Subject: ICW -- In Danger
From: Dave
On 26 Feb 2004 23:35:39 GMT, (LaBomba182) said:
Let's all hurry and jump in to defend boaters' divine right to have the
costs of their sport paid from the taxpayers' pockets. That's the American
way. Having to pay your own freight would be downright unAmerican.
The above would be funny if it wasn't so clueless.
On the contrary. Nothing approaches the gullibility of those who believe the
promises of politicians who say they're gonna give you whatever your heart
desires for free because the other fella is gonna pay for it.
My point, which you seemed to miss, is that boaters, both commercial and
pleasure, that use the ICW spend tens of millions of dollars each year in the
communities that border the ICW.
Those communities benefit by the employment/business opportunities and tax
dollars generated by said boaters. As does the Federal government in tax
dollars.
And it's very short sighted to say "we can save a bunch of money" by just
cutting off the ICW funding.
Just the other night another boater and I were expressing our frustration at
seeing our mooring area become nearly useless because the town has to wait
for the Congress critters to appropriate money to dredge the silt that has
accumulated since the last time it was dredged.
The mooring fee is so low
that there's a waiting list of years to get in, but now once you get in you
can't use it except at high water. But to keep your mooring you still have
to put it in each year. If the town had been tacking on a small user fee
each year since the last dredging, there would be much less of a waiting
list, or no waiting list, and they wouldn't have to go hat in hand for the
money to restore the area to a useable state.
Apples to oranges.
Capt. Bill