Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

All's quiet at Sponge Docks

City officials put an end to the long-standing use of loudspeakers on the tourist strip.

By ELENA LESLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published November 22, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - The Sponge Docks loudspeakers have been silenced.

On Tuesday night, city commissioners approved an ordinance banning amplified marketing on Tarpon Springs' main tourist strip.

"It's not necessary to yell halfway across the Sponge Docks to let someone know you're at the other end," Commissioner Peter Dalacos said of the new rules.

If merchants resume the long-standing practice of hawking boat trips, souvenirs and family restaurants via loudspeaker, they'll be subject to a fine.

A first offense, if uncontested, is $213, said Sgt. Barb Templeton of the Tarpon Springs Police Department. If violators contest the fine and they lose, it goes up to $258.

The fine amount increases with subsequent violations, though city officials aren't sure yet by how much.

Those who use the speakers maintain that they need them for their businesses.

Scott Konger, owner of the Tarpon Springs Aquarium, told commissioners Tuesday that he thought they were making the wrong decision. He said his staffers canvassed about 250tourists at the Sponge Docks last weekend. The majority said the loudspeakers added to the area's atmosphere, Konger said.

"The majority of people don't have a problem with it," he said. "It's the customers that count."

But other business owners insisted that their customers have a problem with the racket.

They say people can't hold conversations over the yammering and that the docks look more like a carnival every year.

Police Chief Mark LeCouris agreed that the situation had become unmanageable.

He said his staff simply didn't have time to respond to all of the complaints at the docks.

Loudspeakers were banned in 1997 because of abuse, but the city agreed to allow them again with certain constraints.

Designated attractions could broadcast prerecorded announcements four times an hour, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Everyone has broken those rules, LeCouris said.

"I guess they felt like they needed to wipe the slate clean," Konger said of the commissioners' decision Tuesday.

Now if merchants want their speakers back, they're going to have to figure out how to get along.

If merchants "can find a system everyone can abide by," the commission will consider repealing the ban, Dalacos said. "We took it away in the past and brought it back."

Elena Lesley can be reached at 727 445-4167 or elesley@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 21, 2007, 21:16:01]