30A Secrets

We all have secret places we don't want to share. There is a path in the State Forest that I love so much I don't even like using it myself. I don't want to mess it up and just me being there will do that because other people might see me going to it and then they will invite more people and then it will just get changed into something unrecognizable. That is the kind of conflict we face here on 30A. There is talk of a fishing pier being built on Grayton Beach, thank BP. Just hearing that made me catch my breath and not in a good way. I like fishing but I can't see a fishing pier being a good idea anywhere on South Walton 30A beaches. A fishing pier, or any kind of pier, will certainly bring more people into the "underutilized" state park but right now, our scenic highway and all our pretty beaches are pretty popular and our infrastructure is kind of straining under the pressure. It's challenging enough taking care of our seasonal vacationers in the manner that they have become accustomed to. We aren't set up at all for "day-trippers"...our one road gets congested with traffic as it is during peak season. It would be a better idea to take care of what we have and fix what needs fixin' before we invite more people to come. A fishing pier isn't going to take the pressure off of 30A beach accesses by drawing people to the park, it will just add traffic. There is a community meeting on this subject May 7th at 5pm at the South Walton annex. Geez, I hope people come out and have some input on projects that are lining up to be done because the fishing pier in Grayton Beach is one of them. I remember my mom telling me how when she and my dad were first dating in Miami, he was known to just pull the car over and dive into the river from a bridge to cool off. When I was a child south Florida looked a lot different than it does now but even by the time I was a teenager the rivers didn't look clear enough for me to dive into, no way. With lots of people, asphalt and trash, degradation happens fast. I pray we are more careful in how we handle the growth here. We are going to grow and as much as I'd kind of like to, we can't keep the secret to ourselves.  But we can plan thoughtfully and we can think hard about how to do the least harm. It's just so important to decide ahead of time what we want to leave our children and their children. What can we do to protect the things that people like about coming here? At the risk of repeating myself, that is the question that should always guide us.