Donie Lee, Vice Mayor of the city of Key West, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
The songwriters festival is this week.
Lee said, “It’s hard to believe this is the 30th annual songwriters festival. It is going to be a busy week here in Key West. A lot of visitors here, a lot of musicians, artists here. It’s just a wonderful, wonderful festival of great music and storytelling at various venues and establishments throughout Key West. So I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of people visiting, and a lot of locals who are going to take part in listening to some great music by some artists who are just starting out, and a lot of them end up being stars. This event, historically, has been a very safe event. You’ve got people in here who are here just to have a good time. So we do staff up, and we have a lot of off duty details assigned to some of the venues. So it’s typically been a very safe event, a great group of people.”
The transfer of Higgs Beach from the county to the city will happen on May 1.
Lee said, “May 1 is the day that we take over the conveyance of Higgs Beach. So we’ll be doing that, I think, probably on this coming May 7 agenda, we’re probably going to already start approving events that are going to take place at Higgs Beach. We’re looking forward to getting started there and starting to make some infrastructure improvements there, with the monies that come along with the transfer from Monroe County. So although I didn’t support the conveyance, now that we have it, I think that we need to get started and make improvements there with the monies that came with that transfer. So I’m looking forward to improving that park there, that will now belong to the residents of Key West.”
A second grand jury report looking into how the city of Key West is run has shown progress from the first report, but the city still has some issues.
Lee said, “There’s always room for improvement. And a fresh set of eyes taking a look at things. But let me first start with what the report doesn’t say. I think it’s important. The report isn’t a criminal indictment or describes the city’s administration as dishonest or corrupt. And I say that because, it’s campaign season, and there are some trying to portray it as such. What the report does say and cite are concerns with three areas, and that was the organizational structure, land development regulations and planning board processes. So I certainly respect the grand jury’s time and effort that they’ve put in, in reviewing the city operations and identifying what they perceive as areas of concerns and recommendations to improve them.”
The report also suggested creating citizen led committees to review city staffing and building regulations.
Lee said, “In regards to the advisory boards, I’m not sure that creating advisory boards are required to review and implement change where necessary. I think it’s ultimately the responsibility of each commissioner to evaluate the city manager’s decisions as it relates to organizational structure and staffing and provide feedback and guidance. I will say that I do agree with the grand jury that our land development regulations need to be reviewed and amended, but I think that that’s going to take a lot longer than the two months that they suggested that a committee look into that. There’s so many land development regulations on the books, and I agree that there is a need to review them, but it’s going to take quite a long time to go through them and review them and amend them. As far as the specific recommendations for planning board members, I think, in general, the recommendations that they made are sound and practical and should be implemented. So what I’m going to do this week is I’m going to meet with my appointee of the planning board. I’m going to meet with the planning staff members and city leadership to discuss the report, so that I’m prepared to discuss the report. We’ll be discussing this at the May 7 commission meeting.”
The city had $4.62 million awarded by the TDC for Mallory Square, phase one project.
Lee said, “I’m looking forward to that. Mallory Square is just, it’s an iconic location there. Everyone that comes to Key West as visitors and the locals, that’s probably number one on their list, is Mallory Square to see the sunset and partake in the sunset celebration. So we are certainly looking forward to repairing the care and doing renovations of Mallory Square. And included with that now is we approved the RFP to have the cable huts and the Hospitality House. So I think it’s all coming together now, and we’re certainly looking forward to all of those improvements to make Mallory Square and the sunset celebration a wonderful experience for all.”
The Key West High School baseball team saw some success recently.
Lee said, “Friday night, the boys Key West High School baseball team won their district game on Friday night, so they are advancing, and they will be playing the best two out of three starting this Friday night and then Saturday against Somerset from the Miami area. So good luck to the Key West boys as they continue their State Championship playoff endeavor.”