VT MAE ready to break ground

Last week, City Council members approved several measures related to VT MAE that will now clear the way for the aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul business set to relocate to Pensacola International Airport.

The VT MAE project is expected to bring around 400 jobs to Pensacola. Construction is scheduled to begin within the next two weeks once the building permit is issued and the contract mobilized.

Community Maritime Park a finalist for 2016 Award of Excellence

The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a nonprofit research and education organization has selected the Vince Whibbs Community Maritime Park as one of three finalists for the North Florida 2016 Awards of Excellence.

The Awards for Excellence Program is intended to be the centerpiece of ULI's efforts in North Florida to identify and promote best practices in all types of real estate development. The awards recognize the full development process of a project: planning, construction, economic viability, and management, as well as design. Steve Dana of Jerry Pate Design nominated the Community Maritime Park in the Open Space category. Jerry Pate Design was one of the owner’s representatives on the Maritime Park Project. The Community Maritime Park is the first-ever finalist from Pensacola and North West Florida. Learn more here - https://goo.gl/PFvzid.

Congratulations Levin Center for IHMC Research

Mayor Ashton Hayward, City Council President Charles Bare, City Councilman Larry Johnson, City Councilman Brian Spencer, and other local leaders attended the ribbon cutting for the new Levin Center Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Research (IHMC) in downtown Pensacola. Leading robotic scientists from all over the world work at IHMC, and this $8 million expansion will allow them to continue their research on one consolidated, state of the art 30,000 square foot campus. Congratulations to IHMC founder and Director Ken Ford on this exciting day, and thank you for all that you do for our community.

Childhood Cancer Awareness

On September 21st, Mayor Ashton Hayward and his staff welcomed childhood cancer families and the Rally Foundation to City Hall to help raise awareness for childhood cancer.

The children and families took a tour of the Office of the Mayor, looked out on the balcony, played games set up by staff, and received gifts donated by Parks and Recreation. This visit was concluded with a proclamation ceremony declaring September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

"Anything we can do to help bring attention to childhood cancer," said Hayward."They get a small percentage of the overall cancer research budget. I am glad to step up and do what I can to help." Learn more about the Rally Foundation by clicking here www.rallyfoundation.org.

Employee Recognition

This week, we took time to recognize and celebrate our Employee of the Month, and several employee milestones. Special congratulations to Demetrius Pettway, our September Employee of the Month. Demetrius recently saved another City employee's life. After seeing another employee struggling for air, Demetrius reacted quickly and successfully administered the Heimlich maneuver.

Pensacola High School student raises funds to help Fricker Resource Center

Giving back to the community is something that many people do these days, but sometimes the impact on the person volunteering is so great that it inspires them to do far more than they are asked. That’s exactly what happened when Eric Finger, a student at Pensacola High School in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, started volunteering at the Fricker Resource Center. Finger and three other students volunteered at center’s After School program during their junior year as part of the IB program’s Creativity Action & Service initiative, or CAS, which requires each student to volunteer 100+ hours on a single service project.

Finger said he and his classmates decided to continue volunteering a few more weeks in the summer camp program at Fricker. He noticed throughout his time there that they had a lot of deteriorating equipment so he decided to organize a tennis tournament as a fundraiser. “I go to school with a lot of the kids’ older brothers and sisters, so I see the problems a lot these kids face at home and the Fricker program is a really good way for them to escape this. Any improvement to the program benefits the kids in numerous aspects,” said Finger. The Fund the Fricker Charity Tennis Tournament was held this summer at the Pensacola Country Club and raised over $2,700 through entry fees and sponsorships which Finger is now donating to the Fricker Resource Center for purchasing sports equipment.

INSTAGRAM: Photo of the week

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