Misquamicut and the Parking Plunder

Here's a run down on fees from all sorts of beaches -
Take that Rhode Island
http://montville-ct.patch.com/groups/corey-sipes-blog/p/misquamicut-fees-unfriendly-to-connecticut-visitors

The season is coming to a close and throngs of cars are making their way south and east for a few big waves and some salty sea fun on Southern New England's best Ocean-front beach before it's over. Of course a day on the Sound is lovely, but getting your beat on listening to the thump of real ocean waves is a draw every Connecticut resident craves after a summer of the lapping ripples of Long Island Sound. But for Connecticut residents, this trip comes at a price- a steep price levied by the State of Rhode Island- parking fees.

I just finished talking with one of my neighbors about a recent visit to Misquamicut where they were socked for $28 to park at the State Beach area. They happily wandered in seeing the $14 sign for parking thinking they would be getting a great deal, but once they pulled up and learned that out of Staters get charged double that price, they nearly jumped out of their swim trunks.

It's not that we as Connecticut residents don't understand the cost of running a municipal beach- between liability, cost of maintenance and staffing, its a pricey venture for municipal leaders to keep up. And boy wouldn't they be sorry if they passed that cost onto their tax payers! So why not charge out of towners a few bucks for the use of the beach? But its the same story at Seaside Park and countless other Connecticut beaches, if your not one of the select few, you pay through the nose to use it.

The problem is not that we need to cover costs to enjoy lovely beaches, it is that those costs should be covered and then some when they charge double to a select few. But they don't even come close to paying the municipal bill because when the sticker price hits the unknowing beach goer, tires squeal in reverse when they say, "No way in hell am I paying that???".

Out of State cars dont use any more space in the parking lots or use anymore of the Life Guards time? Out of Towners don't take up more space on a beach or use more of the waves than a local resident? But Out of Towners have one thing going for them that Local residents dont when it comes to referendums on beach fees- they dont vote!

Its a lot easier to tell locals "we need to raise beach fees to cover costs" on election day when they say, we can offset the costs by the hundreds of double charged out of towners and keep yours the same as it ever was. They balance budgets and look good for the camera when the numbers work during some late night session in early spring, but when the summer comes and prices scare away out of state residents, and local people have the beach to themselves, you can hear the proverbial sucking sound of air leaking into the empty bank accounts. The numbers in theory work great, but in reality, never cut the mustard.

The Kids of CCB frolicking on the beach at Seaside in 2010- that was our last season there when City Official decided to jack up parking fees for Out of Towners- We were forced to pay $50 per employee to get to work that summer until City official came to their senses and lowered the cost for Out of Towners- unfortunately by 2011 the damage was done and we were forced to move on.  

When the economy was taking a nose dive in 2009, Bridgeport was scrambling to find a way to keep the lights on and the politicians paychecks rolling, so they did the only logical thing they could, raise fees. In 2008, it cost City Residents $5 to get into Seaside Park for the season and Non-Residents $35. They also charged out of State residents double that according to one Park visitor who was coming from New York to race in the Park City Regatta that year at CCB. But in 2009, the Parks Commission said "Wow, we have an asset hear, lets charge real money to park goers and raise fees to balance our budget!" (Now that's Logic!) And so in early 2010, Fees were raised to $130 a season for out of towners and double for Out of Staters- Local residents however endured a big fat increase of you guessed it- ZERO! That's right, it was $5 in 1991, It was $5 in 2000 and in 2010 it was $5.

You dont get voted back into office raising park fees on locals and you need to balance the budget, so write in big increases on fees for out of towners, balance the budget at budget time and hopefully no one will notice that NOBODY PAID THE OUT of TOWN FEES and you're in the red come next budget season!!

It simple supply and demand- if your demand goes to ZERO, then your supply doesn't matter.

So I do have to tip my hat a little to Rhode Island, at least they charge a reasonable fee for locals to enter the Parking area at Misquamicut, but where they lose me is doubling the price for Out of Staters? If no one pays the out of state price, then the increases you sought yields you a net zero gain.

But I know so many of you Connecticut Beach faithful grin and bear it when you pull into the Great State of Rhode Island to get your Ocean on. After all it's cheaper than driving to the Cape- But imagine if NO ONE from Connecticut paid the fee to park at Misquamicut? Can you imagine that? The beach would be a ghost town on Labor Day. And next year when the politicians decided they needed a balanced budget, the would have to jack up prices on the locals to offset the lack of use of the beach. (Fewer beach goers, yields higher costs for everyone).

Maybe then they would wake up and see, if you charge a moderately higher price regardless of residency, sure you will lose some votes, but guess what, you'll have maximum usage of the beach, yielding maximum revenues and you'll balance the budget for REAL! Then you'll look like a REAL Leader who knows how to pay the bills for your constituency?? Now would that be so bad? Sure there would be some growing pains, but the long term outlook would be ACTUAL, REAL, DEMONSTRATED ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY!

Now that lesson would work for Seaside Park too- More beach goers, paying more fees, yields more revenues and guess what LOWER TAXES!!! Well I dont think anyone will ever lower taxes in Bridgeport, but maybe it could offset yet another property assessment- maybe?

So I know I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one- logic has no place in City Hall or the State Legislature, but a man can dream can't he? Figuring out a REAL way to cover the costs of Government without dipping deeper into the Property Tax, Income Tax or Sales tax wagon would be nice wouldn't it? Actually using Government to make real revenues instead of empty promises and higher taxes. There is no way to avoid taxes I know, but if we reworked the way we do business as a society, thought about new ways to pay the bills of Government and thought creatively about how to do it with real results that actually benefited us as Citizens, wouldn't that make us all a little happier about cutting that check to the DRS or IRS? And we would all have boogie board rashes and suntans to prove it- wouldn't that be better? Well that's just my opinion anyway. Thanks for reading.