The idea of turning some of Florida’s state parks into mini resorts has brought quick pushback from the general public as well as from a number of elected officials from both political parties.
As they say around here, that dog won’t hunt.
In case you tuned in late, earlier this week the Ron DeSantis regime’s Florida Department of Environmental We’re Not Sure What Anymore suddenly announced a plan to add a golf course. hotels and pickleball courts to a handful of state parks in some coastal areas under the guise of providing more public access.
The public, it seems, likes the access it already has to hike and swim and enjoy nature without the honkytonk additions the governor’s staff has proposed.
Brief public meetings have been scheduled next week that seem to fit with the current Tallahassee regime’s idea of not very open government or public engagement.
The final decision will lie with the Acquisition and Restoration Council, which is usually the final word on such topics.
At least one elected representative, Congressman Brian Mast, has proposed ARC members attend the meetings to hear from the public., but there is a problem with that suggestion.–all of the meetings were scheduled to occur at the same time.
However, as I was writing this, state officials announced they were rethinking the meeting schedule and would get back to us. Imagine that.
Meanwhile, the Tallahassee spin machine is in rationalization overdrive.
The worst one is to argue that. well, there are already lodges in state parts, citing the ancient Wakulla Lodge at Wakulla Springs State Park south of Tallahassee.
I’ve stayed there. It is not exactly comparable to the 350-room high rises the proposal envisions to lay waste to a bunch of natural habitats with all of the accompanying light and sound pollution it would bring to our once relatively serene state parks.
The so far unspoken aspect of this proposal is what kinds of grift by some DeSantis crony somewhere in the background might these development proposals benefit were they to go through.
There are certainly enough examples to make that idea credible.