Creative Restriant

Today's PNJ congratulates the Santa Rosa Island Authority for its admirable -- or should we say, 'admiral' -- restraint in not laughing the floating parking garage idea off the planet. Terrible idea, the paper says, but "the SRIA deserves praise for seeking creative ways to provide more parking on the beach."

Creative? Since when is yet another parking garage "creative"?

Apparently, the PNJ editorial board doesn't read its own columnist, Reginald Dogan. Just about this time last year, he spent a week at the beach and reached the same conclusion everyone else -- or, at least everyone who isn't trying to scam a multi-million construction deal out of it -- reaches after studying the issue: "There is a parking problem on the beach — a couple times a year, maybe."

Even if it were otherwise and the beach looks like Highway 98 at rush hour, a parking garage hardly qualifies as "creative." Rather than concede to a traffic jam of individual passenger cars at the outset, what's needed is a more efficient, less expensive, more environmentally-friendly, and fun way of moving the occasional large crowds one mile from the Gulf Breeze peninsula to the island.

Now, that would qualify as creative.