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Letter to the editor

35-cent entry to paradise may rise

Pinellas County sees lucre in the lure of Fort De Soto Park.

By WILL VAN SANT and STEPHANIE GARRY
Published June 25, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Fort De Soto Park has been paradise within reach for decades, a place where residents and visitors could laze in natural Florida's embrace for three dimes and a nickel.

Now, with the state putting curbs on local government tax collections, Pinellas County is looking elsewhere for cash and sees the popular park as a moneymaker.

That could mean the introduction of a more substantial vehicle entrance or a parking fee at Fort De Soto. The County Commission will take up the idea at a workshop Tuesday.

County Commissioner Susan Latvala called it "appalling" to even consider charging admission to the park, which drew nearly 3.2-million people last year.

But with local governments now "being controlled" by state leaders, Latvala said the days of easy living are gone and new cash streams are needed.

"It's a new day in Florida," she said. "People are going to be very upset."

The park, declared home to America's top beach in 2005, cost the county $5.2-million to run last year. Concessions, camping and other amenities produced $1.9-million in revenue.

The county has run numbers on a $3 parking or entrance fee, which is what a single passenger in a vehicle pays to visit a state park. It's estimated such a fee at Fort De Soto would generate $1.7-million a year.

The fee idea comes at a time when state transportation officials are considering raising the 35-cent toll on the road leading to the park to as much as a dollar to pay for area bridge repairs.

And there's already a 50-cent toll on State Road 682, which visitors must pay before making their way from the east to the park.

So, all of a sudden, a visit to Fort De Soto could set a family back $4.50.

"I don't think that's right," said Terry Brown, 42, a bus driver for Pinellas County Schools who was married in a Fort De Soto pavilion two years ago.

On Friday, he sat at a table shaded by sea grape before loading the John Hopkins Middle School art club on a bus. He acknowledged the county's need for cash. "Get it somewhere else, not the park."

Scottie Beath, 28, a graduate student at the Florida School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, said she lives near the park and visits almost every day for inline skating, biking, or lounging on the beach.

"It's sad, " Beath said. "It wouldn't be worth it to pay $5 every time you come here."

Glen Nguyen, 24, carried a bucket of fish back from the new pier at De Soto on Friday as he does a few times a week. He said he definitely wouldn't come as often if authorities hiked tolls or charged an entrance fee.

"I have other places to go where I do the same things," Nguyen said. "But this is just a nice place."

[Last modified June 24, 2007, 23:28:55]