The Key West City Commission will meet tonight at 5 p.m. in City Hall at 1300 White Street. Participants can attend in-person or online at http://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/
City Commissioner Sam Kaufman joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM to discuss the upcoming meeting.
One topic will be the resolution presented by City Commissioner Clayton Lopez on gun control. The resolution will urge Congress and the Florida legislature to enact common sense gun control.
Kaufman said, “I certainly support that and I think most of my colleagues will. It appears that Congress is finally going to take action, so that’s a good thing. There’s way too many mass shootings. We’re thankful for the strong support of our local law enforcement agencies and partners and school and school district because we really need to do everything we can to prevent any tragedy.”
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department works in conjunction with the Key West Police Department and a Threat Assessment Task Force is always on duty.
In terms of the resolution tonight, if the City Commission approves it, it will then go to Representatives and Senators from the Key West City Commission.
Kaufman explained, “Many cities are doing this, telling our officials in the state legislature and in Congress that we want them to take action. Really it’s a public statement of support of Congress and our state legislature doing something to help increase the safety for our residents and our visitors here and everywhere in the country.”
Florida has had Red Flag laws in effect as of 2018.
The city doesn’t really have jurisdiction over laws like that.
Kaufman said, “We have a very strong police department, a very strong Sheriff’s office. We have our military partners. We have a lot of agencies in place to help to protect us and to act if ever needed, but common sense, reasonable background checks, I think the majority of folks, not just here locally, but everywhere think that the government needs to take some action. It’s just gone too far.”
The resolution itself talks about mandatory background checks for all gun purchases and removing the assault style weapons.
Also at tonight’s City Commission meeting, commendations will be made to the Key West High School baseball and softball teams.
Budget talks will also be had at various committee meetings before the meeting tonight.
Affordable housing will also be discussed in conjunction with Peary Court Apartments.
Kaufman said, “Like anything else, supply and demand is a driving force in terms of our critical need for housing. I think many of us are hopeful that with the development of those units on Stock Island, we have several hundred units that will be coming online in the next half a year. We’re hoping that that eases the extreme crisis that we have right now for folks who are looking for housing.”
The request from Peary Court is to reduce the number of units that the owner is obligated to build under the current agreement.
Kaufman said, “I have concerns about that. I really think that we should hold the owner to the original agreement, build the full 48 units. They’re asking to reduce to 33. It’s something we’ll see what my colleagues on the Commission, what their point of view is and we’ll debate it and we’ll go from there.”
The Fantasy Fest contract is up for renewal and will be discussed tonight.
As for the cruise ship issue, the City has taken the position that the owners can operate as they previously did as long as they are following federal and state guidelines. The City has made it clear that they should not use the cleats, the tie-offs on city property.
Kaufman said, “This is the new normal. I think you’ll see that over time this will be the way that things operate.”
Mike Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM noted, “We’re known as one human family and hopefully this compromise will stick. That’s the goal to try to keep as many people happy as possible.”
To view tonight’s agenda, click here: http://keywest.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=9423&GUID=42D459A4-73BF-4962-8BAF-A237E0477713