The Panhandle offers enormous advantages, and it's hard to understand why it isn't booming.

Our Untapped Potential

In a recent column for the Pensacola News Journal, Dr. Clarence C. Elebash, a Pensacola native and professor of finance at the University of West Florida (UWF) enumerated the many advantages and attractions of the Panhandle. The inventory included fabulous beaches, a benign climate, pristine National Seashores, award-winning state parks, highly rated Pensacola Junior College and a number of outstanding community colleges that are scattered through the area, and UWF, which is an outstanding regional university. Pensacola has a first-rate airport, numerous cultural attractions, acclaimed health-care systems, a modest amount of existing industry, and a small but growing number of "knowledge" businesses. Specialized medical institutions are located throughout the six-county area of Congressional District 1.

Writing specifically about Pensacola and Escambia County, Dr. Elebash concluded that in spite of those advantages, "We are well short of our potential." He noted that both Pensacola and Escambia County have relatively low average personal incomes and relatively high poverty levels, and he suggested that Pensacola ought to be comparing itself to Charleston, Greenville, SC, Savannah, Tallahassee and Fairhope, all of which have moved forward while Pensacola pretty much stood still. (In my own opinion that same set of comparisons would be appropriate and eye-opening for many other areas of the Panhandle.)

Based on my experience promoting economic development in central Arizona, I would like to add five items to the list of Panhandle assets.

• The CSX Railroad, which is the number two line in the U.S., runs east-west through the middle of the Panhandle. Rail is cheap and incredibly fuel-efficient: a train can move a ton of cargo three times as far as a truck on a gallon of fuel. Moving freight by rail also produces one-sixth to one-twelfth the emissions of a truck, depending on the specific pollutant.
• If using a truck is necessary — which it is for many businesses — most of northwest Florida is less than 10 miles from I-10, a coast-to-coast interstate with connections to the entire East Coast and the Midwest. From Prescott Valley, Arizona, we had to go 30 miles on a two-lane road to reach either an interstate or a railroad, but we nevertheless made a success of our industrial park.
• The Panhandle has easy access to the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), which extends west to New Orleans and waterways to the Midwest, then on to Houston and Brownsville, Texas, with ocean access. The ICW was once an artery for agricultural products. There is also a grain elevator at Freeport, south of DeFuniak Springs.
• We have a huge number of highly-trained military retirees with an ingrained work ethic and discipline.
• Thousands of farmers in northwest Florida are producing less and earning less than they might. (See Small Farm Problems below.)

Small Farm Problems

The long-term problem of small farmers has been marketing. They are unable to compete with mega-companies that own their own huge plantations or have leverage for bargaining with agribusiness. Also, in recent years, outsourcing food production has become a major trend. The okra in Bailey’s farm market in Pensacola, for instance, more often than not comes from Mexico. Despite the known fact that small farms are more efficient than big farms, small farmers do not have the organization that will help them get products to the consumer.

A linked problem is that the little guy does not have the lawyers and accountants to help get a fair share of government farm subsidies. Thirty years ago, small farmers sold much of their yield in coop markets. Now, New York chefs from pricey restaurants who are interviewed in thick newspapers tell city people what country folk already knew: small-farm produce tastes better. (For more on energy and food production, go to www.eurekalert.org, which cites multiple sources.)

My Plan for Panhandle Development

Business development depends primarily on entrepreneurial and technical skills, and secondarily on the cooperation and support of local government. The amount of influence some guy sitting up in Washington, D.C. can have for his district comes in a distant third, at best. Nevertheless, here is a plan.

I am going to spend a great deal of time in my District talking to businessmen, manufacturers, farmers, environmentalists, community activists, and members of local government. I can better represent my constituents by listening to them than by listening to lobbyists and my colleagues in Washington. I believe most of my constituents are as concerned about America's welfare as they are about their own — which is probably more than I can say of many of our congressmen.

I will get our agricultural extension agents to focus more on the problems of small farmers. I want to be sure small farmers are well-informed about farming practices as well as all of the benefits to which they are entitled and how to get them. Sometimes, when I consider the volume and intricacy of regulations, requirements, and paperwork, I wonder whether an accounting background should be made mandatory for extension agents. Mainly, I am sick and tired of seeing big owners bring in millions of dollars because they know how to work the laws better than they know how to farm.

My overall objective is to make farming profitable enough that we can phase out government subsidies. Farmers, if you don't like that, tell me, because I am going to be your representative. Before you come after me as a reflex, however, please read my statement on the national economy, also here on the Web site.

I will look into freight rates and shipping policies on CSX and any other lines that might serve Panhandle farmers and businessmen. I want small shippers to be able to get their goods aboard. Railroads like hauling bulk freight, like coal, not hauling lots of boxes. I have training in problems like this, and I feel sure I can work with CSX. If you read my statement on the environment, you will see that I also want to rid this country of coal-burning power plants. So let’s start loading freight trains with other profitable goods and help both Panhandle business and the environment.

Like any congressman, I am going to work hard to get my district's fair share of federal projects — so long as they are worthy projects. I will fight hard against any pork barrel project, anywhere in the USA.

I will strongly defend the military bases that we already have in District 1. Eglin AFB, Tyndall AFB, and Pensacola NAS all have solid reputations for competence and efficiency. They also have tradition, which is an important component of military efficiency. I was distressed that the Navy flying school was moved from the home of Naval Aviation to Norfolk. Frankly, I did not understand how Mr. Miller, an incumbent Republican loyal to Mr. Bush, could possibly have failed to prevent the move. Word has it that moving the Navy’s Whiting Field and combining it with the Army's Ft. Rucker Aviation Center is currently under consideration. I will strongly resist that move. Professional pilots have told me that the move is a bad idea, and they of all people should know, so I will fight to stop it.

How many other ideas do I have to help District 1 from up in Washington? None! I am going to help District 1 from here in District 1, with stays in Washington as short as possible. We have already tried representation from afar and it just has not worked well. It's time to move in a new direction, which should, by the way, include heavy congressional reliance on distance communication technologies. The U.S. Congress wastes a great deal of time and energy commuting to and from Washington when our senators and congressman just as well be working and voting from local district offices. (Such an initiative would presumably have a "down side" of seriously inconveniencing the droves of lobbyists that patrol the Washington offices to press the flesh and efficiently push their agendas.)