2006 Highlights, Affordable Housing, and Regency Towers Repairs

First and foremost, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I trust that if you are reading this, your holiday was safe. 2007 will be an exciting year, not only for Panama City and Panama City Beach, but also for PCBDaily.com. We've grown a lot over the last 90 days and look forward to tremendous growth in the next 90 days. Please do your part to help us grow. If you like what you read, tell a friend, or register their name and email address for our weekly e-news letter by clicking the button to the right.

The News Herald wrote an article highlighting 2006's top 10 stories. The number 1 story selected by readers discussed the issues with property taxes this year and addressed concerns about 2 years in a row of 100% increases. Increased taxes coupled with hightened insurance rates is literally pushing people out of homeownership.

The number 3 story discussed the new airport and the challenges it has overcome in the past year, and the challenges it faces this coming year; the most significant being the $331 million price tag. Joe Tannehill calls it a "conundrum" and said "if it's higher than $331 million, there's a good chance it won't happen. . ."

I'm sorry to say, but it will cost more. It always costs more. (read entire article here)

Also in the news: Again, talks of county sponsored affordable housing. Recent discussions involve St. Joe donating 100+ acres to the county affordable housing effort and Bay county receiving a $5 million grant. The goal is to sell homes for $75,000. The two potential sites include one north of Callaway off 98 and another north on highway 79. (read article here)

Those of you that are familiar with the area, know that Recency Towers on Panama City Beach has suffered constant repair issues over the last couple of years. The issues began with no pre-inspection of the site before the repairs began and association mis-management. (read entire article here)