‘Anna Maria Island should be for everyone.’ Parking limits are ‘greedy’ | Letter to the editor
We bought our house in West Bradenton precisely because of its location to Anna Maria Island, approximately 5 miles away. For well over a decade, we have spent countless hours on the north end of the island – early morning runs on Bean Point, sunset walks on the North Shore, family day trips to White Avenue Beach – successfully seeking space and solitude long before social distancing was a “thing.”
We supported local businesses on the island, particularly restaurants, intentionally in off-seasons when tourists are scarce. With the current parking prohibitions maintained by the Anna Maria City Council and the city of Holmes Beach, huge parts of the island are now inaccessible to local residents of Bradenton.
This is wrong.
Despite the fact that there is plenty of parking space in right-of-way and smaller beach access lots, the only way for the public to currently enjoy the island is to funnel into one parking lot at Manatee Public Beach, or perhaps the half of a lot open at Coquina. The rest of the island, particularly the northern end, is newly littered with no parking signs. All public beach access and side streets are blocked off. This jams everyone into one space, forcing closer proximity for people on the Coquina and Manatee Public beaches, and it creates egregious traffic issues on Cortez Road and Manatee Avenue.
I find it very hypocritical that when our beaches were ravaged with red tide, a bacterium in the water that actually caused respiratory illness, parking was not closed. Now, when outdoor exercise, sunshine and space are recommended to actually help the local population, the beaches on the north end are inaccessible.
This is not a health issue; this is a socio-economic issue. This is an abuse of power. The people most affected by not having proper access to the beaches are residents of Manatee County. We are the day-trippers who cannot afford property on the island to own or rent; we are the Bradenton locals who cannot afford the luxury of a boat to bypass parking.
Closing off the on-street parking and public access points is not an act of protection, it is demonstration of exclusion, greed, and privilege. It is time to open ALL parking. Anna Maria Island should be for everyone.
Megan Cox
Bradenton