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BlueMtnBeachVagrant

Beach Fanatic
Jun 20, 2005
1,305
386
And you commented that Escambia wanted the change to stimulate the economy. I would love to see that written somewhere than in your own words.
From PNJ article dated June 28, 2017:

"....If approved, the legislation would allow local beach leaseholders to exchange their 99-year leases for property deeds. The move would also put control of development on area beaches in the hands of local county governments.

Dr. Thomas Campanella, chairman of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, has said the bill would benefit developers and ultimately lead to high-rise condos fronting most of Pensacola Beach."

Sounds like economic stimulis to me. Thanks, BTW, for the link.
 

Bob Wells

Beach Fanatic
Jul 25, 2008
3,380
2,857
From PNJ article dated June 28, 2017:

"....If approved, the legislation would allow local beach leaseholders to exchange their 99-year leases for property deeds. The move would also put control of development on area beaches in the hands of local county governments.

Dr. Thomas Campanella, chairman of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, has said the bill would benefit developers and ultimately lead to high-rise condos fronting most of Pensacola Beach."

Sounds like economic stimulis to me. Thanks, BTW, for the link.
Seems all members of the Santa Rosa Island Authority are appointed by each County Commissioner and a 6th one is elected by residents of the island. That said I wonder if they members are all residents of the island or appointed from the district which they reside? This article also expressed concerns about no trespassing signs if the rules were changed.
Everyone agrees Pensacola Beach's lease system is broken. Now how do we fix it?
 

BlueMtnBeachVagrant

Beach Fanatic
Jun 20, 2005
1,305
386
Seems all members of the Santa Rosa Island Authority are appointed by each County Commissioner and a 6th one is elected by residents of the island. That said I wonder if they members are all residents of the island or appointed from the district which they reside? This article also expressed concerns about no trespassing signs if the rules were changed.
Everyone agrees Pensacola Beach's lease system is broken. Now how do we fix it?
Just checking back in to see if my response satisfied your doubt that Escambia County is looking for ways to boost their economy, IOW, more tax revenue. I hope Dr. Thomas Campanella‘s words are credible enough.

BTW, I can’t pull up PNJ as it requires a subscription. Maybe you can post the relevant sections.

Regarding leases and selling property over there, couldn’t they just keep the beach part public? Of course they still need to provide access to this beach. But it appears that Dianne feels any development will take public property from the public. Hard to argue against that.

BUT, again, the whole reason for injecting Pensacola Beach into this thread was Daniel Uhlfelder and Dave Rauschkolb’s inference that somehow DianNe was fighting (and prevailed) the same kind of public battle as they are. Nothing could be further from the truth. But that doesn’t surprise me and others.

TRUTH
 

Bob Wells

Beach Fanatic
Jul 25, 2008
3,380
2,857
Just checking back in to see if my response satisfied your doubt that Escambia County is looking for ways to boost their economy, IOW, more tax revenue. I hope Dr. Thomas Campanella‘s words are credible enough.

BTW, I can’t pull up PNJ as it requires a subscription. Maybe you can post the relevant sections.

Regarding leases and selling property over there, couldn’t they just keep the beach part public? Of course they still need to provide access to this beach. But it appears that Dianne feels any development will take public property from the public. Hard to argue against that.

BUT, again, the whole reason for injecting Pensacola Beach into this thread was Daniel Uhlfelder and Dave Rauschkolb’s inference that somehow DianNe was fighting (and prevailed) the same kind of public battle as they are. Nothing could be further from the truth. But that doesn’t surprise me and others.

TRUTH
Actually, not really. Thanks. As for needing a subscription I not sure how I was able to access it.
 

BlueMtnBeachVagrant

Beach Fanatic
Jun 20, 2005
1,305
386
Dr. Thomas Campanella, chairman of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, has said the bill would benefit developers and ultimately lead to high-rise condos fronting most of Pensacola Beach.

Just checking back in to see if my response satisfied your doubt that Escambia County is looking for ways to boost their economy, IOW, more tax revenue. I hope Dr. Thomas Campanella‘s words are credible enough.

Actually, not really. Thanks.

What's it going to take to convince you that those in county governments have 2 guiding lights....increase tax revenue and get reelected?

BTW, CU fits the bill in both cases here in Walton County as it would increase tourism even more (more tax revenue) and the majority of their constituents who support CU will vote for them (supposedly) at the next election.

Again, for clarity, Escambia County was attempting to take property that ALREADY belonged to the public and sell it to private entities. IMO, that would fail item 2, "get reelected" but it definitively would bring in more revenue any way you look at it.
 
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Bob Wells

Beach Fanatic
Jul 25, 2008
3,380
2,857
What's it going to take to convince you that those in county governments have 2 guiding lights....increase tax revenue and get reelected?

BTW, CU fits the bill in both cases here in Walton County as it would increase tourism even more (more tax revenue) and the majority of their constituents who support CU will vote for them (supposedly) at the next election.

Again, for clarity, Escambia County was attempting to take property that ALREADY belonged to the public and sell it to private entities. IMO, that would fail item 2, "get reelected" but it definitively would bring in more revenue any way you look at it.
The Santa Rosa Island Authority were already discussing increasing the lease fees and at least on of the board members said first lets look at if we needed to do that. Secondly, I have yet been able to find any place where County Commissioners were involved in the selling off of the land except for one. Thirdly, it is moot, they had a Referendum on the issue and 80% or so voted to leave things as they were. Government listened! I searched and could not find one place where Representative Gaetz was asked to step in. Maybe I did not go far enough back or maybe it didn't make the news, or maybe it was done a little like the county specific law that required Walton to take its citizens to court to keep customary use. Of course these are just my opinions, and like belly buttons and assholes we all got them.
 

mputnal

Beach Fanatic
Nov 10, 2009
2,289
1,799
Kathryn, I hear you. I can assure you that I am not wealthy by any stretch of any imagination. Wealthy individuals may or may not abuse power. I think we owe everyone a chance to have a voice and then we can decide if they speak for The People or just for themselves. Before we decide we really need to know a lot about that person meaning that words and actions are both important. The very first thing that comes to my mind is who hides their name and who doesn't. Of course that is not enough information so in this forum we have a lot of words being typed. Assuming you have read everyone's post like I have we should be able to form a pretty accurate opinion. Tell us who you believe are misleading us with their words and actions.

Every time I hear someone defending our precious capitalism as if it were a gift from God it makes me wonder where they have been lately. Have you ever wondered why small businesses are all but gone? Have you ever wondered why we have fewer and fewer choices for utilities, goods and services? Have you ever wondered why a business can be too big to fail therefore our tax dollars bail them out? Have you ever wondered about all the corporate welfare that is being given to big business with our tax dollars and then they outsource labor. Did you know that the 3rd most wealthiest place on earth are those little off shore islands that offer tax havens? Have you ever wondered why our utilities cost so much? Have you ever wondered why CEO's pay themselves millions upon millions of dollars? Have you ever wondered why wealth has accumulated over half of the worlds resources? Okay I could on and on but you get my point I hope. You do not have to be a socialist to see the problems with capitalism. We better fix capitalism or socialism will come. I would like to fix capitalism but it won't happen if we are not critical of the corruption.

Capitalism creates wealth for a few is our present day reality. The middle class has always been America's economic backbone. Politicians talk a lot about the middle class but it keeps shrinking. If we want to fix capitalism it will take leadership of our elected representatives. How do we distinguish who those elected representatives represent. This is one of the most important decisions we The People will decide in our electoral process. If we do not get it right then the corruption of capitalism will continue to hoard resources until you and I both will wake up to a world where there is truly two classes of people.

Don't you love the fact that the most vocal "crusaders for the people" usually are wealthy individuals. And some of them by way of bad old Capitalism.
 
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