Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Goodbye Florida!

We have enjoyed sailing our boat on the ocean off of the coast of Florida, and we keep her at a slip in Fort Lauderdale, but we don't know how long we can continue to do that as the anchoring restrictions law has just passed it's first hurdle in the Florida House.

What does this mean for us and for other boaters?

1st, if the law is finally passed, then we will not be able to anchor in Florida! That means we have to leave our slip and sail to other places where we can anchor, that's not in Broward county! So the first loser (after ourselves) will be the home owner from whom we rent the slip... that will cost him around $4800 a year!
Next will be the local marinas - as we will not be able to anchor in Broward county, then marinas here will not be able to get our business... that will cost them about $3000 a year.

Then there will be the untold cost of tourists from out of state curtailing their visiting to south florida... they'll head directly to the Bahamas bypassing Florida. Hopefully they won't get caught in bad weather because they have nowhere to anchor until it improves, but if they are caught out in rough seas and have to call the Coast Guard, that will cost the government a fortune.

Next to feel the effect is the Miami Boat Show! When buyers find out that they cannot anchor their boat in Broward county, well... Oh, perhaps we'll by a ticket to fly to the Bahamas or even Cuba!

Whatever way you look at it, this is a disaster for Florida Business, Boat Owners, and Tax Payers!

The 1%er's are buying their politicians to get the bill through. So it comes down to the Ballet Box! They are all up for re-election soon! and their stance on this bill will be recorded.
Some really powerful lobbying has to be going on here.

For the record! If a politician promises to strike down this bill, they'll get my vote.




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