Gahtzu there's nothing wrong with criticism of one's own region. If something's wrong with something it's probably better to try to fix it rather than simply ignoring the problem out of blind pride. Not doing so is actually probably worse for whatever it is that you take pride in.
Also Ian is part of the FL community. A community is made up of several individual parts, and Ian, like you and me, is one of those individual parts. We don't tell him to leave, as that's getting rid of a part that makes up our community.
All this said, Ian I believe you're exaggerating the problem, and I think you're being too pessimistic about what you've got. I don't know how active Washington's scene is, but I think it's probably more likely that the Florida scene is more active than Washington's.
It's true that Fl use to be a lot more active in the past. However, I wouldn't doubt that EVERY state was lot more active in the past, when Melee was younger and Brawl wasn't out yet. So yes it's true that the Melee scene has declined but again I wouldn't be surprised if EVERY scene has declined. Don't think that this phenomenon is exclusive with the Fl scene.
Don't blame the Fl smashes for this. People grow up. Other things gain in priority. Interest in a game may dwindle as time goes on. Honestly it's not really anyone's duty to play this game if they don't want to. After all, it's just a game. If they don't want to play this game, or have other things they need to attend to, then so be it.