Battle over Access to Fisher Island Beaches Escalates; Access to Florida Beaches on the Line
Hundred-plus to Land on Fisher Island Saturday Morning, November 17th
View documentary about island at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuW-lp4eHkI
MIAMI, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a letter to the Fisher Island Community Association today, SEIU gave Fisher Island until 5:00 p.m. tonight to allow access to the public slip at the Marina and to the public beaches and ferry terminal allowing access to those beaches, or face legal action. The letter states "If Fisher Island maintains its current position, an action for an injunction will be commenced to protect the right of the public to reasonable access to the island's beaches."
"Fisher Island's attempt to hinder public use of its beaches has statewide implications, undermining the State's public policy that "beaches below mean high water lines" --- are held by the State "in trust for all the people" (Article X, Section 11 of the Florida Constitution.) Significantly, Florida has spent substantial funds to purchase land to enable the public to access the State's beaches, with beach tourism contributing billions of dollars per year to the Florida economy."
More than a hundred community activists will land on Fisher Island beaches tomorrow to put a public face on Fisher Island's "separate, but equal" mentality regarding the workers who service the island and the public. "Because they are so isolated, Fisher Island residents think they can wall themselves off from the poverty they create," said SEIU 11 Political Director Hiram Ruiz, "We set out to make a point, that there should be only one Miami, not one Miami for the wealthy and another for the rest of us. Now, however, it has mushroomed into something much bigger: Can the very rich write their own laws, roll over public officials and bar Floridians and tourists from accessing our beautiful -- and public -- beaches?"
The exclusive, white beaches of Fisher Island --- long kept off limits to the public --- will be the destination of an innovative action by SEIU Local 11 to expose the layers of discrimination, unfair treatment and abuse directed at the workers who maintain the island's grounds, clean up after the wealthy residents, and keep the island safe.
The only way on to the island is by invite-only ferry, boat, or helicopter. The island promotes its exclusive reputation by refusing to allow members of the general public to ride the ferry to the island unless they have been personally invited. However, a stretch of the beach on Fisher Island is public. WHAT: Boat launch to take "private" Fisher Island beach public
WHO: More than a hundred community activists
WHEN: Saturday, November 17, 12:30 p.m.
First wave of boats will leave promptly at 1:00 p.m.
WHERE: Jimbo's on Virginia Key to Fisher Island
Directions to Jimbo's: Take the Rickenbacker Causeway to
Virginia Key.
Take the first left after the light at Mast Academy, and follow
the signs.
BACKGROUND:
Named the richest ZIP code in the nation by Forbes magazine and profiled this past June in The New York Times Magazine as "Fantasy Island," Fisher Island is known for its extravagance --- including bird-walkers, separate million-dollar condominiums for pets, lush surroundings, and imported sand.
Despite being the wealthiest ZIP code in the nation, the service workers who tend the island make as little as $8.60 an hour, and never know if they will be offered enough hours a week to pay their rent and other bills. Other cities with similar luxury condominiums that cater to the wealthiest Americans pay the workers who clean and maintain their buildings considerably higher wages. In San Francisco and New York City, housekeepers make more than $16 an hour and have fully paid health insurance and standardized hours.
While workers are struggling to form a union to combat low wages and uncertain work hours, they are also drawing attention to serious issues of discrimination the workers are subjected to on the island and the ferry that takes them to the island.
A recent New York Times Magazine piece wrote, "Indeed, what becomes obvious on the island is first apparent on the ferry: there are only two kinds of people boarding. Rich people, many in expensive cars, and servants, who board on foot and take their spots on benches for the seven-minute ride."
In a case that harkens back to the civil rights lawsuits of the 1950s that ended racial segregation, 19 workers filed a class action complaint against Fisher Island Holdings, Inc., Fisher Island Community Association Inc., Fisher Island Club Inc., and Fisher Island Community Association LLC with the Miami-Dade County Equal Opportunity Board charging that policies and practices in effect on the Fisher Island Ferry Service that operates between the exclusive island to the mainland segregates Haitian, Hispanic, and African American workers. The complaint questions policies on the island-owned ferry that the workers must take to get to the island.
The island is only accessible by ferry, excluding the few residents who arrive by helicopter or private yacht. Billed as a paradise for residents and guests, the island attracts some of the world's wealthiest people, such as Mel Brooks, Sharon Gless, Janis Wackenhut (the daughter of the founder of the Wackenhut Corp.), and former Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) executive Michael Tokarz.
The workers have repeatedly reached out to the Fisher Island corporations and Somerset --- the New York City-based private equity firm that has pledged $300 million to make the island "one of the most exclusive addresses in the world"--to commit to high quality jobs on the island and to end discrimination against the island's service workers.
Source: SEIU Local 11
CONTACT: Tanya Aquino, +1-321-960-3802, or Renee Asher, +1-202-255-4251,both of SEIU Local 11
Web Site: http://www.seiu11.org/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuW-lp4eHkI