We Don’t Want You
Treasure Island City Commissioner Alan Bildz who represents the Sunset Beach and Downtown neighborhoods of Treasure Island sent a clear and disturbing message to residents of the other Treasure Island neighborhoods, “We don’t want you on our streets.”
What appears to be the beginning of an ugly episode in Treasure Island history started several weeks ago when a small group of Sunset Beach residents began to complain about illegal parking on Sunset Beach streets. Instead of asking the Treasure Island Police to begin a campaign of stricter enforcement of the traffic parking ordinances, Bildz began a campaign to create Sunset Beach residents only parking passes.
Resident only parking means that the rest of Treasure Island’s citizens will be forced to compete for the limited number of public parking spaces on Sunset Beach with visitors from out of town when using one of Sunset Beach’s public parks or the public beach. These parks where purchased by and the beach is maintained by the tax dollars of all Treasure Island property owners and businesses.
Meanwhile, Sunset Beach residents will be able to take advantage of the rest of Treasure Island’s hospitality and park in any of the other Treasure Island neighborhoods without the need of a parking pass.
Bidz is defending his stand by comparing Sunset Beach which is known for its bars 
and an image of drunks and drug users to Pass-a-Grille with its multi-million dollar homes and historical landmarks. While Pass-a-Grille has numerous parking lots and ample metered street parking Sunset Beach, due to Bidz’s short sightedness, has limited lot parking and no metered street parking. During the past six years the City Commission has failed to take advantage of several opportunities to obtain land either through purchase or trade.
While Bildz is working diligently to separate Sunset Beach from the rest of Treasure Island, his other responsibility, downtown Treasure Island, lies in ruin. Bildz continues to prove he cares more about parking passes and sea oats than people’s businesses and jobs.
If Sunset Beach is allowed to have resident only parking passes and the rest of the community is denied the right to visit a neighborhood, parks and a beach they helped pay for and maintain, a rift will begin and continue to grow until Bildz and his narrow minded vision of Sunset Beach first and last is replaced.