Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
What’s going on with the ownership of Higgs Beach?
Henriquez said, “At our last commission meeting, we did give the go ahead to our city manager and staff to be able to look into it even further. From my understanding, the Board of County Commissioners last week gave their staff the go ahead to propose a plan to transfer Higgs Beach to the city. So between now and our next commission meeting, which is April 1, from my understanding from our city manager, we should have something in place, so the city staff and the county staff should have something to present to us, so they’ll be working very diligently together and coming up with a plan and present to the City Commission on April 1.”
The city would continue to maintain the property, but the county is going to transfer a significant amount of money that has been in a fund for the maintenance and upkeep.
Henriquez said, “Yes. Between the insurance claims, they’ll be able to transfer that money. They’ll be able to work with the TDC and transfer those funds, grants. So there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, but it’s all stuff that can be done, and we’ll go ahead and move forward, if that is the will of the commission.”
Rams Head Key West announced they will not renew the least of the Coffee Butler Amphitheater.
Henriquez said, “City staff is now exploring alternatives for managing the amphitheater. And as everybody knows, and it’s always been a discussion, even the last year that I’ve been here, and prior to that, is needing new more bathrooms. So bathrooms is one of the issues, and as well, a green room for them to be able to change and eat and so forth. So yes, there’s some work that needs to be done, so our city staff will be exploring some more alternatives. So I’m sure in the next commission meeting or so, we’ll start having discussions on that as well.”
The Duval Street revitalization program is moving forward.
Henriquez said, “I am so excited about this. So we are going to start seeing some changes down there. And when I say changes, meaning when I had the mayor for the day, a gentleman had won that in an auction, and he came here, started at 7:30 in the morning and finished at 4:30 in the afternoon, and he was exhausted by the end of the day. But with that said, he was so impressed with our city, he wanted to donate money to help replace trees that were missing off of Duval Street, Front Street and Caroline Street. So we did make it a point to go and identify those trees that were missing, and he wanted to donate up to $10,000 to replace those trees. Well, last week, he upped it to up to $25,000 for replacing the trees. So I’ve been meeting with the urban forestry and making sure that we put the right trees that will be very happy there, and what the process is going to be and how much it’s going to cost. So you’re going to start seeing the trees being replanted there in the near future. And then last week, the city manager staff and myself met with the Florida Economic Development representative, and we found out that there’s money out there that we can apply for for lighting. So we’re going to apply for a grant, which we’ve already started the process, to be able to change out all the lights on Duval Street and make them LEDs, and have internet and make them web based, and you could change the colors on the lights and have cameras on those lights. So right now, those lights on Duval Street are so old they can’t even really replace the light bulbs because they’re so antiquated. So I’m looking forward to being able to replace the lighting that’s going to be happening there, and our ambassador class that’s currently going on right now, their project is going to be to paint all of the garbage cans that are on Duval Street, and remove all of those stickers and repaint all of them. So I look forward to a lot of things happening on Duval Street in the next few months.”
The state legislature is continuing the session with no budget in place and the property tax reduction issue is still on the table.
Henriquez said, “It definitely passed in the House, but it did not pass in the Senate, so we’ll see what the governor is going to do. So we are continuing to watch that very closely. We’ll see what happens with the rules as far as the DEI bills are concerned, and the governor still needs to approve it. But just to reiterate, we can still have those events, it’s just that the city cannot fund them and or support them.”
This week will be a busy one, including a tree commission meeting, a Civil Service Board meeting, a conch revival picnic, the 18th Ambassador class, Community Services and transit code enforcement hearing and the Florida Keys Latin festival is happening this weekend.
Henriquez said, “Friday, the early bird cleanup is at H&R Block at Key Plaza Shopping Center, and that starts at 8am. We’re very busy. Please attend the meetings, get informed, get educated. Have a great week and be safe out there.”