Police irate over Mayor Hayward's controversial remarks at Gallery Night

Page 1 PNJ

More than a dozen Pensacola police officers appeared before the City Council on Thursday to say they are incensed over a perceived slight from Mayor Ashton Hayward and his appointee to a city board, statements they said merited a council investigation.

Page 2 from the PNJ

In a letter to the council, the union said an officer described Hayward as “disheveled, not as neat and proper as he has seen him in the past.”

“Mayor Hayward was using a highly agitated voice, sometimes to the point of almost yelling,” the letter says.

Spencer, a DIB board member, said Gallery Night lasts until 9 p.m. unless a private sponsor steps in to finance the police presence through midnight. The board was not able to secure such a sponsor last week.

The mayor declined comment Thursday.





There has been palpable tension between the police union and the mayor’s office in recent months, as collective bargaining talks between both sides have been unsuccessful so far.

In July, the union called for Hayward to remove John Asmar, his chief of staff, as the liaison with the union, calling him a “wedge” that has corroded the good will between the city and union members.

Erik Goss, the union president, said the officers’ anger over the remarks has nothing to do with collective bargaining and flatly denied it was a tactic to gain leverage over the city.

“This is an issue of disrespect,” he said.

Chief Chip Simmons said he was aware of the situation but declined to comment.

I wonder why they went back to a 9pm closing time? who cares if it goes later?

Bob wrote:I wonder why they went back to a 9pm closing time? who cares if it goes later?

Spencer, a DIB board member, said Gallery Night lasts until 9 p.m. unless a private sponsor steps in to finance the police presence through midnight. The board was not able to secure such a sponsor last week.

hallmarkgrad wrote:

Bob wrote:I wonder why they went back to a 9pm closing time? who cares if it goes later?

Spencer, a DIB board member, said Gallery Night lasts until 9 p.m. unless a private sponsor steps in to finance the police presence through midnight. The board was not able to secure such a sponsor last week.

Who's paying the cops from 5 to 9? Is the city absorbing that cost or are the merchants paying for it?

Most likely some 3 or 4 letter group of folks DIB, CRA, ABC, Friends of the World(FOTW) Pensacola improvement society scallywags PISS You get the idea LOL

Bob wrote:I wonder why they went back to a 9pm closing time? who cares if it goes later?

In my experience, shortening the length of the City Council mtgs has been a tactic used to shorten or eliminate some comments from citizens. I am tempted to call BS on them not being able to find a sponsor... Smells to me like an excuse to keep The People from speaking.

For a person who lives all the way on the other side of the country I think I've read quite a bit about Hayward, and I think he's a stinking dirtbag of the worst order. You all have likely already read this but if not, it is a very interesting read:

Finding Ashton Hayward:

http://findingashtonhayward.blogspot.com/

riceme wrote:

For a person who lives all the way on the other side of the country I think I've read quite a bit about Hayward, and I think he's a stinking dirtbag of the worst order. You all have likely already read this but if not, it is a very interesting read:

Finding Ashton Hayward:

http://findingashtonhayward.blogspot.com/

I liked Ashton Hayward and voted for him, but I've been disappointed in the outcome. I won't vote for him again.

For one thing, he rarely if ever attends council meetings. His excuse is he doesn't have to per the new charter. There IS no good excuse for that, in my opinion. Perhaps if he attended a few council meetings, his relationship with the city council would be better than it is. It's like a war zone now.

Also, I didn't appreciate his decision to spend so much of taxpayers' money on "re-branding" the city of Pensacola. We've gone from the "City of Five Flags", a classy description that fits the city's history, to "Pensacola....the Upside of Florida", whatever the hell that means. The city's new logo looks, to me, like a hammer and sickle, and it's supposed to be a wave with a surfer on it or something. Who knows.....! We've even changed the name of "Energy Services of Pensacola" to "Pensacola Energy", and you know changing that name cost us a bunch. All of that money....down the drain.

Yet the city can't seem to pay to keep law enforcement at Gallery night until midnight? What's up with that, Mayor Hayward? And then he fumes at the police because they shut it down at the time they were supposed to? Does he expect law enforcement officers to simply donate their time, after all the money he has spent on frivolous things?

And the attorney for the city? Wow....instead of keeping the money here, he goes and hires one from Atlanta, or somewhere obscure like that. We now have a part-time attorney for what we could pay for two or three full-time local attorneys.

Yeah. He irritates me.

Apparently it wasn't a problem until the mayor's puppy, John Peacock started shooting off his mouth. The agreed upon time to close the event was 9 PM because no business or businesses (most especially the ones staying open past nine) would come forward and pay the additional costs for the liability insurance. The police were simply doing their job.

Reading the comments, the mayor was disheveled and agitated which sounds to me (and others) like police talk for being drunk and disorderly. References to the police being terrorists and Beirut by Peacock and Hayward angered the police to make an appearance of substantial number to the city council. There has been no apology by the mayor. I doubt there will be one.

I agree with your comments, PB. The simplest solution is to open the streets and 9 and stick with it so the public, and the poorly informed mayor do not give the police a hard time.

PBulldog2 wrote:
I liked Ashton Hayward and voted for him, but I've been disappointed in the outcome. I won't vote for him again.

For one thing, he rarely if ever attends council meetings. His excuse is he doesn't have to per the new charter. There IS no good excuse for that, in my opinion. Perhaps if he attended a few council meetings, his relationship with the city council would be better than it is. It's like a war zone now.

Also, I didn't appreciate his decision to spend so much of taxpayers' money on "re-branding" the city of Pensacola. We've gone from the "City of Five Flags", a classy description that fits the city's history, to "Pensacola....the Upside of Florida", whatever the hell that means. The city's new logo looks, to me, like a hammer and sickle, and it's supposed to be a wave with a surfer on it or something. Who knows.....! We've even changed the name of "Energy Services of Pensacola" to "Pensacola Energy", and you know changing that name cost us a bunch. All of that money....down the drain.

Yet the city can't seem to pay to keep law enforcement at Gallery night until midnight? What's up with that, Mayor Hayward? And then he fumes at the police because they shut it down at the time they were supposed to? Does he expect law enforcement officers to simply donate their time, after all the money he has spent on frivolous things?

And the attorney for the city? Wow....instead of keeping the money here, he goes and hires one from Atlanta, or somewhere obscure like that. We now have a part-time attorney for what we could pay for two or three full-time local attorneys.

Yeah. He irritates me.

You are right that there is no excuse for him to not attend council meetings. "I don't have to" doesn't fly. With anyone , I am quite certain.

The rebranding is atrocious at best. To me it looks like Obama's branding. See below:





Not only is it ugly, but it's dumb. "The UPSIDE of Florida"??? Pfft! "The City of Five Flags" was WAY better for SO many reasons, to me the first one being the historical significance. The dumbass should have capitalized on that and launched a fresh advertising campaign instead of rebranding to that absurd new catch-phrase. Plus, he paid some dude from Tallahassee a boatload of wasted taxpayer dollars to do the rebranding instead of getting a local to do it. What a jerk.

I dated a councilman and mayor for several years, which is partially from where I draw my experience. I was very involved in local politics back then. That is *partially* why I said that from my experience, when city council meeting time is limited it is a means of reducing the amount of time that actual citizens have the floor to voice their opinions on the issues.

I didn't realize (or remember, perhaps) that he'd hired attorneys from Atlanta. Which makes me dislike him all the more. Way to keep the taxpayer dollars in the city.

riceme wrote: The rebranding is atrocious at best. To me it looks like Obama's branding. See below:




Not only is it ugly, but it's dumb. "The UPSIDE of Florida"??? Pfft! "The City of Five Flags" was WAY better for SO many reasons, to me the first one being the historical significance. The dumbass should have capitalized on that and launched a fresh advertising campaign instead of rebranding to that absurd new catch-phrase. Plus, he paid some dude from Tallahassee a boatload of wasted taxpayer dollars to do the rebranding instead of getting a local to do it. What a jerk.
.

The City of Five Flags was perfect. The new symbol looks like an embryo a few weeks after conception, about as well-hatched as the rebranding.

Soleil wrote:

The City of Five Flags was perfect. The new symbol looks like an embryo a few weeks after conception, about as well-hatched as the rebranding.

LOL! YOU'RE RIGHT! That's exactly what it looks like! Thanks for the laugh... too bad the subject matter is really not funny at all.

The mayor has a tough job. He has to say no. The people wanted a strong mayoral system. Could you imagine Mayor Daley attending all city council meetings? Could you imagine Mayor Bloomberg or Rudy....attending all council meeting so they could listen to everybody whine about the strong Mayor.....Do you think Rudy cleaned up Times Square by being a nice guy....he was hated. These mayors have very difficult jobs with pensions, and unions.....and now personal attacks.......all the mayor needs to do is rent a devil's costume for the next meeting....that is how they want to portray the man who is only implementing what the voters wanted....a strong mayor system.

Have other mayors attended all (or at least most) meetings?
Just wondering.

2seaoat wrote:The mayor has a tough job. He has to say no. The people wanted a strong mayoral system. Could you imagine Mayor Daley attending all city council meetings? Could you imagine Mayor Bloomberg or Rudy....attending all council meeting so they could listen to everybody whine about the strong Mayor.....Do you think Rudy cleaned up Times Square by being a nice guy....he was hated. These mayors have very difficult jobs with pensions, and unions.....and now personal attacks.......all the mayor needs to do is rent a devil's costume for the next meeting....that is how they want to portray the man who is only implementing what the voters wanted....a strong mayor system.

Have you read this:

http://findingashtonhayward.blogspot.com/

?

LOL Check out this LInk.....


http://tweettunnel.com/reverse2.php?textfield=mayorashton

hallmarkgrad wrote:LOL Check out this LInk.....


http://tweettunnel.com/reverse2.php?textfield=mayorashton

LOL... "Excellent!"

One article is a political candidate who has often been on the PNJ smearing people with illogical arguments on how the new stadium would never have over 50k people a year. I argued with him for two years and he was dead wrong. His attacks on the Mayor are petty and vindictive. I could care less that the Mayor as a kid was in a pretrial diversion program. He was using a fake ID.....I know many people who drank alcohol using fake IDs and it neither goes to their character or their integrity.....if anything it goes to their ingenuity and their FU to the stupid system which tells a 20 year old they cannot drink, yet they can go fight in a war.

I watched the debates and both Wiggins and the Mayor in my opinion performed very well. However, the honeymoon is over for the Mayor because now he has to go after the public employee unions and address pensions. He will be a target. He will have people coming after him. If he does his job correctly, he will be characterized in a very negative manner because doing his job means he will be taking away from the public employees. Again, I think the mayor has done a good job, and he has an impossible job in regards to the pensions.

The Mayor’s Impactful International Economic Development Efforts In London

London Trip Timeline According to Travel Documents

• Departs Antwerp by train - Sunday July 8, 2012 for Brussels
• Changes trains to the Chunnel Eurostar to London – Departs Brussels 12:56 PM
• Arrives London – Sunday July 8, 2012 at 2:03 pm
• Checks into St. Martins Lane Hotel – Sunday July 8, 2012
• Presumably attends Cocktail Party for Aerospace Alliance
• Checks out of hotel and takes cab to Waterloo Station – Monday July 9, 2012
• Purchases train ticket to Farnborough at 9:10 am – Monday July 9, 2012
• Takes the train to Farnborough arrives shortly after 10:00am

Total Possible time at Air Show on Day 1, Monday July 9, 2012 Opening Day – 3:38 mintutes

• Purchases return ticket from Farnborough to London at 1:38 pm – Monday July 9, 2012
• Departs London - Monday July 9, 2012 at 5:04 PM for Brussels
• Arrives Brussels – Monday July 9, 2012 at 8:05 PM
• Changes trains to Antwerp

Total Possible time at Air Show on July 10, 2012 – Impossible, Not there
Total Possible time at Air Show on July 11, 2012 – Impossible, Not there
Total Possible time at Air Show on July 12, 2012 – Impossible, Not there
Total Possible time at Air Show on July 13, 2012 – Impossible, Not there
Total Possible time at Air Show on July 14, 2012 – Impossible, Not there
Total Possible time at Air Show on July 15, 2012 – Impossible, Not there

2seaoat wrote:The mayor has a tough job. He has to say no. The people wanted a strong mayoral system. Could you imagine Mayor Daley attending all city council meetings? Could you imagine Mayor Bloomberg or Rudy....attending all council meeting so they could listen to everybody whine about the strong Mayor.....Do you think Rudy cleaned up Times Square by being a nice guy....he was hated. These mayors have very difficult jobs with pensions, and unions.....and now personal attacks.......all the mayor needs to do is rent a devil's costume for the next meeting....that is how they want to portray the man who is only implementing what the voters wanted....a strong mayor system.

C'mon, SeaOat, I didn't mention anything about pensions. That's to be expected of a strong mayor. That's about saving money, not spending money.

I was talking about all the money he has spent re-branding the city and so on. How can he logically fight the pension system after he's wasted all of that money on the re-branding and re-naming efforts? To make it worse, all of that money has been spent on advertisers in cities other than Pensacola, just as in the city attorney fiasco.

One bright spot in all of this: I had to laugh at the headline article in the PNJ today about Romney's visit to "The Bay Center." People will most likely figure it out, of course, but that very recent name change from the Civic Center to The Bay Center may have some attendees wondering where the heck the rally is supposed to be held. I mean, what if they end up at the The Bayview Center?

You are correct PB. My Mother in Law wanted to go the Mitt rally, She thought it was at Bayview. When I told her it was at the Civic Center, she said "When did they change the name?' All ways something in good old Pensacola.......

PBulldog2 wrote:



And the attorney for the city? Wow....instead of keeping the money here, he goes and hires one from Atlanta, or somewhere obscure like that. We now have a part-time attorney for what we could pay for two or three full-time local attorneys.

Yeah. He irritates me.

The SRCSB pays Paul Green in excess of 100k per year, but the guy farms out every case to other attorneys that charge the county 300-400 per hour.

This would never have happened if we had some of the big Dogs of yesterday. People like Gatwood, Wally Youst, and others on the streets. People that carried a couple of thou around in their pocket. Even Trader would have got some drunk to cough up the cash to keep the streets open. "Close the damn streets? Not when I am partying!!! How much to keep it open?" Someone missed a chance to be somebody. The news would have been full of how Mr X saved the day. Nope, too many sissies and businessmen run the new improved Pensacola. Well hell maybe next time............

If you remember one of the first things the mayor did after election was send home an airport k9 officer to change pants. Evidently the fatigue style pants were too military to his liking. Now at yuppie drink too much wine night he tells an officer this is not Beruit. Maybe the Mayor should send himself home and change out of his Italian suit and put on some tie die and peace signs.