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Do-gooders at the public trough
Mark
Y. Avelli
03/31/2003
It is indeed a rare event during the monthly County Commission and City Council meetings not to see one or more self-appointed "do-gooders" seeking public financial help for favorite projects. Financial support for a maritime museum, equestrian center, soccer complex, air force academy, etc. have been ventures in the news recently all competing for the same tax dollars.
On Thursday (2-21-03) the County Commission was cajoled by the motel/restaurant interests to approve an extra $500,000 tax dollars for advertising to boost tourism.
Driving east on Gulf Beach highway from Blue Angel Parkway, a large billboard states that Joe Patti's is the second most popular tourist attraction in the county. I believe it. The Patti family should be revered for their hard work and dedication creating a successful business, and a No. 2 tourist attraction, without handouts from the public trough.
These "hand-out" seeking promoters, whom I suspect are mostly engaged in the private motel/food businesses, should generate their own source of advertising capital. We now have too many minimum wage jobs that this industry creates.
A half million dollars spent to attract industry to the area would be a preferred investment. County and City leaders are advised to be more selective on how they spend tax dollars. That this advertising money is generated by a bed tax is not a sufficient reason for the Commission to grant this request for funds.
Mary Y. Avelli
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