[ricki]

There is a good chance this site wouldn't have been banned if there had been some fines issued along with the efforts in the kiting community to keep Hobie open. You can only go so far with self enforcement in a large transient metropolitan area like Miami. We can only ask and reason, the authorities can fine and arrest. No one wants to see another kiter deal with a several hundred dollar fine or the consequences of arrest. Still, if they refuse to see reason and act responsibly placing the privileges of the kiting community at risk, as has been the case, it would be worth trying. To my knowledge no such fines or even arrests have happened at Hobie unlike some other areas like Crandon Park. We asked for enforcement but were not given encouraging responses. Cutbacks in public funding is perhaps one reason, still I think a few cases might have helped keep this place open.

With our legal system, unless folks want to pony up several thousand dollars, or more, into a defense fun, we need to go without names. That still leaves a lot of things that can be effectively done. Just the way it is.