Plagued by syringes? No, just one neighbor in Point Pleasant

Point Pleasant is a pleasant and safe neighborhood.

Point Pleasant Avenue West is just over one block long. My wife and I have lived and enjoyed our proximity to the river for 12 years. The house at the end of our street fit neatly into the neighborhood with no fences — just rose bushes and an expansive view of the Manatee River.

When Ryan and Jamie Snyder acquired the property a year ago, they built a mega mansion out to the lot lines and surrounded it with 6-foot-high walls.

In all my walks to the end of our street I have never seen syringes, yet Mr. Snyder claims to have 100 thrown over his walls onto his property. Really? I talked to a friend who has been policing the Riverwalk for the last two years. He says in all that time, he found two syringes.

This sounds like an attempt by Mr. Snyder to make our neighborhood appear unsafe, which it is not. Is this an attempt to scare up support for his actions? Why would “drug users” throw their syringes over the tall wall onto Mr. Snyder’s property?

When he installed the new unfriendly solid fence with large rocks, he also hung two red and black signs: “Private Property” and “Posted NO Trespassing.”

There has not been anything friendly or neighborly in Mr. Snyder’s actions since he arrived.

However, he continues to use his lawyering skill to shut off the Point Pleasant neighborhood.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Plagued by syringes? No, just one neighbor in Point Pleasant."