There is no person in the world in receipt of a subsidy who does not claim that the subsidy is not in his own interest but rather in the interest of the country/state/city/economy/etc. The farmer claims his subsidy is to guarantee a safe food supply to the nation, the oil companies that it is to develope energy independance, the artist that it to develope the nations cultural resources, and so on And the cruiser wants a free dock because it is in the interests of the local businesses. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. The dock has to be maintained, insured, and so on. Why should the general taxpayer have to pay the bill to provide the free lunch directly to the cruiser and indirectly to the local business. Perhaps if the local businesses cannot exist without taxpayer transfusions, then they should not exist. I am not an American. I come down to Florida from Canada for about 4 months during the year and I love the attitudes of most Americans I meet, particularly the cruisers: independent, self financing, loving of country and distrusting of government. I keep my trawler in a run-down marina in St. Petersburg. There are alot of relatively poor youngish men, liveaboards, who are contantly looking for work in fishing or construction. Times are tough right now, but none of them is looking for welfare. One way or another, they pay there own way. I only wish there was more of this attitude in Canada. I too like to find a free dock. But I don't feel abused when it is denied me. And when I find one, I don't pretend that it is anything other than a benefit conferred on me at someone elses expense. Alan Shapiro

I think you can see from the pattern of free docks that the towns that offer them are quite a bit more desperate for business that typical towns in FL. Cruisers pass through those areas. They come to FL and stay a longer time. Thus the idea that town government and C of C create an attractive lure to trap a trickle of travelers for local businesses, it make sense. When relative hoards of "travelers" concentrate in a very desireable area they become thought of as "freeloaders". When long stay boaters, who also expect free services ( yes that free library is paid for by somebody) , then residents and businesses feel they are being taken advantage of because they pay stiff property taxes to pay for services that the "freeloaders" take for granted. Small communities may see the "delta" but large towns and resort areas see very little extra income. Live aboard boaters often choose their lifestyle to take advantage of checking out of responsibility for local taxes. Take my possible scenario if I decide to sell my house and live aboard. Now I pay hefty property tax (the biggest source of taxes for FL communities) for my house but also have a very nice slip in a economical yacht club for my very liveable boat. If we live only on the boat and sold the house, my month bills would almost disappear. The cost of my club and slip fees is 18% of the typical homeowners property taxes alone. I would no longer contribute to local infrastructure except by sales tax on my purchases for food and entertainment - a very small part of local government tax income. Perhaps that is why some states (NC, SC, GA) charge [ersonal property tax on long stay boats. Greg and Susan Han Key Biscayne, FL Allegria -- Krogen Whaleback #16 MTOA # 3702 On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 10:23 AM, Alan Shapiro <shapiro@sympatico.ca> wrote: > There is no person in the world in receipt of a subsidy who does not claim > that the subsidy is not in his own interest but rather in the interest of > the country/state/city/economy/etc. The farmer claims his subsidy is to > guarantee a safe food supply to the nation, the oil companies that it is to > develope energy independance, the artist that it to develope the nations > cultural resources, and so on > > And the cruiser wants a free dock because it is in the interests of the > local businesses. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. The dock has > to be maintained, insured, and so on. Why should the general taxpayer have > to pay the bill to provide the free lunch directly to the cruiser and > indirectly to the local business. Perhaps if the local businesses cannot > exist without taxpayer transfusions, then they should not exist. > > I am not an American. I come down to Florida from Canada for about 4 months > during the year and I love the attitudes of most Americans I meet, > particularly the cruisers: independent, self financing, loving of country > and distrusting of government. I keep my trawler in a run-down marina in St. > Petersburg. There are alot of relatively poor youngish men, liveaboards, who > are contantly looking for work in fishing or construction. Times are tough > right now, but none of them is looking for welfare. One way or another, they > pay there own way. I only wish there was more of this attitude in Canada. > > I too like to find a free dock. But I don't feel abused when it is denied > me. And when I find one, I don't pretend that it is anything other than a > benefit conferred on me at someone elses expense. > > Alan Shapiro _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change > email address, etc) go to: > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.