6
THE SUN
OPINION
Mike Field, editor and CEO Mike & Maggie Field, publishers Island Sun Plaza, 9801 Gulf Drive P.O. Box 1189 Anna Maria, FL 34216-1189 Phone: (941) 778-3986 e-mail:
[email protected] |
[email protected] |
[email protected]
AUGUST 15, 2012
EDITORIAL Tap tourist tax for beach The beaches are a lot cleaner since Manatee County began raking up seaweed from the sand. The smelly mess had people complaining so loudly that the county took the unusual step of raking during sea turtle nesting season. Most of the funds for the unexpected expense came from the county parks department, which made sense when the raking was limited to the two public beaches, Manatee and Coquina, both county parks used by county residents. But when raking was expanded to the rest of the beach, where the majority of tourists stay, the tourist tax fund should have been tapped. The tourist tax is paid by tourists to accommodations owners, who remit the tax to the county. The county uses one-fifth of it for beach renourishment and the rest is allocated to the county’s tourism agency primarily for marketing to draw more tourists to the area. County officials say there won’t be enough money for the next beach renourishment until 2014. But there’s money in the county’s tourism marketing budget – $2.9 million this fiscal year. And there’s a $1 million emergency marketing fund to promote the area as safe in case a disaster like a hurricane or oil spill happens close enough to us that it keeps tourists away. The TDC should include a line item in future budgets for actual emergencies – as opposed to marketing emergencies – for the next, inevitable, beach problem. It may be more seaweed. It may be dead mullet gutted by fishermen at sea for their roe, which washed ashore in late 2011. It may be dead fish from red tide, which plagued the Island for most of 2005. It may be diesel fuel from a ship collision, which happened in Tampa Bay in 1993. It may be an oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. But whatever washes ashore on our beaches, it will affect tourists. And the tourist tax, not the parks department, should pay to clean it up.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Styling with seaweed It’s impossible to overlook the damage that the winds, ocean currents and storms such as Debby have left us. Many of the most pristine, snow-white beaches of AMI, the hidden jewel of Florida, have now been unrecognizable in places, as many of these beaches have been covered with large amounts of seaweed. I used to enjoy my early morning beach runs to keep my sanity, and to clear my mind from all the muck stored in my brain from the night before – the to-do lists, worries and day-to-day life concerns that we are all used to. But recently, upon my return from one of my runs, I found that the muck stored in my brain had not diminished, one of my usual side effects of exercise, rather it had just transferred from my frontal lobe down to the bottom of my shoes in the form of a greenish, mucky seaweed. While I was looking at this gunk that had started to drip off my shoe onto the sand below, I couldn’t help but think how great it would be if seaweed acted as somewhat of a commodity, not just for wrapping sushi, but for all kinds of things. What if the value of old seaweed
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had suddenly spiked, like the “tulip mania” in the Dutch Golden Age? Everyone would be looking for a seaweed stash of his or her own. Maybe seaweed would become the new style of 2012. Women would start copying the cover girl of Vogue modeling seaweed bracelets and handbags and men would substitute their Rogaine for a handful of green seaweed plopped on their bald heads. We would be left with a happy, stylish Anna Maria population strolling the white beaches of AMI once again. But, because the chances of anyone finding the value in seaweed is nil to none, maybe we could focus on the health of our beloved beaches instead, and pick up a handful of the gunk to toss out on our way back home from a run, or a relaxing day on the beach. It’s not a quick solution, but it may be just one step closer to having a clean beach again, and I know I’m not the only one who would be excited about that. Dana Howell Holmes Beach
Be careful what you regulate What is happening to this Island? People are up in arms about new buildings, rentals, traffic, parking and garbage. It would appear that a group of people would like to essentially stop future building and rentals by establishing a whole new set of rules, which would make it really undesirable to invest in this Island. I have a problem understanding their problem with progress. One must stop and remember that for the last several years, in most of the country, the economy has been in the tank, while in Holmes Beach, the economy has flourished. The city I came from in upstate New York would love to have the economy of Anna Maria Island. In the last four years, I have watched my downtown disappear; banks, corporations and retail stores have left the area. It is sad and something that I would never want to see happen on this Island. Like my family, I think most locals came to this Island as tourists, fell in love with paradise and made the deci-
The Sun Staff Ricardo Fonseca, layout; Pat Copeland, Cindy Lane, Tom Vaught, reporters; Louise Bolger, columnist; Rusty Chinnis, Outdoors editor; Chantelle Lewin, advertising director; Bob Alexander, classified advertising; Elaine Stroili, Jocelyn V. Greene, Ricardo Fonseca, graphics; John Reitz, accounting; Bob Alexander, Keith Isner, Tony McNulty, distribution.
SEE LETTERS, PAGE 7
Contributors Steve Borggren, Tom Breiter, Scott Dell, Ellen Jaffe Jones, Laurie Krosney, Troy Morgan, Sean Murphy.
