Key West Vice Mayor Donie Lee joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the city.
Save our First Responders 5K is coming up on January 10.
Lee said, “It’s going to take place at the Truman Waterfront park, and the race or walk, I’ll be walking for the record, my running days are over, but I’m going to walk the 5K but it’s going to happen out at Truman Waterfront park, on January 10. So we’ve still got a couple months to prepare. The good part about this 5K is that this race is is going to bring awareness to mental health issues that our law enforcement members deal with. A lot of times people don’t think about those challenges that law enforcement personnel face. In the law enforcement profession, unfortunately, there’s a high suicide rate. Police officers historically, they kind of keep their their emotions tight, and it’s something they don’t like to talk about a lot, so it’s something that really affects the profession, and we need to bring awareness to it. Fortunately, this race is going to do that, raise money and awareness for those mental health challenges that the police officers face. It’s a really tough job. Whether they’re police officers in the street or they’re correction deputies in jails or prisons, they see tough things, terrible things, on a daily basis. So it takes a toll, so you have to keep that in check. To me, it’s important that the mental health is just as important as the physical health.”
The ribbon cutting on the Lofts at Bahama Village happened recently.
Lee said, “It’s really exciting. Affordable and workforce housing is such a challenge for us here in Key West and throughout the Keys, really across the country, but anytime we get an opportunity to provide workforce and affordable housing, it’s a great day. Last week, we cut the ribbon at the Lofts down in Bahama Village, 98 rental units and 28 home ownership opportunities for people in the community. It’s so needed. It was so wonderful to finally get that open so we could provide and try to make a dent in this difficult challenge of workforce housing in Key West.”
The power boat races are in town this week.
Lee said, “We’ve got a busy week. This week, we have power boat races. I went down to the boat parade yesterday. Great turnout. Lot of boats. Coming right off of Fantasy Fest. It’s the event season. We have power boats this week, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, they’ll be racing. They’re a great, economic engine in Key West. With any event that we have in Key West, there’s always challenges, there’s traffic, and they cause some inconveniences. But, man, during slow times, November, October, Fantasy Fest, if they weren’t for these people, businesses would be suffering. So any opportunity to put money into the local economy is a good thing.”
The Key West City Commission will meet on November 5.
Lee said, “I don’t think I see anything too controversial. Compared to the marathon session, I think we had last commission meeting, there’s only if I recall correctly, maybe I don’t even think 50 items. The agenda is published on the city’s website, so if anyone wants to take a look at the agenda, everything’s there with all the material. There’s two sessions. The first session will be Wednesday at 9am, the morning session, and then we reconvene at 5pm for the evening session. There’s always opportunity for public input and comments. But the full agenda is there. So if anyone wants to take a look, they can go to the city’s website.”