Even before he took office, crafting a strategic plan for the future of Pensacola has been a priority for Mayor D. C. Reeves. Now the city is actively looking for input for a comprehensive plan to guide the city through the next decade.
“We’ve had lots of plans” said Reeves. “But I don’t know that we’ve had a holistic, visionary strategic plan about what we want this city to be. So this strategic plan that we are working on is not a 100 step plan. It is not a ‘do these 10 things in the next six months’. What we are (looking for) is an overall set of priorities. What’s important to us?”
To find those priorities and answer those questions, the city has partnered with the worldwide urban design and strategy firm Gehl Studios to launch "Strive to Thrive: Pensacola 2035,” a campaign to gather the raw materials for the strategic plan.
Gehl is headquartered in Denmark and has crafted similar plans for communities around the world. In Pensacola, they will use input from residents and officials to put together that final plan.
“Obviously their expertise in doing this all over the world will help guide the conversation” said Reeves. “I think that’s where their expertise comes in. It’s not so much that they are going to come and tell our citizens what they may or may not want. What makes them qualified to foster the conversation is that they have had this conversation in many cities around the world and they understand what that deliverable needs to be, and that we are not just talking, but that we end up with a finished product.”
Gehl has already held sessions with city officials, business leaders and representatives from area nonprofits. Now they want to hear from you. Citizens of Pensacola are invited to participate in the Strive to Thrive: Pensacola 2035 Visioning Survey, a comprehensive survey that will guide the strategic plan and the direction of the city.
“We’ve got a survey out that Gehl had put together to help us continue to build this conversation” said Reeves. “We really appreciate people filling that out and making sure that we hear from all walks of life, all ages, all races.”
The mayor is counting on that diversity to give a complete picture of where the city needs to go in the next decade.
“What something means to the Black community here is different than it is for the white community” said Reeves. “What something means to someone older that wants a more ADA accessible community. Their mobility may be different than a 17-year-old riding a skateboard downtown. We want to hear from all walk so that the voice of this survey, the voice of the feedback of what we want this city to be matches the makeup of our city.”
The mayor hopes that down the road, people in Pensacola will see that the city is not only united and aligned with a set of priorities, but that those priorities are being implemented.
“I expect that the strategic plan will come out and some of those priorities are things that we are already working on” said Reeves. “We talk about economic development, we’ve got American Magic coming. I expect housing will be a big part of this strategic plan so hopefully, if we make the governor’s budget, we’ve got money for the Baptist Hospital project and what could be transformational housing opportunities.
“So, it doesn’t mean we are starting all of these thing from scratch. It could be things that we are already doing, but will only reinforce those efforts and priorities that much further because we’ve now heard from the community. Maybe this document helps us reshuffle those priorities based on some of the projects that we are working on and maybe moving something up or down the list based on what our community tells us. I think in a few years what we should expect is that we’ve reshuffled the deck, we’ve aligned our priorities accordingly and that we are attacking those priorities accordingly.”
Since it has gone live around 300 people have responded to the Pensacola 2035 Visioning Survey. It will be live through the end of July. A public open house will be 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, June 26 at Pensacola City Hall, Hagler/Mason Conference Room, 222 W Main St.
