Perdido Beach Access – Some, Not All
Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh reports that the only gulf-front parcels that have public beach easements in their deeds are the 64 that stretch from the state park to Perdido Sky – roughly about 1.5 miles on the Gulf of Mexico.
- On WCOA: “Rick, I have been riding the county attorney’s office like a horse, and I say that lovingly because I’ve really worked them. I call them morning, noon and night. And God bless them, to their credit, they have worked and done yeoman’s work in getting every single title abstract for every single parcel on the Gulf side of Perdido Key in District 1.”
Why this matters: Until the recent discovery of the public beach easements, much of Perdido Key was off-limits to the public, except for four access points.
Other Parcels:
“We have found out is there’s a giant track to the west of the state park that came directly from the President to a handful of families. No beach access.
“From Perdido Sky over to Johnson’s Beach, every single one of those parcels has been analyzed. They were all deeded out in 1912 by the State Board of Education. Very interesting. Very fascinating. But no deeded public beach access there.”
What’s next: The county is looking to add more public parking, and Commissioner Bergosh is talking with State Rep. Alex Andrade about the county taking over or leasing the small state park site that was damaged by Hurricane Sally and has remained closed awaiting repairs.
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Vandals hit Warrington Academy. These photos were sent to the media Friday afternoon. Click on the image to enlarge.
For A Better Life
Last week, I interviewed several immigrants who are worried about their future in Florida. With the help of a translator, I listened to their stories of coming to America for a better life – not too different from my great-grandfathers who traveled to the United States from Ireland and Denmark in the 1870s.
“I’m here for a future for her baby. He would have died in Honduras,” said one mother.
“I left Honduras with him in her arms and was 24 hours in a container. No air conditioning, no nothing. After they got us out of the container, they took us to a house and made us walk 24 hours nonstop. I walked with him those 24 hours in my arms because he can’t walk.
“A guy had a heart attack and they forced us to leave him behind. When we swam across the river, they gave us a floaty. And it was like 30 people surrounding the floaty. We thought that the floaty was just going to flip, and she had my baby in my arms
“For the grace of God, we’re here and made it. We have accomplished a lot. So for us to just leave after all that…”(she broke down in tears)
Dig Deeper: A new law that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in May tightened restrictions on Florida’s undocumented community is driving immigrants out of the state. I was told over 50 families have left Escambia for North Carolina.
- The legislation voids out-of-state driver’s licenses for those without proof of citizenship, bars municipalities from using state money to issue identification cards for undocumented immigrants and requires most companies in Florida to verify the immigration status of new hires, among other restrictions.