Sarasota is watching
May 28th, 2008 by Jonathan Maziarz in Breakfast Links, Breaking News, Current Affairs, Editor's Desk, News, PoliticsIn yet another sideways nod at the county budget crisis, the Sarasota County Commissioners voted to deploy red-light cameras throughout the city, starting soon. This is despite the fact that the cameras’ use is of questionable Constitutional legality and despite the fact that no one will have any incentive to pay the tickets. Why? Until the cameras are approved by the state, the city can’t do much to scofflaws except revoke their library cards.
• On the good news front, the commissioners decided to drop the really poor idea of charging to park at area beaches.
• The battle for more fair and requitable property taxes continues, but still has a long way to go. Until municipalities are forced to tax a property based on its current use, rather than its “highest and best use” property owners are going to continue to be ripped off.
• The usual spring bump in housing sales failed to materialize this year.
• President Bush’s criminal policy of detaining children as enemy combatants. Yep. Kids. Some as young as 10 years old, have been prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
• Today in weird Florida news: Nude maid steals $40,000 in jewels from Tampa couple.
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May 28th, 2008 at 11:15 am
i’d have to say that paying for parking at beaches is long overdue. there really needs to be more fees built in for driving places. considering how subsidized driving is in this country, one would think a small parking fee (that would, you know, actually help pay for needed services, especially in the midst of a budget nosedive) would not be the end of the world.
and the fee has the added benefit of making people rethink their decision to drive to the beach. why not ride your bike? or take the bus? maybe the commission could have used some of the parking fees to increase bus service to area beaches, so even more people had an incentive to leave their cars at home. or put in more bike lanes!
i’m curious to know why you think it’s a bad idea.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:37 am
There are already plenty of boundaries preventing people from getting to many of the beaches; we don’t need to start charging for parking. If we want to use incentives to get people to take the bus or ride their bikes, great, let’s give them a free beach umbrella rental or a coupon for a cold drink, but don’t charge for parking. Buses and bikes are a good solution for some people, but if you are bringing a family - and all the gear that entails - a car is essential. Also, there is plenty of money in the county budget to support increases in public transit, it’s just a matter of getting the county commission to reallocate those funds.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
i’m curious what these “boundaries preventing people from getting to many of the beaches” are. it seems that getting to the beach by car is the easiest way to get to the beach. unless, you know, there’s a lot of people trying to get to the beach in their cars, and then traffic sucks.
i think that the real problem is not that people have a problem getting to the beach, but they have a problem parking once they get there. which i guess leaves you with two possible solutions: 1) build more parking lots, which is difficult considering how expensive land is on the beaches; or 2) charge for parking, which will encourage people that don’t need to get there by car to seek out other modes or maybe even carpool.
and considering that there is a budget shortfall of $30 million, i’d be interested to see where the funds for improving service would come from. though i would love to see increased service, i doubt that’s a big priority of the commission.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Boundaries? How about the nearly impregnable wall of condos and private mansions that line most of our beaches, greatly choking off public access and compounding the parking problem by concentrating the hoi poloi in a few few spots. There, they are forced to battle for limited parking spaces while the wealthy beachfront property owners do everything possible to further restrict beach access, including charging for parking.
And no, we are not likely to see more money spent on improving parking, improving beach access or increasing the number of buses on the streets because the county commission is largely made up of wealthy peopole who are in place solely to serve other wealthy people.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:01 am
wow, there is a lot of nuance in that argument. tell me how you really feel. apart from tearing down the condos, socializing the beaches, electing different representatives, i don’t know what to tell you.
i’m not trying to be an ass (well sort of), but if you think the problem is that it’s ultimately the wealthy who are responsible for this problem, then i think trying to convince you that a parking fee might actually help is a longshot. call me crazy.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:50 am
You’re crazy.
And anyway, the beaches are already socialized. They are all open, per state law. What the law does not address is access, an issue that some communities have handled better than others. The access offered here is certainly on the low end of the scale.