I'll regret this in the morning.

Okay, it is the morning. Anyway, here goes:

I just read an old post from May 30 on another of my blogs, www.naplesresource.blogspot.com, and discovered to my horror that I give a big thumbs-up to the city of Naples. I've got to amend that.

While it's true that most of my experiences with the city government has been terrific, that is not my experience across the board.

We had to cancel the Animal Lovers' Parade & Fair because of the city of Naples. First, they took away our venue, Gulf View Middle School, because the field was slated for re-sodding - this after they had urged us to use that location because of the beaten-up grass on that field, which would be perfect for animals, including horses, and high human traffic.

Then, they suggested we use Cambier Park - for over $1,000, not the original $270 we had agreed upon for Gulf View. And we would not be able to have all of our events there, such as a horse show or 4-H petting zoo - for some reason, these folks were particularly horrified by the prospect of rabbits, chickens, and one goat being in a pen at their park. Oh, and we could not use a large swath of the lawn there, either.

Throughout this catastrophe - which occurred just 19 days prior to our event - I got the distinct impression that two city bureaucrats in particular were taking some perverse form of delight in denying us our event.

I called and emailed Mayor Barnett, to ask if he would intercede for us. I'm still waiting for a reply. I did hear from someone down the chain of command who emailed to explain that he could not help me - which is why I asked the Mayor for help in the first place.

That is my take. I'm sure those involved - or, in the Mayor's case, conspicuously uninvolved - have a different version of how this went down. Best visit their blogs for that.

By the way: as of this writing, I still have 100 t-shirts commemorating this event that never was. Not only am I out hundreds of hours of my own time spent preparing, plus a few thousand dollars; we were hoping to raise thousands of dollars for the Humane Society, 4-H, Naples Equestrian Challenge, DAS, and quite a number of smaller organizations. Vendors were looking forward to this event to help promote their businesses. Canceling this event wasn't just a matter of canceling a good time.

I've been silent on this matter for about two months now, so as not to step on the toes of those I feel ruined this event for us. Guess I couldn't hold it in any longer. I hope nobody reads this. :)