Issues of blight and public safety have long dogged West Pensacola. However, these concerns are attracting renewed attention after a recent study identified them as threats to the military’s continued presence in Escambia County.
The Naval Air Station Pensacola Compatible Use Study was presented to the Escambia County Board of Commissioners in March. It is a follow-up to a similar study completed two decades ago and analyzes a wide range of so-called compatibility issues between the county's military installations and the surrounding communities.
Commissioner Mike Kohler’s district encompasses both Corry Station and NAS Pensacola. He is a retired U.S. Navy captain and sat on a policy committee that provided input for the study's findings.
"This study concerned me," he told his fellow commissioners in March, "... When we do these kind of studies, I think it's very, very important that we take them seriously because consolidation does happen. I could talk the next hour about it, how it's happened in the Department of Defense in my 33 years (of service)."
Consolidation or relocation of military commands has been a subject of public speculation and concern since a year ago when the Pensacola News Journal reported that the Blue Angels could be forced to move their base of operations from Pensacola due to hangar damage from Hurricane Sally.
The possibility of losing the Blue Angels, which are much of a part of Pensacola's identity, has attracted a lot of attention. However, the cost to the Blues' hangar was just a fraction of the nearly half a billion dollars in damage that Hurricane Sally caused to NAS Pensacola. It is symbolic of the much larger problem of America's aging military infrastructure, the backlog of deferred maintenance liabilities that dog it, and the Pentagon's increasingly urgent desire to streamline operations by consolidating commands and offloading operating costs to local governments and the private sector.
As the military seeks to be more efficient, local leaders are more eager than ever to be good neighbors.
"This base brings in over $6 billion for this county," Kohler said in March. "It's not just in District 2. It's over 45% of our economy. There's no way that it doesn't affect everyone in Escambia County."
Capt. Tim Kinsella is a former commanding officer of NAS Pensacola who now heads up the University of West Florida’s Center for Leadership. He said there wasn't a realistic threat of the Blue Angels leaving Pensacola, but he added that the study showcased both risks and opportunities for the community, especially in the area of cybersecurity.
"There is a competition between the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy to be the king of cyber," he said. As the U.S. looks to expand its cybersecurity force, Pensacola has an opportunity to attract more federal funding and jobs to the Navy’s Center for Information Warfare Training, which is headquartered at Corry Station.
Nicole Gislason, who leads the University of West Florida’s Haas Center, said this kind of public investment had the potential to spur even more private investment from companies looking to benefit from the military's pipeline of highly skilled labor — companies like Navy Federal, which has added 10,000 jobs to the area in recent years.
"Much like other highly skilled jobs," she said, "these particular positions are ones that are in demand, not only in Pensacola, but in communities across the nation. If you are a financial services organization and you are staffing up for I.T. and network security, these individuals are going to be your prime target ... You're going to want to hire them straight out of the military and recruit them into your organization."
While the opportunity is large, Gislason said, so is the risk of missing out or, worse, losing what foothold the region has already. As the Pentagon ponders where to site new commands and where to consolidate or relocate existing ones, quality of life is a key consideration. And, in that department, Pensacola has some room to improve.
The Compatible Use Study highlighted challenges around the availability of housing and childcare, the quality of public schools, pedestrian safety, and blight.
"There are encroachment issues around Corry station," Kinsella said, "It's a very finite area, and there's no room for growth ... In those arguments, when the Navy and the Army are sitting at the table with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense ... and they're having this conversation, if one group can say, 'You know what, we've got lots of land. We also have great schools. We also have cheap housing. We also have great medical care for our employees, but look at you, you don't have those things,' they will slowly start winning that argument."
In March, Kohler pointed out that Escambia County had already begun planning construction for numerous projects that would help to address the study’s findings. These include new traffic signals near NAS Pensacola’s West Gate, lighting and pedestrian improvements near the entrance to Corry Station, and a redesign of South Navy Boulevard that would add sidewalks, lighting, and landscaping.
Gislason said it was important that local leaders remain focused on the military’s concerns.
"We cannot take the military for granted," she said, "and regarding cybersecurity ... these jobs could go anywhere, and perhaps there are even locations where they might be better suited. So with that knowledge in hand, we need to organize and ensure that their needs are met, whether it's affordable housing, education, or other quality of place issues."
