Pinellas County Commission Exercises Common Sense - for now

Tampa Bay, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author:  In Search of Robin  So You Want to Blog.

County commissioners exercised a good deal of common sense when they decided not to open Pinellas County beaches.

For some additional, information see the Tampa Bay Times article by Mark Puente: Pinellas beaches and pools will remain closed.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri indicated he felt this would be a bad decision difficult to enforce and police.

The County Commissioners are under growing pressure to open the beaches, and that would surely be followed by a cascade of requests to open small business along the beaches to “serve” the beach goers.

Think of it as the camel’s nose under the tent. Enforcement of all restrictions would simply fall apart.

Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters asked sheriff Gualtieri to look into allowing residents to use pools in condominiums. The County Commission also decided to hold up on this item.

There was not enough support to setup a vote on either issue.

The clamor for exceptions to the stay at home, no congregating and business closure rules will grow as small-business owners see his or her life's work gradually slipping away from them.

Local elected officials are under tremendous pressure to get things opened. Condo Association and HOA leaders need to exercise some good judgement because someone contracting this illness, let alone dying, because some people want to exercise in the pool is hardly worth the cost.

Commissioner Peters needs to develop a filter for HOA/Condo Association whining and know when to ignore it.

Our success in beating this pandemic is totally based on all of us freely cooperating and following the rules. When that begins to breakdown, there is every reason to believe that the infection rate and body count will rise.

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