Why Not Buy Southard Street?

Commissioner Jose Menendez, in a flight of fancy, has suggested that Wisteria Island be turned into a gaming mecca. Mayor McPherson wants the City voters to consider buying Wisteria Island, saying the issue is preservation and never has been annexation. Preservation? Really? Preservation from what? The island is already preserved if not pickled. Until some good citizens came along and organized a cleanup the island was a twenty-one-acre dump that neither the owners, the county or the city seemed to care about.

The City doesn't need to buy Wisteria Island to turn it into a park. The would be developers could do that and charge money to go there. It seems that the City Commission has linked annexation with development. Indeed, they are separate issues. The City could annex Wisteria Island any time its wants. The problem is the messed up laws the City has on development. If the City annexes the island, under the existing laws, the developers could build homes on the island. That's not an annexation problem. That's a development problem. That's what the City needs to work on, but, of course, it won't because the City is controlled by developers.

The Mayor is a realtor, after all, which is why one ought to be suspicious of any proposal that the City buy Wisteria Island. One has to ask, "Why?" The Mayor doesn't really want the voters' nod to buy the island; otherwise the proposed referendum would be given a green light and made a binding referendum. So what's behind all this wrangling over Wisteria Island? We're all ears, Mr. Mayor!

Meanwhile, we have a suggestion. If the City thinks it can buy Wisteria Island, why doesn't it buy Southard Street? It would likely cost a lot less and solve a whole bunch of issues for the City, not to mention that it would put an end to what may ultimately be a costly lawsuit for the City.

The reality is that the City does not have the money to buy (or even pursue eminent domain over) Southard Street. And the City doesn't have the money to buy Wisteria Island either. If the Mayor is proposing to ask the voters something, he 'd probably get a more positive response if he asked the voters whether they'd finance an eminent domain suit to take over Southard Street.

The Lesson From No. 756

If you watched, it happened last night with a steak of white into the night. For a moment everything stopped as the enormity of the moment sank in. Hank Aaron's 33 year old home run record was history. One era was over. Another had begun.

Whatever you want to say about the now number 1 career home run hitter, Barry Bonds, there is a lesson in all of this. Through out it all Bonds has focused on the future, knowing he could not undo the past, nor could he control what others would think of him no matter how hard he tried.

So he chose to control what to some extent he could: the path of the baseball in the air. By focusing on the present, Bonds, however controversial, has made his mark. He is the home run leader. He has hit 756 home runs; more than any one else.

And Guess What?

The City has published a notice that on August 7, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. in Old City Hall, the City commission will finally take up the tattoo parlor matter by having a "first reading" of a proposed ordinance "creating Division 13 Tattoo establishments."

Of course, there is a hearing on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 in Circuit Court on the lawsuit one tattoo parlor, Key West Ink, has brought against the City. Don't you suppose that 's what the City Attorney's Office is going to tell the Circuit Judge in an effort to buy more time for the City. Will it also buy settlement leverage for the City? It's anybody's guess on this one.

Must Have Been The Kilt

Is it true what they say about kilts? Maybe so.

In this strange incident in Fargo, North Dakota, a man wearing a kilt and a T-shirt reading, "For Sale," was arrested after he and a woman were they were observed having sex behind a house. The arrest occurred when the couple refused to stop upon police command to do so.

Only the man was charged, proving, we guess that it's not a crime in Fargo to get under a kilt.

Atlantic Shores Is History

The picture on the front page of today's Citizen says it all. Atlantic Shores, a counter culture hotel that hosted Tea Dances, a clothing optional pier, movie nights, fundraisers, and special events and also offered "reasonable" in season hotel rates has been demolished. In its place, will rise a new hotel with $350 a night rooms and a new name, the Southernmost at the Beach Resort. That's "progress" -- change -- in Key West.

Somehow, it seems symbolic of what is happening to the rest of the Island, and it doesn't feel good. Oh well, I guess we're just getting old.

Thankfully the Green Parrot is still here, and we can still walk.

Wisteria Island Cleanup

Kudos to Theo Glorie and the Coffee Plantation crew of volunteers who helped with the cleanup on Wisteria Island this past Sunday. Kudos as well to Amoud Girad's Key West Water Taxi; and to Waste Management who donated the dumpster. This cleanup is a fine example of Key West's "Do-it-for-ourselves" philosophy. Or as Grandpa used to say, "If you want it done right, do it yourself."

Our only questions are where were the owners and developers of Wisteria Island all this time before the cleanup? And why did it take an army of volunteers to do their work? If the Wisteria Island development ever comes up again before the City Commission and / or the voters (and you know it will) these questions should be at the top of the list before any yes vote on potential development.

The Dems Debate

Did you watch Democrats' debate on CNN Monday night? Probably you watched in KW only if you are into politics or were curious about how the YouTube-asked questions would play. Actually the debates were interesting if only for their illustration of the coming shift in electoral politics on a national level.

The pitch now really is to the computer generation. The candidates are learning that this is (perhaps) the only group of voters that still believes it can make a difference and that who's in the White House really matters. Many, if not most, other voters, have come to recognize politics for what it is: money rules -- and with a vengeance.

Another reason the candidates are pitching the computer generation is that, next to the moneyed crowd, the computer generation has greater communicating power. It is a group that actually talks to each other, albeit in a way few others may understand. That, of course, is why each candidate has a commuter-savvy staff or blogger consultant who is likely to be twenty something.

In case you didn't know, it is these twenty and thirty-somethings that have the Congressional staff jobs in Washington. You almost have to be that young (or be on some serious drugs) to be able to stay awake for the 20-hour days (and sometimes more) working in Washington often requires. Think about that the next time you want a waking nightmare. The most crucial recommendations that turn into decisions for the country are being made by twenty-and-thirty-something staffers on something less than 4 hours sleep a night! They only bring in us older folks when the smelly stuff hits the fan, and then only to clean it up. What a life!

BTW, those in the twenty-something crowd outside the Beltway are the harshest critics of politics. So the candidates know that if they can reach these folks, they can really strike a nerve in the country, and perhaps for the long term. In that sense the stakes are really high.

However, as one long-term Speaker of the House -- the over-65 crowd will know who he is -- put it, "All politics are local." Thus it will be interesting to assess the situation in KW once the candidates get rolling. Particularly interesting will be the style of "appealing" to the voters. Do any of the current flock really look appealing?

Ugh! The very thought makes me want to go for a walk along the beach to clear my head of all the nonsense, with more to come, that I just dread.

Right now turtles seem a lot more "appealing."

Walgreens Settles Suit

Remember a while back when we blogged about an employees' discrimination lawsuit against Walgreens? Well, the suit has been settled, with an agreement filed in the U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, MO.

Walgreens settled the suit, a class action brought by the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, by agreeing to pay $20 million to as many as 10,000 African-American store managers and others. The settlement, if approved by the court brings to a close a federal civil-rights lawsuit charging they were denied promotions based on race.

Of, course, Walgreens denied any wrongdoing.

Timed Sex

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle says the city should buy a $250,000 robotic toilet for the beach because it has a timer that would prevent gays from having sex there according to a question being asked in a recent poll. What does the robot do when time's up? Ask R2-D2 to lock the door? Is this guy on the right star ship?

Stalling On Tattoos

The City Commission can move swiftly when it comes to the Hemingway cats and make an exception to the city's ordinance prohibiting the keeping of more than four domestic animals. But when it comes to saving the City money and avoiding a costly lawsuit over the tattoo parlors on Duval street, the commissioners seem to be playing chicken.

The do-nothing commissioners, it seems, would rather wait for a judge to confirm that they can't bar the tattoo parlor from Duval Street and award injunctive relief, possibly damages, and certainly a slew of attorneys' fees against the City, which is already straining under the weight of the Duck Tours judgment and the cost of the mitigation, the attorneys' fees, and the payment to the environmental consultant as a result of the City's illegal cutting of the mangroves across from Bayview Park.

The City Commission's lack of action is just plain irresponsible. However, like the failure to sit down with the TAMPOA Board and resolve the Southard Street dispute, the Commission's failure to deal with the tattoo parlor issues seems to be typical of the way this Commission has treated tough issues and ignored the public interest in the process. It seems to us that no matter how one feels about tattoos, the Commission should have had the guts to deal squarely with the matter instead of effectively making it too late to avoid the consequences of inaction.

We doubt that the voters will forget how this Commission has behaved when November rolls around.

Don't Look In The Freezer

If you're a dinner guest, don't look in your host's freezer. You never know what you may find. On Tuesday, July 3rd in Verviers, Belgium, a city 78 miles east of Brussels, a dinner guest did just that.

After dinner, she volunteered to help with the dishes. When she was done she decided to put the leftovers in the freezer in the basement. She went down, opened the freezer door and found two bodies: one of the hosts wife and the other of his 12 year old stepson.

The other guests notified police who identified the bodies. The host admitted that he and his wife, who had been stabbed and placed on ice for several weeks, had had a bit of a quarrel, but he could not explain the death of the child.

Sounds like a plot line for a budding KW novelist, doesn't it? They say truth is stranger than fiction.

That Sickening Scent

"You smell and I'm so sensitive I have to go home sick" is the message being given, according to the Associated Press, in a lawsuit filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) by an employee in the City of Detroit's Planning Department. The employee also claims that a plug-in room deodorizer only made matters worse. She wants a ban on strong scents at work.

We've all been there. You know, in line where the person next to you or a few people behind or in front smells like someone who was playing in a perfume garden and couldn't figure out which one to wear, so she/ he decided to wear them all. Unfortunately, the one with the real disability and the one who's sick isn't you the in line. You only have to hold your breath or inhale and then run for the coffee beans to preserve what's left of your olfactory nerve endings. The one with the real disability, the real sicko, is the one who doused on all that eau de crap in the first place.

But then, of course, the City fathers will get the blame for failing to control the eau de crap in the Planning Department. It seems like all Planning Departments have their share of eau de crap, and maybe KW is no different.

A Case of Humble Pie

The lawyer we told you about a few weeks ago has taken a dose of humble pie. You will recall he was the one who told a Miami federal judge that she was "just a few french fries short of a happy meal." The judge had issued an order for the lawyer to show cause why he should not be barred from practice in the federal bankruptcy court in South Florida.

Well that wisecrack also has cost the lawyer his client, who fired him and his 1000 lawyer Chicago firm. It also cost him his position as head of his law firm's bankruptcy law practice.

Before appearing before the judge in response to the judge's order, the lawyer had decided that he would make a contribution to the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami law school, which happens to be the judge's Alma Mater. He has agreed to do 200 hours of community service in Chicago, and his firm has said that it intends to increase its pro bono work in the Miami area.

Both the wisecracking lawyer and the head of the 1000 person firm appeared before the federal judge on June 20 and profusely apologized to the judge. The judge, after a recess and some thought, decided not to bar him from practice in her court. Instead, she ordered him to to take an online course in professionalism that is administered by the Florida Bar. The judge noted that, "There is no jurisdiction in the U.S. -- including the district where [the lawyer] regularly practices — where the expression and tone [he] used on May 7 would fall [with]in the bounds of acceptable behavior."

Returning From A Break

It felt good to get away and take a rest from the world of blogging for a bit. It gave us a chance to research some new material and to begin work on some of the changes we had planned for this blog. Unfortunately, they are still not complete enough to flip the switch. but they are coming along and should certainly be ready to implement by the fall. In the mean time, we have tried to catch up on the news and enjoy the summer happening around us.

We notice that there is a new computer store along Truman Avenue in Key West that specifically caters to the Mac crowd. We haven't had time to visit the new store, but we hear good things. The lonely Mac group in KW has needed a store devoted to the Mac for some time now.

And the new iphone has made its debut. Anyone out there have one and can give us the real scoop on how they like it? Can we believe all the reviews?

Here in KW, the new City Manager has taken over, and is being paid what he indicated he would accept, not what he Commission's negotiator proposed.

The politicians are beginning to get their campaigns in gear. Can you believe it, former Mayor, Jimmy Weekley, who lost by 24 votes to the current mayor, is set to make another run? So the citizens will have a chance to re-think their last choice, or to say, "none of the above."

We saw one of the candidates for the Utility Board out collecting signatures for his nominating petition the other day.

Commissioner Rossi is also running again. He and Todd German are locked in an election battle and are trading contentions. Guess we expected that.

The feds have their undies in a bundle over the Hemingway cats.

The Michael Moore movie, Sicko, is at the Tropic Cinema. We haven't seen it yet, but plan to do so.

The controversy over the assisted living facility proposed for the Truman water front is raging. We noticed that Truman Annex resident and occasional commenter here, David Lybrand, was part of a debate over the issues involved in a recent edition of the Key West Citizen. Both sides make some good points, but we have not yet decided which side deserves our support. Our current feeling is that there is much that needs clarifying and not enough plain talk at the forefront of the debate. The stakes and suspicions appear to run high on both sides.

Today is Independence Day, the day to think about "a more perfect union" and to honor our freedom that we so often take for granted. When you think about that In the larger scheme of things, some of the feuds we have over civic issues in KW seem small indeed.

It's Tough In Federal Court in Florida

If you think North Carolina is tough on lawyers (having effectively removed a district attorney from office by pulling his license to practice), Florida may not be far behind in the toughness category. If you don't believe us, just ask the lawyer who told the judge in open court, that with all due respect, the judge might be just "a few french fries short of a happy meal." That Chicago-based lawyer is now in big trouble.

In trouble is a Chicago lawyer, from one of the bigger firms, who tangled with Judge Laurel Myerson Isicoff of the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Miami. She just happens to be the first woman appointed to be a bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of Florida and a veteran bankruptcy lawyer. She did not find humor the lawyer's comment. Read the transcript here.

The lawyer? Well, he'll have to get his rear end down to Miami on June 25, 2007 at 11:00 a.m.to explain to her honor why he should not be suspended from practice in her court. You can bet there will be many mea culpas in the works, especially at his hourly rate.

It's A Cat; It's A Rac; It's Ticket!

"We've been put on this planet and made caretaker of the planet, of the creatures here and of one another," he said. "At this point it appears we're not doing a very good job with any of those."

Those words come from a dedicated cat feeder. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, however, doesn't seem to agree when it comes to feeding feral cats. The Commission seems to think the feeding is attracting not just cats but also raccoons, who a dedicated Officer says he's seen eating right along side the cats. Do you suppose the dishes were labeled, one for "Cat" and one for "Rac?"

The Fish and Wildlife Commission apparently has a piece of administrative code that outlaws putting out food or even your garbage "in such a manner that it attracts black bears, foxes, raccoons or sandhill cranes and thereby creates a public nuisance." An officer from the Commission has issued a $295 ticket to a well-meaning cat feeder.

So, when Bigfoot comes to your door for a visit, better be careful about feeding him. He may be followed by black bears, foxes, raccoons or sandhill cranes and you might be creating a public nuisance, not to mention aiding and abetting a stroll-away kitty.

A Swinging Door May Wake You Up

If you don't know where you are, a swinging door may do the trick. We see that's the solution the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the McGuire's came up with to end their spat over the signs on the doors to the restrooms that we blogged about here. Although the signs had been up for 10 years at McGuire's Destin location and 30 years at its Pensacola pub, the Department had found them to be confusing. It had threatened to close McGuire's for "lack of signage properly designating bathrooms."

Under the agreement, McGuire's will install a swinging door "labeled men or women as appropriate" in each of the bathrooms according to the Department's Secretary, Holly Benson. The additional doors will be installed after the main door of the bathroom and before the stalls.

This will give you a second chance to read the sign and get yourself in the right place. Well, maybe. Presumably, if you're too drunk or in too much of a hurry to read, when the swinging door hits you in the head, you'll either come to your senses or pee in your pants. Either way, you'll high tail it out of there. Problem solved.

Get Some Shorts!

It's been hot in Washington lately, but when you lose your favorite pair of expensive pants it must just send you to the edge of Wacky City. If you're a judge that is. Now going on is the trial in the case of the Judge's Pants. Washington Administrative Law Judge Roy L. Pearson, Jr. is suing his neighborhood dry cleaners for $54 million for allegedly misplacing his pants. What can one say? And folks wonder why the justice system seems broken? Will someone tell this fellow he can wear shorts in Key West where it feels down right sane.

Are You A $10 or $15 Plucker?

Did you watch the Democrats' Debate last night? The Republicans will have their turn on TV soon. In Congress, however, the debate has not been quite as lofty as it was last night. It's been about money all right, but the subject -- well, that's the curious thing. As we listened with fascination, it occurred to us that the proper home for such a discussion topic would be right here in the Southernmost City.

The subject was chicken plucking. That's with a "P" if you please. There are, after all, more chickens of all varieties in KW that need plucking than anywhere we can think of. In fact, many have turned into turkeys just waiting for things to hatch. But, back to Washington where the debate over chickens is raging. Here's what they're saying:

KENNEDY: “I would like the chicken pluckers to pay $10 or $15 an hour. They do not do it. They are not going to do it. Who are you trying to kid? Who is the Senator from North Dakota trying to fool?” [Senator Ted Kennedy, Congressional Record, S.6452, May 22, 2007]

DORGAN: “Mr. President, let me stand up and say a word on behalf of chicken pluckers. I had no idea that was the debate. But they will never get $15 an hour as long as we bring in cheap labor through the back door to pluck chickens.” [Senator Byron Dorgan, Congressional Record, S.6452, May 22, 2007]

If this is what they are doing with your spare change in the Senate wing of Nation's Capitol, imagine what they are doing with your real money.

BTW, both Senators are Democrats.

Worth A Listen

If you haven't listened to Pandora, you should. You'll become a fan. Pandora gives you a chance to program your own Internet radio station with music you like. And it's legal.

Unfortunately, as of May 3, 2007, Pandora has been forced to block foreign listeners because countries outside the U.S. don't have the equivalent of the law that provides a virtual automatic license for music streamed on Pandora. It has not been able to negotiate enough foreign licenses to make the streaming to foreign countries financially viable.

Pandora has no commercials, and you decide on the music, so the station is a real treat. Try it!