Emerald Sink

[Genesis]

[duplicate - sorry!]

[Genesis]

I'm ready and willing to sign up as a Friend of Wakulla (both financially and by wielding a circular saw and/or hammer).... but I'd like to know that everything is happening "in the sunshine", where we are, and what steps need to be taken.

Just sending in $15 isn't enough, IMHO.

(Yes, Bishop, I'm well aware that I can file a(nother) FOIA. I'm hoping to avoid needing to do that. If you recall, I asked - without response - before filing the first one....)

[johnnyrichards]

Sandra Cook responded that the materials list is good and asked that I provide her with the cost estimate. I plan to drop the list by Gilchrist Building Supply on Monday to get that started. Lamar English has requested that I send him the list so he could get bids locally (Tallahassee).

A meeting of the Friends of Wakulla will be held on September 7 and Ms. Cook would like to present the plans and cost estimate to Friends at that time. She will also address the issue of establishing an accounting system for receiving dedicated funds for the Emerald project through Friends.

The Park plans to clear trees and brush from our route of travel/parking areas to Emerald this Fall.

Considering that this area has been closed to us for almost ten years, awhile longer to get everything right doesn't make much difference.

An FOIA would be extremely counter-productive at this point. I am willing to talk to any of you at any time to update the status of this project. We appear to have a beginning toward a good working relationship with the Park. There's no point in screwing that up with "hostile action".

Yours,

Johnny

[DeWayne]

Thanks for passing this along Johnny. Hopefully everyone will see the wisdom in exercising a bit of patience now that things are beginning to roll smoothly. A huge thank you for all of your efforts to get this project to where it currently stands.

[Genesis]

All I, and I believe everyone else, are looking for Johnny is that the process happens out in the open where we all can see it.

While calling someone on the phone can certainly be done, its highly inefficient and, IMHO, inappropriate. That's how this sort of thing has been handled for 20 years, and objectively, it simply hasn't worked. In addition there are literally hundreds if not thousands of people who signed the petitions that were partially responsible for this progress - I'm sure you'd prefer NOT to have 300+ phone calls - and every one of those individuals deserves the same status updates.

I thank you for posting updates here, but my request remains - that the process be handled completely in the open, with the various tasks, responsible parties, expected completion dates, etc from start to the goal out on the web. Whether that happens here, on a dedicated site, or somewhere else is not of great consequence - but that it happens is important. (As I'm sure you know, but some others may not, this is commonly called a "critical path analysis".)

I've offered (on my board) to set up a dedicated forum for this project, viewable by all (with no registration required) for that explicit purpose. I do understand if some would prefer that it not be there, and that's fine too - but the offer stands, and IMHO, this needs to happen somewhere online - whether on scubaforum or elsewhere.

[DeWayne]

From my vantage point, I cannot see where the process thus far has given any indication of being anything but open. Right now patience will get us farther than demands, at least that is my opinion. Keep in mind that those who are spearheading this, Johnny and others, do have other agendas in their lives that they must devote time to as well. We proved to the state that we can band together and make our voices heard, now it is time for us to show that we have a sense of cooperation about us as well. I agree with what you have been saying about lets keep everyone informed, but it really is starting to take on an air of being somewhat argumentative. Those devoting their time to seeing this through are doing the best they can right now and we need to give the time necessary to ensure that all the i's get dotted and t's get crossed. Johnny has done an excellent job of keeping us informed as new information becomes available to him, and I am sure that he will continue this trend as the project progresses. How about we just leave at thanking everyone for their efforts thus far and get back to the business of cave diving 8)

[Genesis]

I don't think anyone's being argumentative DeWayne.

This is a new process. The old one didn't work, as we've discovered over 20 years. Further, what's been made very, very clear to me, from doing the background work and the first FOIA, is that nearly all of the claims about how many people have tried for access and been rebuffed due to "exclusive deals" were complete and utter crap.

Basically, darkness allowed bluster and BS to rule the day, instead of reason and negotiation.

I think that 99% of us can agree that this is bad.

What cracked this process open is the willingness of people to hold the State accountable. We all have that right - and I would argue we have the duty - to do so. After all, they are guarding and shepherding public resources with our tax dollars.....

I do not dispute that Johnny has other things to do besides this (of course he does!) nor do I dispute that progress has been made. What I am concerned about is that this project gets lost in process somewhere - probably by the state, not by the folks like Johnny who are working it from the outside.

After all, the history on this project alone is that the state DID sit on the original petition (which all the cave agencies signed) for nearly a year. That is a confirmed fact - they had it, and had taken no action on it. The FOIA proved this, in that one of the documents in that file was the original piece of paper bearing the signatures, along with some of the follow-up attempts that had drawn no response.

All I am asking is that the critical path analysis, with the responsible parties for each, be put out in public so that we all know where we stand, and that meetings that take place are minuted and reported. This is not unreasonable - there are 374 signatories on the electronic (faxed) petition who have every right to expect that they should be able to see the results as they progress.

For obvious reasons calling Johnny 300+ times is counter-productive to everyone's interests.

In addition putting this forward will provide the ability for people to be able to plan to provide assistance whenever and wherever it becomes necessary. Additionally, it appears that what we asked for in the petitions is not quite what we're going to get - in some ways it will be more restrictive, in others less so - but the principle of least astonishment says that whatever decisions were taken and how they were arrived at should all be out there for everyone to see.

Clearly, there are many steps that must take place before the site is open for diving. At some point the community will be asked for either money or to swing hammers and wield circular saws.

Doing this all in the public view "on our end of the table" is one of the best ways to insure that when those requests are made, they are filled.

My circular saw stands at the ready, as my pen and camera have in the past....

[Ken Hill]

I have heard from many that they have sent in their memberships tot the Friends of Wakulla CSO. This has to have a positive effect, especially when listing your interests as "Cave diving." The individual memberships are $15 and family is $20.

Thanks to all. To those that are "holding off," now's the time to join. /Ken

[DeWayne]

I have heard from many that they have sent in their memberships tot the Friends of Wakulla CSO. This has to have a positive effect, especially when listing your interests as "Cave diving." The individual memberships are $15 and family is $20.

Thanks to all. To those that are "holding off," now's the time to join. /Ken

Sent ours in for a family right after the links were put up. It only made sense to join given my eagerness to sign the petition earlier on.

[Kelly Jessop]

I have heard from many that they have sent in their memberships tot the Friends of Wakulla CSO. This has to have a positive effect, especially when listing your interests as "Cave diving." The individual memberships are $15 and family is $20.

Thanks to all. To those that are "holding off," now's the time to join. /Ken

This is good Ken. Joining Friends of Wakulla will give us an opportunity to network with the park and develop a symbiotic relationship. It would be discouraging with the 300+ names who signed the petition if we didn't get a lot of cave divers joining.