Our view

Everybody has erosion issues.

Anna Maria Island is finishing up a $12 million renourishment project. Longboat Key is wrestling with how to stabilize severe erosion on the north end of the Key, where the Gulf of Mexico is wiping away what little stands between the gulf and residential structures. And, of course, the residents and hotels on Lido Key are awaiting the renourishment of that important beach.

Most everyone along the coasts recognizes that if you’re going to keep all of the residences, hotels and businesses hugging the beachfront, that’s going to require constant maintenance.

And that logically leads to the next choices: How much sand is required; the sources of the sand; and how much it will cost to place the new sand.

Most everyone also knows the most economical sand is that which is nearest to its final destination.

And that’s why the sand in places like Longboat Pass, New Pass and Big Pass is so coveted for renourishment. That’s why the Longboat Key Town Commission is eyeing the buildup of sand in New Pass to renourish some of Longboat Key’s beaches. And that is why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and city of Sarasota are eyeing the sand in Big Pass to renourish Lido Key.

All of which begs the questions: Whose sand is it? And is the owner entitled to claim it and move it?

Look at the photo above of New Pass, which separates Longboat Key and Lido Key. The tons and tons of sand accumulating in the pass came primarily from Longboat Key. Longboat Key taxpayers paid a princely sum (with a little help from tourist taxes) to move that sand from one location in the Gulf of Mexico to Longboat’s beaches. But Longboat taxpayers did not purchase the sand. They only purchased the services of the dredger to transport it. The sand, it turns out, belongs to the state of Florida (or the taxpayers of Florida).

It’s the state’s sand, and the state is the authority that gives towns and cities permission to use and move the sand.

Now look at the tons and tons of sand in Big Pass separating south Lido Key and Siesta Key. That sand washed south from Longboat Key and primarily from Lido Key. Federal taxpayers (at 60%) and Sarasota city and county tourist taxes paid to move that sand originally to Lido Key.

Now let’s go one more step. Congress has designated all three of the above passes as navigational passes for boats, and as such it has directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain navigational throughways in those passes.

So whose responsibilities and interests take precedence: those of the Army Corps’? The taxpayers who want their properties protected with beach renourishment; or the Siesta Key residents who say dredging Big Pass will hurt their properties?

Answer: You would think the greatest number with the greatest risk.

+ ‘Medical’ marijuana
Here is a future scene in Florida based on “The Weekend Interview” in the March 15 Wall Street Journal. Associate Editorial Features Editor Bari Weiss interviewed Justin Hartfield, a marijuana entrepreneur in California. Here’s an excerpt:

“The people I met who are involved in the California weed inustry emphasized marijuana’s healthful benefits. A young couple passing around their homegrown weed asked: ‘Will you be medicating with us?’ (I wouldn’t be.)

“But not one person I met with a medical-marijuana card was actually sick. It took me $150 and under an hour to get a card from a physician in Venice, even after admitting I was just in town for a visit. (My malady? Stressful deadlines.)

“Though Mr. Hartfield naturally falls into the same tropes, using ‘marijuana’ and ‘medicine’ interchangeably, when I challenge him on it, he admits that the system is a ‘farce’” …

+ Jeb Bush is in
He’s running … For the GOP presidential nomination. Bank on it.

Here’s the evidence:

This month, Florida’s former governor is campaigning for shoo-in Republican governors in New Mexico and Nevada. He’s speaking in Las Vegas to leaders of the Republican Jewish Coalition, an influential group backed by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. And then he’ll co-host an education conference in Texas, where Hillary Clinton is also expected to speak. That’s a lot of face time.