My Perdido

Quiet Weekend around Perdido

It is pretty quiet around Perdido this weekend.  Most everyone will make the trek into Pensacola to the incredible Seafood Festival in Seville Square.  Here are a few other recommnedations if you stay around the immediate area.

Wimbledon and the U.S. Open are behind us, but this weekend, Pleasure Island welcomes the Tri-Level State Championships, today through Sunday at the George C. Meyer Tennis Center at Johnnie Sims Park, 244 W. 19th Ave., Gulf Shores, Ala.; the Beach Club, 925 Beach Club Trail, Gulf Shores; and the Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club, 20 Peninsula Blvd., Gulf Shores. Watch more than 100 teams from the state of Alabama battle it out for the Tri-State Tennis championships. For tournament information, visit www.alabamata.com.

Guitar lessons for kids

Monday, the Orange Beach Art Center, 26389 Canal Road, Orange Beach, Ala., will offer guitar lessons for children in first through sixth grades from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. This is a small group class limited to six students. The center will provide the guitars to each student. Sign your child up to begin or enhance their music skills with the guitar. An after-school snack will be provided. For more information, call (251) 981-2787 .

Guy Harvey to visit The Wharf

Guy Harvey, an artist known around the world for his underwater paintings and his restaurants, will appear in person from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Guy Harvey's Island Grill, 4851 Wharf Parkway at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Ala. This two-day event will give guests a the opportunity to meet the artist, noted marine biologist and celebrated conservationist. The restaurant will serve its full menu while the retail shop and art gallery will have exclusive artwork, apparel and souvenirs available for purchase to be signed by Harvey. For more information, call (251) 224-8183 .

Lost Key Golf Club Serving it up

Avid golfers already know about the legendary Arnold Palmer golf course at Lost Key Golf Club, and since golfers get hungry for good chow, they also know about The Restaurant at Lost Key. It's world-class golf meets upscale cuisine.

Executive Chef Thien Thanh Chu, a native of Vung Tau, South Viet Nam brings his culinary talents to the kitchen. Chef Chu was trained at the Aroma of Mandarin, a fine dining Chinese restaurant. In 1999 he enrolled in the Florida Culinary Institute.

General manager of the Restaurant at Lost Key Golf Club, Steve Price, said one thing Chef Chu brings is his ability to prepare dishes inspired from around the world.

"One thing we're excited about is that throughout the month we offer our themed dinner nights, which include Italian, Asian, Seafood, Caribbean, Hawaiian, Santa Fe Southwestern and Prime Rib nights," Price says. "Lost Key can also host your next private event whether it be a birthday party, anniversary dinner, wedding reception or a golf tournament."

From an outstanding breakfast menu to great lunches to globally themed culinary items, The Restaurant runs the gamut from the standard to the exotic. The breakfast menu features freshly prepared items including eggs Benedict, breakfast burrito, breakfast club, corned beef hash with poached eggs topped with hollandaise sauce. Or try the three-egg, build your own omelet, and the famous almond cream french toast.

When it comes time for lunch, enjoy a complimentary appetizer of homemade bruschetta with garlic and cheese toast points. Lunch is followed with complimentary fresh baked cookies. The lunch menu features uniquely flavorful homemade soups, appetizers, salads, wraps, sandwiches and two chef-prepared daily features.

Every Thursday a sushi menu is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features five salads and appetizers, five traditional sushi rolls, nine specialty rolls and three chef-prepared feature rolls.

Whether you go for golf, food, cocktails or to just lounge, the Restaurant at Lost Key Golf Club is a secret gem of Perdido Key, but the word is quickly getting out, as Steve Price is quick to remind us in a letter from a customer.

"To quote a recent letter from a guest at Lost Key, 'The best part of your establishment is the people. Many courses boast about how they view customer service and what the customer experience will be like, but your staff truly believes in it. From the clubhouse staff, to the starter and the grounds crew, you could tell everyone enjoyed being there and wanted to make sure my wife and I had a great time. I'll be back this fall for a week, and I can guarantee you that Lost Key is the only course I'll be playing

National Sea Shore waives fee

Superintendent Jerry Eubanks announced today that Gulf Islands National Seashore will waive entrance fees to celebrate National Public Lands Day on

Saturday, September 27, 2008

and also on

Sunday, September 28, 2008

in honor of newly naturalized citizens.  The normal $8 per vehicle entrance fee will be waived for all visitors entering the Perdido Key (

Johnson

 

Beach

) Area in the Florida District of the Seashore on these days

Great News for Perdido

Gene Valentino just sent this news:

Dear Precinct Leaders and friends: (PASS THE WORD AND WATCH TONIGHT’S NEWS ON CH 3)

            It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce that the State Supreme Court of Florida this morning reversed its decision on the “Strand Case”.   The claims against Escambia County which in turn effected all 67 counties of the state of Florida have been overturned, giving standing in all matters that the “TIF” (Tax Increment Finance) funding program remains a legal and legitimate funding mechanism for the county commissions to use to fund infrastructure and projects of their respective counties.

 

            Mr. Strand (et al) have the opportunity to ask the State Supreme Court to reconsider this matter in the next 15 days.

 

            This good news jump-starts Escambia County ’s ability to get infrastructure under way which is absolutely necessary. 

            I am pleased with this ruling.   The SR 292 project from the Florabama to Walmart is ‘guestimated’ at this early stage to be at least a $200-million project. For every dollar we spend on this road project yields $10.00 to our economy!   This is huge! 

            I know many of you have expressed frustration with the lack of results.  I always promised you that while the timeline of government is nothing that pleases me, I did promise you I would not give up when others would!   I thank all of you for hanging in there and I implore you to continue to do so.

 

            More forthcoming in our precinct / district newsletters…

Sincerely,

Gene Valentino

Red flag morning walk

  At seven this morning there was still a stiff breeze about 10mph with higher gusts.  The flags tell the story of dangerous surf and sand blasted legs.  The sky was a beautiful blue to the north but the haze from sand and spray in the air close to the beach and looking east gave a diffused look to the sun. Here you can see the sea foam and the retreating waters along the National Sea Shore.

The breaches in the dunes along the south side of Johnson Beach Rd caused sand to cover large stretches of the road.  It was interesting to see where the sand fences were finally undermined by the constant pounding. The surge eventually was the victor. 

The posts left naked on the beach were a testament to the effectiveness of the fence that remained.  To the left of this shot is the road covered with 6-10 inches of sand that was once a dune supported by slats of fencing now peeled back.  Look a little further and you can see the berms that remained and protected the road.  The other eye opener was the difference in results depending upon the amount of beach expanse.   In areas that had wider space between the road and the beach due to the general topography chances were that the dunes were not breached.  I would suggest we keep this in mind when the issue of beach re-nourishment is discussed in the coming years.  The overall impression was like walking into the set of a Planet of the Apes movie.  It wasn't long until we started to see more and more folks out to take in the sights Mother Nature had left behind.  This is the sight of the road at the first walkover and gives an idea of the "lost world" impression.    To the left is roadway, to the right the beach. 

The other place where we saw flooding in previous days was on the north side of the National Sea Shore at the end of the service road that leads to Trout Island .   You can see the pine straw line up the nature walk.  It indicates flood waters to about 2 feet and the entire parking area was under water last Wednesday.

One last picture.  Here is a "last sentinel".  This small section of sand fence was supported by the sea oats that managed to grow up through the slats and stands lonely amid the washout surrounding it.

   

 

Ike-Still a factor

Amazingly Ike is still pounding the beaches across the Pensacola/Perdido area.  Hundreds of mile across, the width of Ike has been incredibly reaching our area with a storm surge that has remained about 2 feet above normal tides.  Here is an article from the Pensacola area with some pictures and a map of the most affected areas.    http://pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/NEWS01/80911036&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

I took this picture from our Palacio condo to capture the scope of the churning waters of the Gulf.  The next one shows the extent of the damage so far on the Key.  Here you see the piece of the walk over from Perdido Sun that broke off yesterday morning at the peak surge when it was coupled with the high tide.  This morning the water has retreated since yesterday back away from the berms that helped protect the pools and landscaping along Perdido Key Dr. I am sure there are some other walk overs damaged by the constant pounding.   The water has come over the road in the National Sea Shore but the area is closed so I don't know if it was damaged.  The Gongora/Siquenza was inundated with water almost to Perdido Key Dr just at the south edge of the Theo Baars Bridge cutting off passage to the Oyster Bar from that section of road.  I would expect some of the homes were damaged if they were not built on pilings or finished off at the at the ground level .  It has been going on now for over 36 hours but I think the worst is over.  The skies are clearing too as Ike gets closer to Texas and farther form us.  Our prayers are with the people in its path.

Ike-What a difference a day makes

I could hear the roar when I woke early this morning and was taken by surprise at the sight of the surge coming over the berms along the beach.  This was not expected and I bet many a boater and I know from the view along the beach that the beach services got caught with their guard down. I went for my usual walk to the National Sea Shore but Johnson Beach Rd was closed with water over the road at the first walkover past the pavilions.  I headed for the nature walk but had to turn around there too with the wetlands fully flooded and Grand Lagoon rising over the walkway where it exits onto the service road at Trout Island.  The flags at the gate house were stiff in the breeze so we probably had 15mph plus winds.  They were out of the east southeast meaning the storm was nearly directly south of us, its nearest point on its way to Texas.

I got home and jumped in the car to get some shots and check on folks who live in low areas.  Johnny and Joy from Perdido Sea Food were just getting to their store when I got there.  He confirmed what I had surmised that it was high tide.  He said the water was up 2 feet above high tide according to his markers along his piers.  Here is the picture I took from  Johnny's looking at one of his boats high in the water.  The other pictures is under the bridge looking at the Oyster Bar and its marina. Click on the image to expand the size and note how high those boats are riding.   

I went down Innerarity expecting to see water over the "causeway", that stretch of road between the point and the island.  I was surprised to see it was dry but barely above the water line.  Here are two shots to show what I found.   

The water was lapping against the rip-rap on the north side of the road and just over the banks at the southeast corner nearest Kaiser Rd.  I went back to Perdido and could see from the bridge that the state park boat launch was under water.  I heard that Hwy 98 from Ft Walton to Destin was closed with water and surge across the road. Here is a shot I took to show the fierce looking wave action.  After I took this picture I went up to the condo on the 15th floor and the last section of the walkover at Perdido Sun was breaking off.  Just goe sto show you that you must remain vigilant.

Ike is in the Gulf.....but

The blog centers itself on storm reports as a service to all those who follow Perdido news from afar and for my local friends in the midst of the usual chaos.  Today we awoke to find the surf churning and tides higher than normal.  That seems to be the extent of Ike's effects except for one major benefit.  At least I assume that Ike is the benevolent giver of this beautiful weather.

I took my traditional walk on Johnson beach Road this morning at about 7AM as is my habit.  Many mornings I meet Pete Mulry along the way and we tag along for a few miles with the opportunity for conversation. Of course we both remarked on the glorious morning and mused about the cause.  Was Ike a gift to our morning exercise, drawing away the moisture in the air and whatever natural or un-natural pollutants?  The sky was clear and clean and the sun as brilliant as possible.  It was obvious to us as long time residents and even longer time visitors to the Perdido area that we had seen this phenomenon before.  Was our amateur status as meteorologists betraying our sense of well being as Ike skirts far to our south?  Probably in some manner.  In any case it was a pleasure to be hoofing it through the National Sea Shore this morning.

When I made the turn on the National Sea Shore road to return to home I was struck again with the sights.  My shadow preceded me down the road west and I remembered that the sun was a little south of east this morning as it makes it way to pure east at the fall solstice.  Looking to the right across Grand Lagoon and through the sea oats, golden and swaying in the slight breeze, I was struck by the sapphire blue of the back bay waters.  The green trees of the state park across the lagoon were a perfect border between deep blue water and azure blue sky.  The rays aimed from the east reflected off the Theo Baars Bridge and the condos,the homes along the Gongora area of Perdido and along the Intra-coastal splashing spots and blots of color that were brilliant in the sunshine. Two fisherman were wading into the shallows north and east of Trout Island.  I could not yet tell if they were fly fishing but their light khaki fishing vests shined brightly against the blue water.  Looking to the left the Gulf was throwing off 3 to 5 foot waves and there was enough of a breeze to cause wisps of spray.  The white foam of the breaking surf was the perfect contrast to the royal blue of the Gulf and the spray an extra brush stroke of white across the picture.  The dunes that have built back after the devastation of Ivan were sand sculptures like you see in desert movies.  Their back sides, the north faces against the road, were beautifully etched with erosion that looked like columns and and carvings you would see in the Indiana Jones films only in miniature.  The south facing side of the berms, taking the brunt of the prevailing winds, undulated up and around the snow (or sand) fences with corduroy ridges and peaks and valleys.  The vegetation, also recovered after Ivan, catches the fine grains of sand then grows up through it creating irregular mounds of white and ivory held in place by the green and golden hues of the various types of plant life.

As I got closer to the fishermen they were tossing flies, probably streamers that mimic minnows, with lighter weight rods.  The arc of the lines as they worked the lure out farther and farther was prominent in the reflected sun light.  I did not see them catch anything in the brief span of time it took me to walk past my vantage point but as a fly fisherman myself the catching is only part of the point of being on the water.  I was sure they were enjoying the sights of the morning too.

I continued toward the guard house at the entrance to the park and enjoyed the privilege of saying good morning to the usual suspects that share this daily ritual with me.  We are creatures of habit, arriving about the same time each day and sharing pleasantries at almost the same spot that we cross paths every morning.  We were each a little more pleasant this morning.

Good morning from Perdido Key. 

Is Pensacola "Lost"??

I do think that Pensacola is lost at least for now.  The poll results released this week are horrifying;

Fifty-four percent of Escambia respondents and 52 percent of Pensacola residents believe the area is on "the wrong track" and likely to stay there. Only 22 percent in Escambia and 23 percent in Pensacola believe it is on "the right track."

The latest initiatives that have risen to the surface are encouraging like Mr Studer's sponsoring of the Mason Dixon survey and Mr. O'Sullivan's call for hiring a team of experts to address various issues for the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.  Here are two leaders stepping forward with action or calling for action now in contrast to most of the politicians. I like County Commissioner Grover Robinson but his reaction to the devastating results of this poll was vague at best and at worst pure mush...."we've got to work together".  At least Gene Valentino outlined in the news article the action taken on his watch and with his leadership.  He ran on promises to promote economic initiatives and then saw that an economic development plan was put in place and an economic development director was hired.  More work is to be done.  I have extolled his work before, in full disclosure I am a supporter of Gene's, but we need to have the wholesale change to get more action. More work is to be done! I think this possibility got a boost from the defeat of Mike Whitehead in the latest primary but it will take years to get around to all of the regime changes still required. 

What is especially disturbing is the City Manager's response. AL Coby was quoted as saying  "The City Council will probably bring these issues forward"   Probably.....Probably???  John Fogg's retort cited the same old defense.  We are just defenseless, little, underpaid, waifs unable to get up the gumption to shake up the status quo.  Then why take the job, why run for the office?  The old saying goes "either lead, follow or get out of the way'".... and after the latest election I think the electorate will have a solution to this in the coming elections.  That is if the alternatives are viable.  Case in point; Mike Wiggins is running for Mayor.   His quote??   "It just validates things we've all known were problems".  Mr Wiggins, you are a City Council member.  If you knew these were problems what have you been doing since you were elected?  Wringing your hands with Mr Fogg over in the corner? 

I am being tough on most of these folks, maybe a little too flippant and cynical since at least some things have progressed like the movement of the water treatment plant (after more than 20 years of haggling) and I truly believe we will get a the Marine Park.... eventually.  I am convinced however that the current political leadership will not produce the results desperately needed, sooner rather than later, as evidenced by the Mason Dixon survey that concluded:

"Supporting the findings of dissatisfaction with the county’s and city’s leadership is the fact that a majority of voters expressed little familiarity and confidence with any vision or plans for the area’s economic development and revitalization."

Clearly we need new blood like John Hosman and Jason Crawford of the Pensacola Young Professionals.

The  Better Pensacola Forum folks that have joined with Mr. Studer would be a good place to look and we can only hope others of like mind and talents will join them in their quest.  As for me, and I hope all of the folks I can touch in this blog and elsewhere, I am going to make noise, support change, attend more gatherings of the powers that be, and financially support "new" initiatives and voices in our community.  Please join me.

Reading the Pensacola News Journal

I will be frank.  I read the PNJ every day but often wonder why I bother.  I feel an obligation to my customers to stay in touch with the pulse of politics, local events, the effects of crime/business/personalities etc on our area but honestly it is a light weight newspaper.  Having said that I want to say it is improving and today's paper is worth your time.  In particular the front section which includes this article.

Is Pensacola paradise lost?

Escambia and Pensacola voters have spoken.

Now, will community leaders listen? And will new leaders emerge?

A poll released last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., confirms a pervasive negativism that often surfaces in daily conversations among locals, on talk radio shows, in letters to the editor and on blogs, in public meetings and most recently, in political campaigns.

The bottom line: Fifty-four percent of Escambia respondents and 52 percent of Pensacola residents believe the area is on "the wrong track" and likely to stay there. Only 22 percent in Escambia and 23 percent in Pensacola believe it is on "the right track." The rest are not sure.

See the rest here:    Paradise Lost???      I love the responses of the politicians.   I would enjoy hearing your thoughts so pelase send along a comment.   I will share my thoughts later today.