Disconnection

Feeding the trends rocking the school district is the cratering of the real estate market and the lack of a diversified economy.

That is why the work of the entities charged with economic development is so important.

So it was with dismay that Port St. Joe city commissioners recently heard the executive director of the Port St. Joe Redevelopment Agency acknowledge that when considering the impact of work at the intersection of Marina Drive/First Street and U.S. 98, the revenues for businesses most impacted by the project, Subway, McDonald’s, Auto Zone, seemed not part of the planning equation.

These same businesses provide tax dollars to support the efforts of the PSJRA. Other businesses that also support the PSJRA will be impacted by proposed improvements to the U.S. 98 corridor.

All the PowerPoint presentations, good ideas and public proclamations from the PSJRA and Economic Development Council about the possibilities are fine, but there has to be a payout or people just tune out.

And folks are willing to be patient to a point; as economic development officials have been saying for months, change won’t happen overnight.

But patience is a product of feeling in the loop, in the know, and businesses in the area of First Street/Marina Drive/U.S. 98 could not feel in the loop when their revenues were so unimportant as to not be a factor in the planning for a project to add left turn lanes at one intersection.

The PSJRA and the EDC should both find a lesson in that episode.