COMMENTARY
MILT THOMAS
Yesterday’s protest in front of the County Administration Building was attended by about 100 people from all walks of life and one very large manatee. They then filed into commission chambers to try and convince a reluctant body created by the people and for the people, that they were about to make a terrible mistake.
The demonstrators were much more orderly than the raucous, angry red shirts who protested the Seven50 program, which had only a theoretically potential impact on the county’s future. Yes, there was a point they did react vocally, but it is understable when you realize the rationality of their cause. So far, an encyclopedic volume of scientific, verified, empirical evidence has been presented to this county commission as to the very real possibility that upgrading the Oslo Road boat ramp area will cause serious damage to the Indian River Lagoon. If that evidence, along with a petition signed by over 2,000 supporters is not enough to convince this county commission that it is a bad idea whose time should never come, what evidence will it take?
If the 2200 people who signed the petition arrive at the next scheduled public input session on October 7, fill the gallery, the hallway and out into the street, will that convince commissioners the public does not want their precious re-imagining of the Oslo Road ramp area? I have to believe it would help. I encourage those who are so passionately concerned about this issue to make that happen. And while you are at it, get the West Palm TV news crews up here to film it.
To Commissioner Solari’s credit, he has pushed for a postponement on the decision. If the Oslo Road ramp area is such a hot button issue to so many people in the county, why rub their noses in it by going ahead with a project that could easily be postponed a few years? That’s what they do in dictatorships – make decisions that benefit the few regardless of the impact those decisions have on the country as a whole.
Why has Scripps Treasure Coast, which clearly positions the Lagoon as our region’s primary issue, not jumped in front of this boat ramp insult to its editorial efforts? Maybe it isn’t on their radar as they slowly diminish their presence in Indian River County.
The bottom line here is that the common good is not a priority when it comes to the Oslo boat ramp asphalt makeover. Instead, a powerful political force, unnamed and unseen by voters and citizens, has made this project a foregone conclusion. With all the political rhetoric and commission meetings about Seven50 and All Aboard Florida, we may be overlooking a problem that is far more serious to our collective future, all because a handful of people want to have it their way. Why don’t they just go to Burger King and let us have it the right way.
Indian River Guardian 
Our commissioners, all conservatives politically, would be following conservative guidelines by protecting tax payer money ($1 million) on a project with few to no benefits to the community as a whole. A true conservative leader would conserve the quality of our lagoon and fish spawning sea grass for future generations. Who are the few people who will benefit from this project? None of them were at the meetintg.
Voting them all out would be a good start.
Great commentary, Milt. Why disrupt such a intimate setting with bulldozers and asphalt.
Beware that this decision is put off until after the coming November election. If this group does not a commitment before November, they never get one after.
The ones that are up for re election don’t have any opposition. With all the nastiness (deserved or not) during elections in the media and social networks it’s a wonder anybody runs.