Key West Mayor Teri Johnston joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s happening in the city.
The bond issue in Key West had some good discussion at a public meeting recently.
Johnston said, “We had a really good conversation. We had presentations from three of our bond consultants and then we really got to ask a number of questions. We had presentations by each one of our directors and our police and fire chief who have critical needs in front of them. The fire chief, he has one project that’s $42 million. We had a good conversation about the fact that Key West has for years and years and years worked with a situation where we saved, saved, saved, saved, saved until we had enough money for the project. The problem with that is that the project was three times the cost that we had originally anticipated by the time we saved. We have some critical needs, critical infrastructure, critical public safety, roads and sidewalks and our parks and recreation, and we’d like to start tackling these things in big chunks so that they don’t fall into a state of disrepair like the MLK pool is. So we had a really good conversation on that and we are moving forward. It will come in front of the City Commission. we will develop language for the questions.”
At the moment, it looks like there will be four referendum questions on the ballot in November.
Johnston said, “So that the public will have a chance to vote on four different items. We will hopefully do an incredible education process before the November referendum so that everyone is comfortable with what we’re asking and comfortable with the fact that this is going to improve their quality of life and make Key West a better spot to visit and to live. So that was a really good session.”
There were also two sessions for the Duvall Street resiliency and revitalization program.
Johnston said, “There were some fascinating exercises. We went from room to room to room to deal with our consultants and experts. The first room that you went into, you actually designed Duvall Street and our general public had an opportunity to see just how challenging that is because it is literally 50 feet from storefront to storefront. So when you add a road down the middle of it, some extended sidewalks, you’ve pretty much used up Duvall Street. So we got a chance to hear from the public there. I think the public was very, very surprised because for the past year, our consultants have been doing work and observations and data collection down on Duvall Street and I think our public was shocked to know that there’s four times as much pedestrian traffic as there is vehicular traffic on Duvall Street. Some of our blocks are just overwhelmed. I took a look at one block in lower Duvall and we have over 25,000 pedestrians in that block in one day and about 6,000 vehicles. So we have traffic in the city of Key West that’s very similar to major metropolitan areas. That’s one of the reasons that we are taking a look at this and we’re going to make some improvements to Duvall Street, not only for the business owners and our residents that are here today, but also for the business owners and residents that we’re going to have in the next 50 to 75 years. So long term planning on that.”
A ribbon cutting at the Marc House for the SOS organization also happened last week.
Johnston explained, “They have created an eco farm out back in in the Marc House and they are growing their own vegetables in above ground pods. The Mark House residents are taking care of it, maintaining it and also receiving some of the food. So really good things there from the SOS and Marc House.”
The City of Key West picnic was held at Truman Waterfront, too.
Johnston said, “It was one of the greatest picnics that I have ever been to. We had farmer Jeanne there and she had petting animals for all the children. We had bounce houses. There were pony and horse rides. We had a demonstration from our police department and our canine division. Tonight, we are going to have the Key West climate vulnerability assessment public meeting. That’s via zoom. So you have to get online and register for that. But that’s where we’re taking our adaptation plan for the next 10 years for the city of Key West.”
On Thursday this week, the City Commission meeting will be held at 9 a.m. and continue at 5 p.m.
Johnston added, “In between then we have an incredible event which is the ribbon cutting for the John Jones Navigational Centers. We’re putting shovels in the ground that will be at two o’clock on Thursday out on College Road at the location of our new homeless facility. With that, I just wanted to send out my condolences. We lost an incredible woman in the city of Key West. Dr. Shirley Freeman passed on Saturday. Shirley was a former county mayor. She was a staunch environmentalist, and she was a mentor to many of us here in Key West and Monroe County. So our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends.”
Michael Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM said, “She was certainly a great asset to the city and a great contributor and we will certainly miss her. Our condolences to her friends and family.”
The City Commission agenda has 48 items on it.
Johnston said, “I would really encourage your listening public to really pay attention to our five o’clock session, because our five o’clock session is when we have text amendments for our land development regulations. Text amendments, although they seem small, can impact the way that we build, the way that your neighbors build and what we allow on each one of those properties. So please pay attention to those because they’re very important to not only the feel of Key West, but the density of Key West and what we’re what we’re allowed to do and not to do with our structures in Key West. We’ve got very limited property and people want to do a lot with their property. Some of the things we can certainly allow and some of the things are really a disruption to the neighborhood and to your immediate neighbors. So we want to make sure that we are paying close attention to those and we’re doing the things that are right for Key West for the next many, many years to come.”