush," not "ex-President Bush."

The conference center is the very essence of jealous in-fighting that the group in the first article is trying to prevent. Okaloosa County is jealous of Walton County. Ft. Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island is jealous of Destin. The fact is that a facility already exists at Sandestin, within 15 miles of the conference center site, that will outclass and outshine the proposed island conference center.

An example I like to use is Lou Holtz, one of the most respected and senior members of the college coaching fraternity. Every year the Southeast Conference holds their annual meeting at Sandestin. (Bet you didn't even know that). As the head football coach at South Carolina, Holtz is an attendee. Now try to focus this image in your mind: Lou Holtz comes out of the Sandestin conference center after a morning of meetings, gets on a golf cart, and heads to the links for 18 holes with his SEC buddies, then a few drinks at the 19th hole, then a short ride to his room, clean up and then back out to a nice dinner. All this without ever leaving the grounds or using an automobile. Shopping? Plenty of that at Merchants Walk, or it's just a short ride to Silver Sands.

Now let's imagine Lou Holtz coming out of the island conference center, having to dodge speeding traffic as he tries to get across Highway 98 to get to his room without being killed. Then what? Perhaps putt-putt golf with Steve Spurrior? A burger and a malt?

The island conference center is doomed to be a gun and knife show center. Sure, it will have whatever is at the fairgrounds now. But it will never do what Deckert and his cronies want it to do, which is have an economic impact of any substance. Why? Because it will be a government-owned stand-alone facility, and it will not be able to compete with a comprehensive package such as what Sandestin (or any decent hotel) has to offer. The conference center has loser written all over it, and to spend hundreds of millions of tax dollars on this project just because a few businesses in FWB and the island are jealous of Destin and South Walton County is just plain stupid. If this is such a good idea, Marriott or some other company would have already done it.

Part of the problem is that people like Deckert are paid tax dollars to promote one tiny area. Get rid of these people and promote the entire region, as the first group wants to do. Take the blinders off and have a little vision - see the big picture!

Paul Jensen

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Last changed: September 09, 2008