No Gate On Southard Street
The Navy has now said it too opposes a gate on Southard Street. The Navy's opposition should virtually assure that TAMPOA will never be able to block off the street as it wishes. What amazes us is that no one at TAMPOA bothered to get the Navy's view first, before spending a quarter million dollars of the Annex residents' money on lawyers' fees, since whatever the Navy wants it is going to get. The City Negotiator, Commissioner Bill Verge, isn't realistic if he thinks the Navy somehow will be barred from enforcing its access through Southard just because it has waited until now to speak up. Why would any seasoned negotiator think that silence from the Navy meant assent? Anyone who has spent any time in government would know better.
This whole gate idea was the stupid brainchild of TAMPOA Attorney, Bill Andersen, and TAMPOA President,Tom Tukey, who have maintained in one form or another, that TAMPOA needed to actively assert its dominion over Southard Street to thwart the City's legal arguments. To give the Navy its due, it had no reason to believe anyone would continue to cling to such a brainless concept, given the realities of national security in a post 911 world. But Andersen and Tukey were not focused on the big picture; only their pedantic mission of one-upping the City.
The Navy has no reason to come to the bargaining table, other than as an observer, because no one has anything the Navy wants that it can't just take. That's what Tukey and Verge don't (yet again) get. When the Navy needed access to Southard Street in the past, the Navy just took it, and there is no reason, if push comes to shove, under the right circumstances, it could not do so again. If TAMPOA thinks, in this post 911 era of the Patriot Act, it can interfere with the Navy's access by erecting a gate or stopping Navy (or NOAA) personnel to inquire of their destination, TAMPOA is putting its personnel at risk of prosecution for federal felonies. In the time it takes to spell out TAMPOA, were the Navy to make the request, a federal judge can and will preempt TAMPOA and its minions from all interference with the access to Southard Street (at all hours) by the Navy and NOAA personnel and vehicles.
The only reason the City, in its latest proposal, seems to accede to a purported desire by TAMPOA for a gate is that the gate has become a metaphor for all that's wrong with the traffic pattern accessing the waterfront, and the City has the mistaken idea that if TAMPOA gets its gate, the rest of the solution will fall neatly into place. Wrong! The Navy's message throws cold water on that idea. Both the City and TAMPOA would be well advised to get over their fixation on TAMPOA's gate and focus on how are TAMPOA and the City going to deal with the traffic on Southard and other streets needed to access the waterfront.
Yes, we did say "other streets." Southard Street is not the only street that will be involved in access to the waterfront. Anyone who sat and watched the power boats crunch their way around the guard shack and through Southard this past weekend knows that at least two other streets besides Southard will be needed to provide adequate access to the waterfront. It is downright silly to ignore that. A settlement between TAMPOA and the City will not make that problem go away. We wonder what it is that Commissioner Lopez and his Bahama Village constituency do not understand about that? So what streets are you prepared to say should be used for the additional access, Commissioner Lopez? The time for fence-sitting is over. Now would be a good time to speak up, before someone else, through bubba bargaining, decides for your constituents or convinces the Navy through Congressional leverage that it can route all its access through Bahama Village.
The Navy's statements about TAMPOA's proposed gate are fortuitous. They serve to remind the disputing parties that a gate will not solve the waterfront traffic and access problems and will only raise other concerns. TAMPOA's silly gate is not the issue. Forget about it.
This whole gate idea was the stupid brainchild of TAMPOA Attorney, Bill Andersen, and TAMPOA President,Tom Tukey, who have maintained in one form or another, that TAMPOA needed to actively assert its dominion over Southard Street to thwart the City's legal arguments. To give the Navy its due, it had no reason to believe anyone would continue to cling to such a brainless concept, given the realities of national security in a post 911 world. But Andersen and Tukey were not focused on the big picture; only their pedantic mission of one-upping the City.
The Navy has no reason to come to the bargaining table, other than as an observer, because no one has anything the Navy wants that it can't just take. That's what Tukey and Verge don't (yet again) get. When the Navy needed access to Southard Street in the past, the Navy just took it, and there is no reason, if push comes to shove, under the right circumstances, it could not do so again. If TAMPOA thinks, in this post 911 era of the Patriot Act, it can interfere with the Navy's access by erecting a gate or stopping Navy (or NOAA) personnel to inquire of their destination, TAMPOA is putting its personnel at risk of prosecution for federal felonies. In the time it takes to spell out TAMPOA, were the Navy to make the request, a federal judge can and will preempt TAMPOA and its minions from all interference with the access to Southard Street (at all hours) by the Navy and NOAA personnel and vehicles.
The only reason the City, in its latest proposal, seems to accede to a purported desire by TAMPOA for a gate is that the gate has become a metaphor for all that's wrong with the traffic pattern accessing the waterfront, and the City has the mistaken idea that if TAMPOA gets its gate, the rest of the solution will fall neatly into place. Wrong! The Navy's message throws cold water on that idea. Both the City and TAMPOA would be well advised to get over their fixation on TAMPOA's gate and focus on how are TAMPOA and the City going to deal with the traffic on Southard and other streets needed to access the waterfront.
Yes, we did say "other streets." Southard Street is not the only street that will be involved in access to the waterfront. Anyone who sat and watched the power boats crunch their way around the guard shack and through Southard this past weekend knows that at least two other streets besides Southard will be needed to provide adequate access to the waterfront. It is downright silly to ignore that. A settlement between TAMPOA and the City will not make that problem go away. We wonder what it is that Commissioner Lopez and his Bahama Village constituency do not understand about that? So what streets are you prepared to say should be used for the additional access, Commissioner Lopez? The time for fence-sitting is over. Now would be a good time to speak up, before someone else, through bubba bargaining, decides for your constituents or convinces the Navy through Congressional leverage that it can route all its access through Bahama Village.
The Navy's statements about TAMPOA's proposed gate are fortuitous. They serve to remind the disputing parties that a gate will not solve the waterfront traffic and access problems and will only raise other concerns. TAMPOA's silly gate is not the issue. Forget about it.
posted by Conchette at 1:31 PM
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