The City of Pensacola hosted a meeting Wednesday night to seek public input on upgrades to the Fricker Center. The meeting turned contentious, though, as the Black community voiced their frustrations with the state of Pensacola, specifically under third-year Mayor D.C. Reeves.
- Reeves was notably absent from the proceedings. Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Tonya Byrd was the highest-ranking city official in attendance.
Lambasting Mayor Reeves
Officials requested input early in the meeting on how to allocate a $9.5 million grant to improve the Fricker Center. Instead, one speaker after another took turns lambasting the City for turning its back on the Black community.
“I want to express my concern and disappointment that the mayor isn’t here,” Gerald Graham said during his turn with the microphone. “Gentrification has taken over this city, and people are being pushed out.”
Jonathan Green gave an impassioned speech that lasted nearly 3 minutes and covered a wide range of issues plaguing the Black community, starting with the rising house prices.
- “Whether he’s running for re-election or not, if he’s truly concerned about his constituents, he needs to do more than just go to the (New York Times) bragging about $1 million homes and actually deal with the poverty within this community,” Green said of the mayor.
Green criticized officials for the disorganized meeting, questioning why there was no agenda…