This Saturday, May 11, marks the 50th anniversary of Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County (the park resides in Tierra Verde, just outside the St. Pete city limits). Park officials are preparing for a festive day that includes a sea oats planting, a barbeque, a re-dedicatory ceremony, live music and more.
To top it all off, the $5 fee that has been required since the beginning of last year for all motorists entering the park will be waived, thanks to the intervention of Norm Roche at today's Pinellas Board of County Commission meeting. The board passed the measure charging a fee to park visitors nearly two years ago, and it went into effect in January 2012. The members argued that it would help restore some of the spending cuts inflicted on the park due to lower tax revenues into the county's coffers, as well as help pay for improvements to the acclaimed park.
Initially, county officials declared that the parking fee would be waived until 10 a.m. this Saturday to accommodate all of the people who enter the park to provide entertainment.
"We wanted to facilitate their easy entry into the facility without paying a fee," said Mark Woodard, assistant county administrator to the board.
The cost for relaxing the fee for the entire day comes to approximately $19,000, prompting Commission Chair Ken Welch to remark that it isn't something the board should get into the habit of doing.
This article appears in May 2-8, 2013.