PNJ Viewpoint: Stop Pensacola Beach tourism ads

http://www.pnj.com/story/opinion/2015/05/31/viewpoint-stop-pensacola-beach-tourism-ads/28260383/

Linda and Arnie Lietner have lived on Pensacola Beach for only 15 years. I personally feel they should be told to dial 1-800-WAAA.

They should have done more due-diligence before deciding to retire on Pensacola Beach. I would have told them that the smart people in Pensacola build-on or buy property on land within FEMA Flood Zone X, where there is a little elevation and no nearby streams.

She is right....the traffic is such a nightmare for locals and tourists.

That is our Linda who participated on the PNJ forum and she participates here from time to time.  She is a smart lady.  Very smart, and she is right.  Like lemmings falling over the cliff the downturn is over and the roads simply cannot handle traffic over a certain amount.   Clearly, there needs to be considered large parking areas In Gulf Breeze, plenty of signage on the bridge to turn people around to the parking and shuttle buses, and existing year round residents have a special lane with a sticker. 

The Navarre entry must be monitored and if necessary tolls on the East end of Bowden which go to the National Seashore based negative damage from the volume on the sensitive environment.   A good thing has become Panama City at Spring Break, and Linda is correct.....greed is going to kill Pensacola Beach....get the traffic studies, parking in Gulf Breeze and shuttle buses and expand when you have the traffic capacity.....

Oh yeah, I can see GB building an eyesore of a parking deck in their pristine area ....... Not. It's never gonna happen. If a parking garage is to be built it needs to be done where the beach ball is... Nuf said. That's been discussed and the SRIA and people like the chick above did not approve of that either due to the fact that it would probably use up a lot of tourist parking spaces for two years while being constructed. If people don't want tourists here, they better did a lot deeper for the goods and services government provides because when the tourists go elsewhere that will be how the city and county leaders fix the budget.

Thanks very much, Joani and Seaoat, for "getting it."  Every one of the five commenters on the PNJ online so far (not to mention a couple here) totally missed the point and misjudged our intentions.    We've always been among the few leaseholders out here in favor of progress -- we spoke up, for instance, in favor of the four-laning of Via de Luna years back when many residents were adamantly against it because it would "destroy the character of the island."   And we've always been glad to see the businesses here doing well.  These readers couldn't know all that; still, obviously they ignored anything we said in the piece about being happy for the businesses here but sorry for tourists, visitors, Gulf Breeze, area travelers in general, Pensacola restaurants -- anybody else but ourselves -- and about the concerns of some of the local businesspeople (as previously reported in the PNJ) who fear we'll ruin our own reputation and kill the golden goose of tourism if the gridlock isn't relieved somehow -- that's what I meant by diminishing returns.  Notably, the commenters apparently also ignored our being AGAINST a $5 toll to keep some people from coming out here.  Go figure.  

Times like this I wish I weren't a Facebook holdout so I could reply to them, but I still resent and resist the need to subscribe somewhere else I don't want to be in order to comment on my own local paper.  (Still, I wish at least one person there would stick up for us....only the ones resentful of beach residents seem to come out of the woodwork at times like this.)

BTW, for anyone who hasn't read the piece, the PNJ corrected it this morning to eliminate some "changes" they'd made to what I wrote, in at least one case messing up an entire thought.  

Again, thanks so much for your support, Joani and Seaoat.  As I said on 1620-AM this morning, it's above my pay grade to figure out how to physically fix the problem, but until we do, it's just WRONG to keep enticing more and more visitors here with the promise of quiet, pristine beaches, and then watch them stew bumper-to-bumper.  To me, that almost works out to thoughtless money-grubbing.

Nice to see you're still doing well, Seaoat.  I check in here more often than you might imagine, just to make sure you're still with us.    You've been a great pal over the years, even when we've disagreed.   And I do agree with others, btw, that there's no room in Gulf Breeze for any kind of park and ride shuttle.   Downtown Pensacola's not much of a better bet for available - much less affordable - real estate for that purpose.   And how many folks would even be willing to attempt lugging chairs, umbrellas, coolers, totes, et al, on a shuttle to get out here and back?  Not many, I wager.  Same will be true for the ferry, which will be a fun novelty but not a regular mode of beach travel, or so I predict.  (Besides, it will cost to ride.)

Enough.   What I'm saying is I don't have the answer to the gridlock, but until it's fixed -- if that's even possible -- to keep spending funds to bring more and more out-of-state crowds here is stupid and shortsighted.

Oh, and certain people who haven't really seen what's going on here may be able to plan their arrival and departure times, but visiting tourists don't have that luxury since this is where they're quartered.  All those renters in Portofino, for instance, have to go somewhere for dinner on a Saturday evening, and that means traveling west and getting stuck in core traffic.  It's insane.

Just received the following email from the PNJ's opinion editor, Tom Ninestine, the one who'd actually asked Arnie and me to weigh in on the paper's suggested $5 toll on weekends/holidays, thus prompting the Viewpoint piece in the first place:

"Don’t pay any attention to the posters. They don’t read what is written and are quite misinformed. Some comment on EVERYTHING: news, weather, sports, recipes, you name it.

"Despite their comments, I am glad you weighed in on the subject and hope to keep the conversation going.

"I am with you on Facebook; I don’t use it unless it’s work-related."

Traffic is far worse in Destin and eastward along 30A. All I see there is more high dollar stuff for people to spend their money on over and over. You want to hog this place to yourself, yet you don't see the impact of people NOT coming and being here. They know it is crowded here. They still come and they are still going to Destin where things are higher end and much more nice than elsewhere.

KarlRove you couldn't be more wrong about me if you tried.  I am NOT interested in "hogging" this place.  Note, if you even bothered to read my piece, I was AGAINST the higher toll the PNJ wanted to charge to keep out the "riff raff" (their term, not mine, if you read their editorial last week).  

The entire reason I'm worried about traffic is because some of the SMARTEST businesspeople on the beach, notably Beverly McKay, manager of the award-winning Holiday Inn Express, are seeing their guests - who previously only raved about this beach -- now starting to leave very negative comments on the review sites (such as Trip Advisor et al) about the traffic here and that they might not come back at all because of it.   That is worrisome for everyone.  

As for my not worrying about what will happen if people DON'T come  here. WRONG again.  The UWF Haas Center for Business did a study during the past decade demonstrating that, without tourism, each and every Escambia County citizen would see their property tax bill rise by an average of $1000 a year.  And that was then -- even worse now.  I have always favored whatever it took to get tourists to come here - but things have gotten out of control because we haven't done anything to improve the infrastructure, and we don't have anywhere near the land mass of the Destin area to begin with.  This used to be a great place for tourists to come but now if they're starting to be turned off...bad news.  Hear me??  I'm saying BAD if people don't come here.  Get it??  But we can't just keep packing them in and letting them stew in traffic and expecting them to keep coming back.  
Why in the world would anyone want to be like Destin anyway???? Who cares what goes on there???   We should want to be BETTER.

I would actually get rid of the toll entirely.  You're going to have traffic on the beach regardless.  Getting rid of the troll would at least prevent that issue from spreading out into Gulf Breeze.

If I were asked "Boards of FL, we want you to come up with the most inefficient means of collecting tax revenue that you can possibly come up with",  I think I could probably come up with some fairly good answers for that.  That said, none of them would be as great as "Ok.  First, let's require that everyone carry hard currency on them in their vehicles.  Then we will pick a road and block it off entirely.  We will then man that blockade with human beings so that when cars are traveling to their destination, we will require that the stop traffic and hand hard currency over to our human beings, $1 at a time!"

It's the year 2015 and this is what we get.  What kind of people do we have operating our local governments who look at that issue every day and it never occurs to them that that may present a traffic issue?

Simply determine the annual net taxes raised (after paying for the electricity to operate the tolls as well as the labor).  Once you have that figure, determine the % tax that would need to be added to sales on the island (on top of whatever taxes are already present there) in order to raise the same amount of net taxes that the toll raises, and then implement a sales tax for that amount.   We eliminate the traffic issue going in to the beach.  We no longer require people to fetch hard currency.  We no longer require labor to stand in a booth all day and collect tax revenue $1 at a time.

All ya'll ought to do what I did two months ago.
I drove from Paradise Cove in Malibu south along the Pacific Coast Highway and then on through Santa Monica and on down to Redondo Beach.
37 miles down the beaches of Southern California.
And this was in the off season.

My starting destination was Paradise Cove.   Let me describe that for you.
It's nothing but a half-assed little restaurant and parking lot sitting alongside the beach.  And the beach there is nothing you would want to lie down on,  at least not if you've ever had the priviledge of experiencing our beaches.

To get to it,  you turn off the Pacific Coast Highway and go down a road until you reach the parking lot.  And that's when you see it.  A sign telling you that parking is $40.  
There is no other public access to the ocean anywhere near this location.  Only signs on every little street warning you that you'll get towed if you try to park.

When I left that location and headed south on the PCH,  it was mostly the same.  Either very expensive parking or no parking at all.
When I got to the Santa Monica beaches,  I wanted to visit the Santa Monica Pier.  The only available parking at the time there was 5 blocks from the beach and it cost $12 (for some short length of time but I can't remember how long).

So I said to hell with the Santa Monica Pier and kept driving south.  That's when it gets even worse.  Around Marina Del Rey there is virtually no public parking that I could find that didn't require that I take out a bank loan.  
Once I got to Redondo I gave up on visiting the beaches of Southern California and turned back toward the city.

And last Tuesday when I drove out to the island and went onto the National Seashore and there were endless free parking places right alongside the beach,  boy did I ever remember that nightmarish drive along those nasty looking beaches in LA. And man oh man was I glad to be living where I am.

RealLindaL wrote:KarlRove you couldn't be more wrong about me if you tried.  I am NOT interested in "hogging" this place.  Note, if you even bothered to read my piece, I was AGAINST the higher toll the PNJ wanted to charge to keep out the "riff raff" (their term, not mine, if you read their editorial last week).  

The entire reason I'm worried about traffic is because some of the SMARTEST businesspeople on the beach, notably Beverly McKay, manager of the award-winning Holiday Inn Express, are seeing their guests - who previously only raved about this beach -- now starting to leave very negative comments on the review sites (such as Trip Advisor et al) about the traffic here and that they might not come back at all because of it.   That is worrisome for everyone.  

As for my not worrying about what will happen if people DON'T come  here. WRONG again.  The UWF Haas Center for Business did a study during the past decade demonstrating that, without tourism, each and every Escambia County citizen would see their property tax bill rise by an average of $1000 a year.  And that was then -- even worse now.  I have always favored whatever it took to get tourists to come here - but things have gotten out of control because we haven't done anything to improve the infrastructure, and we don't have anywhere near the land mass of the Destin area to begin with.  This used to be a great place for tourists to come but now if they're starting to be turned off...bad news.  Hear me??  I'm saying BAD if people don't come here.  Get it??  But we can't just keep packing them in and letting them stew in traffic and expecting them to keep coming back.  
Why in the world would anyone want to be like Destin anyway???? Who cares what goes on there???   We should want to be BETTER.

I know Ms. McKay quite well. I worked for her a long time ago when it was the Dunes Hotel. Like I said, traffic is worse in Destin. I do a lot of baseball umpiring over in that area and people are going to show up regardless, pay an exhorbitant amount of money to do so, and keep coming back. Try looking at those who are consistently here season after season. I don't see those folks giving up their continual reservations because as soon as they do, someone else will snap up their spot.

As for infrastructure, we all want it, but folks are the worst in this area about demanding government services and not wanting to pay for it. It's a reason why Santa Rosa County is still conducting business in an overcrowded, unsafe, dilapidated, unhealthy, multiple times flooded out courthouse. Then when we have things built, folks refuse to use it (Garcon PT Bridge). Just sayin'.

boards of FL wrote:I would actually get rid of the toll entirely.  You're going to have traffic on the beach regardless.  Getting rid of the troll would at least prevent that issue from spreading out into Gulf Breeze.

The consensus here seems to be that the toll booths have little or nothing to do with the problem, since once through the toll booths on a busy day, one immediately runs into a backup all the way to the light.

In other words, it's the light, stupid.   (Not addressed to you personally, boards.)

The intersection of Pensacola Beach Blvd., Ft. Pickens Rd and Via de Luna, and the entrances to Casino Beach, all need major overhaul.  Don't ask me  how.  Wish I knew.

RealLindaL wrote:

boards of FL wrote:I would actually get rid of the toll entirely.  You're going to have traffic on the beach regardless.  Getting rid of the troll would at least prevent that issue from spreading out into Gulf Breeze.

The consensus here seems to be that the toll booths have little or nothing to do with the problem, since once through the toll booths on a busy day, one immediately runs into a backup all the way to the light.

In other words, it's the light, stupid.   (Not addressed to you personally, boards.)

The intersection of Pensacola Beach Blvd., Ft. Pickens Rd and Via de Luna, and the entrances to Casino Beach, all need major overhaul.  Don't ask me  how.  Wish I knew.

It isn't the light.  We have lights all over town and yet none of them back up traffic to the degree that we see in Gulf Breeze and beyond each and every Saturday.  Just the opposite, in fact.  Traffic lights are designed - specifically - to facilitate the passage of traffic faster than it would otherwise in the absence of the light.  It's not as if lights are arbitrarily added everywhere and we just deal with them.  Civil engineers study patterns and solve for the most efficient means of travel passage.

Meanwhile, there is a toll booth just down the way that clearly - clearly - is causing the vast majority of the traffic issue.  90% or more.

I'm at the beach every weekend.  Generally if I leave the beach between the hours of 2 to roughly 4, I'll see traffic backed up from the toll (read, not the light but the toll)  all the way back through Gulf Breeze, all the way back through the three mile bridge, and sometimes even further back to the Civic Center.   We could just as easily blame any light in Gulf Breeze.  We could just as easily blame the light in Pensacola at the foot of the three mile.  But, at the end of the day, we have lights everywhere - many which process considerably greater volume than the beach.  It isn't out of pure coincidence that ground zero of our worst traffic situation in the area rests at the foot of the toll booths.

Also, if I happen to be coming out to the beach late (noonish) which  guarantees the fact that I will be caught in traffic, things begin to clear up after the toll.   Is there still traffic?  Of course, but it moves considerably faster.  The light may very well need an overhaul.  The entire entrance from the bridge to the light may need an overhaul.  But I disagree that that is the primary driver of the traffic issue.  It is the toll.  Things always move faster after the toll.  Always.

Just do a simple thought experiment.  We don't need to be civil engineers here.  Which activity should hinder the passage of traffic more?  A traffic light - which has been specifically designed to facilitate the passage of traffic, or a toll booth - which ultimately has no purpose with respect to traffic and is entirely unrelated?  

Which activity requires each and every car that passes through it to stop?  The light or the toll booth?  

What happens when the light turns green?  Doesn't it flow unrestricted for roughly 3 minutes or more at that light?   Is there any point ever when cars flow freely through the toll booth for 3 minutes or more?  The answer is no.

 
One activity causes each and every car to stop.  One does not.  One is designed to facilitate passage and ease traffic issues.  One is not.

I think one issue is the lack of parking and this leads to congested traffic in the Casino beach area and Boardwalk area.

1.What happened to the plans for a parking garage in the vicinity of the Boardwalk?

2. Should they forego the toll and charge for shuttles/ferry service?

SheWrites wrote:I think one issue is the lack of parking and this leads to congested traffic in the Casino beach area and Boardwalk area.

1.What happened to the plans for a parking garage in the vicinity of the Boardwalk?

2. Should they forego the toll and charge for shuttles/ferry service?

If I recall, the traffic garage/parking lot overhaul resulted in two proposals.  One would cost $20 million and would actually reduce the number of available parking spaces.  The other option was roughly $9 million and also would have ultimately reduced the number of available parking spaces.  

Basically, we spent good money hiring firms to conduct studies to solve our "not enough parking spaces" problem, and we were presented with two options that poured gasoline on that problem.

I think if Pensacola Beach was governed by the City of Pensacola and not Escambia County there might be some solutions.

Possibly???

ZVUGKTUBM wrote:http://www.pnj.com/story/opinion/2015/05/31/viewpoint-stop-pensacola-beach-tourism-ads/28260383/

Linda and Arnie Lietner have lived on Pensacola Beach for only 15 years. I personally feel they should be told to dial 1-800-WAAA.

They should have done more due-diligence before deciding to retire on Pensacola Beach. I would have told them that the smart people in Pensacola build-on or buy property on land within FEMA Flood Zone X, where there is a little elevation and no nearby streams.

Hard as it is to imagine, I agree with ZVUKTUBM.

I too have lived in high tourist areas, Miami and Key West though it was decades ago. I heard the same whining them from SOME of the relative new comers.

Would someone please explain to me why people move to a high tourist area to retire and then complain that others want to be in the same place. It seems ignorant and selfish. Previous residents probably felt the same about them when they moved there 15 years ago. If they pulled up stakes and moved, that would be two fewer people and at least two or more fewer cars when their friends come to visit...in the TOURIST SEASON.

When I lived in Key West, 1968-1971, we looked forward to the tourist season, a LOT of money came to the island. Certainly it wasn't as busy then as it is today. Many folks were deterred from making the drive to Key West by the very narrow OLD bridges. Some of those bridges used the iron rails from the railroad destroyed by the 1935 Labor Day Cat 5 hurricane.

Today there is a four lane expressway going all the way to Roosevelt Blvd in Key West. Personally, I loved the old bridges although some were a bit unnerving when two tractor trailers would meet. Clearance was...breathtaking.

Linda and Arnie, if you're not happy at Pensacola Beach, I suggest you move. The traffic and number of people are only going to get more intense as will your anger for other folks bring money to the area.

Markle wrote:Linda and Arnie, if you're not happy at Pensacola Beach, I suggest you move.  The traffic and number of people are only going to get more intense as will your anger for other folks bring money to the area.

Markle, you really need to read the entire thread on an issue before jumping in.  Please see my reply to KarlRove of 2:27 p.m. this afternoon.  He was entirely wrong about us, and so are you.

Meanwhile, maybe you could just go pound sand.

{{{sigh}}}  I'm reminded of why I largely stay away from this forum.

boards of FL wrote:

RealLindaL wrote:

boards of FL wrote:I would actually get rid of the toll entirely.  You're going to have traffic on the beach regardless.  Getting rid of the troll would at least prevent that issue from spreading out into Gulf Breeze.

The consensus here seems to be that the toll booths have little or nothing to do with the problem, since once through the toll booths on a busy day, one immediately runs into a backup all the way to the light.

In other words, it's the light, stupid.   (Not addressed to you personally, boards.)

The intersection of Pensacola Beach Blvd., Ft. Pickens Rd and Via de Luna, and the entrances to Casino Beach, all need major overhaul.  Don't ask me  how.  Wish I knew.

It isn't the light.  We have lights all over town and yet none of them back up traffic to the degree that we see in Gulf Breeze and beyond each and every Saturday.  Just the opposite, in fact.  Traffic lights are designed - specifically - to facilitate the passage of traffic faster than it would otherwise in the absence of the light.  It's not as if lights are arbitrarily added everywhere and we just deal with them.  Civil engineers study patterns and solve for the most efficient means of travel passage.

Meanwhile, there is a toll booth just down the way that clearly - clearly - is causing the vast majority of the traffic issue.  90% or more.

I'm at the beach every weekend.  Generally if I leave the beach between the hours of 2 to roughly 4, I'll see traffic backed up from the toll (read, not the light but the toll)  all the way back through Gulf Breeze, all the way back through the three mile bridge, and sometimes even further back to the Civic Center.   We could just as easily blame any light in Gulf Breeze.  We could just as easily blame the light in Pensacola at the foot of the three mile.  But, at the end of the day, we have lights everywhere - many which process considerably greater volume than the beach.  It isn't out of pure coincidence that ground zero of our worst traffic situation in the area rests at the foot of the toll booths.

Also, if I happen to be coming out to the beach late (noonish) which  guarantees the fact that I will be caught in traffic, things begin to clear up after the toll.   Is there still traffic?  Of course, but it moves considerably faster.  The light may very well need an overhaul.  The entire entrance from the bridge to the light may need an overhaul.  But I disagree that that is the primary driver of the traffic issue.  It is the toll.  Things always move faster after the toll.  Always.

Just do a simple thought experiment.  We don't need to be civil engineers here.  Which activity should hinder the passage of traffic more?  A traffic light - which has been specifically designed to facilitate the passage of traffic, or a toll booth - which ultimately has no purpose with respect to traffic and is entirely unrelated?  

Which activity requires each and every car that passes through it to stop?  The light or the toll booth?  

What happens when the light turns green?  Doesn't it flow unrestricted for roughly 3 minutes or more at that light?   Is there any point ever when cars flow freely through the toll booth for 3 minutes or more?  The answer is no.

 
One activity causes each and every car to stop.  One does not.  One is designed to facilitate passage and ease traffic issues.  One is not.

The traffic going to the beach and the returning traffic is horrendous. There is no toll leaving the beach. GB police will many times manually manage the lights in GB and PPD will control the light at 17th and Gregory. The problem on the beach 1. Too many cars arriving at the same time. 2. Not enough parking, which ties up traffic. 3. Cars leaving the beach are backed up on the beach, then through GB and in Pensacola via 17th Avenue and thins out on Gregory street.

As a long time resident of GB, we have dealt with the traffic for years and years and years.


BOF....I have no idea what you are referring to in your post about no toll booth only human tolls.



Karl....locals in Destin use ancillary roads to by pass tourist traffic on 98 whenever possible.
When I did on call cases in Destin, once over the bridge, we by-passed the traffic.

Two pounds of something in a one pound bag. Once the threshold is reached everything is the cause. There were some real opportunity on the 3mile redesign to take care of area traffic by some thinking outside the box with a 110 direct connection and a second bridge to the Island on the west end, but it would be a toll and everybody still has the bad taste in their mouth from the Garcon Point bridge......however, the 98 corridor is one big fail all year, not only the high season, and it has been a fail for 10 years. This starts at the state level and the traffic patterns are far too complex for easy answers but the two pounds remain, and nothing has been done to expand that one pound bag.

Mr. Markle you are having difficulty with your memory and your reading comprehension. Linda has diligently worked for almost 10 years in the PNJ and here to address problems and seek solutions. I have NEVER heard her whine, but she consistently identifies problems and seeks solutions. Over the years my positions on the beach have been criticized, and in fact Linda and I have disagreed on issues, but not once did I think she was whining, rather she seeks answers and enjoys PB and has made it her home. There is a difference of the not in my backyard folks, and those who recognize the infrastructure simply is failing.....a big difference, and Linda is not a NIMBY, although we have had them on the PNJ in regard to the beach.

ZVUGKTUBM wrote:I didn't know Linda was a forum member when I started this thread, and I do apologize if I offended the Lietners.

It is just too bad that Florida has allowed such gross overdevelopment of nearly all of its nice beach areas. I don't think we have learned anything from the major hurricanes that have struck our state since about 1992.

Z-man, I have been a GB resident for well over 40 years. The beach traffic in GB HAS always been bad. Residents learn when to use the 3 mile bridge and when not to use it on weekends. It is and has been our way of life. Two traffic lights on 98 is a god send for residents driving in and around the Breeze.

With increased traffic and lack of beach parking.....the beach situation is worse now than ever. Solutions need to be forthcoming. Raising the toll will not affect the problem. Bandaids don't work on a severed artery.

Joanimaroni wrote:The traffic going to the beach and the returning traffic is horrendous. There is no toll leaving the beach. GB police will many times manually manage the lights in GB and PPD will control the light at 17th and Gregory. The problem on the beach 1. Too many cars arriving at the same time. 2. Not enough parking, which ties up traffic. 3. Cars leaving the beach are backed up on the beach, then through GB and in Pensacola via 17th Avenue  and  thins out on Gregory street.

Thanks for pointing out, Joani, that the leaving traffic is often as bad or worse than the arriving, even without a departure toll.   As for police manning the lights, reminds me that in all the times we've been stuck in beach traffic in the core, we've never once seen hide nor hair of a sheriff's deputy trying to assist-- just one more signal to tourists that the local establishment couldn't care less.  You're here now and we've got your money, too bad, suffer.

ZVUGKTUBM wrote:I didn't know Linda was a forum member when I started this thread, and I do apologize if I offended the Lietners.

It is just too bad that Florida has allowed such gross overdevelopment of nearly all of its nice beach areas. I don't think we have learned anything from the major hurricanes that have struck our state since about 1992.

Z-man, takes a  big person to issue an apology, and I appreciate it.  And wow, I didn't realize that being a forum member would somehow afford me some protection against attack.  Ha.

2seaoat wrote:Two pounds of something in a one pound bag.  Once the threshold is reached everything is the cause.  There were some real opportunity on the 3mile redesign to take care of area traffic by some thinking outside the box with a 110 direct connection and a second bridge to the Island on the west end, but it would be a toll and everybody still has the bad taste in their mouth from the Garcon Point bridge......however, the 98 corridor is one big fail all year, not only the high season, and it has been a fail for 10 years.  This starts at the state level and the traffic patterns are far too complex for easy answers but the two pounds remain, and nothing has been done to expand that one pound bag.

Mr. Markle you are having difficulty with your memory and your reading comprehension.  Linda has diligently worked for almost 10 years in the PNJ and here to address problems and seek solutions.  I have NEVER heard her whine, but she consistently identifies problems and seeks solutions.  Over the years my positions on the beach have been criticized, and in fact Linda and I have disagreed on issues, but not once did I think she was whining, rather she seeks answers and enjoys PB and has made it her home.  There is a difference of the not in my backyard folks, and those who recognize the infrastructure simply is failing.....a big difference, and Linda is not a NIMBY, although we have had them on the PNJ in regard to the beach.

Seaoat, have I told you lately that I love you?  Your first paragraph hit the nail on the head, and your second touched my heart.   Made my week and then some, thanks so much.  Now if I could only bottle your kind remarks and take them over to counteract the nasty comments on my PNJ Viewpoint piece....ah well.  You've taken the sting away for me anyway.  Thanks again and sleep well tonight, my friend.  I know I will.