Welcome to my St. Pete Beach Blog!

Welcome to my new blog! Now for the obligatory blah blah about why I’m blogging and what I hope to accomplish. Please bear with me, since I’m new to blogging and I’m figuring this out as I go.

As a resident of St. Pete Beach who has become increasingly involved in and concerned about a variety of local and state-wide issues that affect my city, I’ve decided to start up this blog as a way of sharing my thoughts, opinions and perspectives about those issues in the hopes that someone may find them to be helpful. In doing so, I express my aknowledgement and thanks to the other individuals and institutions who are already providing coverage of St. Pete Beach’s issues, including the St. Pete Times, the Gabber, the Paradise News, and the St. Pete Beach Insider. I’ve started this blog not in the belief that I can do a better job, but rather because I often find myself viewing the events and issues from a different perspective than those sources, and if there are even a few people who see something they wouldn’t otherwise see and who find this blog helpful then I’ll consider it a success.

The issues that will probably be my initial focus are:

1. Amendment 4/Hometown Democracy.

The election is months away, but campaign operatives in both camps are already debating fiercely whether St. Pete Beach’s experience with its own Hometown Democracy-style land use regulations is a fair example of the alleged flaws in Amendment 4. As a SPB resident I’ve been looking at this issue with keen interest and have some thoughts and observations that I’d like to share about the issue and about the claims being made by the campaigns. I’m not associated with either campaign, and the purpose of my comments won’t be to tell folks how to vote, but rather to share my critique of the claims, arguments and analysis presented by the campaigns, particularly regarding when St. Pete Beach is the topic of conversation.

2. Beach Preservation.

The beaches of St. Pete Beach are its most precious resource. They have drawn both residents and tourists alike to our city for nearly a century. Unfortunately, the city’s beaches are also among the most critically eroded beaches in the state of Florida, and disputes often arise between the city’s residents, businesses and other stakeholders about what measures should be taken to preserve and protect our beaches. I’ve worked first as a concerned citizen, and now as the Chairman of the city’s Beach Stewardship Committee to ensure that the city’s efforts to protect and preserve its beaches are effective and balanced. It’s not always easy, and the various stakeholder groups can have strong views. I’ll try using this blog to share my thoughts on the issues and events, and to let folks know when the city needs help from the community in our various beach preservation efforts. Of course, my posts on this blog are only my personal views and are not made in my capacity as a member of the SPB BSC.

3. Warm Fuzzies.

St. Pete Beach is a wonderful place to live, visit and work, but sometimes you’d be hard pressed to know this by reading the stories in local paper. It’s true that folks can get wrapped up on the drama and etc of local issues/politics, and Lord knows there’s been no small measure of that in our city during the past few years. So every now and then I’ll try to post about the good thing’s I’m seeing in our town.

So bear with me as I give this blogging thing a try, and feel free to let me know if you have any comments, thoughts or suggestions!