PANAMA CITY — With March comes spring cleaning, and with that in mind Bay County will be showing off past, present and future projects in an ongoing beautification effort called “Operation Cinderella.”
Leadership from almost every governmental agency in Bay County — including all seven mayors and representatives from Tyndall Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Panama City — have been invited to today’s luncheon at the Panama City Garden Club promoting March as “clean up, paint up, fix up” month as part of Operation Cinderella.
“We have to view ourselves as those coming into our community and make it attractive for people to come in, investing and spurring economic growth,” said William Whitson, Panama City Community Redevelopment Agency director and president of this year’s Operation Cinderella. “It’s that time of the year anyway, so let’s get busy and do that.”
Each year, community leaders are asked to promote cleaner public resources, engage in efforts to fix up property to benefit their respective communities and encourage their residents to assist in any way they can.
But leaders also will be asked to put completed, ongoing and future cleanup efforts on display, according to April Miller, administrative assistant in Panama City’s leisure services.
“This year they will be showcasing their beautification efforts on what they have done to beautify their cities on a board we will have on display,” Miller said. “The audience will be able to see each mayor’s efforts to beautify their municipalities.”
And Bay County leadership plans to invite the public to pitch in and do their part in several different ways.
“Residents can get involved by planting a new tree or shrubberies on their own property or in their community,” Miller said. “But it’s not limited to their homes or neighborhoods; they can ask what projects any city has they could get involved in.”
Operation Cinderella is one of the longest running community improvement initiatives in Florida, originating in the 1950s. The project’s goal is to never finish improving communities within Bay County, and perhaps to spawn friendly competition between them to amplify those efforts.
“With everyone working together, that is how the community gets beautified,” Miller said.