Letter: Charging for mooring at Jensen Beach won't solve its problems

Lauren Palmero, Palm City

Letter: Charging for mooring at Jensen Beach won’t solve its problems

The 51-slot mooring field proposed in Jensen Beach will not solve any problem of derelict boats.

We already have staff working on removal, and money is budgeted to remove the ones that are truly derelict. No one even lives on most of them.

By observation, those dumping trash and waste into the river are not likely to pay to moor. They will simply move nearby but beyond the mooring site and start trashing another part of the river. They do not feel compelled to pay for anything that they consider their free rights.

We can look at the mooring site in Stuart at Wayne Huizenga’s old place for an example. The ugly boats that were called “derelict boats” but were still seaworthy and simply moved across the river to Pendarvis Park.

You can’t even go to taxpayer-funded Pendarvis Park and enjoy it anymore without concern from those who “live aboard” their derelict boats and use dinghies to bring them ashore at the park where they set up makeshift camps, park their bikes, drink and hang out.

A mooring field in Jensen Beach will only serve those who can afford to, and are willing to pay for, a mooring or for a marina.

A few hope that it will benefit the business interests in downtown Jensen Beach at the expense of the river. That whole idea just doesn’t pass the straight face test.

Why doesn’t someone survey the boaters who are “parked” there now and find out whether they will agree to being “required” to pay for their stay?

Don’t be surprised if they all say that they will simply move.

But how far? It may, or may not, temporarily remove eyesores from Jensen Beach. How does that do anything to clean up the river or protect those grass beds?