Blog Category

New Data Makes Duval Street Revitalization More Concrete

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on April 12, 2024.  Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. About 75 people, attended the April 4 Duval Street Revitalization & Resiliency Project Workshop at the Gato Building on Simonton. Three quarters of the attendees were business owners who were queried […]

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March Madness and the Duval Loop

In intending to update an older article on the Duval Loop for today’s column, I asked my friend, Thaddeus Cohen who lives in Bahama Village, for some thoughts on why the Duval Loop ridership has never recovered its pre-COVID highs, despite the fact that the number of visitors and our downtown economy have been thriving […]

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Monroe County to City’s Request for Bike Lane: Drop Dead

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on March 8, 2024.  Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. For those who remember the infamous New York City Daily News headline “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD” in 1975, prompted by then President Ford saying he would deny federal assistance to […]

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Key West Improving Infrastructure for Pedestrian Safety

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on March 1, 2024.  Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. Perhaps you’ve seen the Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons recently installed along Northside Dr. near the Clayton Sterling Baseball Complex and along Eaton Street at Frances Street. Or maybe you’ve come across […]

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There Goes The Key West Gayborhood?

Streets for People  |  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown  |  Chris Hamilton  |  February 16, 2024 On February 5 the Equator Resort – the Male-Only – Clothing Optional hotel at 822 Fleming Street announced that after 27 years in business as the Equator, their last day of operation would be January 8, 2025, saying: “The company has […]

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Streets for People Improves Our Environment, Affordable Housing, Health, and Safety. It Boosts a Local’s Economy and Makes Us Happier Too

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on February 9, 2024. Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. Think about some of today’s big problems in Key West and cities across the country. A degrading environment, rising seas and threatening weather events. A lack of affordable housing. Climbing obesity […]

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Streets for People / Project Seeks To Make Duval Street Resilient in Face of Sea Level Rise

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on February 2, 2024. Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. Imagine maybe a hundred people waiting in line to get into a City meeting in Key West. I know, hard to picture right? But that’s what happened on Wednesday evening January […]

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Key West Ruins Everything Or Why I’m Grateful to Call Key West Home

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on November 23, 2023. Support ($) our local journalism here. Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. December 1 marks Mikey and my 9th anniversary of arriving to live in Key West. And for that decision we are very thankful this holiday. We […]

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Streets for People / Is It Really Too Late For Bike Lanes on S. Roosevelt Boulevard?

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on August 4, 2023. Support ($) our local journalism here. Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. Since FDOT first held public hearings in 2016 on rebuilding S. Roosevelt Boulevard between Bertha Street and the end of Smathers Beach to address sea level […]

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Hunting for Parking: Making the Case to End Free Parking for Visitors In Downtown Key West

By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on July 21, 2023. Support ($) our local journalism here. Follow us at  Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet. I’m hunting for a parking space. But for the first time in a few years, lo and behold there seem to […]

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