Chris Elliott is right.
Yeah, I was surprised that I typed that, too. The conservative Republican state senator and I don’t agree on much, but when a guy’s right, he’s right. And Elliott is right about the new I-10 bridge over the Mobile River.
It should be named for Jimmy Buffett.
Elliott made the suggestion to AL.com on Thursday, and it’s really the only right answer to this question.
Whatever argument you’re about to attempt against that idea, just stop. Because you’re wrong. And you probably know it.
It’s like naming that stretch of I-85 near Atlanta for Lewis Grizzard. When you hear it, you just sort of know that it’s the right idea. That you can hold the ceremony, everyone will be happy about it, and 30 years from now no one will have a problem with it.
I’m not just saying that because someone else proposed naming it after Donald Trump. Although that is a monumentally stupid idea. Yes, let’s name it after a person who isn’t from here, has no connection to the area, did nothing to help build the bridge and was generally opposed to the Biden infrastructure package that made the bridge possible.
Genuinely, though, none of that factors into why naming it in honor of Buffett is the best idea.
It’s because few people have done more for the Gulf Coast area—and its wildlife, wetlands and people—than Buffett. He grew up in the area. His family is still in the area. He wrote songs that romanticized the laid-back beach lifestyle that’s made Alabama’s coast one of the most popular tourist destinations in America.
And, oh, yeah, he was a pretty good dude.
You probably already know it, but Buffett was a big conservationist and a founding member of one of the nation’s largest nonprofits devoted to saving endangered marine animals—the Save the Manatee Club. You’ve probably seen their car tags over in Florida.
But he didn’t stop with manatees. His charity work extended to other marine life and to the habitats that are vitally important to sustaining them. He raised and gave millions to charities that protected and rebuilt those habitats—most notably the Florida Everglades.
For years, a dollar from every ticket sold at his concerts went to his other charity, Singing for Change. That nonprofit supplied millions in funding to various grassroots community organizations focused on rebuilding and repairing communities across America. Primarily, the charity focuses on funding volunteer-based organizations that address the root issues causing problems in low-income areas.
Singing for Change was a lifeline to hundreds of small, struggling groups, and it resulted in immeasurable positive change.
And it doesn’t stop there.
After the disastrous Gulf Coast oil spill in 2010, Buffett was a savior to the entire region. He organized a 35,000-ticket event on the beach that drew people back to an area that had seen a 50 percent drop in tourism because of the spill. Literally dozens of businesses still credit the guy with saving them from almost certain bankruptcy.
He also paid for the construction of several shallow-water wildlife rescue boats that could be used to save marine life caught up in the spill. The 17-foot boats were donated to university researchers who were struggling to reach the marsh areas along the coast to rescue birds and other wildlife.
He also pushed to hold BP more accountable for the spill and the company’s inaction during the days immediately after the well began leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The public pressure he helped apply to BP played a major role in some of the payouts and settlements that eventually went to those most harmed by the spill.
Honestly, without his monumental efforts during that time, there’s no telling what the coastal areas of our state, and that entire region, would look like today.
He didn’t do any of it for money. Or for fame. And he sure didn’t do it so someone would name a bridge for him down the road.
He did it because the Gulf Coast is what Jimmy Buffett loved. He wanted to protect it. He wanted to brag about it. He wanted everyone else to love it as much as he did.
That’s what those songs were about. And that’s exactly what you want folks thinking about as they drive over the Jimmy Buffett Bridge, headed toward the beach escape in the lyrics.
