I read with great pleasure Grace Caldwell’s statement, in yesterday’s edition of The Citizen, on the need for Georgians around the state to take a stand on keeping Jekyll Island State Park affordable by signing the online petition available at www.savejekyllisland.org.

It is a sad fact that average income Georgians must petition the park’s governing body — Jekyll island Authority’s Board of Directors — in order to keep their own state park from being redeveloped in a way that will price them out of the island’s oceanfront hotels.

More specifically, the prompt for the petition came from a statement made by Board Chairman Ben Porter at the July board meeting.

Suggesting that beach-side property is too valuable to house modestly-priced hotels, Chairman Porter said, “The board will try to make sure that lodgings are available to low-budget visitors. This will likely be done by inviting hotel companies to build accommodations in the park’s interior – no one expects beach-front rooms to cost less than $170 per night.”

Well, excuse me, but assigning average income Georgians to the interior of their own state park is just not acceptable public policy.

As Senator Jeff Chapman stated, in a recent letter to the Jekyll Oversight Committee challenging the board’s position, “Is the need for developers to reap handsome returns for their investment in the park more important to the citizens of Georgia than enjoying beach-front property in a state park, which has a legislative mandate to remain affordable?”

By signing the “Let’s Keep Jekyll Island Affordable” petition, citizens across the state may register their support for a policy of fairness in redeveloping a park that has aptly been called “Georgia’s Jewel.”

In the words of Sen. Chapman, “Jekyll’s revitalization must be friendly to average income citizens and consistent with Jekyll Island State Park’s well-earned reputation as ‘the people’s park,’ or risk reverting back to an elitist resort, financially out of reach for enjoyment by the average Georgian.”

David Egan

Jekyll Island, Ga.

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