Opinion | Attempted coup d'etat against Anna Maria Island is just more bad government in Manatee County
Parking stalemate is a subset of a larger political condition here in Manatee County: The persistent failure by local government to adequately address the consequences of growth.
The worst cure for bad governing is more bad governing, especially when it infringes on the choices made by citizens. That is exactly what is being proposed as the local Republican power establishment, on both the county and state levels, attempts a coup d’etat against elected officials on Anna Maria Island because they don’t like how many parking spaces there are at the beach.
One of the worst examples of local governing during the past couple of decades in Manatee County has been the failure of leaders to come up with a grand solution to the parking and traffic woes that have resulted as the beaches of Anna Maria Island became more attractive, for tourists and locals alike. Everyone, especially county government officials, was happy enough to keep collecting increasing amounts of “bed taxes” paid by visitors to AMI and spending it on tourist development projects in other parts of the county, rather than on the parking and other infrastructure needed to accommodate the increased traffic on the island.
Solving a problem that anyone who went to the beach could plainly see was growing, was not part of the plan. Like elsewhere in Manatee, especially east of Interstate 75 and north of the Manatee River, county commissioners and other officials only cared about attracting new growth, and much, much less about dealing with its consequences.
The failures on Anna Maria Island came to a head in 2020, when under the cover of COVID-19 restrictions, Holmes Beach and the city of Anna Maria, reduced the number of available on-street parking in their neighborhoods. Aside from responding to a public health emergency, officials said they had had enough of the garbage, traffic and other problems caused by visitors, most of whom are from elsewhere in the county. Island residents, the officials said, deserved better, and said it was the county’s problem to fix. There may have been only the slightest chance of catching the coronavirus while at the beach, but the parking spaces were not coming back.
Rather than sitting down and working toward a solution on behalf of their constituents instead of compromising before the effects of prior failures worsened, elected officials on and off the island resorted to pointing fingers and shouting past each other. County officials blustered and threatened reprisals if more parking was not made available, island officials refused to budge to the strong-armed tactics.
Almost three years later, surprise, surprise, there still are no solutions.
Last week, state lawmakers who represent Manatee County in Tallahassee doubled down on this public policy failure when they said they would push a bill that would allow the county to ignore local zoning restrictions in Holmes Beach and build a four-story parking garage on land it owns at Manatee Public Beach.
Since the largest parking garage imaginable could never solve the parking challenges on the island, it is fair to conclude the real goal might be to clear the lane for the county to carry out a power grab on the island.
Providing additional evidence that this is a real, very nefarious agenda for the island, the state lawmakers said they also would support legislation calling for a state government study of whether the three municipal governments on the island — Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and the city of Anna Maria — should be abolished and local governing assumed by the county.
For good measure, the lawmakers failed to consult with island officials before unveiling their proposals.
The message of this rolling coup, this attempt to decapitate the political leadership of Anna Maria Island: Mess around and flex your independence when it comes to parking at the beach, find out what it could cost you.
Maybe Anna Maria Island shouldn’t have three municipal governments, especially as the island’s resident population continues to decline — from 6,510 in 2010 to 4,886 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census, a drop of more than 34%.
Does the island really need three separate city councils, three separate law enforcement agencies and most important for those who see this escalation as about much more than parking, three sets of zoning rules to keep growth from becoming even more rampant?
Maybe not. But those are questions that should be left to local residents and their elected representatives to decide. Certainly the Republicans in charge in downtown Bradenton and at the state capital, many of whom are quick to champion the primacy of “local control” when it is in their interest to do so, can understand that.
Government efficiency is a good thing. Too bad it is so rare in Manatee County.
Otherwise, state lawmakers might always want to “study” whether it makes sense for Bradenton and Palmetto to have their own municipal governments, two police departments, etc. And why can’t Manatee County have just one fire department, instead of the current nine, each with their own elected boards and bureaucracies taxing the public. And maybe lawmakers can shut down once and for all the notion of turning Lakewood Ranch into its own city.
The stalemate over parking on the island is a subset of a larger condition here in Manatee County: The persistent failure to adequately address the consequences of the growth to which local governments have become irreversibly addicted. It’s a failure that over time, has become baked into the governing class in Manatee County, to the detriment of the rest of us.
As a result of this failure of governing, of this failure to make tough choices needed to reach real solutions for the challenges created by growth, all of us in Manatee County who have to drive to a job or school or have a hard time finding an affordable place to live, suffer.
On Anna Maria Island, the suffering could be about to get a lot worse.
Marc R. Masferrer was a first place winner for commentary writing in the Florida Press Club’s 2022 Excellence in Journalism Competition for work published in The Bradenton Journal. Previously, he was a newspaper editor in Bradenton for more than 16 years. You can reach him at Marc.R.Masferrer@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @mrmasferrer. You can also like The Bradenton Journal on Facebook.