“Streets for People” Column
The following stories, written by Chris Hamilton, appear in the Key West newspaper KONK Life under the “Streets for People” column heading. They are the same stories you find on our blog at this site.
We started cross posting at KONK Life in January 2021. Older stories not cross posted on KONK can be found on the right side of every page under the “Recent Blog Posts” heading. All the Streets for People stories can be found at KONK Life here or click on the individual story links below. Stories have been cross posted at our Substack page since the summer of 2025 and on occasion in the Keys Citizen Saturday print and online edition since March 2026.
2026:
- Officials talk City’s long-term strategic plan, June 3, 2026 (special to the Citizen)
- Key West’s Mount Rushmore Deserves a Real Plaza, Not a Street With an Appendage, May 30, 2-26; Non paywall on this blog and on Substack and a shorter version in print and online at the Keys Citizen.
- The Lofts at Trumbo: A Win for Works and for Our Downtown – Here’s How To Make It Even Better, May 23, 2026; Non paywall on this blog and on Substack and a shorter version in print and online at the Keys Citizen.
- Housing Plus Transportation: The Affordability Math Nobody’s Doing, May 2, 20026; Non paywall on this blog and on Substack and a shorter version in print and online at the Keys Citizen Newspaper (paywall)
- The Lower Keys Shuttle: From Workhorse to Racehorse, April 18, 2026 (non paywall on this blog, on Substack) and a shorter version in print and online at the Keys Citizen Newspaper
- Healthy Alternatives to the Rejected Downtown Parking Garage, April 10, 2026 Keys Citizen Newspaper
- Keeping Key West Key West – And It Starts at the Airport, March 28, 2026 (non paywall on this blog, on Substack) and cross posted at the Keys Citizen Newspaper (shorter version)
- Could the Duval Loop and Fixed-Routes Be Returning to Key West Streets? March 14, 2026 (non paywall on this blog; on Substack) and cross posted at the Keys Citizen newspaper
- Key West Adopts Roadmap to Zero Traffic Deaths – With 36 Projects and a Price Tag, March 7, 2026 (non paywall on this blog; on Substack) and cross posted at the Keys Citizen newspaper
- City Pumps Breaks On Downtown Garage – Now It’s Time For Real Transportation Solutions, February 15, 2026 (non paywall on this blog; on Substack)
- A Solution In Search of a Problem: Why the Simonton/Angela Street Garage Doesn’t Add Up, January 31, 2026 (non paywall on this blog; on Substack)
- Does a Stock Island Garage Make More Sense Than One Downtown? January 24, 2026 (non paywall -this blog; on Substack here)
- Should Key West Be Building Another Downtown Parking Garage? January 17, 2026 (non paywall – this blog; on Substack here)
- Don’t Let the TDC Stonewall Using Tourist Monies for Tourist-Serving Transit, January 11, 2026 (non paywall – this blog; on Substack here)
- Funding Transit Without Raising Local Taxes: A Win for Tourists and Residents, January 4, 2026 (non paywall – this blog; on Substack here)
2025:
- Bikes Gain Ground, Transit Faces Crises: Key West’s 2025 Transportation Story, December 21, 2025 (non paywall – this blog; on Substack here)
- After the Loop’s Gone, What’s Next for Key West Transit? November 29, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Why Key West Ruins Everything — And Why I’m Still Grateful to Call It Home, November 27, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- The Crosstown Greenway — The Locals’ Not-So-Secret Bikeway, November 7, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- After the Cuts Can Key West Transit Rise Again? October 12, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- This Is Just the Beginning, Rainbows Return to Duval, October 7, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- No Director, No Department, No Direction: Monroe County’s Transit Collapse, September 21, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Duval Loop Eliminated: A Tragedy – and a Turning Point, September 14, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- From Rainbow Crosswalks to Rainbow Museums, September 10, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Katie Halloran’s Quiet Revolution, September 7, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Could Tourist Dollars Be the Answer to Our Transit Funding Problem? August 31, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Key West Rides Overwhelmed After Conch Connect Shutdown—KWT Pushes Alternative Buses Amid 36% Spike in Trip Requests, August 26, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Even If You’ll Never Ride the Bus, You’ll Feel It When It’s Gone, August 24, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Transit Is Collapsing in the Keys. Will Business Leaders Let It? August 17, 2025 (non paywall – this blog here; on Substack here)
- Dumb and Dumber Transit Cuts: A Failure of Leadership in the Keys, August 3, 2025 (non paywall here; also on Substack)
- Zero Fatalities by 2035 – Key West Aims for Safer Streets for All, July 27, 2025 (non paywall here; also on Substack)
- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: COUNTY CUTS LIFELINE BY CANCELING CONCH CONNECT RIDE PROGRAM, Keys Weekly Newspaper, July 27, 2025
- Conch Disconnect: Repeal Without Replace Is Just Regression July 24, 2025, also on Substack
- Conch Disconnect: County Scraps Transit Service for Local Workers, July 20, 2025 (non paywall here; also on Substack)
- Making the Duval Loop Free and Easy Helps Downtown Prosper, July 14, 2025; also on Substack
- The $1 Mistake: How Key West Is Undermining the Duval Loop, Again, July 6, 2025 (non paywall here; also on Substack)
- Key West is Florida’s Best Biking City. Could It Become the Paris of Small Cities? July 1, 2025 (non paywall here; also on Substack)
- Just Six Months Old, Conch Connect Micro-Transit Is Already Beating Expectations, January 24, 2025 (non paywall here)
- Rebuild of South Street Is Complete and Includes Brand New Bike Lane, January 17, 2025 (Non paywall here)
- Commissioner Lee Is Right. It’s Time To Get Fast Moving E-Bikes Off Our Promenades, January 10, 2025 (Non paywall here)
2024:
- Work To Upgrade Lower Keys Shuttle Bus Stops Complete, September 13, 2024 (Non paywall here)
- Come On Man! Wrap and Brand the Duval Loop Buses, July 26, 2024 (non paywall here)
- A New County Sponsored On-Demand Micro-Transit Begins Serving Key West and Stock Island July 15, July 12, 2024 (non paywall here)
- City’s Expands “Work Force Express” Bus Route and Potentially Ruins It In the Process, July 5, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Key West Improves Its PeopleforBikes Bike Score and Ranks as #1 in Florida, #44 in U.S.A. and #116 in World, June 28, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Governor’s Veto Means Local Key West Arts Groups, Theaters and Museums Lose Funds, June 21, 2024 (non paywall here)
- A Father’s Gift of Time, June 16, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Progress On Seven Projects Equals Big Wins for Our Downtown, Even If It Is On Key West Time, June 7, 2024 (non paywall here)
- A New Transit Service Is Coming This Summer. Our Workforce Needs It and Much More Transit Up and Down the Keys, May 24, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Know a Good Spot for Bicycle Parking? There’s An App for That, May 3, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Rebuild of United Street With New Bike Lane & Improved Pedestrian Safety Complete. South Street Is Next, April 19, 2024 (non paywall here)
- New Data Makes Duval Street Revitalization More Concrete, April 12, 2024 (non paywall here)
- March Madness and the Duval Loop, March 29, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Monroe County to City’s Request for Bike Lane: Drop Dead, March 8, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Key West Improving Infrastructure for Pedestrian Safety, March 1, 2024 (non paywall here)
- There Goes The Key West Gayborhood? February 16, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Streets for People Improves Our Environment, Affordable Housing, Health, and Safety. It Boosts a Local’s Economy and Makes Us Happier Too, February 9, 2024 (non paywall here)
- Project Seeks To Make Duval Street Resilient in Face of Sea Level Rise, February 2, 2024 (non paywall here)
2023:
- Key West Ruins Everything Or Why I’m Grateful to Call Key West Home, November 23, 2023
- Is It Really Too Late For Bike Lanes on S. Roosevelt Boulevard? August 24, 2023
- Hunting for Parking: Making the Case to End Free Parking for Visitors In Downtown Key West, July 21, 2023 (non paywall here)
- PeopleforBikes Says Key West Is a “Great” Bicycling City and Ranks It #17 in U.S.A., June 29, 2023 (non paywall here)
- New Staples Avenue Bike/Ped Bridge Coming This Fall, June 23, 2023 (non paywall here)
- City Wants Your Help In Locating New Bike Parking, June 2, 2023 (non paywall here)
- Helping Islanders Go Car-Free Or Car-Lite Can Help With Our Affordable Housing Crisis, May 18, 2023 (non paywall here)
- Brand New Bike Lanes Coming to United and South Streets, May 5, 2023 (non paywall here)
- New “Workforce Express” Key West Transit Service Begins May 15 Between Stock Island and Bahama Village, May 3, 2023 (non paywall here)
- County Officials Reserved On-Street Parking Stands In Way of Completing Southard Street Bike Lane, April 21, 2023 (non paywall here)
- The Canary In Our Florida Keys Coal Mine Is Our Fragile Water System. Here’s 10 Things to Reign In Overtourism and Overdevelopment that Killed the Bird, March 31, 2023 (non paywall here)
- New “Locals” Multi-Use Paths Behind the Airport Move Closer to Reality, Maybe, March 17, 2023 (non paywall here)
- One Year In Lama E-Scooters Are Proving to be a Success. We Need to Make It Easier for Them to Expand, March 1, 2023 (non paywall here)
- New Bike Lane On Bertha Is Half a Loaf for Bike Safety, February 24, 2023 (non paywall here)
- Do We Need a Traffic Light at Duck Avenue and S. Roosevelt? February 9, 2023 (non paywall here)
- City Snags $400K Federal Safe Streets Planning Grant That May Lead To Additional Construction Dollars, February 3, 2023 (non paywall here)
- City and FDOT Fail, Again, To Follow Key West Bike Plan. This Time On Whitehead Street, January 27, 2023 (non paywall here)
- The Lofts Moves Forward With Less Car Parking and More Bike Racks, January 20, 2023 (non paywall here)
2022:
- Three Crashes = 3 Bicycle Rider Deaths Leads 2022’s Top 10 Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories, December 16, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Key West Transit’s Uber-Like On-Demand “Key West Rides” Service Begins November 30, November 18, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Two Fatal Bike Crashes This Week Are Two Too Many. Here’s 10 Things to Make Bicycling Safer, November 12, 2022 (non paywall here)
- City to Begin Work On Making It Easy to Bike to Lower Keys Shuttle and Enhancing Bus Stops from Marathon to Key West; November 4, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Progress on Five Historic District Projects Means More Life, Locals, Prosperity, and Resiliency for Our Downtown; October 21, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Improving Lazy Way As a Great “Shared Street” Can Set the Stage for More of the Same Around Our Historic Downtown; October 14, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Ian’s Lesson: Key West Infrastructure Needs to Be as Resilient as Its People; October 7, 2022 (non paywall here)
- The Mayor’s Strategic Plan is Helping the City Bureaucracy Get Stuff Done; September 22, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Wreckers Cay and County Need to Do Better By New Residents Who Want to Ride Bikes Between Stock Island and Key West; September 2, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Staff Takes Bull By Horns and Upgrades Embarrassing Duval Loop Bus Stop Signs; August 20, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Key West Mayoral and District IV Candidates in Their Own Words on Bike, Walk and Transit Issues; August 5, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Freebee On-Demand Ride-Hailing-to-Transit Might Provide Stock Island Residents With Reason to Leave Their Cars at Home; July 22, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Construction on First and Bertha Streets Doesn’t Follow the Bike Plan. Is It Too Late? July 8, 2022 (non paywall here)
- PeopleforBikes’ 2022 City Ratings Ranks Key West 15th in North America. What Can We Achieve If We Really Try? Our Mayor Says: #1; July 1, 2022 (non paywall here)
- City’s Uber-Like On-Demand Transit Service Back On Track; June 24, 2022 (non paywall here)
- 10 Things to Make It Safer to Bike from the 667 New Housing Units on Stock Island to Key West; June 17, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Duval Loop Ridership is Plummeting. Save the Duval Loop! June 3, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Traffic Nightmare Looms as 132 New Housing Units Added to 700 In the Pipeline on Stock Island and Lower Keys; May 20 2022 (non paywall here)
- The Sorry State of Key West Bus Stops Revisited – What’s Happening a Year Later; May 6, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Ten Ways to Make Car-Free Key West a Reality for Visitors – Part 2: Services, Infrastructure and Policies; April 15, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Ten Ways to Make Car-Free Key West a Reality for Visitors – Part 1: Marketing; April 8, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Just Passed ‘Greener, Cleaner Transport Act’ Says City Vehicles to Be Electric By 2030, Adds Measures to Improve Transit, Biking and Parking; April 1, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Key West Ruins Everything; March 25, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Innovative Lama E-Scooter Share Comes to Key West; March 18, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Stock Island and Lower Keys Workforce Housing Needs Frequent Transit; March 11, 2022 (non paywall here)
- We Can Adapt and Save the Florida Keys from Rising Seas; March 4, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Will Deal on Cruise Ships Finally Lead to Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut? February 25, 2022 (non paywall here)
- City’s On-Demand Transit Service is Delayed Again. It’s 10-Year Plan is Scrapped Too; February 18, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Airport’s Need for Additional City Land Could Help Spur Salt Ponds and Smathers Beach “Locals” Bike Trails; February 11, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Too Much Surface Parking at The Lofts is a Wasteful Use of Downtown Land; February 4, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Here’s the Real Lowdown on the Do’s and Don’ts for E-Bikes and E-Scooters in Key West; January 28, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Time to Reimagine Car-Centric, Mainland Style Searstown and Kmart into Island-Friendly Centers with Housing; January 21, 2022 (non paywall here)
- Mallory Sq., Diesel Plant, Duval Street and Bahama Village Projects Create Synergy to Bolster Downtown; January 14, 2022 (non paywall here)
- 3 Reasons You May Not Have Thought of for Voting YES on 3.2 on January 18; January 7, 2022 (non paywall here)
2021:
- Countdown of 2021’s Most Important Bike, Walk and Transit Stories – Is Our Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Part 2: The Case for a Glass Half Full Year; December 17, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Countdown of 2021’s Most Important Bike, Walk and Transit Stories – Is Our Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Part 1: The Case for a Glass Half Empty Year; December 10, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Countdown of the 10 Most Important Bike, Walk and Transit Stories of 2019 and 2020 Revisited; December 3, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Counting Down the Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2021; November 26, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Prominent Locals Say We’ve Got a Lot to Be Thankful for When It Comes to Biking and Walking in Key West; November 19, 2021 (non paywall here)
- City Fails, Again, to Make South Roosevelt Boulevard and Promenade Safer for Bikes, Pedestrians and Vehicles; November 12, 2021 (non paywall here)
- It’s Time to Eliminate Free On-Street Parking for Visitors Downtown; November 5, 2021 (non paywall here)
- It’s Official – Uber-Like On-Demand Transit Coming to Key West in December; October 29, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- D.C. Baseball, Tattoos, Key West and the World Series; October 22, 2021; (non paywall here)
- Meet Local Ryan Stachurski – The City’s New “Bike Guy”; October 8, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Duval Street Revitalization Back on Track; October 1, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Airport Expansion Means Fewer Cars on Our Island, September 24, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Reimagining Key West – 10 Goals for a Better Future and 10 Actions to Get There; September 17, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Serious Bikeshare in the U.S.A. is 11 Years Old. Its Success Shows Cities Can Do Innovative Work; September 10, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Can We Save Key West Transit from a Death Spiral; September 3, 2021 (non paywall here)
- We Need to Increase the Quantity and Quality of Bicycle Parking Downtown; August 27, 2021 (non paywall here)
- City to Make It Easier to Bike to the Lower Keys Shuttle Bus; August 20, 2021 (non paywall here)
- It’s Time to Put an Hourly Limit on the Free On-Street Parking Spaces and Institute a Zone System for Residential Parking Permits Downtown; August 13, 2021 (non paywall here)
- We Need to Encourage Efforts Like the Proposed Lama Electric Scooter; August 6, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Uber-Like Transit Coming to Key West; July 30, 2021; (non paywall here)
- Our Top 7 Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Articles of 2021; July 24, 2021 (non paywall here)
- With the Duval Street Revitalization Plan Way Behind Schedule, Here’s 3 Quick Wins for Pedestrianizing Duval Street Now; July 16, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Limiting Large Cruise Ships Gives Us an Opportunity to Make Duval Street and Historic Downtown More Local Focused, Again; July 9, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Mayor Bravely Puts Onus on Commission to Do Heavy Lifting on Better Bike, Walk and Transit. Will They Come Through?; July 2, 2021 (non paywall here)
- Monorail, Monorail, Monorail or Just Say No to Privatizing Key West Parking; June 25, 2021 (non paywall here)
- New City Manager Will Be Good for Bike, Walk, Transit and For Key West; June 18, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- PeopleForBikes Ranks Key West 39th Best City for Bicycling; June 11, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- First and Bertha Streets Corridor Road Improvements Are Another Missed Opportunity to Make Bicycling Safer and Easier; June 4, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- Want Sidewalk Cafe’s and Other Amenities? We Need to Take Some Space from Cars; May 28, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- In Quest to Improve Crosstown Greenway, City Prepares to Construct New Bike Trail Segment; May 21, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- How Better Transit and Bicycle Facilities Can Help Address Affordable Housing; May 14, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- City Commission Tries to Have Its Cake and Eat It Too On S. Roosevelt Blvd. – Perhaps Dooming a Safer Project; May 7, 2021 (non-paywall here)
- What’s Old is New Again – Two New Bike Trails Take Us Back Us Back in Time to a Simpler Key West; April 30, 2020 (non-paywall here)
- Do Key West Commercial Areas Need Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)? – Part 2: What BIDS in Key West Might Look Like; April 23, 2021 (non-paywall reprint here)
- Do Key West Commercial Areas Need Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)? – Part 1: What’s a BID?; April 16, 2021 (non-paywall reprint here)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – A Dozen Marketing Things KW Transit Can Do To Increase Ridership; April 9, 2021 (non-paywall reprint here)
- The Sorry State of Key West Bus Stops – We Just Don’t Care; April 2, 2021 (non-paywall reprint here)
- It’s Time to Reconsider a Road Diet on S. Roosevelt and Make the Promenade and Road Safer; March 26, 2021 (non paywall reprint here)
- Getting the Parking Right Leads to Streets for People – Part 2: Battling Our Inner George Costanza – Ten Things We Can Do in Downtown Key West to Get the Parking Right; March 19, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- Getting the Parking Right Leads to Streets for People – Part 1: Nobody Goes there Anymore. It’s Too Crowded – Six Reasons for Right Pricing Parking; March 12, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- Eight Things We Can Do to Pedestrianize Duval and Still Allow Cars, March 5, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- How We Get Wider Sidewalks Downtown Without Ripping Up the Streets – Parklets; February 26, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- The Wee Donkey, Whataboutism, Bathwater and Duval Street’s Future; February 19, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- Averting E-Bike Mayhem and Making Key West Sidewalks Safer; February 12, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- Sustainability Board Wants to Make Free, Frequent and Simple Key West Transit a Reality, February 5, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)
- Volunteers and a Little Green Paint Show How We Can Make it Safer to Bike; January 29, 2021; (non paywall reprint here)