Letters to the Editor

+ Changes to Longboat Key affecting my way of life
Dear Editor:
When I made Longboat Key my home many years ago, there was a plan for beach renourishment, which I counted on to keep the water from my living room. This past week, I learned that plan could be nixed without putting anything in its place. Now when there is an emergency, we are supposed to be able to find sand quickly. Of course, any available sand will go to those with the most influence. I no longer feel as if the Longboat Key Town Commission is looking out for my welfare.

Across the road from my home in Whitney Beach, there used to be a great shopping center where many of us met every day. We went to the post office, the grocery store to eat together, and had access to many services. I thought I would never have to worry when I could no longer drive. That worry has disappeared and nothing has been done to help redevelop it. Instead we are going to build another community center at the other end of the Key.

Now we are making rules to keep cell phone service from ever coming to the north end. I am barely hanging on to a life and death service, which depends on cellular communication. I have bought a booster and am doing everything I can to keep my cellular service operational, but I fear it’s not enough. Who would have thought that Longboat Key was so backward that it would not want cell phone service? 

When I go to Cape Cod to visit my other beach, I have to have a cell phone because landlines are not found there in any rental cottages. It’s easier to expect someone to have a cell phone as everyone I know has one. Isn’t there something to be done to keep Longboat in the modern world?  Obviously it won’t be done by those for whom this is a second home because they are on vacation and don’t care.

Recently I also lost my doctor on Longboat Key. Why isn’t someone trying to get another doctor here? We who are elderly now have to go off the Key when we are sick. 

As far as I can see, Longboat is going steadily downhill. I love my home and my beach but it is getting embarrassing to live in such a strange place.  When I ask why, I am told that I live in the slums of Longboat Key. Strange, I love old houses, narrow streets, and old restaurants. But it appears that the commissioners really don’t care about the welfare of the citizens, at least not those without influence.

Anne G. Arsenault
Longboat Key