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Florida is at it again

26K views 129 replies 38 participants last post by  VallelyJ 
#1 ·
Boat/US and SSCA are getting the word out as fast as we can. We really need your HELP RIGHT NOW! Late Wednesday in Tallahassee an amendment to the anchoring pilot program legislation was introduced that if passed would allow most Florida counties to restrict anchoring.

You can read the amendment HERE

We NEED YOUR HELP AGAIN RIGHT NOW because this anti-boating amendment will be debated on the Senate floor on Thursday May 1.

Please CLICK HERE to send an email and urge all senators to vote NO to any amendment offered to Senate Bill 1126 or House Bill 955 - the FL Fish and Wildlife Commission bill.

Or CLICK HERE to find the phone number for your Senator, and leave them a voice mail message if needed.

We need to raise our voices LOUDLY in Tallahassee RIGHT NOW.
 
#124 ·
I'm fuzzy on the issue of state vs. federal "navigable waterway".
I thought that if a waterway was designated as "navigable", that it fell under federal jurisdiction. (Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies)

Ergo, a state cannot legally deny access to a "navigable waterway". Obviously my understanding of this situation is flawed.

I hate to say this, but I suspect that the amount of tourism income and taxes generated by cruisers is a very small percentage of Florida's overall revenue, and that state and local governments are more concerned with the amount of taxes that wealthy waterfront landowners contribute to the pot.

Cruiser income is considered not worth the hassle when you think about the clean up costs of derelict vessels and the "floating homeless".

It seems to me that this problem is a combination of wealthy landowners throwing their influence around AND some boaters being bad neighbors.
 
#126 ·
I hate to say this, but I suspect that the amount of tourism income and taxes generated by cruisers is a very small percentage of Florida's overall revenue, and that state and local governments are more concerned with the amount of taxes that wealthy waterfront landowners contribute to the pot.

Cruiser income is considered not worth the hassle when you think about the clean up costs of derelict vessels and the "floating homeless".
Yup, I always get a chuckle from how grossly many folkss seem to overestimate the economic contribution the typical Mom & Pop cruisers might 'pour' into the state's revenue stream... Taken as a whole over the course of a single Snowbird Season, it's probably on a par with what Steven Spielberg's yacht spends while simply tied to the dock at Pier 66... :)



It seems to me that this problem is a combination of wealthy landowners throwing their influence around AND some boaters being bad neighbors.
That's exactly right... I have to admit, if I owned one of those beautiful homes lining the periphery of Lake Sylvia, and some cruising boat parked himself right in front of my place and ran his crappy construction site generator from Harbor Freight on deck all day long and into the night, for days on end, well... you can bet I'd be exploring ways to have him 'evicted', as well...

As is so often the case, all it takes is a few bad apples... Of course, he was a bother to the other cruisers anchored there, as well... Several approached him and tried to reason with him, but to no avail, he claimed he absolutely, positively needed to be running that noisy piece of crap whenever he was awake...

I swear, in some of these situations, one can't help but thinking of resorting to a bit of 'Vigilante Justice'...

:)
 
#125 ·
Anybody here, think for one second, that any Florida legislator or politician, would have any thoughts whatsoever, about boats and anchoring, one way or the other, without some deep pocket campaign contributor calling them up and telling them what thoughts to have?

Me, either.
 
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#130 ·
I swear, in some of these situations, one can't help but thinking of resorting to a bit of 'Vigilante Justice'...
I like your logic. Maybe we need a separate "Vigilante Justice" forum. How about it, Sailnet?
I look at some of the posts here, northerners blaming southerners, southerners blaming Yankees, and the problem is just a few ****bags--whether 1%-er homeowners or boat trash--whose states of origin don't figure into it.
JV
 
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