Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
Information from FDOT was received Friday afternoon about the rainbow crosswalks.
Henriquez said, “Late Friday afternoon, FDOT had sent a letter stating, addressed to our city manager, traffic control device, non compliance. And basically, I’m going to read a few of the highlights. It says the department’s memorandum served as an official notification to remedy all non compliance across the state. However, the department is providing you an additional notification by location that the pavement markings at the intersection of Duval Street and Petronia Street is in violation of FDOT’s traffic control device standards. As required by state law, if the payment markings are not removed by September 3, 2025, the Florida Department of Transportation will remove them by any appropriate method necessary, without further notice. You are further notified that if the markings are removed by the department, all costs associated with the removal will be assessed against the city of Key West. You may avoid these costs by removing the pavement markings and then notifying the Department of compliance immediately. But then it does say if you are further notified that you may file a request for an administrative proceeding, pursuit to chapter 120 Florida Statute, as set forth in this enclosed notice of administrative hearing rights, if you request a hearing, the department has reserved time on September 3, beginning at 10 am at the Florida turnpike enterprises office in Orlando. So this is definitely breaking news. We did receive a letter from FDOT telling us that we do need to remove the crosswalks, that we are in violation, but yet we do have an opportunity to be able to have an administrative hearing, I guess on September 3, at 10 am. So with that said, I’ve already spoken to the city manager this morning, and we will be getting with our interim city attorney on this. Yes, we do feel that we are in compliance. So we’re going to come up with a plan, and I’m sure we’ll be doing press releases today. From my understanding with the research that our interim city attorney and engineering have done, is that of the four crosswalks, two of them are in compliance where the other two are not, and it has something to do with the black lines in between. So what we have read and what we have researched is two of the four are in compliance. So we have our information. We’re ready to fight, and like I said, we will be having lots of conversations in reference to that today and see how we’re going to move forward.”
Support for the crosswalk is huge.
Henriquez explained, “Basically it boils down to we are one human family, and we do support each and every one of us that are here in our small, little community. So it is very important to us. Originally, the city of Key West has not paid money to do this. The paint was bought by an individual in our community to be able to paint these crosswalks. So, I mean, we’re very passionate and we support our community. Like I said, we are one human family.”
The crosswalks were also apparently painted within the constraints of the law.
Henriquez added, “The other thing is, it’s not in a major intersection like some of these big cities. It’s not a distraction. We’ve done our research. We haven’t had any accidents in reference to a distraction because of the crosswalk. Duval Street is not owned by FDOT and it’s not maintained by them. You only go 15 miles an hour. So, I mean, we have a lot of defenses that we are going to present, and I guess we’ll see what happens during the day today.”
Where is the letter coming from?
Henriquez said, “The letterhead does say Florida Department of Transportation, and it’s coming down from Tallahassee, Florida. Who signed it was Daniel Iglesias, who was the District Six secretary. I’m sure the District Six secretary, had demands from higher up.”
How is the water quality monitoring program going?
Henriquez said, “The request for proposal to rebid the water quality monitoring program would be publicly advertised on August 16, at 8am so the RFP will be made available, and is available, I believe, now, on our city’s official website, and actually also published in the Key West Citizen on Saturday, August 16 as well. So I’m excited to know that our RFP is out again, and opening date on that is going to be September 17. So I’m hoping that it will either be on the October or November commission meeting so we can continue to move that forward. Another thing that’s really exciting on Friday, well, I should say the city of Key West licensing department is proud of the new efficient software that has streamlined their service to the business community, so now you’re able to complete their application online, submit it for review. Once it’s approved, they can submit the payment, print their license tax receipt, right online. So this is a significant milestone for the licensing department as they implement the online payments. And I will tell you, I had done that at the tax collector’s office for many years now, and I’m just so excited that now the city is moving forward to be more efficient and to be able to process your application online and be able to pay and print your license online, which is just huge for the city. So it’s a major achievement for them. So that’s really good news. And then on Friday, if you’re confused and don’t know how to do it, they’re going to have a meeting on how to do all of this online on Friday at 10 at city hall in the chambers, that will help you and direct you on that direction.”
Sam Kaufman, District Two Commissioner, is holding a town hall meeting today at 5 p.m.