Kurt,
You and I go back a long way (in SoWal time). I've admired your business acumen and sincerely appreciate this platform you provide. I believe you and I currently disagree on just one main issue - whether or not the beach should be public vs. private property rights. Of course there are all the splinter arguments that go along with this topic as discussed in this thread and elsewhere. And you're wise not to get too involved as you mentioned in a recent post, no matter how tempting.
I agree with you that it's probably too late for Florida to become an Oregon as far as the customary use argument. And very sadly, there's nothing but litigious activity on the horizon, with the county threatening to pile on. As mentioned before. our association has already had to fork out $50,000 to fight the county on a private easement situation. We prevailed in the Florida Supreme Court. It was a case that should not even have been filed in the first place but the BCC folded to the pressure from their constituents in our neighborhood. That's what I mean when I say it doesn't cost the individual commissioners a dime to file or force a lawsuit - only the taxpayers and the "wronged" party end up footing the bill.
As a capitalist and entrepreneur, I thought you'd be a little more empathetic with the idea of protecting one's private property rights. All of your business comes from BOTH sides of this argument. All this growth, which you help foster to some degree, BTW, is what has brought this topic to the forefront combined with self-entitled attitudes combined with politicians pandering to their constituency combined with agents and developers selling a deedless dream. It's a perfect recipe for an anti-private property rights lynch mob. And that's exactly where we are today.
I started out with absolutely nothing; went to college at my own expense working at grocery stores and got a student loan, made a few dollars working hard and invested heavily (by my economic standards) in Blue Mountain Beach gulf-front property because I loved its beauty and believed in the investment (still wondering about the ROI vs. original cost, plus maintenance, seawalls, sand. personal labor and heartache vs. a simple mutual fund
- sadly I think I know the answer). It concerns me when the overall majority of posters try to continually classify beach front owners as "mean, rich and greedy" and only a hand full of posters (if that) jump in defense of these personal attacks. Perhaps some readers are just afraid to take a stand for private property rights for fear of personal attacks from these same people.
I do admit that I exhibit great emotion and motivation when I feel “wronged by the government" in any form. And these feelings naturally spill on to individuals and groups who, in my opinion, attempt to add credence to private property confiscation.
I really don’t know what’s worse, the beaches becoming public and out of control (compared to our existing private beach) or all this hostility of which I am a part of. And in my book, hostility is also defined as the actions of others trying to take what's yours.
In the end, this topic is like debating abortion. There is no winner – just a lot of raw emotions brought to the surface.
You and I go back a long way (in SoWal time). I've admired your business acumen and sincerely appreciate this platform you provide. I believe you and I currently disagree on just one main issue - whether or not the beach should be public vs. private property rights. Of course there are all the splinter arguments that go along with this topic as discussed in this thread and elsewhere. And you're wise not to get too involved as you mentioned in a recent post, no matter how tempting.
I agree with you that it's probably too late for Florida to become an Oregon as far as the customary use argument. And very sadly, there's nothing but litigious activity on the horizon, with the county threatening to pile on. As mentioned before. our association has already had to fork out $50,000 to fight the county on a private easement situation. We prevailed in the Florida Supreme Court. It was a case that should not even have been filed in the first place but the BCC folded to the pressure from their constituents in our neighborhood. That's what I mean when I say it doesn't cost the individual commissioners a dime to file or force a lawsuit - only the taxpayers and the "wronged" party end up footing the bill.
As a capitalist and entrepreneur, I thought you'd be a little more empathetic with the idea of protecting one's private property rights. All of your business comes from BOTH sides of this argument. All this growth, which you help foster to some degree, BTW, is what has brought this topic to the forefront combined with self-entitled attitudes combined with politicians pandering to their constituency combined with agents and developers selling a deedless dream. It's a perfect recipe for an anti-private property rights lynch mob. And that's exactly where we are today.
I started out with absolutely nothing; went to college at my own expense working at grocery stores and got a student loan, made a few dollars working hard and invested heavily (by my economic standards) in Blue Mountain Beach gulf-front property because I loved its beauty and believed in the investment (still wondering about the ROI vs. original cost, plus maintenance, seawalls, sand. personal labor and heartache vs. a simple mutual fund
- sadly I think I know the answer). It concerns me when the overall majority of posters try to continually classify beach front owners as "mean, rich and greedy" and only a hand full of posters (if that) jump in defense of these personal attacks. Perhaps some readers are just afraid to take a stand for private property rights for fear of personal attacks from these same people.I do admit that I exhibit great emotion and motivation when I feel “wronged by the government" in any form. And these feelings naturally spill on to individuals and groups who, in my opinion, attempt to add credence to private property confiscation.
I really don’t know what’s worse, the beaches becoming public and out of control (compared to our existing private beach) or all this hostility of which I am a part of. And in my book, hostility is also defined as the actions of others trying to take what's yours.
In the end, this topic is like debating abortion. There is no winner – just a lot of raw emotions brought to the surface.
