The Sarasota Herald-Tribune editorial board is happy but cautious about the City of Sarasota establishing a mooring field ordinance for Sarasota Bay. Their editorial, "Sarasota establishes a mooring field at last -- but will it work?" discusses a recently approved City of Sarasota ordinance dealing with the mooring of boats in Sarasota Bay, Florida.

The editorial notes the ordinance, "is a product of decades of civic debate..." This is like all other government run projects, it takes decades to debate anything to death. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune describes the area as "an affordable haven for boaters with an independent streak". However, a few bad apples turned the bay into an eyesore. Old boats half flooded dotted the beautiful view for those with million dollar condos just across the street.

As the editorial board points out, under the control of the City of Sarasota there was "damage to docks and other waterfront property from uninsured boats; illegal dumping of on-board sewage and solvent pollution; high costs for removing derelict craft; and offensive drunkenness."

The property rights of nearby businesses and home owners were being violated according to the Herald-Tribune.

But wait. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune has doubts about the ordinance. Their concerns are monitoring for water pollution and enforcement. The City of Sarasota has one marine patrol officer and the SH-T wants more testing of the water. This is not a metaphor.

So what is the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's solution - more regulation.

We now know that putting Sarasota Bay under government control has led to a disaster. So we want more government control to save Sarasota Bay. Anyone see the foolishness of this?

Doing more of the same thing will change the results? As Ron Edwards, a Red County contributor says, "Insanity is doing the wrong thing over and over again and expecting good results". More regulation is the wrong thing and will not lead to good results.

My humble solution is no government involvement.

Give Marina Jack's a fifty year lease on the moorings and simply collect a piece of the revenue from the rentals. Private ownership leads to doing different things to reap a good thing - profit. Profits mean money for oversight of the moorings, vetting of boaters using the facilities, and a more boater friendly experience. It is in the vested interest of Marina Jack's to run a professional mooring business.

Florida has hundreds if not thousands of private docks and moorings. They are generally well run, follow Florida's laws, and local regulations. Putting ownership in the private sector works. Government needs to get out of the way. Government is not in the boating business. They are in the enforcement of laws business. Marina Jack's is in the boating business.