The Keys were so proud to be a part of the Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride this weekend

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.

The Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride was amazing over the weekend.

Henriquez said, “The support all the way from Key Largo all the way down to Key West, the support, not only our city and our county, it’s just, there’s no words for them. It was a great, great event, and I was honored to be able to welcome them on Saturday and thank them for what they do and what they’ve done and what they’re continuing to do.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day will affect the city’s schedule and business.

Henriquez said, “We will be closed next Monday in observance of Martin Luther King. So there’s it’s a big day, and so there is celebration at the Nelson English Park from noon to four. They have hot dogs and hamburgers, and we’re going to have a bounce house, and just going to be lots of fun for the kids. Then there will be a march that begins at 5pm and it’ll start from Catherine and Thomas and it’ll go right on Amelia, down Duval Street, left on Southern, left to Whitehead, and then back to Catherine and Thomas Street. So there may be some temporary closures at that time. We’re actually starting off with a breakfast, a morning prayer breakfast. So from the morning prayer breakfast in the morning to the park for a celebration, and then to the march, it’s going to be a very long day, but a very good day to celebrate Martin Luther King.”

The issue of the water quality testing and the College of the Florida Keys has been in the news recently.

Henriquez said, “It was withdrawn from our agenda at the last commission meeting, and Mr. Gueverra had made some comments about the city that were out of line and unprofessional, in my opinion, on the radio and my advice to staff was to go out for an RFP. We did have a meeting with Mr. Gueverra trying to work things out, and the only outcome was an agreement to allow the equipment to remain in place at the time and to iron out those concerns that we have in the ILA and to be considered for the February commission meeting. But like I said, that day of our commission meeting, Mr. Gueverra went on the radio and talked about fabrication and that the city can’t handle the truth and those remarks are both out of line, very unprofessional and unacceptable and as your mayor, I want to assure you that we are fully transparent. We have nothing to hide, and remain committed to ensuring water quality for our community. Our only intention was to work through the discrepancies, because there’s two really important discrepancies in the ILA to ensure it was accurate. The citizens of Key West deserve a true and grounded partner when it comes to taxpayer dollars for this important task. So there’s a lot of things that still need to be worked out. I’m not sure if we will have an ILA presented at the February commission meeting, or if the city will go off for an RFP. We’ll see what the will of the commission is.”

E bikes are another issue facing the city.

Henriquez said, “It is very complicated and I’m very glad that Commissioner Lee has brought this to the forefront, because, as you can see and hear, there’s a lot of conversation going on with E bikes and how unsafe they are. So we did speak with our delegation last week, and so we’re going to see if we could do something at the state level instead of here locally, because our hands are kind of tied here locally, but at the state level, that big voice up there in Tallahassee, maybe we were able to do something there. So we have already spoken to our delegation. They seem very positive and on board and see if we can get signs and change the rules and the laws on the sidewalks and the speed, etcetera. So we will be working very closely with our delegation.”

Where does the city stand with the BPAS decision?

Henriquez said, “We did pass to be able to receive as many BPAS’s as we can and yes, everyone knows that our House of Representative, Jim Mooney, is not in support of it, but Senator Rodriguez has a different look at it. So we’re just going to have to monitor that very closely and see how it goes through the committees in Tallahassee. There’s a special meeting today for the planning board that meets today here at 2pm in City Hall. Wednesday, there will be an art in public places board meeting at 530 and then on Thursday, they’ll have their regular board meeting Thursday at 5pm here at City Hall. So there are a few things going on.”