Iguanas, golf carts and Web 2.0

We will soon come to a crossroads in our efforts to control the island’s iguana population. The trapping campaign that began about two years ago is working. There are fewer iguanas.

But it hasn’t been cheap. Funding the trapping program for another year is going to cost each island homeowner about $100 for the next 12 months. Island-wide we’re looking at $120,000 for Lee County residents and $50,000 for Charlotte residents.

As a result, many who supported the iguana effort when it was proposed by the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association a few years ago, and enthusiastically endorsed by Lee County Commissioner Bob Janes over the objections of more than a few island residents, are beginning to have second thoughts.

There aren’t enough pellet guns and traps in the world to completely rid Boca Grande of iguanas. Iguanas reproduce at a rate that puts bunnies to shame. At best, we can only hope to bring the numbers under control. And keep them there.

But at what cost and for how long?

Before Bob Janes decided Boca Grande had an iguana problem, how much physical damage were the lizards actually doing each year? Yes, some residents complained about iguanas eating their landscaping. There were small-scale iguana home invasions that resulted in a few dollars worth of damage to attic insulation. And, of course, there were the real and staged iguana-in-the-toilet photos.

But did any of this add up to an average of $100 per year per house? Is the cure worse than the disease? Are iguanas really worth $170,000 per year, with no real end in sight?

It’s a question Bonnie McGee, chairman of the island’s iguana-street light municipal services benefit unit advisory board is also asking.

And there is no answer. If we stop now, the iguana population will most likely return to the pre-Bob Janes days. The money, Boca Grande homeowners’ money, will go down the tubes. If we continue, will we be shelling out $100, $200 or more each and every year? Forever?

There is no permanent solution to the iguana problem. Just a permanent tax, er, assessment. And Lee County is in no apparent rush to make good on the commissioners’ pledge that the county would eventually toss general fund tax dollars at the problem.

So we’re asking: What’s your opinion?

Leave golf cart driving age at 14

The Lee County Department of Transportation recently asked the Boca Grande Community Panel to comment on a proposed ordinance that would dramatically change how golf carts are used on the island.

State law sets 14 as the minimum age to operate a golf cart on public streets approved by the county for golf cart use.

The proposed ordinance would raise the age to 16 in unincorporated Lee County. When we’re talking golf carts, this pretty much means Boca Grande. The ordinance also contains provisions requiring child seats and other restraints.

The panel went beyond what the county had proposed in one important area.

Rather than simply set the age at 16, the panel suggested that golf cart drivers be required to have valid operators’ licenses.

Panel members Ted Hoopes and Lynne Seibert sought to include an exemption to the driver’s license requirement for those over the age of 65. Hoopes, who proposed the exemption, noted that many of our older residents no longer have drivers’ licenses and, as a result, would lose the ability to use golf carts if the provision were adopted.

Seibert summed up the proposed exemption: “Once you hit 65 you’re home free.”

Panel member Linda Aley, however, stated the obvious.

If a senior citizen doesn’t have a driver’s license, there is probably a good reason. Blindness comes to mind. And our island deputies agreed.

There is a standing gag in Boca Grande that any time you put 100 people in the Community Center auditorium for a meeting on anything, it’s only a matter of time before someone in the audience stands up, waves a cane and demands to know what the speaker is going to do about all of these kids driving golf carts.

Ironically, if the panel’s driver’s license proposal is adopted, many of those complaining about kids and golf carts will, themselves, lose their carts.

Some residents have questioned why Lee County chose to have the Community Panel review and comment on the proposed ordinance.

The panel isn’t a governing body.

It’s not our town council.

It is a self-appointed group of homeowners, originally drawn from members of the GICIA’s Long Range Planning Committee, who assembled for the purpose of creating a “grass roots” Boca Grande amendment to the Lee County Comprehensive Plan.

There have been suggestions that Lee County should have put together a “town hall” meeting to give all residents and homeowners a common public forum to discuss the issue.

Others are questioning the need for the ordinance.

As letters to the editor have noted, many residents - both seasonal and year-round - aren’t happy with what they see as an obsession with changing everything that makes Boca Grande what Boca Grande is. And what Boca Grande has traditionally been. This includes golf carts. And yes, kids and golf carts.

Deputies say the current law is impossible to enforce because young golf cart drivers can’t be compelled to provide proof of age. A solution would seem to be to amend the existing golf cart ordinance to include a requirement that golf cart operators must produce a state-issued photo ID at the demand of law enforcement.

Keep the age at 14. Failure to produce identification would, in itself, be a violation of the law. And most kids already have state-issued photo identification. They need ID to board an airplane.

Maybe we do need to take a step back and give this whole golf cart thing a little more thought and a lot more community input.

So we’re asking: What’s your opinion?

A new “bocabeacon.com”

Twice in this column I’ve asked the question “what’s your opinion?” I recently changed the Boca Beacon’s presence on the Internet - bocabeacon .com - to reflect some of the new directions the Web is going.

It’s called Web 2.0. It’s a different way of looking at how a web site should work. In the past, bocabeacon .com was a one-way discussion - which is no discussion at all.

We presented information, you read it.

The Web 2.0 philosophy is designed to bring the user or reader into the picture.

Our web site is still bocabeacon .com.

But it looks much different than the old site. The most obvious change is at the top of the page. The site is now called “The BocaNut Telegraph.” The Boston Herald recently commented that the site was “aptly named.”

It is where, we say, you get the rest of the story. And where you get to add to the story.

The overall appearance is also strikingly different.

It’s not just a web site, it’s what’s known as a web blog, or blog. For you tekkies (not Trekkies), it runs off the WordPress engine.

The most notable feature is the ability for readers to leave comments on a story or a commentary.

And comments aren’t just opinions. As we have seen over the past two months, readers often add information that enhances the story.

As a result, it’s no longer just our web site, it is your web site. It’s no longer just our reporting, it’s your reporting.

If you wish to comment on a story - this opinion piece, for instance - all you have to do is go to bocabeacon .com and click on the story’s headline. This will bring up the entire story.

At the bottom you’ll see a comment box. There is a space for your name, email address and your own web site (if you have one, that is).

You don’t have to use your real name to post a comment. You can use a nickname (“Island Girl,” for instance) or simply enter anonymous. And your email address is also not required.

We’re not so much interested in who you are, we care about what you have to say.

Also, you might notice the words “no comments” under a story “blurb” on the main page.

This doesn’t mean “no comments” are allowed, it means that nobody has yet to post a comment. Feel free to be the first.

Comments are held for moderation. I do the moderating. There is a difference, however, between moderation and censorship.

Moderating allows me to weed out the inappropriate. I can either approve a comment “as is,” edit it for clarity or publication standards, or - if it is abusive, obscene or wildly off base - delete it entirely.

Commenting is also another way to submit a letter to the editor for publication in the Boca Beacon.

If you want your comment to run as a letter, make a note of this in the body of the comment.

You will also need to provide a valid email address (this can only be viewed by me) so that we can confirm your identity.

Don’t be bashful. Join the discussion.

So, what’s your opinion? We’re asking.

Photos online

Have you ever wanted a copy of a photo you saw published in the Boca Beacon? Or were you at an event, saw one of the Beacon crew take a picture, but it didn’t make the paper?

When we cover an event, we take a lot more photos than we can ever hope to use in the paper. We recently entered into a partnership with MyNewsPhotos, a photo archiving service.

When we photograph an event such as the Bike Parade or the Woman’s Club Fair, we will upload the photos to the site. By clicking on a link on our web site, you can go to the site and view the pics. If you see one you would like to have, you can purchase it on the spot.

Gary Dutery is editor of the Boca Beacon.