WOW! Key West Commissioner Isn't Backing Down To Truman Annex Leadership

This is a must read for those interested in the dispute between Truman Annex and the City of Key West over access to Southard Street, you should read what was published in a local free press - Key West The Newspaper. Here is the link: http://www.kwtn.com/06_06_23_TAMPOA_commission.htm

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Key West Chronicle Blog Threatened With Libel Lawsuit

Comments have been posted on two posts of mine threatening a libel lawsuit. Here and here.
The posts were in reference to Tom Tukey the president of TAMPOA, and the Truman Annex dispute with the City of Key West.
Seems someone is quite offended by my opinions, and has threatened to sue this blog. Incorrectly, they have published the name of someone with his telephone number in a comment, and threatened to sue. In the words of the anonymous comment poster, " You shall regret what you have done." I am going to immediately remove the comment that contains the phone numbers and name of the person the commenter believes owns the blog.
Let me say, that this blog is my opinion of events that transpire in Key West. Anyone with opinions as to what I should do? Is calling someone a dickhead grounds for libel? What about calling someone an overprivilidged a-hole?
You opinions are appreciated.

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Truman Annex Residents Alienating Themselves from Key West

Well, maybe we have hit a new low. Why? I'm not sure.
Wasn't life good enough in Key West, Florida a decade ago? Things seemed more laid back. I remember all of my friends rented or owned houses with pools. Today, you are lucky if they have a yard. And we all had the time, especially in the summer, to relax even more. There were plenty of boats to go around amongst us, and nearly every day there would be someone who said "Jump onboard, let's go to Marvin Key!". Today, it is a rare opportunity when you get to go out on the water for fun.
But suffice it to say, when you invite a bunch of sharks to a party, don't be surprised when they eat everything...Including you.
In my opinion, Truman Annex's leadership have brought island politics to a new low (not an easy thing to do on our quacky island), and in doing so alienated themselves from the rest of the island of Key West.
For reasons that make no sense to me, the leaders of Truman Annex are going to hit the city of Key West into what promises to be a very expensive lawsuit. All of it, over a road that runs from Old Town, through Truman Annex, to the new waterfront property give to the City of Key West from the Navy, right through the Truman Annex development. It depresses me that Key West has such a community. Are they unable to live on the island with a communal spirit? It is no surprise that most Truman Annex residents live in a strange duality (embracing our island with a bear hug...crushing it to death)....most of them don't live here for most of the year.
Key West City Commissioner Lopez is right: every time that the city of Key West has attempted to negotiate with the Navy for the land, the residents of Truman Annex have threatened lawsuits.

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Key West Must Get Serious About Affordable Housing

This week, the Key West City Commission will debate permitting dormitory-style housing for workers. This is a lame attempt at making a dent in the affordable housing problem on the island. It seems that the city has little interest in making its workforce a permanent part of the community. In the past, Key West was made up of its workers - making it a vibrant community.

Basically, the city of Key West needs to look at other communities that face a similar situation. The best example may be Aspen Colorado.

Dormitories may be useful for service industries and seasonal workers. But if you want professionals (including nurses, teachers, administrators, captains, and other middle income workers) you will need to do much more.
The city continues to do little to solve this problem. Most notably, Key West commissioners have largely ignored the recommendations of experts and committees who have studied the problem.
With a growing worker shortage, Key West businesses (and the city itself) are on a disaster course. The city seems incapable of solving their serious dilemma. There is an exodus of employees in the Keys, and if this continues, employers will find it more and more difficult to operate and prosper.

What should be done?

• The city and county need to purchase and build housing for the working class. This is going to be very expensive. However, doing nothing will end up costing far more - namely the Key West economy.
• This property should remain designated for affordable housing - in perpetuity. Stop screwing around with deed restrictions that expire! (We have already seen too many past efforts at affordable housing end up on the open market prices that only speculators and the rich can then afford.)
• Workers can purchase the property from the city, and in the future may only sell the property back to the city.

Dormitories sound like a sad excuse for an affordable housing solution. It sends a message that Key West doesn't care very much about making skilled workers a real part of the community. Sticking them in what sounds to me like a worker prison is not going to keep them in town.

Today, most of the island has been bought up by the rich and those with enormous credit, squeezing out anyone with less. Funny, only the rich seem to think the place has improved, as social cliques start to look more and more like those found in places like Greenwich, Connecticut.

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Key West Chickens to be Removed from Streets

The city of Key West Florida has passed a resolution to round up the free roaming chickens that wander the island.

For years the community has hotly debated the merits of the birds. Tourists love them and are led to believe that Key West has always had chickens wandering the streets. Locals form into two camps: one is also happy with the chickens and find them to be a quaint part of island life. The other group of locals wants them gone, and the current fears of bird flu are being used to further their eradication desires.

In reality, although chickens have historically been raised in Key West, they were usually kept in cages (how else do you collect eggs and the occasional chicken?). Just about nobody keeps a caged chicken anymore.

By commissioners estimates today, there are approximately 3000 chickens on Key West streets and neighborhoods, a number that is too high for almost any resident. That figure is probably overstated, but the numbers of poulty have definitely been on the rise. One reason may be that residents who might normally have kept the chicken population in control (by eating them) have been displaced. Also, supermarkets sell chicken for $0.99 per pound, making it a more desirable chicken since it's already been cleaned and feathered. The funny thing is that the city of Key West was in love with chickens just 5 years ago, when they passed a resolution declaring the bird as the official bird of Key West and protecting the fowl from any harm. It became illegal for residents to take care of a problem chicken, and so the population mushroomed.

So popular and common did the chickens become, a local resident Kathy Sheehan opened the Chicken Store, and has spent much of her time championing and protecting the birds.

Commissioner Verge was at the spearhead of the resolution to eliminate the chickens. His rational was that the coming bird flu is a threat and that the city of Key West must do something to protect itself. But will eliminating chickens make us safer. Using his logic, what about the other birds? Key West is a major migratory route for hundreds of species of birds. Plus, there are plenty of resident populations: pelicans, ibis, doves, hawks, vultures, heron, egrets, and countless others.

Have the chickens become the scape-goat for bird flu? Isn't the real danger that a human will bring the bird flu to us? What about the one million cruise ship passengers that reportedly come to Key West each year? And all the other tourists too? Seems to me that eliminating Key West chickens will do little to stop the bird flu, since there are so many other vectors out there.

And what about the bird flu? Is it really coming? Or is it the panic of the year that the news is chomping on like a dog on a bone? Remember SARS? Or how about Lyme Disease? And West Nile?

Sounds to me that the chicken foes have finally found the rational to eliminate the birds: they will kill you. Maybe they are right, but I suspect that Key West is no safer with or without the chickens. One thing is for sure: people will sleep better at night - some because they feel more protected from bird flu, but most because there won't be a crowing chicken nearby.

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Trouble in Paradise? Florida Keys Real Estate Stats Point to a Falling Market

According to statistics recently compiled by a big local realtor, Curtis Skomp, Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys' real estate market appears to be headed for serious trouble. And it may be just the thing the islands needs to stay viable. Nearly a decade of insane price appreciation and speculation in the Florida Keys housing market has caused many in the working class to move away. As a result, the islands are running out of employees and places for them.

The statistics show three trends sure to cause prices to fall further:

1. a sharp decrease in the number of properties sold in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2005,
2. a sharp increase in the number of properties available for sale,
3. a sharp increase in the number of days on the market it took to sell property

In all of these cases, the problems worsened from the 3rd to the 4th quarter. Certainly the hurricanes and the massive windstorm insurance bills have something to do with it. Then again, increasing interest rates and local taxes may have had just as much impact. Who knows?

What is important is that the housing shortage may soon become a housing surplus, as a ton of overpriced condos, McMansions, and other difficult sales overshadow the market of fewer and fewer buyers.

Here is a screenshot of the statistics from Skomp:

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The Real World - Key Haven?

Is it me, or is the MTV Key West Real World show seem a tad boring? Actually, the cast members themselves appear mostly bored. Why? Maybe it's because they are not living on the island of Key West (a tremendously fun, interesting, inspiring, and creative place - more about Key West at http://www.keywesttravelguide.com ), but instead on an island miles away. Then again, if they named it "Real World Key Haven" maybe no one would have cared.
Or maybe that the whole show is so very orchestrated that it's lost most of the spontanaity. What do I mean by orchestrated? For example, why are the restaurants they are dining at empty except for the cast members? One of the first episodes of this season's show had the cast eating at Blue Heaven - one of Key West's most popular restaurants. I can honestly say I have never seen the place empty, except for the morning that the Real World cast ate there. And then it happened again during another episode at another restaurant, completely empty except for the cast. MTV likes to say that this is a reality program, but maybe they've tinkered with the formula too much and now it's more of a scripted show. To further back up this thinking, it seems strange that they would film the show smack in the middle of hurricane season - virtually guaranteeing that storms would make up for plot. Let's see if it worked for them as I can't imagine the current plot lines keeping many viewers tuned in.

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Eating Disorders and MTV

MTV's Key West Real World aired its second episode of the season last night with much of the focus on Paula, an anxiety-ridden 24 year old girl. Fueled by low self-esteem and diet pills, her depression and eating disorder took center stage as cast members tried to understand her emotional imbalance.

One can't help but wonder why Paula feels she is on a road to obesity - especially since she weighs only 94 pounds and appears malnourished. In Paula's mind, she admits she "feels doomed".

The answer to Paula's disorder lies in our culture's worshiping of a super-skinny woman, constantly bombarding adolescents with images of beautiful models too thin to do anything more exerting than standing for a camera.

And MTV has been at the forefront of perpetuating this sad ideal. Astonishingly, following the episode was another MTV reality show named "8th & Ocean" about young models each appearing just as malnourished as Paula. One by one, the models were asked to pose in their bikinis allowing the camera to slowly roam their tiny frames.

Makes me wonder how many future Paulas were watching, thinking that they needed to be emaciated to look attractive and have self-esteem.

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Key West Real World Show Debuts

MTV premiered it's Real World reality TV show this week with Key West Florida as the location.

Once again, seven strangers are picked to live in a house, and stop being polite, and start being real, blah blah blah as the gospel goes.

This season's cast is: Svetlana, Janelle, Paula, Jose, Tyler, Zach, and John. Each cast member seems to be hyper-driven to make an impression, but so far as the first show went, they mostly looked like they were boring even to each other. Yes, they flirted, taunted, and quized each other. But it seemed to me that these people were going to get bored quickly. This isn't the Las Vegas Real World, where castmembers seemed to immediately start boozing and humping.

No, so far the Key West Real world has an awkward feel. And that's not even mentioning the enourmously sad situation with Paula, who's eating disorders and emotional problems make one wonder if MTV is exploiting the girl for a story. Maybe, within a few seasons more, MTV will just fill a house with 7 certified maniacs & alcohol, and film the carnage.

Maybe malaise of the show's premier is due to the location being a drive from Key West. The house chosen for Key West Real World is actually on another island 6 miles from Key West - called Key Haven, a small Florida Keys neighborhood of increasingly upscale homes. The house is grand, and frankly a little over the top compared to the rest of the neighborhood. Think LOUD colors. Something like a furniture store in Boca Raton. And was is me, or has MTB/Bunim-Murray cranked up the color saturation levels so much that it looks like Technicolor? Seriously, the overhead/airplane shots of the island and the house were not what I see in real life...the green mangroves are much darker green in person, and the house looked like a giant Easter bunny might be nesting there. Key West Real World photos - pre-production pictures of the house. Also, here is a copy of the MTV Real World Key West house lease.

Either way, the Florida Keys and Key West came off looking great...a tropical island eden. One recurring reminder in the current story line: hurricanes. The housemates went through an ordeal, no doubt. All of Key West's residents (that actually live there) won't forget Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and (especially) Wilma (more Real World Key West house damage). But MTV already made some blunders ( I know, this really isn't the "real world"). Previews of the season claim that a category 5 hurricane slammed into Key West. That is not true. The storm they are referring to, Hurricane Rita, didn't give Key West more than category 2 winds. Why does this matter? Because a direct hit of a category 5 storm, meaning the eyewall goes over Key West, would most likely destroy most of the island. And this certainly didn't happen. As a matter of fact, life is back to (ab)normal in Key West, and visitors would see little evidence of a storm.

Key West residents are staying tuned to the show: entertained that the island we call home is being given such a big stage. It will be interesting to see what type of activities they participate in. Will they visit the Dry Tortugas, take a Key West fishing charter, or just party party party on Duval Street? Let's hope they enjoy all of the island, and not just stayed holed up on Key Haven.

Check back for more updates here at http://www.keywestchronicle.blogspot.com and feel free to comment/discuss the show and Key West.
Here is a photo from a photo shoot that MTV/Bunim-Murray did on Smather's Beach towards the end of filming. Not sure if this is Svetlana or not, but she is topless except for the masking tape over the boobs. The photo from the shoot is used in the show: it's the one of the girl's shoulder with the words Real World Key West tanned on. I'll post a close-up in the next few days:

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Key West Realtors Getting Desperate

How do you tell if you are in a real estate bull market or a real estate bear market? Sometimes the sales numbers are obvious enough to tell. By this measure, the Key West real estate market of homes for sale seems to have turned from bull market to bear market.
The Key West MLS has reported that the number of homes sold in the first week of the year has dropped from 54 sales to 16 sales.
But maybe more telling is the tone of voice of local realtors. Most notably is Regina E. Corcoran, a Key West realtor with a column in Key West's biggest newspaper.
In this past week's column, Corcoran urges buyers to come out of the woodwork and buy, buy, buy. Her reasoning? In her view, the downturn in the real estate market is temporary and caused entirely by post-Hurricane Wilma anxiety. She goes on to argue that Hurricane Georges, in 1998, caused a short-term disruption to the real estate market, and that Hurricane Wilma will soon fade into memory.
Corcoran has completely ignored the major reason for the bull market in Key West: interest rates. After Georges, the Prime Rate dropped from 8.5% to 4% (a period of 6 years). This has led to easy financing and a speculative environment. Now, however, interest rates are heading in the opposite direction. Since bottoming in 2004 at 4%, the Prime Rate has risen to 7.5%, a huge increase. This is precisely what is deflating the housing bubble - not just in Key West, but in many overheated markets throughout the United States.
But Regina Corcoran continues to give horrible advice in her column, encouraging people to buy any way possible. Most astounding, in her column she wrote:

True "no doc" money exists. That means if you have a pulse, good credit and a 5 percent down payment you can own a home.
Think about it, Einstein. You need 5 percent down, but nobody asks where you got the money. You could even put it on your credit card.

I don't think I need to elaborate on why buying an overpriced house using a credit card is a moronic idea.
What a shame, that realtors aren't bound by the same rules as fiduciaries.

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