seaturtles has a running series on the ongoing saga of the attempt to keep overdevelopment away from jekyll island, georgia.

my parents live on jekyll, and i lived there as a kid, so it's an issue close to my heart.

anyway, to cut to the chase, the jekyll island citizens association (JICA) just sent out this email blast, and i thought i'd get it out to a wider audience.

please remember, if you're going to call any legislators, be unfailingly polite and courteous.  how you present yourself is as important as what you say!

Because they lie to get what they want. It's that simple. It's an epidemic these days- instead of honestly debating disagreements, just characterize those you don't agree with as "misguided" and lie about them (and while you're at it, fudge a few statistics here and there).

The Jekyll Island State Park Authority is a body appointed by the Governor to protect and manage Jekyll Island State Park. The guy who heads it up, Ben Porter, is a developer by trade. He is also the person Governor Sonny Perdue tried to illegally install on the GA DNR board. That stunt ended up as an ethical embarrassment. Porter landed on a nice little cushion at the JIA.

An earlier diary this week addressed an amendment currently under consideration to protect the island from irresponsible development. Today Porter threw a hissy fit in response to the amendment.

Being as provincial as we all are here in Georgia, it struck me that I needed to know what the rest of the country was think in terms of a Republican Vice-Presidential candidate.  Down here we keep hearing that Sonny Perdue is in the running, and I had to leave the borders of "The Empire State of the South" and see if this is true.

Jay Bookman is a newspaper guy. That must be why he can use such few words to say what it takes me a paragraphs to express.

Sometimes, important government decisions do more than determine the outcome of a particular controversy. They take on a larger symbolic value and make a statement about public priorities and values.

An amendment to Bill 367 by state Rep. Debbie Buckner was approved last week that would protect the main public beach on Jekyll Island State Park from certain types of development. A vote on that amendment by the House Rules Committee was supposed to take place Thursday. But whisperings abound that pro-development Representatives are willing to let the bill die rather than protect the publicly owned beach. Despite the fact that politicians in the Georgia State capital are actually taking notice of what the public has been, to put it politely, screaming.

I have been writing about this issue on kos because it's a perfect example of what I consider the greed of developers, the over-development of this country and the complete disregard of public input and wholesale give away of public land by politicians. It's all showcased in the fight over a particular development in a state park proposed by a company with close ties to the Governor, approved by an Authority entirely appointed by the Governor.

It's also an example of a politician who actually listens to and acts on behalf his constituents, a grassroots movement that has given the public a voice and the people of the state demanding that their voice be heard.

The IPJI will host a town meeting in Decatur on Thursday, January 31, 7-9 PM at the Maloof Auditorium. Discussion will center around the controversial Linger Longer proposal for development of the State Park detailed here.

There's more information on the topic. Wilson R. Smith had people with viewpoints from both sides of the issue sit down to a radio debate January 25th.

On Sunday the Washington Post speculated about possible Vice Presidential partners for each party. Sonny Perdue, GA’s Governor, was included on the short list of Republican VP Candidates. His strength, according to the Post, is that he’s a southern Governor re-elected with relative ease. That was pretty much it.

But consider this- how much would his chances be enhanced if he were able to bring powerhouse fundraisers Jamie and Mercer Reynolds to the ticket?

Linger Longer Communities, the developer involved in a controversial proposal to develop Georgia’s Jekyll Island State Park, is owned by Jamie, Mercer and Harold Reynolds. The Reynolds have a long, chummy history with Governor Perdue. And Perdue's office played a key role in opening the island up to private developers. All of which makes one wonder... could roads being rerouted on Jekyll actually lead to the Vice Presidency?

I’ve spent a lot of time pointing out what I obviously feel is a land grab by Linger Longer Communities in regards to Jekyll Island State Park, the publicly-owned barrier island in Georgia. The pro-development crowd has been using language such as “tarnished jewel” and “run-down” in their quest to get their hands on it. They’ve cited inaccurate and inflated visitation numbers to support their argument. And in my opinion, they haven’t been publicly honest about their true intentions for long-term development.

But for this post I’d like to talk about real revitalization. Of course the JIA and LLC talk about the need for redevelopment. But Jekyll Island is a state park, not a resort. The JIA needs enough money to SUSTAIN the island. It was never intended to be a profit center for the state, much to the chagrin of developers and politicians. Its purpose is to be an affordable park for the average citizen.

As the public becomes more aware of the large LLC/JIA beachfront development proposal, LLC/JIA continues to push back and frame the issue in terms that flatter their particlar development plan. One of their main arguments is that Jekyll, in order to be self-sustaining and recover from its “47% drop in visitation” (debunked here), needs this 64-acre project. As I’ve pointed out before, they completely neglect to mention the other projects taking place, one of which LLC is actively involved in.

So I’m going to step back and address just those, briefly.

The blog "Jekyll Island needs to be improved" is typical of the response that I've been getting every time I post something on this subject. Usually someone that works for or with the JIA, LLC or Jackson Spaulding (Reynolds PR firm) writes a response that contains these exacts same talking points, most of which are verbatim from the LLC website.

Because it’s in their best interest, LLC/JIA continues to portray the issue as development vs. anti-development. It isn’t at all. Complete redevelopment is already taking place on 3 large properties. The argument is over the proposed NEW development on the main public beach.

A lot has been said on this Web site and others about Jekyll Island and the pending development. Unfortunately, most of what has been written comes from passion not from facts. I respect everyone’s opinions but do not believe it’s fair to publish knowingly wrong statements in an attempt to win support for a cause. And for the most part, the arguments that have been written online so far are not reality-based.

It’s important for everyone to understand that Georgia's Jekyll Island is a state park. It is not a nature preserve – although three state laws do protect 75 percent of this island from development -- so some development is allowed.

Nearly a quarter of this island has already been developed and just a hundred or so acres can be further developed. Most of the developed land today takes the form of golf courses. The next significant type of development currently on the island is housing. Just over 425 homes are built in this state park and most of those are inhabited by permanent residents who understandably love the island just the way it is. (By and large, most of these folks living in the state park oppose redevelopment plans and are fighting hard against it).

On Monday I wrote a diary concerning the fight over developing Jekyll Island. I detailed how a politically appointed body that oversees a publicly owned state park (the Jekyll Island Authority) had chosen Linger Longer Communities as a partner in their quest to finally appease the desires of developers who want Jekyll Island. The proposal they have accepted- which is in the process of being “revised”- was made without any public input, even though it is a state park.

Also on Monday a lawsuit filed against the JIA by a rejected bidder was dismissed. In tossing the lawsuit, the judge acknowledged that very special consideration should be taken in protecting the island and suggested the JIA and LLC slow down the process. There’s no indication that either have any intention of doing that. It’s my opinion that they both feel the need to get started while the public attention is held by a national election and a very friendly Governor still sits in office.

What happens when cronies of a Governor get appointed by the Governor himself to an authority that oversees a public park which happens to be an island developers have coveted for years? You get the fight over the direction of the development of Jekyll Island that’s going on now.

I sincerely believe that the Jekyll Island Authority thought they could make this little deal without garnering much protest. Earlier last year the JIA suggested that the South End of the state park, which is undeveloped and extremely ecologically sensitive, be open to private developers. Public and political reaction was intense; the authority eventually backed down. We thought we had won. Then to the surprise of many, they unveiled a partnership proposal by Linger Longer Communities to build over 400 condos/timeshares and three brand new hotels on a stretch of the main beach, which currently has only a convention center and some public parking lots on it.

The selection of Linger Longer Communities shouldn’t be surprising. Jamie Reynolds (of the Reynolds group, which owns LLC) has a long history with Lonice Bennett, a key aide to Perdue, along with Ben Porter, who is now on the JIA board; Bill Donohue, the executive director of JIA; and Joe Tanner, who is now a lobbyist for Southeast Landco, a Reynolds company.