Mathis says Century is being left out

Candidate for Florida state house seat addresses town the council

At the Century Council meeting Tuesday, Pensacola resident and Democratic candidate for District 1 seat in the Florida House of Representatives. Franscine Mathis spoke to citizens about their concerns for the town.

Mathis is vying for the seat a second time in the Nov. 8 General Elections, losing with 34 percent of the votes to Republican Incumbent Michelle Salzman in the 2020 General Election. Salzman is seeking re-election.

"I've been talking to the people of Century," said Mathis. "Things that I'm talking about are things they are ready to talk about."

Mathis' mother was born and raised in Barth, Fla. and Mathis has relatives who live in Century.

"I just want to put my hat in the ring and do the best I can with helping the people and serving the people and getting some stuff down there they have been asking to get done," said Mathis. "All these years, it seems like nothing is happening."

Mathis said Century people still complain about not having proper public transportation, that there is nothing there to do.

"We need to bring good jobs that way, try to bring some restaurants and stuff for the kids to do," she said.

Mathis said she currently does and has been doing prison ministry at Century Correctional Institute for several years and when she began to go into the town, she realized the impact of what is lacking in Century,

"When I would leave the prison to go into the town, I would hear people who were there visiting their loved ones that they had to go to Atmore or Pensacola to have somewhere to stay and something to do while we are visiting our loved ones here," she said. "There was just nothing for them to do."

Mathis says she totally agrees, especially after she saw it herself.

A gentleman drove her around Freedom Bridge to show her how far out of the otherwise direct route an ambulance would have to go to get the residents who live on the other side of Freedom bridge. She saw they have to ride all the way around to get there, and that added another 10 or 15 minutes to the drive.

"If someone is in there dying or there is a bad fire, we are going to have a hard time because we have to drive around instead of using that bridge," she said. "That needs to be fixed, something needs to be done about it."

Mathis said locals have told her that when they mention it to Salzman, she was not paying attention to them and became a deaf ear.

At the council meeting, Mathis talked about the issues she has encountered when speaking to residents of Century over the years.

"I see a lot of things that are wrong," said Mathis. "One thing I did do is I spoke to someone about Freedom Bridge. I got knocked down. But I did have some construction workers to come out and actually look at the bridge. I was told that by me not being in office or having no type of office seat in yalls town, I couldn't do that."

Mathis said she has spoken with Mayor Ben Boutwell, and several others about the bridge repair. She said she was told the town has been trying to get that bridge fixed forever and she thought it wouldn't cost that much money, citing that the construction workers she brought down said they could repair it.

"What I'm asking is, I need your vote," said Mathis. "I have to be in office so I can get that bridge fixed. I've got to get in office so I can see the money that was allocated to you, what are we doing with it?"

Mathis said she wants to know what the town needs. Several residents brought up the various creeks where water stands because the ditches need to be cleaned out and Mathis said she sees the same thing in Pensacola.

"I do understand what you are talking about, we have the same problem in Pensacola," said Mathis. "We have lakes and rivers and they just flow and they get into people's back yards, which makes the grass moist and it grows so tsall you can't even go in the back yard."

She said she is concerned about the town's economic growth, citing that the prison's impact is a gold mine, with people coming from as far as New Jersey to visit their loved ones.

"We need some motels, we need some restaurants, we need a Walmart," said Mathis. "We need some stuff to come in so we can grow the wealth of this town and there's no reason why people should say 'theres not enough people that live up there for that.' Yes there is-I guarantee you, if you build something, people will come. This town has been like this for years and years. It has been looked over for years."

Mathis will be on the ballot as the Democratic state Representative District 1 candidate in the Nov. 8 General Election.

 
 
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