It was a good day yesterday. Destin Mayor Sam Seevers and City Manager Greg Kisela invited several rental company owners and managers, including Easy Street Vacation Rentals, Newman-Dailey Resort Properties, Resort Quest, Dale E. Peterson, and others, to a special meeting with them and Jay Prothro, the Regional Director of the BP Outreach Program. The purpose of the meeting was to give us property managers a first hand and accurate update on the oil spill in general, the Booming Plan to protect the Harbor and the Bay, and the cleanup plan in the event the oil does reach our beaches. The BP representative also discussed the BP Claims process and offered to be an advocate with our claims process if necessary.
Before I go into the details of the meeting, let me first tell you after yesterday's meeting, how fortunate I think we all are to have the quality of leadership we have in Destin. I have been involved in many cities and city governments in my 20 plus years as a Credit Union CEO (my previous life), and I can say without question we have top notch leadership in Destin. I believe we have exactly the right people, in exactly the right job, at exactly the right time to deal with this nightmare. If I got nothing else out of yesterdays meeting, I got the sense that our city leadership has a firm handle on what's going on, how to protect us, and the guts to make certain we get whatever we need to protect our Bay, the Harbor and our Beaches.
The first bit of encouraging news we heard was that the oil is actually further away from Destin today than it was on Monday. Thankfully the wind and the currents seem to be working in our favor. Will the oil hit our beaches, I don't think anyone really knows with certainty. For two weeks now I have heard that oil will hit our beaches within 72 hours and it's still not here. What I heard at the meeting is that if (and I mean if) the oil hits our beaches we're prepared. The County has beach patrols on four wheelers that inspect the beaches several times a day, every day looking for oil. We have a SCAT team (don't ask me what SCAT stands for) that will validate any oil or tar ball findings. If validated they will call in for the BP clean up teams immediately. They also indicated that the city web site has the latest information on the beach conditions, air quality and other relevant oil spill information and links.
Another piece of encouraging news was that Jay Prothro from BP indicated the diagonal drilling, which is our best chance of completely capping the spill, is two weeks ahead of schedule. That means the oil spill should be capped once and for all by early August at the latest. It's never soon enough but there finally seems to be an end in site. He also indicated there are four skimmer boats active in the area now with four more on the way, cleaning up the oil before it reaches our beaches. Quoting Greg Kisela, the city is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
A great big thank you to the Mayor and City Manager for putting this special meeting together, and for their leadership during this time of crisis. It's very much appreciated. I know we'll all get through this.
God Bless the Gulf Coast
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Rick Scali Rick Scali is the Owner of Easy Street Pet Friendly Vacation Rentals in Destin Florida. Whether you are a family looking for a squeaky clean Destin Rental Home with a Private Pool or a couple looking for a romantic getaway in a Destin Beachhouse, Easy Street Pet Friendly Vacation Rentals will exceed your expectations. Easy Street Pet Friendly Vacation Rentals has the largest selection of quality pet friendly homes in Destin, Florida and throughout the Emerald Coast. Call us toll-free today at 877.432.7978 or email us at info@easystreet-rentals.cominfo@easystreet-rentals.com - we would love to welcome you, your family AND Fido to join us at the beach.
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