Brent Batten: Trump eyes The Everglades — from above
Donald Trump says he’ll save The Everglades.
But you wouldn’t necessarily call him a friend of The Everglades.
In his speech Sunday at the Collier County Fairgrounds, Trump promised to protect and restore the ecosystem that forms the central part of South Florida.
But his remarks following indicate he sees the system, revered by environmentalists, as something best observed from altitude.
“A Trump Administration will work alongside you to protect and restore the beautiful Florida Everglades, which I just flew over,” Trump said.
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“Let me tell you, when you fly over The Everglades and you look at those ‘gators and you look at those water moccasins, you say, ‘I better have a good helicopter.' I told the pilot, 'Are you sure we’re OK?’
“That’s a rough looking sight down there. You don’t want to be down there. I’ve heard for a long time, go around The Everglades. It’ll take longer but … not good. But we’re going to protect the Everglades.”
The brief monologue drew laughs from the crowd, and of course he’s right in the sense that a politician and his entourage would not want to be plopped into the middle of the Glades unequipped and unprepared, but Trump’s remarks may not sit well with the million-plus outdoors enthusiasts who visit Everglades National Park and the surrounding environs every year just to get a glimpse of the gators and other wildlife.
Trump didn’t offer specifics on how he would save The Everglades. Plans are in place for massive projects to restore water flows to something closer to their natural state. The main obstacle to their completion is funding, and state officials say the federal government hasn’t kept its end of a deal that was to split those costs 50-50.
Trump’s Contract with the American Voter pledges to end payments to U.S. global warming initiatives and use the money to “fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure.”
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Naples got a good review, even if Donald Trump didn’t, from South Miami Vice Mayor Bob Welsh.
Welsh regularly attends Trump rallies to protest the Republican nominee.
On Sunday his protest took the form of an audio tape and loudspeaker playing Trump’s notorious remarks to Access Hollywood over and over.
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Trump supporters were not pleased, Welsh said, but they were nice about it.
“It has not been positive. I did not expect it to be positive,” Welsh said of the reaction. “People ask if I approve of what Bill Clinton did. I tell them no, but I’m not voting for Bill Clinton.”
The discourse was respectful both at the fairgrounds and at Germain Arena last month, Welsh said.
“Naples is friendly. Fort Myers was friendly. In West Palm Beach every single person, including the women, were flipping me off.”
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Attendance at a Trump rally is always a point of interest, even a point of contention.
Trump interrupted his speech Sunday to announce that the gates had been closed because 12,000 people were let in, as if somehow that number triggered the closure. A few hundred people gathered outside the fair fence to listen to Trump even though they didn’t have a clear view.
“So they stopped letting people in at 12,000. So when they (the media) say we have 500 people, it’s the most unbelievable thing. I just want to thank you. This crowd is incredible. You could be out doing other things.”
But eyeballing the crowd, it looked considerably smaller than 12,000. The bodies were packed into a space smaller than Germain Arena, which was filled to its capacity of 8,000 when Trump spoke there in September.
So what was the real number? Heads weren’t counted at the gate but parking attendants did collect $5 from cars entering the fairgrounds lot.
Anthony Curto, president of the Naples Bears Pop Warner Football organization, which headed up the parking detail, said volunteers parked about 3,000 cars.
At an average of two people per car, that puts attendance at about 6,000. Three people per car would be 9,000, etc.
The U.S. Department of Transportation says for social and recreational trips, vehicles generally carry 2.1 people.
Curto said the money will be split with other groups that provided volunteers for parking. The Naples Bears offer youth football and cheerleading programs serving about 200 youngsters in the Golden Gate Estates area.
Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, of Twitter@NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrent batten.