My family and I are down here in Jekyll Island, Georgia this week. In so many ways, this island is a model of how we need to live.

Jekyll Island was the playground of the rich in the late 1800s. Pulitzer,
Gould, Rockefeller, Morgan ... a who's who of the richest and most powerful
people in America. In fact, the idea for the Federal Reserve was hatched
at their private club, the Jekyll Island Club. The families all built
houses and wintered here for many years, until their power began to wane.

In the early fifties, the heirs of the rich folk, who had not paid property
taxes for many years, were surprised to find that the State of Georgia took
their land in exchange for the taxes owed. The state took ownership of the
island, and gave people 99 year leases. In an amazing stroke of foresight,
the state required that only 35 percent of the island be developed,
protecting the rest of the island.

It makes for a great mix. Yes, there are hotels and restaurants, but
biking around this (very flat!) island is so great: marshes, forests,
beach. There are electric cars on the road, and I would have to say with a
great deal of surety that the percentage of old fat men biking on Jekyll is
higher than in any other place in America.

Now, of course, developers want to change this. Georgia Governor Sonny
Perdue appointed three developers to the five-member Jekyll Island
Authority, and they have decided that this island just can't do without a
few McDonalds and maybe a Crate and Barrel.

There is a milquetoast bill in the Georgia legislature that would provide
some protection that the developers can't strip mine the whole thing, but
it's not nearly as strongly worded as any of the residents and lovers of
this island would like. Still, it's better than nothing.

I hope that people will write to the Governor and encourage him to take
action FOR Jekyll, instead of seeking to sell it out. Make a YouTube
video. Write a letter. But this is too good to just give up on. This is
what we all need to be doing.