The Rip Off Florida Turnpike Only the combination of wholly corrupt, profligate and venal politicians, completely rapacious and unbridled capitalism; and the excessive, extreme commercialization of the Florida Tourism product could create the situation and conditions that currently obtain in the Pompano Beach and Palm Beach County Rest Areas of the Florida Turnpike. These would cause one to wonder how much money was paid over and under the table, in contributions to the campaigns of Florida politicians; and, in cash in brown paper bags to cause taxpayer funds to build rest areas with facilities including WiFi that benefit the Franchises that have restaurants there and ignore completely the rights of weary travelers. In Pompano Beach, there is a designated seating area for patrons of Dunking Donuts, for Wendy’s and Pizza Hut patrons, there is no seating designated for the weary traveler who wants to get a load of and take a break or get some sleep having driven for hundreds of miles. In Palm Beach County against the wall there are some seats that could be said to be designated seating for the weary traveler but most of the space available is for patrons of restaurants and the traveler seems almost an afterthought. Most disheartening and indicative of whom and what is considered important but those who designed and constructed these locations is the fact that in both these in concept Rest Areas there are no water fountains so if a traveler is thirsty, he or she must approach and stand in line with the patrons of these privileged restaurants to petition to be given a cup so that his or thirst might be quenched. With the exception of the Florida Turnpike and this is a recent development I have never been in a highway rest area anywhere else in this nation in which there was not a single water fountain in fact many have two or three. This is in the context of the fact that the traveler on the Florida Turnpike is a captive audience because if he exits the Turnpike he pays a toll, and he is often charged another toll to reenter this highway so that these restaurants have virtual monopolies and the prices they charge reflect this as I will indicate. But there is another development that needs to be exposed, if you sleep in the rest area or if your vehicle has a mechanical problem; or, for some other reason you spend more than the time arbitrarily allotted by the powers that be you are charged the maximum toll some Fourteen Dollars instead of the traditional amount calculated based on the distance traveled. I know this because one night I slept in the Palm Beach County rest area and when I attempted to exit the Turnpike was advised that it would cost me Thirteen Dollars and Ninety Cents to do so; and, when I resisted paying this charge and indicated I would be happy to go to court before doing so I was told that a request for payment would be mailed to me which I have not received and am waiting to see the outcome of my resistance what penalty my license being suspended or otherwise for having the temerity to resist this highway robbery by a government agency. Further, if you do not purchase the pass to travel the Turnpike even outside peak hours you wait in long lines to pay the toll another measure of the contempt which is visited those who use this highway. But let us return to the implications of the virtual monopoly of restaurants and the exorbitant prices this causes to charge the captive audience of travelers: if I purchase a Senior coffee at McDonald’s at the Pompano exit to the Turnpike I pay Ninety Five Cents and I can get refills; if I purchase coffee from the Dunking Donuts in the Pompano Rest Area they do not have a small coffee you have to purchase a medium coffee for which you are charged Two Dollars and Thirty One cents including tax and you are not allowed refills. Pizza Hut inside the Rest Area also has a significantly different menu, you can purchase a small Pizza for Five Dollars with one topping while outside the virtual monopoly of the Turnpike where market forces and competition determine the prices you would be able to purchase a large one topping Pizza from Little Caesar’s for you guessed it for Five Dollars. Not wanting to neglect the rest area in Palm Beach County there is Franchise that sells sandwiches with a British name that I have not see anywhere else, that I assume can only be profitable in the market conditions that obtain within the limits of the Florida Turnpike that markets an inferior sandwich at double the price of the many foot longs you can purchase at Subway for Five Dollars. You can only purchase Shell gasoline in the confines of the Florida Turnpike Rest Areas and there is also a convenience store and the prices in these stores of fuel and whatever also reflects the virtual monopoly situation but there is no designated seating for this outlet so if you purchase a food item you have to sit in the seating allocated to one of the Franchise Restaurants or eat it in your vehicle. Does anyone but me remember the good old days when food was sold in the Rest Area but the restaurants were separated and you could chose whether or not you patronized these and there was seating for the traveler and if you wished you could have a picnic in this location and bring your food items along with you and not be forced to purchase from the limited selection offered in the rest area? And the restaurants then served the traveler now Pizza Hut closes at 8 Pm. so that it is only open for the period during which its profits are maximized, the same for the Wendy’s Franchise though it is open a little longer; and, the only restaurant that is always open is the Dunking Donuts. Now to the piece de resistance the reason why I took the trouble to expose this situation there being so many diminutions in the quality of life of Floridians and examples of the impact of incompetent, corrupt politics and rapacious capitalism that to expose all these would be so time consuming as to be hardly worth the effort: Last night, on January 20, I was reading my e mails in the seating assigned to Pizza Hut when I was approached by someone in the maintenance crew and asked to relocate the reason being they were going to clean the floors and they were starting in that area first and would move on to the other areas where there was seating. I indicated that they should clean around me since there is no area for travellers only for patrons of the restaurants and I would be asked to move again and again as they performed maintenance on these; and, was told is I did not move the floor would be wet and if I slipped and fell they would not be liable. I was told that I would have to lift my feet so that they could clean which I was prepared to do but they kept pressuring me to move, the question is this structure was built with taxpayer’s money to benefit users of the Florida Turnpike and up to a few years ago I was a taxpayer but I was being ejected from the location for the benefit of those who profited from travelers who used the highway. I was in the corner at the end table in nobody’s way and taking up a very small space but was not allowed to remain there and eventually they went and got the police in the form of Storm Trooper/ State Trooper Montero whom could not tell me what law I was breaking sitting in a rest area built with taxpayer’s money but threatened that if I did not move I would be arrested for disorderly conduct and for failing the obey the instruction of a law officer. I did indicate to him that it was clear he was exceeding his authority in removing me for no good reason but he was not having this and eventually I bowed to the pressure and threats and got in my vehicle and drove away from the Rest Area in which there was no place for travelers but was constructed it appears to me solely for the benefit of businesses who prey on travelers, fleece them with exorbitant prices and treat them not as customers but as prey. What is the root cause of this is the fact that government in Florida at every level has a voracious appetite for revenue and for income legitimate and otherwise as evidenced by the fact that once residents in this State had untrammeled access to the beaches which are now lined with parking meters so that there is a cost to visit these which was one of the greatest consolations for my having to live in the ‘scam capital of the nation.’ The problem is that no amount of revenue will ever be enough because it is the fact that the real problem is twofold, the first being the fact that Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties each have thirty five cities, I say again thirty five cities each with its own Mayor, City Hall and bureaucracy, ten of these has its own Police Force but few have a tax base large enough to support the services a modern metropolis must provide so each city is trapped in the vicious circle of diminishing returns, of having to raise taxes of all kinds to remain solvent which drives businesses and individuals out of the city reducing revenue necessitating further tax increases restarting the cycle. The rational solution to this problem is to merge five or more of these cities into one unit which would create economies of scale and make the resulting metropolis economically viable but this rationalization would mean putting Mayors and others out of jobs something impossible to contemplate. The other component of this problem is the waste as exemplified by the fact that early in the summer of last year there was the annual Seafood Festival on Pompano Beach and an individual worked twelve hours making sure that the restrooms had toilet tissues, for this he was paid Sixty Dollars an hour so he made Seven Hundred and Twenty dollars that day substantially more than most productive employees who actually contribute to creating goods or services make in a week. My solution is that I will avoid as much as possible travelling on the Turnpike and will use I-95 as an alternative and at every exist there will be several restaurants competing for my business as well as several suppliers of petrol but that is a solution to my individual problem but destruction of the Florida Tourism product is something else and this is sure to continue to the detriment of the economy in this State; further, outside of the Turnpike I will not see the inside of a Pizza Hut, or a Wendy’s, or a Dunking Donut because they are not competitive having no desire to give value for money but I have this compulsion to utter so I feel constrained to document this experience.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 21:55:12 +0000
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