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Keys
heading down the drain
The die is cast. With the
news that the State of Florida and local Monroe County governments have
agreed to issue "thousands" of building permits, it should be clear to
all who love and cherish the unique Florida Keys, that it will not be
very long before the Keys go the way the rest of Florida has become:
Overbuilt, inadequate infrastructure, traffic snarls, water shortages,
loss of habitat, destruction of endangered species and polluted near
shore waters.
The developers,
"redevelopers," realtors and property rights advocates will contend that
it is all "just progress" and that a property owner has the right to the
highest and best use of their property. They will ridicule folks with my
sentiments with the phrase: "Chicken little, the sky is falling." Those
catch phrases were the same ones used when the Everglades were drained,
the Miami River destroyed and Biscayne Bay became the polluted catch
basin of "progress."
I invite all my
forward-thinking friends to take a drive along the former, pristine
coast of Walton County, Florida (between Destin and Panama City) and
view first hand how quickly the natural treasures of
Florida
can be destroyed. The Florida Keys are next.
Where is Teddy Roosevelt
when we need him?!
Robert Cintron, Jr.
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