Office of State Representative Janet Adkins
MEDIA RELEASE
April 12, 2015 12:49 p.m.
State Representative Janet Adkins will hold a Port Roundtable meeting Thursday, April 16 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM.
“My office has received emails and calls from constituents voicing concerns about the local port in Fernandina Beach. This roundtable meeting is an opportunity for me to listen to these concerns. Leadership starts with listening and I recognize that the Port of Fernandina is an important partner and neighbor in the community. It is critical that we achieve the necessary balance between the need for the Port to remain viable and successful and the concerns of the neighbors and the local residents. I hope to spend this time listening and would invite you to share your input, ideas and how you think we can strengthen the relationship between the Port and the community.” said Adkins.
The meeting will be in Representative Adkins’ district office located at 905 S. 8th Street, Fernandina Beach. It will begin promptly at 9:00 AM. Representative Adkins’ staff will be on hand to facilitate the meeting. Representative Adkins is currently in Tallahassee for the 2015 Session and will be attending the roundtable via the telephone.
For those who wish to travel to Tallahassee they may be able to attend the meeting in person and share information, ideas and solutions to help improve the relationship between the Port and the community. Interested individuals should contact the office for the meeting room location.
All stakeholders are invited to attend the roundtable meeting. In order to facilitate the remote meeting style, speakers are asked to sign up to speak, either prior to or at the meeting. Any handouts must be provided in advance, in an electronic format, to ensure they can be transmitted to Representative Adkins in time to accommodate the meeting. Handouts and speaker requests should be emailed to [email protected].
For additional information, please contact Representative Adkins’ office at 904-491-3664 or email at [email protected]
Rep. Adkins, Thank you for starting a dialog between your office and your constituents. We were all thinking more of a town meeting to voice our objections to this whole bad idea. Say the peck center. This is a token, but a start. I’ll be there, my hope is that all concerned citizens show up at your office. Please don’t make this another “Rubber Stamp” meeting like the partisan vs. non-partisan turned into. What transpires at the Port of Fernandina will decide the future of this Island and our Town. All about the quality of life that we want to pass down to our children and future generations. This is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. Do not play politics with this Port Master Plan, the OHPA commissioners, or Kinder Morgan, This is “just another place” to Richard Kinder and his organization. We who call Amelia Island home, know we are not “JUST ANOTHER PLACE”. Please fight for all of us. The Master Plan, Kinder Morgans plan is all about Greed. Nassau County, Amelia Island, our Town will glean very little from a Petroleum Terminal in this town. But you can bet there will Brinks armored trucks hauling vast amounts of money to Houston Texas and Mr. Kinder’s bank accounts. The chance of accidents, when handling huge quantities of explosive materials through our town is way to great. Not to mention, Tanker Ships berthed in our Historic District. Ms. Adkins please it’s time to fight for your town our town.
Mrs Adkins – Fernandina is different than the other fourteen Florida ports where expansion is the order of the day. It is by no means a normal Florida commercial port. For port business, the port relies upon use of a national and militarily strategic asset – a narrow (choke point) channel to the open ocean – which is the primary reason for channel maintenance by the Army Corps of Engineers. Given that Trident SSBN’s use this channel to enter and leave Kings Bay on their missions of nuclear deterrence (and the absolute importance of the success of this mission to the lives of all of us) , I suggest that without Navy involvement and concurrence, it should not be enlarged nor should additional cargoes involving movement of dangerous or hazardous substances be permitted. In today’s 21st century world involving increased global terrorism of many types sponsored by traditional and non traditional entities, any increased hazard to this vital national resource should require more responsible and focused attention than that given in the Port Authority’s Master Plan – essentially authored by a Kinder Morgan consultant.
I hope that this ‘meeting’ is not a token gesture; the rubbing points between the Port and the Community are many, but all of them have as their root the Ocean Highway and Port Authority (OHPA) which has the responsibility of managing the Port. We already told Rep. Adkins and Rep. Bean what we thought at their Legislative Delegation meeting in Yulee, but it seems that Rep. Adkins was not listening. It’ll be even harder to get her attention across a satellite feed to Tallahassee. And a meeting at 9:00 am precludes many of the people who were able to attend the 6:00 pm meeting in January. Let’s hope that good things come from it.
I now want to get specifically to HB1201 – the bill to change the OHPA’s charter to make their elections partisan. This bill has the effect of legalizing the illegal partisan elections which brought us to our current parlous state. It is time for a change, and to restore democracy to the OHPA elections. Although it may seem to be a ways removed from Coal, LNG, Kinder Morgan, and the Master Plan, the way in which the OHPA commissioners are elected is at the heart of the problem. And with HB1201 going through this legislative session, now is the time to act.
I’d like to think that Rep. Adkins has heard our protests and now wants a way to ‘walk the bill back’. She is clearly a rising star in Florida politics, and this bill may not be what she needs on her resume. She has it within her power to withdraw her bill and gain back a lot of respect in the community.
Please help her see that she should withdraw HB1201. E-mail her at [email protected]
“She is clearly a rising star in Florida politics, and this bill may not be what she needs on her resume.”
She is a rising star in Florida REPUBLICAN politics, and pulling off a coup of this nature [changing non-political water into political wine] is precisely the kind of resume item to boost her up the party structure. I am apoltical, but this bill is unconscionable to me. The charter mandates that the decision-making structure @ the Port be completely outside the whims of either party. If the bill is passed, they will hoist her high on Republican shoulders, and she won’t even miss the vote I’ll never cast for her again.
Mr. Warner and Mr. Crounse, your letters are spectacular. I hope you emailed them to Rep. Adkins at the email address given above so they become part of her official constituent records.
On such an important topic as the future of our town, and its relationship with the Port, we need a community meeting where all concerned constituents can face our Representatives, and each other, to talk. A teleconference is ineffective, too conveniently distancing, as is Tallahassee. We also need to believe that our Representatives have not only come to ‘listen’, but have come with an open mind.
Mrs Hunter, Jim Adams or Joe Zimmerman of Ms. Adkins office reads all the posts on the Observer site. I’ve E-mailed Ms. Adkins numerous times on the port issues and sent her and Senator Bean as well as our city commissioners a packet on Kinder Morgan’s business practices and the disastrous results in other communities, where they do business. Kinder Morgan does not have a “Good Neighbor policy” They will rape, pillage, and steal from Nassau County and our Island, then in 15 to 20 years when the petroleum wells dry up and they no longer need the export capacity of Fernandina Terminal ( a total of 50% of all oil discovered in the United States is shipped overseas) Kinder Morgan will close up shop and move out. Leaving us with what? A Love Canal situation? for those of you under 60, please look it up. And don’t miss the almost meeting at Rep. Adkins office on April 16th at 9am Perhaps we can impress on her and her staff that a real Town Hall Meeting is in order. This is not the way to handle the Port issues. This is about the survival of Fernandina Beach as a great place to live. See you all there.
One tactic would be to have so many people show up at Rep. Adkin’s office that they won’t all fit inside. That would almost force a postponement of the meeting and move it more to a town hall setting. Me thinks this meeting is simply window dressing.
Rep Adkins lost significant local support at the earlier Florida Legislative meeting in Yulee. She HEARD what people said but there was no LISTENING. None of the concerned citizens voiced their support for partisan elections of OHPA Commissioners and yet she sponsored a bill that’s moving swiftly through the Florida legislature changing OHPA elections to partisan.
A teleconference scheduled at 9 am in a room with limited accommodations is not the right forum for a discussion. We need a massive showing to request a more appropriate venue, a meeting scheduled outside of working hours and Rep Adkins physical presence.
“A teleconference scheduled at 9 am in a room with limited accommodations is not the right forum for a discussion.”
I think we may need to take our own collapsible lawn chairs, this from the OHPA.org website:
“NOTICE OF GATHERING: A Gathering of the OHPA Commissioners to attend a Tele-Conference regarding the Port and Port Authority Board on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at the office of Rep. Janet Adkins, 905 S. 8th Street at 9:00 AM.”
2016.