Letter to the Editor – Island Eye News, July 17, 2015
Parking Solutions
The summer season is here and the daytrippers are performing a reverse Normandy invasion of the IOP. For whatever reason city council cannot or will not take any measures to try to control the parking problem even a wee bit.
So, my fellow citizens, with tongue firmly in cheek, it is time for the residents of the IOP to take action. Here is all you have to do: Just put stuff in the easement so daytrippers cannot park there. Yeah, it may be against the law, but is a law really a law if it is never enforced? This calls for a philospher…
The rich guy parking plan would be to put some very nice vegetation in the easement – just look around and you will see this has been done many times. But if you don’t have the funds or the time, just put whatever is available in the easement – a boat trailer, extra cars, garbage cans, yard debris, etc. A number of people have put thin fiberglass poles in their yard about every 6-8 feet and this seems to work.
If all else fails, do what the guy on the 28th block of Palm does: run your sprinkler in the easement all day! Yeah it is a total waste of water but it seems to work.
And just to be clear, this is not going to deny any visitor a day at the beach. Except for a very few, select busy days, the parking lots in the front beach area are not full. I do not know of any other beach community in Florida or California (the two states I am most familiar with) that permits unlimited, free parking on all the roads near the beach.
I firmly believe everyone should have access to the beach. After all, it is the visitor’s beach just as much as it is ours. But council has let this get totally out of control by doing nothing for the past 6 years except putting up a few wood signs. When traffic on Palm Blvd moves 8 blocks in 30 minutes as it did several weekends ago, we have a serious safety problem.
If council won’t fix this it is up to us to do it. Saddle up, fellow citizens!
Ralph B. Piening
246 Forest Trail
iopobserver 