Page 1 of 2

Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:27 pm
by Toby
The City of Miami Beach is trying to BAN KITESURFING! They will soon vote to force all kitesurfers to kite in one small location, at the edge of the City, far away from our homes, which will in fact create a safety hazard.

*******************************************************************
SIGN THE PETITION NOW to instantly email the Mayor and City Commissioners: https://mbkf.miami/contact-city-representative/

*******************************************************************
There is a simpler solution. We request the City instead enforce some simple guidelines:
- do not fly your kite over the beach, except to launch and land
- kite 200 feet from shore
- stay 50 feet away from swimmers

Why is the City not enforcing some simple rules and instead trying to BAN KITESURFING? WHERE DOES IT STOP? JET SKIS? SWIMMERS? UMBRELLAS? SNORKELING?

This affects you no matter where you are. How would you like to be told you can't practice sports in your backyard. IT STARTS HERE.

STOP THE BAN.

SIGN, SHARE & DONATE.

**************************************
UPDATE: We will be using this page to post events and meeting times - such as upcoming meetings at City Hall. If you are interested in staying updated please just mark Going or Interested and you will automatically receive the updates.

https://www.facebook.com/events/175722696364875/

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:33 pm
by Toby
Please help guys, it is very quick! And needed!!!

THANKS !

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 7:38 pm
by Matteo V
Holly Kuhn did a great petition site where each person could write their own thoughts on the issue regarding the Cape Cod Nation's Seashore ban. This one seems to be kind of a rigid form not allowing individual expression. I will sign it, but would like to personalize it so that those reading the statements know it was done with some thought by a real person.

Maybe contact Holly and ask her if this aspect was a benefit, or a detriment to the kitesurfing side.

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:50 pm
by SalmonSlayer
50 feet from swimmers assumes that nothing will happen. If you get a 50 foot rule, you will be right back here defending another ban.

Kite boarders should be more than their line lengths away from swimmers at a minimum

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:53 pm
by Cab Driver
Toby wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:27 pm
The City of Miami Beach is trying to BAN KITESURFING! They will soon vote to force all kitesurfers to kite in one small location, at the edge of the City, far away from our homes, which will in fact create a safety hazard.

*******************************************************************
SIGN THE PETITION NOW to instantly email the Mayor and City Commissioners: https://mbkf.miami/contact-city-representative/

*******************************************************************
There is a simpler solution. We request the City instead enforce some simple guidelines:
- do not fly your kite over the beach, except to launch and land
- kite 200 feet from shore
- stay 50 feet away from swimmers

Why is the City not enforcing some simple rules and instead trying to BAN KITESURFING? WHERE DOES IT STOP? JET SKIS? SWIMMERS? UMBRELLAS? SNORKELING?

This affects you no matter where you are. How would you like to be told you can't practice sports in your backyard. IT STARTS HERE.

STOP THE BAN.

SIGN, SHARE & DONATE.

**************************************
UPDATE: We will be using this page to post events and meeting times - such as upcoming meetings at City Hall. If you are interested in staying updated please just mark Going or Interested and you will automatically receive the updates.

https://www.facebook.com/events/175722696364875/
I have already signed the petition because I live in Miami and it's a crime that right in my backyard the community is unable to maintain open access. With that being said, I agree with the posters that the petition could be more personalized. Although I live in Miami, I don't live in Miami Beach so my petition will likely be deleted. I don't even have the ability to describe where in Miami I live or add a few brief sentences to support the cause or how I support Miami Beach. Further, having hard rules in these petitions, such as the mentioned 50 ft. rule, is not smart considering that there are already established safe riding guidelines broadly accepted in kitesurfing. If the sport should evolve and more or less room is needed to safely operate, then we are stuck with a rule on the books in a local government that would likely never be changed. This aside, the fact that someone has taken the time to put together a petition is a huge help to this cause and I am very grateful to them.

It is unfortunate that Miami is such an incredibly beautiful waterfront city with warm perfect ocean and bay water, yet the majority of us citizens are simply in the way of the goal to maximize tourism profiteering. I for one would not want to go on vacation to a city that uses kitesurfing in their marketing, yet loathes it's existence and essentially wants to drive the sport out of town. Technically speaking, even surfing is banned in Miami Beach. The fact is that the City of Miami Beach is a lame organization run by jokers in the influence of real estate developers and nightclubs.

Please help us with a small victory and sign the petition!

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:49 am
by Kitemanmuc
SalmonSlayer wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:50 pm
50 feet from swimmers assumes that nothing will happen. If you get a 50 foot rule, you will be right back here defending another ban.

Kite boarders should be more than their line lengths away from swimmers at a minimum
50 feet is actually the IKO recommended distance funny enough.

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:56 am
by Kitemanmuc
Matteo V wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 7:38 pm
Holly Kuhn did a great petition site where each person could write their own thoughts on the issue regarding the Cape Cod Nation's Seashore ban. This one seems to be kind of a rigid form not allowing individual expression. I will sign it, but would like to personalize it so that those reading the statements know it was done with some thought by a real person.

Maybe contact Holly and ask her if this aspect was a benefit, or a detriment to the kitesurfing side.
Thanks for the support! You are right it is not very personal, but it has been hard to get people to write personal messages. People get really excited and want to help, but ultimately don't want to put the work in and put pen to paper. This way people have to do much less work and are still expressing the same general idea and the support and enthusiasm that has poured in thus far has been overwhelming.

Could you share what has been done in Cape Cod? That would be great.

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:08 am
by Kitemanmuc
Cab Driver wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:53 pm
Toby wrote:
Wed Dec 27, 2017 6:27 pm
The City of Miami Beach is trying to BAN KITESURFING! They will soon vote to force all kitesurfers to kite in one small location, at the edge of the City, far away from our homes, which will in fact create a safety hazard.

*******************************************************************
SIGN THE PETITION NOW to instantly email the Mayor and City Commissioners: https://mbkf.miami/contact-city-representative/

*******************************************************************
There is a simpler solution. We request the City instead enforce some simple guidelines:
- do not fly your kite over the beach, except to launch and land
- kite 200 feet from shore
- stay 50 feet away from swimmers

Why is the City not enforcing some simple rules and instead trying to BAN KITESURFING? WHERE DOES IT STOP? JET SKIS? SWIMMERS? UMBRELLAS? SNORKELING?

This affects you no matter where you are. How would you like to be told you can't practice sports in your backyard. IT STARTS HERE.

STOP THE BAN.

SIGN, SHARE & DONATE.

**************************************
UPDATE: We will be using this page to post events and meeting times - such as upcoming meetings at City Hall. If you are interested in staying updated please just mark Going or Interested and you will automatically receive the updates.

https://www.facebook.com/events/175722696364875/
I have already signed the petition because I live in Miami and it's a crime that right in my backyard the community is unable to maintain open access. With that being said, I agree with the posters that the petition could be more personalized. Although I live in Miami, I don't live in Miami Beach so my petition will likely be deleted. I don't even have the ability to describe where in Miami I live or add a few brief sentences to support the cause or how I support Miami Beach. Further, having hard rules in these petitions, such as the mentioned 50 ft. rule, is not smart considering that there are already established safe riding guidelines broadly accepted in kitesurfing. If the sport should evolve and more or less room is needed to safely operate, then we are stuck with a rule on the books in a local government that would likely never be changed. This aside, the fact that someone has taken the time to put together a petition is a huge help to this cause and I am very grateful to them.

It is unfortunate that Miami is such an incredibly beautiful waterfront city with warm perfect ocean and bay water, yet the majority of us citizens are simply in the way of the goal to maximize tourism profiteering. I for one would not want to go on vacation to a city that uses kitesurfing in their marketing, yet loathes it's existence and essentially wants to drive the sport out of town. Technically speaking, even surfing is banned in Miami Beach. The fact is that the City of Miami Beach is a lame organization run by jokers in the influence of real estate developers and nightclubs.

Please help us with a small victory and sign the petition!
Thank you for the support and thank you for signing! Its great to see the whole kite community get together. You are right, it is a little rigid and lacks detail, but it is what was possible with minimal funds. If you would like to email the commissioners and mayor personally with your feelings on the matter and go in to further detail and especially tell your awesome story about rescuing a windsurfer, it would be amazing and we encourage everyone to do so!

http://miamibeachfl.gov/elected/

As for the hard rules, no one likes them and kiteboarding should remain open as it has become a safe sport, but in order to gain a little you have to give a little, especially with the concerns voiced by the HOAs along the beach.

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:18 am
by SalmonSlayer
Kitemanmuc wrote:
Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:49 am

50 feet is actually the IKO recommended distance funny enough.
Interesting...

I am surprised that 50 ft is the standard. I kite in Washington and Oregon. Most places AFAIK it is recommended to be at least a kite line length away. All that is needed is for a kite and lines to fall on a swimmer and then power up to have the potential for serious injury.

Again, I predict that only maintaining a 50ft distance will eventually create another ban attempt if you fight this one off. Miami kiters will get what they deserve.

Re: Please help: stop the ban in Miami Beach

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:06 pm
by palmbeacher
It's a shame some people don't want others to enjoy themselves because they have are so miserable themselves.

Miami Beach is a great place for hydrofoiling. Pretty sure no hydrofoiler has ever bothered anyone since the first 300 feet are too shallow.

Is about time they ban the noisy airplanes towing banners, now that is an annoyance!