Key West Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
It was a busy weekend in Key West.
Henriquez said, “I went to the Ocean Fest at Mote Marine down there at the Truman annex, and I did have the opportunity to go to the cooking class that just opened. I recommend everybody to do that. It was a wonderful experience. Then I read a proclamation that evening to Reverend Reese Junior. Actually, it was a scholarship banquet, and they raised close to $18,000 for scholarships. So that was wonderful. And then yesterday I had my grandchildren’s birthday party.”
This morning the first flight left the brand new concourse at Key West International Airport.
Henriquez said, “I had spoken with Richard last week, and he was telling me that we were going to do a soft opening this Monday. They were trying to do it last week, but they didn’t want to rush, so they just extended it for one week and they were going to do a soft opening. So I’m glad to hear that everything went well. Very much needed as far as the airport. It’s always congested there. So I’m glad to see that this project is now finally coming to an end.”
Engineering evaluations at Mallory Square revealed signs of a deterioration along the sea wall. As a precautionary measure, the city of Key West has barricaded off the area from the planters to the water’s edge to ensure public safety. It will not affect the sunset celebrations, however.
Henriquez said, “So residents and visitors can still enjoy the iconic sunset celebration. So everything will just be pushed back off the pier area, from the planters backwards, everything’s been barricaded off, and so we’re just relocating them away from the waterfront section. So to give you an update, we’re going to get a structural engineer so that he can give us an assessment on how much and what the actual damage is, and maybe how long this project is going to take. But to take cautionary measures, we did barricade everything. We would not want something critical or damaging to happen while residents and visitors are on there. So for safety reasons, we barricaded everything off but yet we’re still able to see our beautiful sunsets.”
Cruise ships will be unimpeded, though.
Henriquez said, “Unfortunately and fortunately, timing was perfect, because they had their last dock, I believe, last week or the week before. So they won’t be back until November, so we’ll definitely have a good handle on it before then.”
A $1.1 million grant has come in for the city.
Henriquez said, “The city of Key West just recently received a grant for nearly $1.1 million and that’s for upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility. The grant is part of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Keys overall received $9 million throughout the program, and we were able to, out of that 9 to receive 1.1 million. The state grants ensure that facility continues to protect our nearshore water quality. So we were very excited to hear that we were able to receive that grant for our wastewater treatment facility.”
The Sustainability Advisory Board will meet today in City Hall.
Henriquez said, “Tonight, our Commissioner Lee District Three Commissioner, he is having his town hall meeting tonight at the DoubleTree starting at 5:30 and then Tuesday, we have our ribbon cutting ceremony at Clinton Square. It’s not, it’s not Clinton Square. It’s now Clinton Place. It’s going to be at 10:30 tomorrow morning. So we’re excited to show off the new Clinton Place in the morning. A pre-commission meeting as well, on Tuesday at five o’clock here at City Hall. The City Commission special meeting that was supposed to be on April 16, in reference to the workforce housing ordinance, that has been canceled, so that will be rescheduled or discussed at a later time. Thursday, we have our planning board meeting, and that starts at five, and that will be in the chambers of City Hall as well. Then Friday, we have our Early Bird cleanup. That’s going to be the Green Machine, or the green trailer will be at between White Street and Atlantic Boulevard, and that’s at 8am and then we also, along with Easter this weekend, we do have the Conch Republic independence celebration going on. On Saturday, I just want everybody to know that the street fair, Duval will be closed between Eaton Street and Green Street, and then also they have the drag race special event on Saturday, and that will be between the 700 block Angela and Petronia, so Duval will close at that time as well. So just be careful when you’re going downtown, there’ll be some street closures on Saturday in reference to the Conch Republic independent celebration. And then we have Easter on Sunday. So there is a lot going on.”