U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek was in Pensacola on Sunday listening to concerns about the BP oil spill.
Meek, D-Miami Gardens, met with more than 40 people at 7 p.m. at the IBEW Hall at 7830 N. Palafox St. for a town hall meeting.
The meeting is one of many that have been held with residents in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties who are concerned about oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of an April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 people.
A panel of four people, including Meek, addressed questions about the spill and its potential impact on Florida. Meek is a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat.
Among the issues discussed at the meeting was the spill's impact on Florida's businesses and the state's tourism industry.
"Our economy is going to be affected by this, and we are going to have to figure out how do we stop the bleeding," Meek said.
There is no reason not to visit Florida, but you wouldn't know that from following national media coverage of the spill, said Bob Zales, a Panama City charter boat fisherman who sat on the panel.
"What is killing us is the media perception," said Zales, who is also president of the National Association of Charter Boat Operators.
Getting out the message that beaches are OK to visit is the goal of a $250,000 BP ad campaign being coordinated by a Pensacola public relations firm.
A state tourism body has contacted BP and asked for money for a $24.5 million national multimedia marketing campaign to offset damage caused just by news of the spill.
"That's just a drop in the bucket compared to what's needed to repair Northwest Florida," Meek said.
Phillip Hoffman, 73, of Pace, said he has a few rental homes and is concerned about the economic impact of the spill.
"This place is an economic basket case, and you add a disastrous oil and this is a catastrophe," Hoffman said.
Posted By: Kendrick Meek
Monday, May 17th 2010 at 12:31PM
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