Downtown Crowd: DIB

For the past thirty-four years, Downtown Pensacola has been legally defined as a gerrymandered forty-four block polygon spreading out varying distances in each direction from the nexus of Palafox and Garden Streets.  Back in 1972 when the very jagged boundary lines were drawn, that area probably did represent most of what was left of downtown at that point in history. A lot has changed since those dark days of the early 1970s when many had abandoned downtown or were looking for a way to get out.

Several months ago when some regular market research was being conducted for the Pensacola Downtown Improvement Board, a question about the physical definition of Downtown Pensacola was added to the survey of 400 randomly selected households from throughout the region. Not surprisingly, almost 70 percent of the respondents (with a confidence level of 95 percent) defined downtown as that area south of Cervantes Street, east to the Pensacola Bay Bridge, and roughly west to a point somewhere between “A” street and Pace Boulevard. Their definitions included the areas referred to as “Restaurant Row” along Chase and Gregory Streets, the Belmont-DeVilliers Neighborhood, Aragon, the Seville Neighborhood, the Port of Pensacola, the site of the Community Maritime Park, the new Bayfront Park at the foot of Palafox Street, The Tanyards Neighborhood, parts of the North Hill Historic District, and the area around the Civic Center.  Unfortunately, none of those unique areas are officially part of Downtown Pensacola today.  While this reality is difficult for most to accept, it is the landscape that we have to tip-toe around each day as the DIB markets and advocates for Downtown Pensacola in an effort to attract more customers, more residents, more investment and a better environment for those already here. It also forces the DIB to sit on the sidelines when policy issues important to the quality of life in center city neighborhoods or commercial success for adjoining business areas are advanced or debated.

While many have given lip service to the concept of changing the definition of Downtown Pensacola over the years, no real groundswell materialized until about eight months ago. A committee comprised of downtown stakeholders was appointed by the DIB to further study the issue and to make a recommendation for any needed action. At the direction of the committee, additional and more targeted survey work was conducted with the establishments located outside of the official downtown but within the commonly perceived downtown area. The report of the initial findings was delivered in January along with a proposal to create a more focused study area and to conduct outreach with the leadership of the various neighborhood associations and property owner associations to test the waters of possible expansions to the definition of Downtown Pensacola.  During January and February, meetings and conversations were conducted with representatives from the leadership of ten such groups to review the findings from the recent surveys and to identify common needs facing downtown and their respective neighborhoods. When that process resulted in a mostly positive (and in many instances enthusiastic) response, meetings with several large groups of property owners within the study area were scheduled. Every taxable property owner of record within the study area was invited to attend one of the five mass meetings of property owners held during late March and early April. Over 250 property owners did just that. As a result of the feedback from those meetings and dozens of additional conversations with property owners that could be impacted, a proposed “new” definition for downtown has been agreed upon. With the acceptance of that recommendation by the DIB in April, the proposal now moves on to the City Council for further action and ultimately the scheduling of a referendum with taxable property owners.  This required process should play itself out over the summer with a referendum in the fall.

Currently, the marketing, recruitment, retention, planning, and advocacy efforts of the DIB are restricted to the forty-four blocks of the “official” Downtown Pensacola. The resources necessary to carryout these tasks are provided primarily by an additional ad valorem millage paid by the taxable property owners within the boundaries of the Downtown District. As a result, DIB funds and resources can only be expended for the benefit of the property owners and business owners within the Downtown District. Other similar or companion interests just a few blocks beyond the boundary line of the current downtown are mostly ignored as if they do not exist.  The results in many instances portray a downtown that appears much smaller, much less interesting, much less sophisticated, and/or much less inviting than it should.

Because of its perceived size to those outside of Pensacola and its artificially deflated number of offerings, the “official” Downtown Pensacola is forced to compete with towns less than half our size instead of cities with the stature of Tallahassee, Mobile and Montgomery.  Such limiting comparisons significantly reduce the type of investment groups, employers, customers, and visitors as well as public support that we can successfully attract. The current outdated definition of downtown and the corresponding legal limitations on how and what the DIB can market, create many more losers than winners over the long term.  For this to change, Downtown Pensacola has to present itself in the most favorable and inviting light to the consumer, tourist, residential, and investor markets. That must include being able to promote, showcase, and protect the offerings found in a more modern and accepted definition of downtown.

Joining together the areas around downtown that are rich in history and a sense of place only makes us all stronger and ultimately more successful. None of the unique and wonderful neighborhoods or commercial districts in the Center City are islands unto themselves. All are influenced greatly by what goes on—or doesn’t go on—the adjacent areas. By linking our efforts, our resources, and our visions, property owners in the greater downtown area will have the ability to positively direct meaningful and desired changes to the heart of our community.  We will be speaking with a more unified voice on many more issues than in the past. More progress on common issues should be garnered.

If this self-directed and managed change occurs, an additional benefit will likely flow to the newly added downtown property owners. The values of properties within the Downtown District should continue to appreciate at rates far higher than those just outside of the defined downtown or in most other parts of the City.

I don’t know of anyone who would argue that the Downtown Pensacola of today is the same as the downtown of 1972. The challenges and opportunities some three and a half decades later have changed. Consequently, a different set of responses is necessary for the recent downtown successes to be sustained and expanded. For the DIB to be able to spend its resources to help advance priorities in the areas that most people in the region consider to be downtown, the boundaries and definition must be brought up to date.