Economic development — and how to do it — was uppermost in the mind and news conference of Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves on Tuesday.
After attending a mayoral fellowship program at Harvard University last week, the mayor announced during his weekly news conference a plan to hire an economic development director for the city.
“We won't make an official announcement on that until Friday,” said the mayor. “With it being a director level position, that's something that requires city council approval. So you'll get a release on that. We've also made hires for the senior grant writer position and the grant manager position. I'm excited that we're going to play some offense — grant managers, grant writers, and economic development directors — and we've got a team to do that.”
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Next up is determining which types of businesses get the highest priority. Reeves said he’s leaning toward cybersecurity where workers perhaps could work remotely. The mayor is quick to add that collaboration with Escambia County is alive and well.
“If a business is going to relocate, it can be off Ten Mile Road, it can be in Molino — tell me what time to be at the airport,” he said. “Part of this job is selling the city and selling the community. But I firmly believe that there are certain efforts that are more unique to where we want to grow and where we want to prosper. That may not be the same priority level elsewhere.”
Reeves divides economic development into a couple of separate “fronts." One is the more traditional economic development playbook emphasizing the 39 square miles of downtown.
“Getting people that want to live here, want to work here, getting certain businesses that maybe don't need 70-80 acres, but they might be able to move into Class A office space,” the mayor said. “And then number two. And what I hope is when you knock on Pittsburgh's door, what you hear is thank you. Let us help you get this across the finish line.”
Roads, water, schools, first responders, neighborhoods — the mayor believes each of those and more — are part of the overall economic development landscape, what he calls the “new battlefront.”
“People can live anywhere they want,” Reeves said. “Now, when you talk about why do we have this office and why are we creating it, is there's so much more nuance that goes into what economic development is like? Talent, attraction, blue-collar jobs, white collar jobs, doesn't matter. The philosophy now is, ‘I'm going to go pick an amazing place to live, and then I'm going to find a job.’”
According to data from the state, Reeves says Pensacola and Escambia County are lagging behind in growth, compared to Florida as a whole – which has seen roughly 350,000 migrating to the Sunshine State post-COVID. That, he says, is another major challenge.
“And I just want to be clear — this is not a territory thing,” said Reeves. “How do we all do this together? There are assets at the county level that need to happen. We will continue to be a willing partner in any economic development initiative where the Pensacola area needs to be involved. This is just an additional step in taking a little more control of our own destiny.”
On another front, Mayor D.C. Reeves also announced the annual name change for Pensacola International Airport to Pensacola Intergalactic Airport for the 10th edition of Pensacon the weekend of February 24.