Locals’ Bill of Rights (Otherwise known as Guidelines for Visitors.)

I live on a small barrier island on the West coast of Florida. From about Thanksgiving until the frost melts up North, we are inundated with seasonal residents and weekly vacationers. Many of these folks are warm, polite people. However, the dip in the economy seemed to bring us a dip in the quality of visitors. The following post is a humorous look at how some of us locals feel about THIS crop of visitors.

This is an open letter to all visitors to our humble Island. We welcome you to our little slice of Paradise, and hope you enjoy your stay. But we also implore you to show consideration for the locals, and observe our local customs during your stay.

Yes, there are some of us who are lucky enough to call this our one and only home. We live here. Year round. And a great number of us are neither snowbirds nor retirees. We’re working class, and we can’t afford the luxury of a second home. Many of us have jobs that have nothing to do with tourism or hospitality. We have to get up in the morning and do the Nine-to-Five thing. (Or the Seven-to-4 thing. Or sometimes even the Six-to-Three thing.) Others work the late shift, and appreciate quiet in the mornings so that they can sleep in.

The world may see the Island as a “resort”, but we view it as our home, a working-class city. Please be mindful of this while you are raising a ruckus in your rental house. Chances are, if you don’t see a shingle hanging outside your window that says “Motel”, you’re staying smack-dab in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood. Especially if you’re staying in Anna Maria City or Holmes Beach. You have the privilege of being our “temporary neighbors.” We ask that you behave as you would have your own neighbors behave back home. If you want to scream and play loud music early in the morning or late at night, consider staying in one of our many beautiful motels, rather than in a quiet, residential neighborhood.

If your children need a place to run around and play, we have several child-friendly hot-spots on the island. We have playgrounds and tot lots. We have the Skate Park in Holmes Beach. And we have miles of beautiful beach front. All of these provide wonderful places for kids to run around and scream without bothering the neighbors. We even have a couple of playgrounds on the beach.

And speaking of our beaches, there’s no arguing that they’re the most beautiful and most popular part of our island. And we ask that you help us to keep them that way. Although the “No Alcohol on the Beach” rule is barely enforced, we ask you to at least respect the “no glass” rule. There are very good reasons behind this rule. There are trash receptacles by every beach access. Please use them. The Gulf is NOT an appropriate place to deposit your empties. Dirty diapers are especially bad for the wildlife. Likewise, the beach is not a giant ashtray, which is why you’ll see the locals carefully collecting their spent butts before they leave the shore.

We love the beach. We are fishers, and swimmers, and skimmers, and walkers, and we all co-exist peacefully. The skimmers try to stay away from the swimmers, and the swimmers try to stay away from the skimmers. The fishers try to stay away from both groups. If you choose to fish from the beach, rather from one of our many scenic fishing piers, we ask that you find a spot away from the swimmers. The walkers carefully watch the fishers and the skimmers, trying not to get in their way. They hate having to avoid the unfilled craters left by children long gone from that stretch of sand. If your children love digging holes, encourage them to make filling them back up the last activity of the day. It’s one less hazard for the walkers, joggers, and skimmers to have to avoid. And believe it or not, unless they’re below the water line, the surf will not fill the holes back in.

We love our dogs. This is probably one of the most pet-friendly destinations in the country. But the locals have to take their pets to the “Doggie Beach” at Palma Sola. Since we get admonished for bringing our pets past the Beach Access, expect us to do the same to you if we see you with your pets on the sand.

Yes, there are many of us who live here, part-time or full-time. Our island is more than merely a collection of rental units. We love our lawns, and we carefully tend our fruit trees. We get extremely miffed when someone parks on our grass, leaving tire tracks, helps themselves to our fresh fruit without permission, or ignores the local “pooper-scooper” laws. We get angry when we see people littering our beautiful paradise. When we drink, we recycle our empties. We are mindful of our impact on this island, and ask our visitors to show similar consideration.

We are lucky not to have to jump in our cars every time we want to go somewhere. We have wonderful, “green” transportation options on this island: the trolley, and the bicycle. Please take advantage of both. But also, be reminded that a bicycle is considered a motor vehicle in the state of Florida. While you may feel safer on the sidewalk than on the street, remember you are supposed to give way to pedestrians and dog-walkers on the sidewalks; they are not supposed to clear the sidewalk for your bicycle. And be mindful that cars use the streets too—pull over to one side when traffic is approaching, rather than staying three abreast, and use your headlights and tail lights at night. We’d like to see you go home with all your limbs intact, and our insurance rates are high enough.

Speaking of the roadways, we do have some beautiful stretches of scenic highway, replete with palm trees, beaches, and water views. We locals are not immune to the beautiful vistas. We just have someplace we need to get to. For many of us, that place is “work,” maybe even at your intended destination. And we’d like to go the speed limit while we’re going there. We ask that you not slam on your brakes in the middle of the bridge to admire the view. There are parking places on either side of each bridge where you may park and admire to your heart’s desire. Those brick things? They’re crosswalks, not speed bumps. You don’t have to slow down unless a pedestrian is approaching, in which case you’re supposed to stop. The whole circle at Bridge Street is a crosswalk. If there are no pedestrians, there is no need to stop. You’re supposed to yield to the traffic already in the circle or to pedestrians. If there’s neither, then there is no need to stop. And we’d like to remind you that the speed limit is over 25 MPH through most of Holmes Beach (and much of Bradenton Beach.) When you get to that restaurant, and your table’s not ready, it may just be because your assigned server was stuck in that traffic behind the guy going 25 in a 45 zone, slowing down to enjoy the view.

We love our island. We choose to live here because we think it is one of the greatest spots on the planet. And we have the best “locals” around. One of the things that make it such a great vacation spot is that we’re more than just an empty resort town; we’re a collection of colorful townies with eclectic histories. We welcome you to our little slice of paradise. However, we’d like to remind you that it’s our home, and we’d like you to respect it as such. You’re playing in our backyard. Remember those “guest manners” your mother taught you? Treat us with respect and observe our local customs, and we’ll welcome you back into our home, time and again. And we’ll even tell you the REALLY good places to eat.