Parks Are for People

I wrote this flier in August of 2005, just prior to a City Commission meeting that approved a Conceptual Development Plan for the Truman Waterfront.  

Parks are for People

The Truman Waterfront Park is for the entire Key West community, but especially for the residents of Bahama Village who, for too long, have been been alternately exploited, disrespected, or ignored by the rest of Key West, and sometimes by City officials.

Despite the efforts of some of us to draw attention to the severe impact of 3,800 additional vehicles a day on the narrow, residential streets of our Village, the City Commission recently gave conceptual approval to a plan that would do just that.

Two City Staff people, both engineers with traffic planning experience, have this to say about the plan awaiting final approval by the Commissioners:

Our professional opinion from an engineering traffic flow and overall community view point is that the current plan, if implemented, could cause severe traffic problems in the area, would be a safety risk to residents of the area, would be detrimental to the quality of life and safety of residents of the Bahama Village community as a whole, and could result in the overall degradation of a historical residential community.

- John Jones, Assistant City Manager

- Roland Flowers, Director of Public Works - City Engineer

We residents of Bahama Village have an opportunity -- perhaps our last opportunity -- to tell the City that we don't like their plan, and that we want something better.  We even think we know what that better plan is.

Bringing that amount of traffic onto our streets, even if only to travel into and out of the park, will clog our already crowded streets.  The City plans 425 parking spaces inside the park, and that will reduce the amount of real park space, unnecessarily endanger visitors to the park, and result in pollution and litter.  During events like boat races, festivals, and concerts, the 425 spaces will not be enough anyway and we'll have people from outside the area taking up what little parking space we have on our streets -- streets that are already crowded with tourists visiting local attractions like the Hemingway House, the Key West Lighthouse, and others.

Commissioner Carmen Turner has scheduled a citizens' workshop at the Douglass Nutrition Center on Olivia Street at Emma Street, behind the Douglass Gymnasium, this coming Thursday, August 4th, at 6:00 P.M.  We need a large community turnout for this meeting to tell the Commission that we Don't accept the current plan.  Even if you aren't normally an activist in community affairs, we urge you to come out on Thursday night, and to encourage your families, friends, and neighbors to do the same.

When:   Thursday, August 4, 2005  6:00 PM

Where:  Douglass Nutrition Center, Olivia Street at Emma, behind the Gym

On March 26, the Truman Waterfront Advisory Board held its regular monthly meeting and heard a progress report from Robert Spottswood on what is known as the Meisel & Spottswood (Marina and Park) Project.  In his presentation to the Advisory Board, Spottswood stated that "all elements [of their plan] are tourist related", and that the plan is designed to bring "incremental tourism" to Key West and the Florida Keys.  I immediately wondered, "where is the passive park we were told of in the conceptual plan of 2005?"


Then on Wednesday, March 31, Spottswood repeated his presentation, this time to those attending Commissioner Jimmy Weekley's Town Hall meeting.  And this time, the presentation included a new wrinkle, to make use of the 6.6 acres for purposes other than those called for in the conveyance documents.

The Key West City Commission sitting as the Naval Properties Local Redevelopment Authority selected the Meisel & Spottswood proposal over a rival one from Harbour Group in 2009, after a selection committee made up of four City employees and a City-employed consultant ranked the two proposals.  Assistant City Manager Mark Finigan, one of the members of the evaluation group, noted that the City does not have the resources to manage such a development and that it would be "outgunned" by developers with access to lawyers, accountants, marketers, economists, et al. Finigan sought to have the City Manager recommend that developers provide money to the City to engage in the development negotiations.  I'm not sure if that stipulation was included in the LRA Resolution.


To refresh my memory, I went looking for the website that used to be the official record for the Conceptual Plan.  It's gone, not accessible on the internet,but I still have my hard copy and will endeavor to make it available here, or elsewhere on the internet.
Update:  


In the meanwhile, there are some important meetings scheduled for April.  If residents of Bahama Village don't get personally and directly involved in these meetings and in many other meetings that will follow, then folks, you're about to get it done to you as it has been done before.

Thursday, April 8, 2010  6:00 PM

Bahama Village Community Meeting

VFW, Emma St.

Saturday, April 10, 2010  10:00 AM

Truman Waterfront Walk-through

Truman Waterfront, Southard Endtrance

Saturday, April 24, 2010  9:00 AM - 12 PM

Joint Meeting regarding 6.6 acres

Truman Waterfront Advisory Board

Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee

Key West City Commission

Douglass Gym, Olivia St at Emma St.

Now developers have clearly and loudly announced their intentions, to create another tourist attraction on the last and best piece of vacant land on the entire island.  Think about what that means for the residents of Bahama Village and for our Little Island Home.


I'll be talking about it here -- and there.  Join me?