RE: not sinking the Vandenberg
From: sloan bashinsky (keysmyhome@hotmail.com)
Sent: Fri 7/27/07 9:23 AM
To: execdir@floridakeysmarathon.com
Morning, Daniel.
Thanks for sharing this with me. When I ran for the County Commisison last year, I was strongly opposed to the County paying for sinking the Vandenberg off Key West, for pretty much the same reasons stated below. Later, when it was starting to dawn on me that I was going to run for Mayor of Key West again, I heard Mayor Di Gennaro say it was a good thing to create artificial reefs, because the natural reefs were dying. Something in me was really uncomfortable with that perspective, for it seemed to me that what we need to be doing is whatever is necessary to stop the death of the reefs, instead of creating artifical ones. I don’t claim to know exactly what that will require, but I would hazzard a guess that there are people in the Keys who might have some pretty good ideas, and I would hazard a guess that I met some of them during the county commission race and afterwards, and they receive copies of my general emails, which this one will become. The other Keys Chambers of Commerce are on my email list, and the County Commissioners and quite a few county employees, and the Key West City Commssioners, and some Key West City employees, and quite a few journalists, and quite a few more just plain ordinary and not so ordinary Keys folks. And I’ll post it to Today’s Cock-a-doodle-do at goodmorningkeywest.com.
Again, thanks for sharing this below with me. And thanks to you and the Marathon Chamber and other Keys people for taking this stand.
Sloan Bashinsky
623 Josephine Parker St #102
Key West 33040
Paid political advertisement, I suppose
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:12:31 -0400
From: execdir@floridakeysmarathon.com
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com
Subject: Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce
Greater Marathon Chamber of CommerceJuly 28th, 2007
Your support to Not use monies from the TDC to fund the sinking of the USS Hoyt Vandenberg is greatly needed & appreciated. This project will only benefit the immediate area of which it is located (Key West) and it is unwise & irresponsible to take away dollars from other local tourist venues needing funding to attract visitors and put “heads in beds.” The resolution below lists multiple reasons that support our decision to not fund this project with TDC monies. In addition, all 5 DAC’s (District Advisory Committees) have also advised/voted to not fund this project using TDC money from their district. It is The Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce’s mission to support local businesses best interests; and the proposed funding mechanism for this project may have negative affects on local businesses. Should you chose to support this Resolution please type your name &/or business in the boxes at the bottom of the page and click on the send tab which will deliver this to all the Monroe County Commissioners (BOCC) who will ultimately be determining whether or not to fund this project with monies from the TDC.
Resolution
Presented by Daniel Samess, Executive Director, Marathon Chamber of Commerce At:
Marathon City Council meeting (June 10th)
District Advisory Committee III meeting (June 11th)
WHEREAS the Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce supports the concept of bringing new tourist dollars and attractions into the Florida Keys, and
WHEREAS the fact that the Spiegel Grove artificial reef project in the Key Largo area was accomplished through TDC money, grants, matching funds, donations and fundraising efforts from the Key Largo and Islamorada districts and communities solely, without the need for monies from any other district in the Florida Keys, and
WHEREAS the Adolphus Busch artificial reef project in the Lower Keys area was accomplished through TDC money, grants, matching funds donations and fundraising efforts from the Lower Keys district and community solely, without the need for monies from any other district in the Florida Keys, and
WHEREAS the decision to fund the sinking of the Vandenberg artificial reef off Key West logically should be up to the District Advisory Committee I (Key West), which would benefit from the project, and
WHEREAS the Vandenberg is more than 50 miles away from Marathon (District Advisory Committee III) and likely would have little impact on tourism in our area, and
WHEREAS travelers coming to the Keys to dive and snorkel the Vandenberg site will most likely stay in Key West, bringing all of the tourist and tax dollars to Key West alone, with little or no benefit to any of other district of the Florida Keys, and
WHEREAS the local DACs, made up of representatives from each of the Keys’ five tourist districts, are the recognized authorities on recommending how locally-generated tourist tax dollars should be spent in their areas, and
WHEREAS it is fiscally unwise to obligate tourist-generated capital funds for three to five years, given the uncertainty of our tourism economy, and
WHEREAS complying with the request for DAC III capital funds to help pay for the sinking of the Vandenberg would seriously limit the DAC’s flexibility in shifting funds for advertising and promotion if faced with a catastrophic event such as a hurricane, and
WHEREAS Middle Keys attractions depend upon the availability of tourist-generated capital funds for improvements and projects that will ensure the continued viability of Greater Marathon as a tourism destination,
THEREFORE be it resolved that the Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors is opposed to using DAC III funds to support the sinking of the USS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg.
Please CLICK on this LINK and take the time to enter your NAME and EMAIL at the bottom of the page in order to send the Email correctly to the Commissioners.If you cannot click on the link goto : http://www.floridakeysmarathon.com/affairs/Resolution.aspSincerely, Daniel Samess
Executive Director
Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce
(305) 743-5417
execdir@floridakeysmarathon.com
