Let’s not get caught up in the minute differences of HB631.
Let’s simply look at its intent and why Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee want to control the land in front of their million-dollar mansions. They want to own the sand and not allow other people to use the beaches in front of them. They want to privatize the beaches for their own personal use. They feel entitled since they paid so much money for their homes.
I will gladly serve as the plaintiff against Palm Beach County for a courageous lawyer who wants to bring forth suit by forcing the county to stop paying with my tax dollars for the patrolling of these private beaches. Let the new owners pay for their private security to drive up and down the beach.
I want the county to stop using my tax dollars for anything related to the sand renourishment. After all it now belongs to the oceanfront homeowners; let them pay for it out of their pocket. Create a special taxing district to collect money from them for the expenditures of owning a beach.
The legal issue it raises is for police departments such as Ocean Ridge, which have patrolled the beaches and posted signs “No this and no that on the beach” when in fact Ocean Ridge PD has no jurisdiction over these beaches. They are either Florida state or private properties.
Yet another piece of legislation from this governor and his cronies giving public land to the 1 percent and letting the 99 percent pay for it.
And to those who argue nothing will change in the near future … this is the stepping stone to exactly what you fear it will do. It does not stop here; it simply laid the basis for what is to come.
Martin Wiescholek
Ocean Ridge
Comments
I totally agree! We seem to have gradually arrived at the Age of the Elite. These people want to keep the beach for themselves and have OUR police enforce THEIR private property rights. We need to put a stop to this and open the beaches to ALL residents. While we're at it, let's keep our pets in mind also.
For many of us, those pups ARE family. Those that would deny beach access to our pets are really no different than those who would deny our kids that access. Elitists by any other name are still elitists.
Tom