Not that I expect an answer....

[BigDawg71]

But I did start contacting the Representatives again. Here is a sample of what was sent. Some of these guys are up for reelection shortly and their answers will definitely sway me to vote one way or another. ;D

Jimmie,
I wanted to take a minute and see what, if any, progress has been made concerning this issue. I know it's extremely unlikely that anything will ever be done to repair the east spans and make them useable again but I want to make sure that this issue is not swept under the carpet and forgotten. It would be nice if someone with some influence, like Representative Heller, would take an interest in things like this that affect the people he represents. We will probably never get all the facts behind the sudden closure of the east spans and why they were never maintained but at the very least we should take the necessary measures to ensure the same doesn't happen to the remainder of the fishing piers in the next few years. If it means adding a $1 maintenance fee (per car) to the admission price of getting on the pier I'm sure most if not all of the anglers would not have a problem with this as long as we were guaranteed that money would go towards maintaining the piers. There are probably many different ways the necessary income could be generated but it requires someone caring enough to do something about it and putting it up for a vote (if necessary). Far too often most people will just ignore the problem and either hope it will go away or that someone else will take care of it; the problem is that if everyone does this, then nothing gets done. I look forward to hearing from you and Representative Heller and hearing what ideas you have on this subject.


Thanks

Jamie Andrews

[montylfl]

Have you heard back yet?

[BigDawg71]

I'll give you one guess...and it rhymes with NO :-)

[montylfl]

These guys work for us ... correct?.

If they were one of my employees they would have been fired a long time ago. Maybe we can them thier walking papers next month.

[BigDawg71]

Well I received one response so far...sorta. I'll paste it below and let you decide whether or not you agree with my interpretation.

Dear Ms. Andrews,
Representative Long asked me to contact you in reference to your e-mail regarding the condition and maintenance of the piers. I will continue to look into this for you and will hopefully contact you back in a few days.

Kathryn T. Larkin
District Assistant to Representative Janet C. Long Florida House of Representatives District 51
5511 Park Street N
Ste. 101 - Colonial Bank
St. Petersburg, FL 33709
727-545-6421


Again, it is the assistant that answered not janet Long herself and AGAIN she referred to me as Ms. Andrews. Already this is not starting off well. I read this reply to say Rep. Long is too busy trying to get re-elected to worry about some petty problem from fishermen and hopefully you will forget this in a few days and go away.

I could be wrong but I doubt it. I believe Janet Long is up for re-election this year fellas; anyone here going to vote her back into office? maybe it's time for some new faces in the House of Representatives!

[BigDawg71]

Here is the answer from the Governor's office..notice I said office, not Charlie himself...

Governor Crist received your email dated October 13, 2008, and asked me to respond to you about the future maintenance needs of the Skyway west fishing piers.

As Mr. Skelton noted in his response to your August 29, 2008 email, the maintenance needs for the piers remaining in operation will continue to increase and the related costs are well beyond available or projected funding. Preliminary rehabilitation costs assessments for the west piers identify a need in excess of $10 million to obtain an additional 10 years of service life and considerably higher for replacing either or all piers with similar structures. The magnitude of these costs are well beyond available or projected funding.

FDEP contracted the operations of the piers to a vendor and their attendance records for last fiscal year (ending June 30, 2008) show 334,587 visitors which is higher than realized in prior years (average of 235,000 for 1998 through 2004) for all piers and future projections for the west piers. Excluding the vendor’s contracted cost, the relatively low fees FDEP have collected since the pier conversion in 1991 have been insufficient to cover all required maintenance costs. Assuming no impacts on attendance from higher fees, your suggestion for an additional $1 per person fee would have generated $335,000 per year (for the higher attendance figure) for a total of about $5 million since the pier conversion. This amount would represent about 50% of the maintenance expenditures to date but be far short of the total maintenance needs for the west piers. FDOT and FDEP are developing a plan to address those needs and will consider your suggestion and other ideas and measures that will maximize and/or extend the use of this valuable recreational facility.

We appreciate your continued interest in this subject. If you have any questions or additional comments, please contact Ms. Marian Scorza, District Public Information Officer at 813-975-6038 or [e-mail] at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Skelton, P.E.
District Seven Secretary

In other words, enjoy it while you can fellas because the skyway fishing pier's days are numbered!

[havetofish]

There is new FDOT info in there I have not seen before. So maybe they need to increase the rate $5 more and that should take care it, even with some loss in visitors with a higher fee.
I for one, appreciate you staying with this, they have never responded to my e-mails.

"FDOT and FDEP are developing a plan to address those needs and will consider your suggestion and other ideas and measures that will maximize and/or extend the use of this valuable recreational facility."
They need to make this an open process so people can attend for Q & A.

[bcc]

Lets not let this issue die or the whole pier will die with it.