March 6 – 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.
A city attorney was named for Key West and the appointment of Ron Ramsingh will be discussed at tomorrow night’s city comission meeting.
Additionally, the commissioners will look at the contract for the new city manager, Al Childress.
Johnston said, “We spent a great deal of time on this contract because Al is coming to us with 16 years of previous municipal experience, so we wanted to make sure that the contract we created for Al was competitive, competitive with the senior management existing in Key West, and competitive relating to the cost of living that we have here. We want to have a city manager that stays with us and helps us grow for years to come.”
There are 34 agenda items for the meeting tomorrow night.
Johnston said, “We are going to then reconvene and then meet as the board of adjustments. Then we are going to reconvene a second time to meet as the Caroline Street corridor. So we’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
The commissioners will also look at United Street.
Johnston said, “Florida Keys Aqueduct came in and did a big project there, which opened up the street and we have on our agenda item number 22, which is almost a $5 million contract for Toppino and Sons to repave and restrike that street. I know it can’t come any too soon for residents of Key West who have been bumping down that street now for the past several months.”
Another agenda item has to do with the city’s comprehensive plan.
Johnston said, “It has to do with a project down on Whitehead Street that the neighborhood is very involved in and has been very vocal on the issues there. It’s a change in zoning. The neighborhood is requesting that we do not change that zoning. It’s an issue of certainly quality of life for the neighborhood and we’ve run into that issue a number of times. When we open businesses up in a mixed-use area where you have homes surrounding it, we have to make sure that those businesses are respectful of our citizens and respectful of their quite time. There are certain considerations that you need to abide by.”
The proposed change in the Whitehead Street area is at 802, 804 and 806 Whitehead Street and would add some restaurant seats to the area, which is not zoned for that. Comments will be heard from all involved.
Tomorrow night will also be the second (and final) reading for the vehicle for hire ordinance. Anyone with comments should attend the meeting or get comments to the commissioners.
An e-vehicle workshop happened recently trying to address traffic and pedestrian safety.
Johnston said, “For me, personally, what it drove home is the level of frustration that our walkers and our bicyclists have. We’ve got a lot of things that we’re trying to accommodate on very small, congested sidewalks. We’ve got to figure out a way to do that effectively, efficiently and safely for everyone involved. E-bikes, e-vehicles are here to stay. So it’s something that we’ve got to figure out how do we all live harmoniously? We’ve got to start making streets one-way so that we can create a five-foot, dedicated bicycle lane to get the e-bikes and the bicycles off of our pedestrian narrow sidewalks and into a safe area that they can traverse the entire island of Key West.”
An analysis of a one-way street grid is underway.
Johnston said, “It’s a situation where it’s a change and change takes time and changes takes a while for people to get used to it, but we will get used to that. If we are going to accommodate everything that we’ve got out on our streets, we’ve got to make some changes and we’ve got to do it so that everyone can traverse the island no matter what form of transportation you’ve decided to use, but you can do it safely.”
The city has also been working for months with the county on land at the Key West Airport to make the turnaround safer.
Johnston said, “We believe that we’ve finally come to an agreement where we can at least talk about the points and make some minor modifications. We believe we are there and it will come in front of the commission tomorrow night.”
For tomorrow’s city commission agenda, click here: http://keywest.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1085018&GUID=286E0A36-26E5-4C51-9B3B-AF774B509298&Options=&Search=