Decisions of Immense Consequence are Coming Part II: Should We Re-Open Area Beaches Now?

There are very few things I enjoy more than spending a day with
my familyat one of our incredible beaches fishing from the surf.  My
ability to do so has been curtailed due to the Pandemic...

I grew up in Escambia County fishing all the local waterways with my dad and my brother.

I raised my own family right here doing the very same thing.  Our beaches are a vital part of our way of life here in Escambia County.  It's why many of us choose to live here, the tremendous quality of life and our beaches and the concomitant coastal way of life.

At this time of year, I would absolutely 100% be out fishing the surf for Pompano that are now running.  It is what I have done all my life.

But now our beaches have been closed at the urging of public health officials, local hospital CEO's and the Governor of the state.  COVID-19 has radically changed our way of life here.

I raised my sons locally fishing from the surf.  We haven't been fishing from
the beach this year--neither have many Escambia families.  Is there a safe way to
once again open up our beaches for fishing--maintaining social distancing
and other protocols to protect public health?

No fishing from the Gulf Surf anywhere nearby--unless one has a boat.  And like many constituents I represent--- I don't have a boat.  So no fishing, swimming, surfing, or walking the beaches.

Tremendous pressure is building, though, for us to re-open our beaches.  A special meeting has been called on April 28th to discuss this exclusively.

It will be contentious, and there are passionate voices for and against this action.

Once I was assured by our local Health Department director that being on the beach, maintaining social distancing, was in and of itself "safe"--I was an early voice supporting re-opening our beaches with restrictions in place.  That was three and a half weeks ago.


But my office was subsequently pilloried with calls and emails excoriating me for the audacity of even suggesting this.  "How dare you!" was the flavor of most of the calls.....


The sentiments remain split on whether or  not to re-open the beaches now.  But more and more are urging a phased re-opening to locals only for limited activities (running, walking, fishing, surfing, swimming).  Others are advocating limited hours for opening the beach daily.

For my 20% of the vote on the 28th--I'll be looking at the following three things in order to support re-opening May 1st:





1.  A phased-in, orderly opening plan (limits on grouping size, social distancing, etc) in coordination with what other regional jurisdictions are utilizing, so that we do not become a "magnet" for visitors who might be infected but who cannot use the beaches in their own jurisdictions and come here instead.

2.  Agreement and concurrence with our public health experts that such a plan is safe and responsible and that our local health infrastructure capacity (bed and ventilator numbers) can "handle" the upticks in cases that may invariably arise from the loosening of current restrictions.

3.  An enforcement mechanism, complete with appropriate citations, penalties, and or consequences for irresponsible people who blatantly disregard the board's guidance.

Absent any of these three conditions--opening the beach will be challenging.

And if there are no meaningful consequences for violations of the conditions for opening up the beach (like what was seen recently in a blatant disregard of the county, city, and state guidance on groupings at an area housing complex that had a huge Easter block party)---even a Limited conditional opening will naturally devolve into a free-for-all of civil disobedience absent the presence of an enforcement presence with the lawful power to enforce a county ordinance.

I mean, we love our Lifeguards and Code Enforcement Officers--but what happens if large crowds gather in open defiance of our "opening the beach" guidance---and what happens if the lifeguards and code enforcement officers are charged with enforcing this guidance--and what happens if these crowds collectively disobey in large numbers like the Easter Block party where there was no enforcement and no consequences for the open defiance?

Then what?  Are we prepared, collectively, to do what is necessary to enforce any rules we enact to intelligently open the beach?  Are we willing to accept the horrible optics created by potentially issuing citations to those that do not comply?  What if law enforcement becomes necessary due to large gatherings?  Will the ECSO make arrests if folks do not disburse and become disorderly?

This could create impossibly difficult situations for all of us--including law enforcement personnel...

Yesterday I spoke with a retired career law enforcement officer who spent 30 years at a large northeastern urban police department.  I asked him about what he thought as a law enforcement officer watching that Easter "Block-Party" scene where there was open, blatant defiance of the Governor's order, the Mayor's Order, and the County's order.  his response was pretty simple. 

"If they wanted to break it up, they needed a lot more cops.  Not 5 more, not 10 more.  If they were really going to break it up, they needed 40 officers brought in and they needed to tell the crowd to disburse and then make arrests if the crowd didn't comply.  I've had to break up parties like this Jeff, and it takes a big force of officers to do it and it's not easy and never pretty.  It would require arrests as well and the issuance of citations to appear with appropriate penalties..."

So we have to get it completely right on the front side of this.  We are living in unprecedented circumstances that none of us like.  It means we have to be patient and adaptable--just as we became after 9-11.  Who ever thought it would be completely acceptable taking off our shoes and going through a "see-through" x-ray machine complete with a physical "pat-down" just to fly on a plane?

We adapted, those of us that wanted to fly.

Now we have to be smart and adapt to the new temporary "normal" of living with this Pandemic and accepting of the trade-offs until we get this controlled with better testing and therapeutic treatments.