Parks: the final rant

Parks, whether city, county or state, are owned by us. Think abouth this. You pay for the creation and maintenance of these public spaces the same way that you pay for and maintain your home or your car. They belong to each of us and should serve the needs of everyone in the community. Isn't democracy wonderful?

PPG's do not fit with the whole image of public parks. PPG's do not promote the peace and quiet we typically associate with parks nor do PPG's enhance the environment or improve the natural habitat for local wildlife. But then again, have you been to a public park lately? In my view, parents screaming at toddlers and at each other is not all that relaxing and forty foot motorhomes are not perfect examples of eco-friendly Florida naturalism. But this isn't about us and them and who is worse, it's about fair use of public spaces.

SInce I am already off on a slight tangent, humor me (and yourself) and keep reading. D. and I were flying from the beach one evening. Being more efficient, D. was up and away before I finished setting up. As I was hooking in, a rather irate man came up and started yelling that we were destroying the peace and quiet of the beach and that he was going to go home and get his wrist-rocket and shoot at us. I calmly explained that we would be out of earshot in less than one minute and there was no need for him to bother himself by going all the way home to get his sling-shot.

The flight was great. When we landed, our irate friend was not on the beach... he was in the park... screaming at his girlfriend. And I am not talking screaming, I am talking SCREAMING!!! Though you might find his poetic use of the English language entertaining, I am not sure that the blogspot is an appropriate place to publish these witticisms. I am not even sure if a bathroom wall is the appropriate place to publish what this man was going on about.

From the look on his girlfriend's face, this was nothing new. She just sat there sipping her beer and filing her nails. I don't think that she even bothered to look up once during his whole tirade. If I am ever on a runaway train, or a sinking ship or a crashing plane, this is the chick that I want sitting next to me.

I have no idea how long this went on. From the time we landed until the time we left, all anyone heard was this guy ranting. I don't even know what he was yelling about, it was just a non-stop string of colorful expletives. And somehow, we were the ones destroying the peace and quiet...

Tangent terminated.

I am not trying to change the world here, I am just trying to coexist. It would be nice if we could get to use each of our parks for one weekend out of every year. To me, this doesn't seem like too much to ask for. Heck, I am not even remotely suggesting that we be granted use while our northern friends are visiting.

The rules of basic physics state that a chilled northerner always sinks southward and a warm northener always rises northward. This is a natural law and cannot be changed. Now that we understand the scientific facts surrounding expansion and contraction of the local population caused by the heating and cooling of the atmosphere, we can schedule our use of our parks before our guests arrive in the winter and after they return home in the spring.

What I am searching for here is the "schtick". What do we need to do to get the first park open for our use? I am not talking about sneaking in bandito flights while no one is looking, I am talking about reserving use of the park for the purpose of PPG - kinda like the Johnsons do for their family reunion every year, or the cub scouts do for their annual club-a-cub extravaganza (pretty obvious that I was never a cubby and that I have no kids, huh?).

So, what is it that we use as our ticket into the park system? Just being a taxpayer is not enough. We have tried the community service angle without success. What is it? What are we missing? Or, am I still doing the rat thing, running as hard as I can and getting absolutely nowhere?



By the way, I visited Oscar Scherer and Stump Pass this weekend. Great photo op at Oscar: the scrub jays are better subjects than most models. Stump Pass was a little tough to take for any length of time. Because of the red tide the beach was pretty empty and those that were there were sneezing, coughing and complaining. I didn't stay too long. With the right conditions, the park is flyable (the south end at low tide looks to be very promising but it would be a walk with the equipment).

Two places that still intrigue me for PPG are Fort Desoto and Egmont Key. I do believe that both can be arranged but it will take the club to get together long enough to make it happen (or, possibly, the creation of a new club).