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Editorial: Guest Editorial: A Native`s Case for Florida Hometown Democracy
October 3rd, 2009

Editorial: Budget of Sugarcreek Goes Modern
October 1st, 2009

Editorial: Is Nothing Sacred?
September 17th, 2009

Editorial: Great Expectations
September 2nd, 2009

Editorial: Helping the Levy County Budget
August 6th, 2009

Editorial: WUFT-FM to Delete Music for Cedar Key
July 28th, 2009

Editorial: Governor Crist Balks on Appointment
July 9th, 2009

Editorial: Affordable Housing in Cedar Key
July 6th, 2009

Editorial: The Greening of Cedar Key
June 25th, 2009

Editorial: Unanimous Consent to Suspend the Rules
June 12th, 2009

Editorial: Cutting the Cost of Garbage Collection
May 27th, 2009

Editorial: America Must Support Chinese Democracy Seekers
March 23rd, 2009

Editorial: Membership Appeal
February 20th, 2009

Editorial: Cutting Health Care Costs
January 10th, 2009

Editorial: 2008 and Some Fearless Predictions
December 30th, 2008

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Problem Ordinances

Problem Ordinances

Editorial

Over the past decade the number of Cedar Key ordinances has nearly doubled in number. They are approaching number five hundred. The ordinances can be categorized as either enforced, unenforced, haphazardly enforced, or unenforceable. Over the past three years the Commissioners and their successive City Attorneys have wrestled with a commercial sign ordinance that has not been enforced, and is therefore judged unenforceable. (Among the sign ordinance problems is a provision for fees required of sign owners, but unpaid. That has resulted in lost badly needed revenue for the City.) In recent years the number of signs, like the ordinances, have proliferated. Big signs, multiple small signs, even some trashy signs.


Ordinances enacted by our Commission include a tree ordinance, a seawall ordinance, a noise ordinance, an animal ordinance, a fence ordinance and the sign ordinance.

At the May 1 Commission meeting a proposed sign ordinance came up for a vote after much legal work. A motion in favor of the ordinance failed for lack of a second. A compromise motion then failed on a three to two vote. There May be a procedural possibility of a second "first reading" of the new ordinance at the next Commission meeting, at which time there will be one or possibly two new members in office, depending on the outcome of the election on May 8.


The new Commission will have the opportunity to make the sign ordinance, the tree ordinance, and all the others enforceable and enforced or take them off the books. It is up to the voters of Cedar Key to let the Commissioners know that they want clear enforceable ordinances put into effect in an even-handed way.

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