Florida Senate - 2009                            (NP)    SR 2794
       
       
       
       By Senator Gaetz
       
       
       
       
       4-01005-09                                            20092794__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing and celebrating 2009 as
    3         Panama City's Centennial Year.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, three visionaries, George Mortimer West, Robert
    6  Lee McKenzie, and A.J. Gay in 1906 formed the Gulf Coast
    7  Development Company and mapped development plans for an area in
    8  the Panhandle of Florida previously known as Floriopolis, Park
    9  Resort, and Harrison, and
   10         WHEREAS, these visionaries saw the opportunity to promote
   11  the area as a direct shipping port to the Panama Canal, which
   12  was under construction at the time, and officially changed its
   13  name to Panama City, and
   14         WHEREAS, construction of the home of Panama City Mayor
   15  Robert Lee McKenzie was completed in 1909, which coincides with
   16  the birth of this beautiful and vibrant city, and
   17         WHEREAS, on March 12, 1926, the State of Florida passed
   18  legislation combining three municipalities, Panama City, St.
   19  Andrews, and Millville, into one municipality known as Panama
   20  City, and
   21         WHEREAS, the population of Panama City was 12,000 in 1926
   22  and today stands at 36,806, and
   23         WHEREAS, Panama City was founded by dreamers who had global
   24  vision and continues to be a beautiful and vibrant community of
   25  citizens who have dreams and visions for the future, NOW,
   26  THEREFORE,
   27  
   28  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         That 2009 is recognized as “The City of Panama City's
   31  Centennial Year,” and people throughout the state are urged to
   32  celebrate this centennial and plan for the coming 100 years, as
   33  Panama City honors the past, celebrates the present, and
   34  continues to imagine the future.
   35         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   36  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to the Mayor of the
   37  City of Panama City as a tangible token of the sentiments of the
   38  Florida Senate.