Local tourism leaders criticized Port Canaveral officials for a two-minute video they say implies it is inconvenient and unsafe for cruise passengers to park their cars in off-site lots while on their vacation.

Local 6's news partner Florida Today reports the video had been posted on the port’s website before being pulled.

Canaveral Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Stan Payne on Wednesday said the posting of the video was the result of “a misunderstanding,” and he ordered it pulled.

Port Authority Vice Chairman Tom Weinberg and secretary/treasurer Jerry Allender called for a full investigation of how the video was produced, how much it cost to have it produced by an outside contractor, and how it got posted on the website.

“We owe a lot of people some serious apologies,” Weinberg said.

During Wednesday’s Canaveral Port Authority meeting, Payne did not elaborate on what happened, and he declined to comment on the issue after the meeting.

Two prominent beachside hotel operators, Bob Baugher and Tom Williamson, criticized the port’s handling of the video and other port-related parking issues during the meeting.

Separately, the Port Authority approved a measure to consider revamping the port’s own parking operations, an item that was a late addition to the commission agenda. Options include:

• Seeking bids for a concessionaire to run the port’s parking operations with a formula developed to ensure certain revenue levels.

• Seeking bids for management services to assist the port in developing its on-site parking program, including advanced reservations, pricing and advertising.

Port Authority Chairman Bruce Deardoff said it might be best for the port to have a concessionaire run the parking operations, as other seaports and airports have done.

Payne said parking operations generate about 20 percent of the port’s revenue. But the port is getting more competition from hotel operators and others offering “park-and-cruise” shuttle service at cheaper parking rates than the port charges.

Payne said the port needs expert advice on how to proceed, a process estimated to cost $50,000 to $60,000.

Williamson, president of the Cocoa Beach Area Hotel and Lodging Association, and of a group of tourism businesses that prearrange parking and shuttle service to the port, said: “I have to question the mindset and the culture” of whoever made and authorized the posting of the video.

After he saw the video, he emailed his concerns to port commissioners, Brevard County commissioners, Cocoa Beach city officials and tourism officials. The video subsequently was removed from the port’s website.

In addition, the attorney for one of the companies operating an off-site parking lot geared to cruise passengers told the Port Authority he was preparing legal action.

Melbourne attorney Joseph Colombo, representing Cruise Parking of Port Canaveral on U.S. 1 north of Cocoa, said the video used altered images of his client’s business in a disparaging way.

The video features actors, playing a husband and wife going on a cruise, who park at an off-site parking lot, rather than the port’s parking lot. They are delayed getting to the port before their cruise and leaving the port afterward.

It shows a shady-looking character milling around the lot at night. When they get back to their car, they discover that the car window was smashed, with the implication that items were stolen.

Colombo said his client’s parking business volume dropped significantly after the video was posted on the port website.

Rob Varley, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, said the issue was so important that the Brevard County Tourist Development Council canceled its scheduled meeting Wednesday so its members could attend the port meeting.

Varley said the video “upset the community” and implied it is crime-ridden and seedy.

Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce President/Chief Executive Officer Melissa Stains said the video “was not very beneficial to our businesses that operate off-site parking.”

“I suspect it took a little harder tone than was intended,” Stains said.

In his email to local officials, Tom Williamson, president of the Cocoa Beach Area Hotel and Lodging Association, said:
“The idea that the port would produce and present this to the traveling public is insulting to the citizens of the entire county and state. While trying to convince potential cruisers to park at the port, it has portrayed our area as high in crime, with businesspeople who are deceitful and seedy. Who in their right mind would want to visit our destination, regardless of where they park, after seeing this? …
“Whoever allowed this to be produced and exhibited on the port's website should be removed. This may be the worst business decision I ever encountered. Especially from an entity that is charged with bettering the economic life of the constituents of the taxing district, not to mention the region and the state.”