Streets for People / Prominent Locals Say We’ve Got a Lot to Be Thankful for When It Comes to Biking and Walking in Key West

Posted on November 19, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on November 19, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here. 

While our hard-nosed advocacy for better biking, walking, transit and streets for people in Key West never stops via our Streets for People column in KONK Life and our Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown Facebook page, Thanksgiving seemed an appropriate time to take a break and take stock in how lucky we are to live on this little island paradise. We reached out to a couple dozen well-known locals and asked: “When it comes to bike, walk, transit and streets for people in Key West, what are you thankful for?” We share their generous and heartfelt answers here.

The feedback from everyonel seemed to echo similar themes. Perhaps that’s because we live on such a small, flat, and beautiful place, surrounded by water and with gorgeous weather twelve months a year and that makes walking and bicycling so wonderful and sublime. It is something we all share. And something we don’t take for granted, because it is so rare. You just can’t get this experience on the sprawling, car-dependent mainland. Everyone seems to appreciate Key West all the more because of their biking and walking. We seem to all know we are very fortunate indeed. It vividly and sometimes humorously comes through in each person’s response to the question. 

 As I reach our seventh year here as residents of Key West this December 1, I’m thankful to live a simple, car-free life. That I can quickly walk and bike anywhere I need to go. 12 months a year. In shorts. I never have to think about it. It is simple and natural and takes no extra fuss to hop on my bike, in whatever I’m wearing, and go. I’m thankful that at any turn I may see water or ships, blooming fragrant flowers and trees and beautiful, historic architecture. I’m thankful for being able to bike or walk for exercise all over the island, to feel safe doing it and to enjoy the water along the Promenades. I love walking to Fausto’s for groceries, CVS for essentials and to Duval and the Seaport for eating, drinking and shopping. I especially love that whether I’m walking or biking, I’ll always see people I know and get to exchange a hearty hello. 

Here’s what other Key West residents are saying:

“I’m thankful that I can leave the houseboat at 5:30 am every day, without a shirt and ride for two hours while catching a beautiful sunrise almost every day.” 
Tom “The BikeMan” Theisen 

“I was never a bike person before coming to Key West. Somehow, I was both too lazy and in too big a rush. Now I consider biking in my “top 5” reasons I love this place, without a doubt. At first it was just all the time that I got back that I used to spend in a car. But the longer I live here – almost ten years now, but it still feels fresh – the more I appreciate the way it leaves me more connected to the island: the different routes I take home every day, the smell of frangipani, even the occasional jaunt down Duval to check out the “show.” By the time I get home, I’m fully recharged.”
Jed Dodds

“I am thankful to live in this island city where arriving to any function by bike, be it work or play, is considered the norm.” 
Sheila Cullen

“We are thankful for our 5:30 – 6:30 am bike ride we take at least 5 days a week in Old Town. The perfect time of day to ride with little to no traffic. Our favorite area is Truman Waterfront, the Quay wall and the wide bike lanes on the way to the entrance of Fort Zack.”
Dorian Patton and Kevin Theriault

“I always wanted to live in a place where I could see my friends all the time. Key West is that perfect mix, where I can walk my dog for four minutes and run into four friends while doing it. And then walk to a friend’s house with my dog and watch four more friends bicycle past and wave. It’s out of a movie. And I love it!” 
Jeffrey Smead

“I am extremely grateful to live in a place where I can walk or bike to nearly everything. My 7-year-old car only has 14,000 miles because of this. Also, there is community support and camaraderie for bicyclists. I love riding with The Key West Bike Club, The Key West Mile Markers and the Southernmost Slow Riders. We have so much fun riding for charity in the Remarcable Ride, The Smart Ride. And pure silly fun on the full moon rides!”
Fran Decker

“I am grateful for the secret sidewalk connecting William “Bill” Butler Park with Elizabeth Street, a shortcut that saves time and avoids traffic when navigating to middle and upper Duval from certain parts of Old Town.”
Robert Gold

“The pedestrian/bicycle bridge on Staples Avenue over the canal. It is a small feature but an absolute joy to traverse, and there is a little library right there. I’m also grateful for Government Road. Very fun to bike down, great views and strange decommissioned military stuff. A nature park, great for picnics and you feel a little away from the city when you are there. And the low $2.50 fee for bikes and pedestrians to enter Fort Zack.”
Hayden Lee Courtney

“Many thanks to the Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown for encouraging us to be good, responsible stewards of this amazing island community! One of my fondest memories is riding to and from work through the streets of Key West at night on my original “Captain Outrageous” bike (rode it until the wheels fell off literally!!) The scents of the night blooming jasmine and cactus simply cannot be completely appreciated by car – the bike is my free ticket to happiness – and what a way to feed proud of doing something to save our environment!!!”
Rudey Gee

“Key West is a walkable City. We are fortunate to live in a place where biking is as enjoyable as practical. I am very thankful for the continued focus on making Key West a bike friendly city. I hope additional greenways and bike paths will be developed and that there will be a continued emphasis on alternative modes of transportation.”
Chuck Licis

“Greatly enjoy a slow bike ride in Old Town with my camera enjoying the amazing architecture as well as enjoying the trees. Always on the lookout for a plant I don’t know and finding out what it is.”
Ed Cunningham

“I am grateful to be able to ride my bicycle everywhere all over this eclectic and diverse island. Going slowly, it’s a photo safari every day. I stop and capture images that aren’t normally seen while driving. I love the scent of flowers blooming from all the shrubs and trees.”
Roberta DePiero

“I am thankful that I have lived almost my entire adult life in a place that is small, flat and warm enough that it is easy to make a bike your primary transportation – and that has allowed my husband and me to be a one-car family for more than a decade. This is a huge benefit for physical and mental health, household finances and of course it’s good for the planet! I’m also thankful for the efforts that have gone so far into recognizing cycling’s benefits for the island – and hope they meet with more success on the ground in the near future.”
Nancy Klingener

“I’m thankful for the roads that have bike lanes on the side.”
Kenneth Newell

“I’m thankful for the entertainment that comes with seeing so many bikes on the road. Between the organized rides and all the bikes, you see leaving big events, Key West feels like one big college campus and it’s fun to be part of.”
Scott Gerke

“When it comes to getting around Key West. Regarding the roads, seems like they’re always working on something. But one of the things that I’m grateful for with the roads is the North Roosevelt Boulevard sidewalk, that used to be a Motocross mess. Now it’s nice and smooth, so I’m grateful for that.”
Virginia Wark

“I am thankful for our city’s accessibility and no long commutes.”
Dakin Weekley 

“I’m grateful for the ability to walk through our neighborhood and greet people relaxing on their porches. I’m grateful that we are able to walk to our gallery Shade Ceramics and Shutter Photography every day. I’m grateful that I can walk to Fausto’s, Date & Thyme, and Sugar Apple to get our groceries instead of having to drive. I’m grateful that I can bike to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park to photograph beautiful wildlife and wonderful seascapes. I’m grateful that we can walk to the Amphitheater to hear great concerts.”
Sarah Carleton

“I am grateful that I live in a place where I don’t need a car. I can walk to everything I need (and a few things I don’t).”
JD Adler

“I’m thankful that you can bike around the entire island, without any breaks, in a safe and secure lane. Allowing me to help lose that extra 10 pounds from Thanksgiving.”
Christopher Peterson

“As the author of the Walking & Biking Guide to Historic Key West (1985-2011), I have been thankful, for decades, for our wood frame architectural treasures, tropical landscape, and amazing history – all of which is beautifully on display as one pedals throughout Old Town.”
Sharon Wells

“I’m thankful for my tiny island community that allows me to walk and bicycle everywhere I need to go. Not only does riding my bicycle bring me joy, but it’s a form of exercise and helps the environment. I’m so grateful for this island that is trying to cater to all the residents that ride bicycles.”
Jessica Miano Kruel

“I’m thankful Key West has a vibrant bicycle culture and that people from diverse backgrounds all cycle for transportation, pleasure and exercise.”
Eric Detwiler

“Thankful I can still pedal to the top of the Solaris Hill “mountain” even on my trike, which hates elevation of any kind.”
Linda Grist Cunningham

“I’m thankful to live on such a beautiful island with so many kind people and I’m thankful Key West has such a beautiful biking path on the ocean.” 
Matt Hughes

“I am envious of the bicyclists that can ride Northbound on Bertha Street because they are able to circumvent the necessary yet extremely inconvenient road construction. Therefore, I am thankful for the fond memories of when we didn’t have to drive around the entire island just to go have lunch at Salute! I guess I’d better start riding my bike!”
Amber Debevec

“I’m thankful for the glorious promenades on North and South Roosevelt that allow me to safely skim past the ocean on my bike. I’m also grateful for an island on which I can get anywhere I want via a bicycle.”
Alyson Crean

“Thankful to live on a beautiful small island with fair weather where I don’t need a car and can travel by foot or bicycle and can exercise outdoors 52 weeks a year. And that Ryan Stachurski has been named new Multi-modal Coordinator. Unfortunately, there are not any bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements to be thankful for.”
Roger McVeigh

“As challenging as it is with the size of our streets in Key West. Along with many one way as well. I believe the city has done a great job on improving pedestrian safety. And for those who remember Jim Malcolm (note: Jim was the City’s Bicycle Coordinator from 1999 until his death in November 2008), I think he would be impressed. Of course, he’d had some comments of his own.”
Tom Wheaton

“I’m thankful for all of the citizens who work to make it easier and safer to travel without a car. I’m thankful for the reader who chooses to ride their bike today. Most of all, I’m thankful for those who make the decision to rider their bike tomorrow.”
Ryan Stachurski

“I’m thankful for all of our wonderful residents who love our community enough to plant and maintain a canopy tree, who pick up litter while walking the dog, who find the hidden joys of Key West by strolling through our neighborhoods, who reduce our carbon footprint by hopping on their bike and those who take the time to exhale and just enjoy our spectacular sunsets. Happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for.”
Teri Johnston

Our mayor said it best. We do indeed have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving.

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You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here.

Streets for People / City Fails, Again, to Make South Roosevelt Boulevard and Promenade Safer for Bikes, Pedestrians and Vehicles

Posted on November 12, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on November 12, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here. 

It’s like déjà vu all over again. In 2017, the then City Commission overruled FDOT, the City’s Engineering Director and a majority of citizens who participated in a public process to reject a safer S. Roosevelt Blvd. that would have included protected bike lanes and a middle turn lane along Smathers Beach. We’ve just learned that despite this City Commission voting 6-1 in May to rescind that 2017 decision that nothing will change, and we’ll get the same four vehicle lanes we’ve got now when FDOT reconstructs the road. While this City Commission may feel better because they tried to right this wrong, they don’t get a pass.

Their resolution this past May to direct City Engineering staff to make the corridor safer with a new design came with a catch that any change couldn’t cost the City more money nor interfere with the timeline of the project. A project that because of its size and scope will be with us for a generation. So, it isn’t surprising that the City Engineer just announced that making adjustments would both cost more money and likely disrupt the timeline and so there will be no changes and work will proceed as directed in 2017 on four vehicle lanes.

It’s the Same Old Song – City Hall Seems to Have Mainland Values When It Comes to Cars

Despite some commissioners’ sincere attempt at change, the City gets another FAIL because the attempt was much too timid to succeed, just like we said in May. The Commissioners should have been willing to spend additional planning money and even let the timeline slip for a project that will last 25 or so years. 

They get a FAIL for the First and Bertha Street Corridor, which is being completely rebuilt right now from one end to the other because while the City’s adopted Bike/Ped Plan calls for protected bike lanes for the length of the important crosstown project, we will not get those lanes as the City told the County – who’s doing the rebuild – to choose little used parking spaces over bikeways. They got a FAIL when the Palm Avenue Bridge was recently rebuilt by the County because they didn’t step in and ask for pedestrian and bicycle improvements. And the City got a FAIL when they rebuilt Duval and Simonton Streets during the shutdown and didn’t add any bicycle or pedestrian infrastructure whatsoever, when all it would have taken is a little paint.

Experts tell us the perfect time to reconfigure our streets is during a repaving or rebuilding. Yet, time after time in the last few years, our City’s leaders have chosen mainland values of vehicle parking and car convenience over safer streets for bicycle and pedestrians. It’s almost as if our leaders think they’re presiding over Orlando, Boca, West Palm or Ocala and not a little 7 square mile island that should be easy to emphasize biking, walking and transit. We don’t doubt their good intentions, but the record is pretty clear that we’ve yet to take any parking or car lanes and repurpose them for protected bicycle infrastructure, wider sidewalks or closed streets for people anywhere in the City. 

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The Result – A Less Safe South Roosevelt Boulevard and Promenade and a Problem With E-Bikes and E-Scooters Remains

The City worked for over a year on a new e-bikes/e-scooters ordinance that took effect this past summer. We talked about that here: Averting E-Bike Mayhem and Making Key West Sidewalks Safer; February 12, 2021. One of the reasons for this ordinance was conflicts with pedestrians on sidewalks, especially on North and South Roosevelt Promenades. South Roosevelt, particularly the stretch along Smathers Beach, is full of persons going to the beach from nearby cars and hotels/condos and getting drinks and food from vendors, walkers, joggers, runners and lots of bicycles and now e-bikes and e-scooters all sharing the Promenade, while the vehicles get to spread out among four broad lanes and one parking lane of their own. 

People bemoan how fast e-bikes and e-scooters travel on the sidewalks. And while the new Ordinance can regulate their speed and prohibit these vehicles from some sidewalks with the exception of N. and S. Roosevelt Promenades because they are State designated bike paths, it does beg the question, where should these e-vehicles go if we don’t want them on the sidewalk? Adding protected bike lanes in the road next to the beach would have provided an opportunity for bicycles and faster moving e-bikes and e-scooters to move off of the Promenade making it safer for everyone. That’s not going to happen.

And so, the failure to get this right, makes for a less safe Promenade. This is a problem all over the Key West. If we want these new e-vehicles off the sidewalks, we need to make safe space on our roads for them to travel. That means taking some parking or travel lanes and building separate and protected facilities for bikes.

Here’s How We Got Here and What the City Told Us

We’ve well documented the story of how then Commissioners Wardlow, Lopez, Romero, Payne and Mayor Cates voted for no change in 2017 (It’s Time to Reconsider a Road Diet on S. Roosevelt and Make the Promenade and Road Safer; March 26, 2021). At the time FDOT held a very public process asking citizens how they’d like to restripe the road when the rebuild was completed. Participating citizens overwhelming rejected the status quo of four through travel lanes in favor of two travel lanes, a middle turn lane and some sort of protected bikeway either side by side next to the Promenade or on either side of the travel lanes. Said then Engineering Director Jim Bouquet in a memo to the Commissioners: “Choosing the two-lane option for South Roosevelt will better support a transportation system which is aesthetically attractive, functional, efficient, safe and environmentally sensitive.” FDOT said traffic flow and volume wouldn’t be affected and that they recommended change as safer for bikes, pedestrians and cars too. But the then City Manager and Assistant City Manager recommended against change and the Commissioners, with the exception of Sam Kaufman and Jimmy Weekley, agreed with them and thought they knew better, putting a stop to any changes FDOT recommended.

Fast forward to this year. In the wake of increasing e-bike usage and complaints of their fast driving on the Promenade, Commissioner Hoover began looking into the issue of safety on S. Roosevelt. Mayor Johnston and Commissioner Kaufman had already been on to this with the e-bike ordinance. In May of this year, Commissioner Hoover brought a resolution to the Commission that would rescind the 2017 decision and direct the Engineering Department to design a safer road. But as we’ve already discussed without the will to take on additional engineering/planning costs for a redesign and to perhaps push the project back a bit nothing was going to, nor did it change.

Here’s how Engineering Department Director Steve McAlearney put it:

“As a result of the Commission vote (in May) you reference, we contacted both FDOT and a private property where they would need to acquire right-of-way to construct the bike lanes/center turn lane option. As a federally funded project, FDOT needs to meet strict milestones to preserve that funding, i.e., if you miss a milestone, you jeopardize the funding. It was determined that a change in plans would be entirely at City expense, with great likelihood of both not being granted the needed ROW and not having “City” plans completed by milestone dates, at which point FDOT would proceed as directed by a previous Commission vote (the current plans). This was briefed to the current Commission at their next meeting.

What ultimately happened was FDOT designed the segment in accordance with the wishes of a (previous) City Commission resolution. After the project had progressed down it’s 5-year project timeline, the current Commission tried to make a change, which was ultimately too late to implement. FDOT District 6 has moved the project timeline forward. Public bid will occur in May 2022. Construction start is anticipated in September 2022.”

Said Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover, who sponsored the May resolution: 

“I appreciate you asking for my comments. As noted in your article, it was a different commission then. Unfortunately, I only became aware of this project this past summer. As I’ve begun to understand how others have worked with and been successful with FDOT, you have to be on board with them from the beginning. So, when the former commission voted strongly against adding bike lanes and two-lane traffic with a middle turn lane, that was “baked into the cake.” I have talked with Steve and Kelly and we may be able to do something in the future, but it’s not just changing where the paint is applied.”

And here’s what Commissioner Sam Kaufman, one of only two Commissioners (the other being Jimmy Weekley) to vote the right way had to say:

“This is a missed opportunity for FDOT and the city to provide a safer roadway for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians for S. Roosevelt Blvd. In 2017, FDOT advised city officials that inclusion of dedicated turn lanes and dedicated bicycle lanes was a safer and better design. FDOT followed the direction given by the City in 2017. Thereafter, City officials in 2021 agreed that the 2017 chosen design was inferior but FDOT had advised that their funding process precluded them from changing the design to one inclusive of turn lanes and bike lanes.”

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Here’s What Bicycle Advocates Are Saying

“South Roosevelt was dealt with two city managers ago, Jim Scholl to be exact. One of the least knowledgeable city managers Key West has ever seen. The mayor and commissioners share blame too, none of them showed any particular interest in a more pedestrian/cyclist friendly design. None of them bike or walk out there much so it’s not surprising. Jim’s ineptitude will continue to negatively affect us into the near future. In the end it’s the fear of change and simultaneous obliviousness to change that prevents us from having anything nice.”

Tom “The Bike Man” Theisen; Owner, BikeMan Bike Rentals Key West

“Very short-sighted decision because of worries about delays and increased costs that changing course to incorporate safety and bike/ped improvements would cause (and need for easements from Key West by the Sea). On the positive side, we did witness spontaneous local community support for a safer road with sidewalks, slower traffic, and bike lanes. This resulted in a positive conversation and vote at the commission level about the need for these type improvements on every road project. On the negative side, again all talk and no action with zero safety improvements in this once in a 20+ year project.”

Roger McVeigh; Local Bicycle Advocate and Member of the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board of Key West

Moving From Failure to Hope

South Roosevelt Boulevard and Promenade, First and Bertha Streets, Palm Avenue Bridge, Duval and Simonton Streets. All of these projects receive a FAIL for not incorporating safer bike and pedestrian improvements into each project at a time it would have been easy to do so – when they are being rebuilt or repaved. The record is pretty clear that we’ve yet to take any parking or car lanes and repurpose them for protected bicycle infrastructure, wider sidewalks or closed streets for people anywhere in Key West. Until something changes, we’ll continue to hold City Hall’s feet to the fire and not let folks get away with good intentions and talk as enough. 

If there’s anything that gives us hope, it’s this. The City’s new Transportation Coordinator, Ryan Stachurski, is on record as having participated in those 2017 FDOT public meetings and was a very strong advocate for change. Commissioners Kaufman and Weekley, known bicycle advocates, who were outvoted at the time have since been joined by Commissioners Hoover and Davila and Mayor Johnston all of whom have demonstrated a much greater understanding of and willingness to do something on these issues versus previous commissioners. Even Commissioner Lopez, who voted against change in 2017 was willing to listen and change his mind. So, the next time the opportunity arises to take some parking or a portion of a travel lane in favor of bicycle and pedestrian safety we’re expecting things to go differently. We’ll all be watching…

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You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here and here.

Streets for People / It’s Time to Eliminate Free On-Street Parking for Visitors Downtown

Posted on November 5, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on November 5, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here. 

Key West is experiencing record numbers of tourists of late. The TDC says 77 percent of these visitors arrive by car. Surveys tell us parking and traffic congestion is a top concern of residents’ island wide. People who live downtown say they have trouble parking in front of their homes. Locals who would like to go shopping, dining or to an event downtown complain about a lack of parking. So why are we allowing fully one third of all the on-street parking spaces in Old Town, about 1,000 spots, to be taken and used for free by visitors for up to three days or 72 hours? Shouldn’t they be parking in long-term lots and garages? It’s time to eliminate this giveaway and manage our on-street parking better so that residents and people using the commercial district have more options.

There’s Plenty of Parking, Just Not a Lot on the Street

There may be as many as 10,000 parking spaces downtown. Most of these are off-street. There are a few thousand private parking spaces in driveways, retail and lodging lots. On top of that there’s another 2,000 to 3,000 publicly available for pay parking spaces in private and public lots and garages. There are another 3,000 on-street parking spaces in the downtown core, generally below White Street but including the Meadows. About 1/3 of these on-street spaces are metered, 1/3 are marked Residential Permit Only and 1/3 are unmarked and free. And there may be 1,000+ on-street spaces uncounted because they are on Old Town blocks (mostly South of Truman and around the Casa) that don’t have a curb and so aren’t counted. 

On-street metered spaces are $5 an hour. Permits for Resident Permit Only spaces are now $35 annually. But the 1,000 unmarked spaces mixed in, side by side with the Resident Permit Only spaces are FREE for up to three days (72 hours) at a time. The problem is the competition for these unmarked free spaces between nearby homeowners, residents coming downtown for a few hours and overnight or day visitors looking for a place to store their car can be fierce and causes its own set of cascading problems exacerbating congestion and gridlock. Especially during season. 

If you have to pay for metered and Resident Permit parking why in the world are we providing the last third of on-street spaces to visitors for up to three days for free when they should be parking in long-term lots and garages? It makes no sense to underprice a valuable, scarce asset and lose potential revenue.

The Lure of Available Free Parking…

We get it. Free parking in most of non-urban America has come to be seen as a right. This is perfectly exemplified in one of the most popular Seinfeld episodes of all time, The Parking Space. In it, Elaine tells George to just put the car in a garage because he’s never going to find a free on-street parking space. But George, like most Americans, is loath to pay for parking and keeps hunting saying, “Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free?”

Visitors are like George. If they know there’s a possibility of a free space, most are going to resist efforts to park the car in a paid lot or garage, and search for that free spot instead. And we all know this is true. 

I worked at a small hotel near the Historic Seaport that had no parking of its own. There are dozens and dozens of these scattered about the Historic District, to say nothing of all the short-term vacation rentals. We told our guests they could park in a lot across the street for $24 – $30 a night or they could find a free space on the street. 90 percent of them opted to go find free parking. Just like George Costanza. Day visitors to Key West know this as well.  

The Lure of Available Free Parking Causes Cruising that Congests Downtown

Research indicates that in some congested downtowns up to 1/3 of cars are cruising for underpriced curb parking. This cruising causes congestion and pollution. “A surprising amount of traffic isn’t caused by people who are on their way somewhere. Rather it is caused by people who have already arrived. Our streets are congested, in part, by people who have gotten where they want to be but are cruising around looking for a place to park.” Says Parking Guru and UCLA Professor Donald Shoup in this article: Cruising for Parking. 

The Lure of Available Free Parking Discourages Turnover for Retail

If these close-in unmarked free spaces are taken by long-term parkers storing their vehicles, this discourages their use by short-term users for visiting retailers, restaurants and attractions. 

And the Lure of Available Free Parking Competes with Resident’s Ability to Park in Front of Their Home

A familiar lament of downtown residents is the competition for Resident Permit Only parking spaces. There are about 10,000 Resident Parking Permits issued annually. Residents, especially during the season, may have to park blocks away from their home because there’s only 1,000 Resident Permit spaces downtown and the 1,000 unmarked spaces are jammed with visitors who should be in long term lots.  

Three Simple Things We Can Do to Fix This

1. Put Hourly Limits on the 1,000 Unmarked Spaces Downtown

Some of the 1,000 or so unmarked free parking spaces downtown should likely be remade into metered and Resident Permit spaces. All the rest should get an hourly limit. Say four to six hours between the hours of 8 am and midnight for example. This is what will encourage people who are visiting for the day or overnight to use the long-term parking options.

• Exempt Resident Permit Holders from the Hourly Limits

Allow anyone with a Resident Permit to use these now hourly spaces, for up to 72 hours, just like the Resident Permit spaces. That way the new hourly limits don’t impinge on any residents.

• Direct Overnight and Day Visitors to Long-Terms Lots and Park It and Forget It

Marketing by the TDC and the lodging industry needs to make visitors aware there is no free parking in Key West well before they get here and to share with them where this parking is during their reservation process. This ensures the expectation is set long before they complain. 

As people arrive through the Triangle they should be directed by clear wayfinding to various lots and garages. Real-time occupancy information via these signs and online can help better manage the supply.

Further, the educational message should be to Park It and Forget It. Meaning once your car is in the garage or lot, forget it and walk, bike, and use transit to get around the island. We even call the Old Town Garage at 300 Grinnell, the “Park N Ride” for this very reason. The Duval Loop has a stop at its front door.

Someday, we may even capture most of these cars on Stock Island at an Intermodal Transit Center, but until then, Set It and Forget It downtown will have to do.

Everybody Wins When Parking is Managed Better

By doing these three things downtown residents win by freeing up a little more parking close to home. Uptown residents win by having more non-metered parking available to visit downtown for shopping, dining and events. Local businesses win because now there’s more needed turnover for the close-in spots instead of them being hogged by long-term visitors. And everybody wins because downtown is less congested and there’s fewer parking hassles when visitors are hunting for elusive free parking spaces.

Here’s hoping our City’s leaders find the courage to enact needed change.

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You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here and here.

Streets for People / It’s Official – Uber-Like On-Demand Transit Coming to Key West in December

Posted on October 29, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on October 29, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here. 

As has been foreshadowed at budget meetings during the summer, Key West Transit made known at a public hearing on September 29 that its “Way Ahead” is to replace the North and South Lines and evening Duval Loop service with “On-Demand Transit” that they liken to Uber. Or actually, Uber-Pool, where the ride is shared. Customers would book a trip and be picked up and dropped off at bus stops of their choosing. Officials say the goal is to go live on December 20. Here’s a look at how we got here and how this may work.

Let’s Face It. The Service Being Replaced Is Awful

Everyone knows the Duval Loop is a success but the rest of the service within the city has been a disaster. In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, more people rode the Loop than the four City routes and the Lower Keys Shuttle from Marathon to Key West combined. The then Orange, Red, Blue and Green City routes were circuitous, hard to understand and not very frequent. Coming back after a Covid shutdown pause, those four City routes were replaced on May 16, 2020 with two new, simplified North and South Lines that were easier to understand but had even more abysmal frequency. Each line had 10 trips in-bound per weekday and 10 trips out-bound meaning waits between buses were between 80-95 minutes. On weekends the service was even worse as there were only six trips a day in each direction with no service mid-day. 

As a result, the two City North and South Lines ride around mostly empty. Census data shows almost no one in Key West takes the bus to work. A recent Strategic Plan survey rating 19 City services said not enough residents used public transit to give it a rating. So, no one is going to complain that the current service is being replaced, which was what the public hearing (PowerPoint Presentation and video) was about.

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Plan to Add More Frequent Service Meets Budget Realities

Key West Transit’s adopted 10-Year Transit Development Plan (TDP), the City’s Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) and the City’s draft Key West Forward Strategic Plan all called for increasing investment in our public transit system by paying bus drivers more, increasing the abysmal frequency on all routes and moving towards free fares. Through many meetings and multiple processes, a consensus was built that improved public transit was vital for our future prosperity and environment and that this increased investment was the way to achieve that. Everything pointed towards Key West leaders making this happen. And then budget realities came into play. 

In August, City Commissioners received the results of a year’s long compensation study conducted by Evergreen Solutions consultants comparing city salaries with the local market. City salaries have been said to lag those of Monroe County and local utilities, making it harder to recruit and keep workers. The recommendations included the City incurring an additional $2.8 million or $5,417 per employee annually.

So, we’re told that as much as the Mayor and City leaders wanted to finally invest in transit, the reality is that with this huge new cost in employee compensation needed, there was no wiggle room to find more money for transit. Mayor Johnston told us:

“Everyone in the City was disappointed that we couldn’t get to a goal of free and frequent Key West Transit service this year. We had wanted to get it to 30-minute frequency this year and eventually 15 minutes.”

“I have confidence and we have support on the Commission that we will continue to focus on making it easier for people to get to work by transit. As our workforce continues to move further away, we’ve got to provide free and frequent transportation service into the city, especially as new affordable housing opens up on Stock Island and further out.”

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On-Demand Transit to the Rescue

So, without the additional money to add frequency, Key West Transit Director Rod Delostrinos believes going to On-Demand Transit will maximize his use of available drivers, expand coverage to more people on more parts of the island and restore full day service on the weekends. All without an increase in the budget or without an increase in additional driver positions. He said: 

“This course of action eliminates running empty buses, reduces fuel use, and lowers environmental impacts such as continuous noise pollution and bus emissions along the same small area. One of the features of an on-demand transit system is an increase in system efficiency by maximizing bus capacity. This may lead to reassignment of operators to other routes such as the Lower Keys Shuttle. On-demand transit will better serve the public by reducing wait times, trip times, and expanding area coverage.”

He explained that rather than having to run two buses constantly, regardless of the number of riders on the North and South Lines, if they could do with just one bus handling the trip requests, that’s okay. And if at certain times of the day because of demand, they need more buses, they can put those on because they’d be saving on drivers/buses at other times. During the summer budget meetings, the Transit Director said the efficiencies provided by going to this new system may mean that Key West Transit could expand the span of service to as late as 3:00 am, allowing for late shift workers to use it.

One example of efficiency for the customer we found instructive was from a participant in the public hearing (video of hearing). A Ms. Suzanne Roberts said she lived on Northside Drive and had to walk 8 blocks to Duck Avenue to catch her bus, as there’s no service on Northside Drive. She wanted to know how the new service would work for her. Rod explained that there we old bus stops on Northside Drive. So, she could book a trip and pick up the bus at the stop nearest to her house. The bus would then drop her off very close to her destination. No more having to walk 8 blocks.

Mr. Delostrinos tells us that the new system will come with lots of data. He said: 

“The data collected from on-demand transit may indicate high ridership from one area to another on a particular portion of the day or week.  This information could be used to develop separate limited routes such as routes for local commuters.”  

How On-Demand or Uber-Pool-Like Transit Will Work

The North and South Lines and evening Duval Loop will be eliminated. Instead, the drivers and buses assigned to those routes will be available to take people anywhere they want to go, from bus stop to bus stop, anywhere in Key West and on Stock Island. All you really need to know is where the nearest bus stop to hop on is and where the nearest bus stop is to your destination. The maps on the app or online should make that easy.

1. You would book your trip in real-time or in advance on your smart phone, a web browser or at certain times a day via phone. The Director indicated they may even put kiosks at heavily used locations like senior centers, City Hall and grocery stores.
2. A computer program plots the most efficient route for the driver and sends you a confirmation and estimated window for pickup. Be at your bus stop by that window of time, likely 10 minutes in duration. 
3. If another trip is scheduled along the way, the computer program will add additional pick-ups and drop offs. This is how Uber-Pool works. So, your trip might not be as direct or quick as if you were the only passenger, but it is more efficient for the system and likely according to Mr. Delostrinos, still be much quicker and more direct than the current system.
4. If you have standing trips, like for work or other regular activities you can make multiple reservations all at once. Rod told us: “Our desired advanced scheduling goal for is for someone to book as many trips in advance as possible as far out as possible.”
5. The cost is the regular fare of $2 a ride. Discounts for certain riders. Weekly Passes at $8 and monthly for $25. Details here.

If you’ve used Uber or Lyft before, this will be a breeze. For those without smart phones or online access, Key West Transit anticipates limited call center hours too. 

Our Community Can Help Make this Change Work

While many folks would prefer that Key West Transit stick to the plan and add more frequency and additional routes per their 10-year Plan, since that isn’t in the cards for a while, the best thing for everyone in the community to do is get behind this change and help make it work. Key West Transit has a very small and lean staff. They don’t even have any dedicated marketing and outreach people, like nearly every other transit agency in the U.S.A. City Communications staff is stretched thin too. So, what can the community do?

We can start by reviewing these 12 Marketing Things Key West Transit Can Do to Increase Ridership and asking the Key West Chamber, the Lodging Association, the Business Guild, the Attractions Association, the Citizen newspaper, the Keys Weekly, other print and KONK Life and other online media and major employers, non-profits, and Mom and Pop Shops to all pitch in and promote the service to their customers and employees.

In turn, the City and Key West Transit need to make it easy for all these organizations to pitch in by providing easy to download, print and share documents, flyers, brochures, posters, emails, apps, social media posts and the like that show how easy it is to use the new On-Demand service and also promote the Duval Loop and Lower Keys shuttle. This all needs to be in one spot on the web that is easy to find.

So, let’s wish Key West Transit the best of luck in rolling out this new service and let’s go a bit further by pitching in to do what we can to help too. If Key West Transit is more successful, our whole island wins. 

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You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here and here.

Streets for People / D.C. Baseball, Key West, Tattoos and the World Series

Posted on October 22, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on October 22, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here. We’re bringing our readers this story in honor of the World Series that starts on Tuesday, October 26. It was first published as a Facebook post on October 21, 2019 and chronicles one Key West fan’s journey from Senators to O’s to Washington Nationals as the first World Series game was about to be played in the District of Columbia since 1933. Key West has had a well known love affair with baseball, and you’ll note one of its favorite sons and his MLB team plays a part in this story. Enjoy.

“Oh, you’re from Baltimore?” is the usual reaction I’ll receive when a stranger notices the 1954 Orioles Bird logo tattooed on my right arm. “No, actually I’m from Washington, D.C.” I’ll say and usually get a quizzical look and continue, “When you’re of a certain age and grew up as a little kid with the Senators who left in 1971, and we didn’t have team for 33 years, it was fairly easy to follow the Birds who were just a few miles up the road.” Ohhhh they’ll nod. To confuse them further, I’ll go on, “But I’m a Nat’s fan now – because I’m a Washingtonian.”

Just last week Mikey turns to me and says, “Are we having fun yet, because it doesn’t look like it.” I reply, “Yes, this is fun Mikey!” He questions this supposed fun because we sit there, contorting our bodies as if trying to sink into the couch and agonize out loud with the bases loaded, our hopes fading, as Daniel Hudson desperately tries to hold a lead. “Yes, playoff baseball is fun! This is what we wait all year for… Really.”

Over the last couple of weeks as our Nats have surmounted seemingly intractable obstacles and banished old demons by winning their first playoff series – the Wild Card (bye Brewers), then winning the NLDS (see ya Dodgers) – after being jilted four times in the last seven years (3 times in the final game at home), and then sweeping the NLCS (that’s for 2012 Cardinals) – I’ve begun to breathe easier. The week off, because of the unexpected sweep of St. Louis, has given me some time to think. To ask, why does this matter so much to me? Why does this seem at once so personal and yet so communal – shared with my fellow Washingtonians? Perhaps for me, like for so many of us, it’s because baseball has a way of working its way into your system. 162 times a year – more if you’re lucky. Year after year. Decade after decade. That’s a lot of games! Even as there is communal anguish or joy, we all experience it differently. Baseball has a way of becoming part of our life.

Nascent Baseball Memories Begin in the District

I have hazy memories of going to a couple games with my Dad, Granddad and Uncle Jimmy before the Senators left RFK Stadium for Texas. From those experiences I somehow recall the sense of awe at seeing the huge field of green upon entering RFK’s seating bowl. How is it that I know the names “Hondo” Frank Howard, Del Unser, Mike Epstein, Ed Brinkman, and more? While I was never good at the intramural version I played as a kid in suburban Crofton, I learned to love the game. I followed it in the Washington Post and Star newspapers and at night on the radio.

I was a new or young enough fan that when the Senators left, it was easy enough to pick up with the O’s. After all, my mother’s extended family were all from Baltimore. We had ties there and visited relatives on occasion. It was my granddad Lou Cicero, one of six kids who grew up on Hanover Street just blocks from where Orioles Park at Camden Yards would eventually be, who moved to the District with my Grandma Lucille during the 1930’s to find work. And so, our family were Washingtonians. My Mom grew up in D.C. and Adelphi. I was born in Georgetown Hospital. The family mostly worked for the government and/or worked downtown. The District was in our blood, even though with the arrival of kids, my parents decamped for the then exurbs of Levittown Bowie and Crofton as my Dad’s Navy job took him from Washington to Annapolis.

We still had the Washington Football Team, who’s Over the Hill Gang captured the hearts of people across the D.C. area as they started fielding good teams under Coach George Allen. Sundays were family days and fall Sundays were spent together, often including watching football. The 1971/72 Redskins and their trip to the Super Bowl cemented us as a Washington Football Team family for decades. In fact I had season tickets to the Team for over 30 years. But I only mention them to reinforce the family’s D.C. bona fides, this is about baseball.

How Bout Dem O’s Hon!

What solidified my true love of baseball was the 1970’s/early 80’s Orioles led by wascally Earl Weaver. The team was a who’s who of characters and Hall of Famers. Boog Powel (who went to Key West High School), Frank Robinson, Don Baylor, Jim Palmer and Brooks Robinson. By then I was in high school at Martin (now Bishop) Spalding, just south of Baltimore. Our gang liked drive up to Memorial Stadium, clap and hoot as we drove by the “Welcome to Baltimore” sign (oftentimes lovingly inscribed by some scofflaw with “Hon” at the end), grab a bunch of to-go subs at Tugboat Annies on 33rd Street (or if we had time, at Attman’s Delicatessen downtown) – yes we were allowed to bring food into the ballpark – and then head as close as possible to the famed Section 34 overseen by cab-driver and ultimate O’s fan Wild Bill Hagey. It was Wild Bill who taught us how to spell – O R I O L E S Orioles! We loved shouting “Eddie, Eddie” for our favorite player Eddie Murray and singing John Denver’s Thank God I’m a Country Boy at the 7th inning stretch. 

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Back then tickets were so easy to come by that for the 1979 playoffs we snagged a group of eight seats to see all the home games vs. the Angles in the LCS. I vividly recall the upper decks serenading the Angles with a full-arm jiggly whammy. We got another 8 seats for each of the home World Series games – the first of which was postponed due to snow – and we proudly perched in the outfield’s first row behind our homemade sign that read, “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now,” which had become the O’s and thus our anthem over the summer. The excitement of the series took on a cruel tone as our beloved O’s lost 3 of 4 home games, including game 7 to the Pittsburgh “We Are Family” Pirates. We despised the Pirates wives who had whistles and cow bells in OUR park. We were heartbroken that our bats went silent in the final two games despite our shouts. Even with the crushing loss, baseball was now more soundly embedded in my soul than ever. You never forget your first LCS and World Series.

As I began my twenties, my best friend Kenny Akers and I started a tradition to get together for the O’s Opening Day. We determined Opening Day is a holiday after all. By then I lived downtown in the District and he lived in Pennsylvania and then Delaware. But we always made it a point to meet up in Baltimore and go to Opening Day. We even made it a point to meet in Baltimore when the Queen came to Memorial Stadium. How could we not see the Queen? We didn’t miss an Orioles Opener – some twenty something years – until I broke the streak and attended the first Nats Opening Day instead. See…

Washington’s Arm’s Length Embrace of the Orioles

…while it was fun and easy to follow, even love the O’s, as a Washingtonian, I always knew they were somehow being borrowed. Hope never died for baseball in our hometown. Throughout the 80’s there seemed to be rumors the O’s might move to D.C. or Howard County (you know – somewhere in the middle), or we might even get an expansion team, or someone else’s team might move to the District. I remember in the early 80’s opening up a ‘Washington Baseball Riggs National Bank Savings Account’ that was supposed to show prospective owners we had people waiting with money to buy season tickets. But nothing ever came to fruition. Our hopes were always dashed and in the meantime the O’s were just up the street, so at least we had baseball. In the end, then Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams did the right thing and laid the foundation for the team to stay in Baltimore. The city, with the now storied and prophetic prodding by O’s management, then built the beautiful Camden Yards and that changed everything.

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The last Opening Day at Memorial Stadium was a gorgeous, hot and sunny day, but I recall being sad that an era was ending (I’ve still got the t-shirt). That gave way to jubilation upon entering Camden Yards for the first time on Opening Day in 1992. The ballpark changed baseball nationally and for us local fans too. Most Washingtonians seemed to embrace the more easily accessible throwback style ballpark. The Washington Post, including my faves Thomas Boswell and Tony Kornheiser, wrote about them affectionately as if they were our home team. Cal Ripken’s run at breaking Lou Gehrig’s record and then the ’96 and ’97 playoff runs (when I got that tattoo) seemed to cement the O’s as our team too. Estimates ranged from 1 out of 4 to 1 out of 3 fans being from the DMV (the affectionate term for our District, Maryland and Virginia region). Washingtonians helped fill the ballpark and the owner’s coffers – even as many Baltimoreans seemed to resent the more cerebral interlopers from the south. Attendance was so good that I needed to resort to buying mini plans so as to provide access to Opening Day and potential playoff tickets.

What seemed an easy drive to get to the Yard from D.C. in 1992 seemed like a nightmarish crawl along the BW Parkway just 10 years later. Going to the games could be a chore. Hey, we needed our own team. Somehow, despite all the disappointments and near misses, that hope never died.

After 33 Years of Waiting, Washington is Rewarded with Baseball

So, when MLB decided to move the poor Expos (I’d been to Montreal a few times and was lucky enough to go to a couple games – nothing like poutine and sliced meat sandwiches in the cozy confines of the indoor Stade Olympique) to the District after 33 years – a lifetime for most of us, it didn’t feel quite real till that first pitch at RFK. I got season tickets, shared them with co-workers and was in heaven. Especially as the team got out to a surprisingly good start during its first year. What a joy it was to be able to go see our own team, in our own ballpark. To take the subway to the game. To go after work – not having to leave 2 hours early to get there. To get home at a decent time after the game and not have it disrupt the next day.

It was awkward but fun to learn about the National League. I’d have to redirect my hate of the Yankees to who exactly? The Braves? Phillies? Mets? All of em! My real test would come a year later as the Orioles played their first interleague game with the Nats. I wondered if I could love two teams. I wondered if I could even root for two teams. The day came and there were plenty of orange clad O’s fans in the ballpark. Would I shout “Oh” along with them during the National Anthem? Hell no. Washington fans didn’t do that. Would I root for both teams? Hell no! That was it. With no hesitation, I was a Nats fans. Period. There was no going back. There were no loving two teams. In the new ballpark I was lucky enough to get seats in the Nats, Nats, Nats Woo! Section – 312. What a wonderful bunch of people. Wonky, smart and so many scorecards. I was living and breathing baseball. I loved the ballpark. I loved the teams.

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Since they arrived in 2005, I’ve been to 20+ games per year, often riding my bike or Capital Bikeshare to Nats Park, plus all the playoff games through 2015 when I moved to Key West after the season to begin a simpler, sunnier and warmer life. I was fortunate enough to be there for the first pitch at RFK and at Nats Park where Ryan Zimmerman walked off the win with a homer. I remember Steven Strasburg’s first mesmerizing game when we didn’t seem to sit or go to the bathroom till, he left the game. I remember the agony of the 9th and 10th innings against the Cardinals in 2012 – as just an hour earlier we were plotting our NLCS activity. The anguish of an 18-inning loss to the Giants in 2014 as the evening got dark and cold – we started the day in the sun and in shorts – still gnaws at me. I liked Bryce – till I didn’t. Loved Ryann Zimmerman from the start and am so happy to see him in a World Series all these years later. I was lucky to be there for Jordan Zimmerman’s no-hitter. I worshiped Dusty Baker and those teams that couldn’t get past the first round. I hated that they let him go.

World Series View from the Conch Republic is Glorious

Now that’ I’m living in the Conch Republic (boyhood home of O’s great Boog Powel) we get the MLB package on TV and listen to F.P. Santangelo and Bob Carpenter on a daily basis, even if most of the time it’s just on in the background – sort of like the radio in days of yore. With a digital subscription to the Post, I’m able to keep up with the day-to-day minutia and the perspective still provided by awesome writers Thomas Boswell, Chelsea Janes and Barry Svrluga.

The well documented playoff agony of the Nats has somehow made the 2019 team’s run to the World Series all the sweeter. Yes, I kept waiting for something bad to happen in the Wild Card game, the Division Series and even the Championship Series. The fact that this team seems to have more grit, more fight and more fun – who doesn’t love the Baby Shark phenomena and home run dugout dancing? – makes these Nats, all the more lovable.

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The Senators gave me a start. The Orioles taught me baseball tradition and love of the game. But the District is my hometown, and the Washington Nationals are MY team. I couldn’t be happier to see them in the World Series. My first World Series in 40 years and D.C.’s first World Series since 1933. I guess it’s time I finally get that Nats tattoo on my other arm, eh?

Epilogue. The Nationals beat the favored and hated Houston Astros in seven games to win the 2019 World Series. We even missed much of Fantasy Fest because of the night games. It was glorious. Featured picture at top from left to right Kenny Akers, Steven Parrish, Michael Legg and Chris Hamilton.

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You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here.

Streets for People / Meet Local Ryan Stachurski – The City’s New “Bike Guy”

Posted on October 8, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on October 8, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here.

The smoke emanating from City Hall is white, indicating the island has a new Multimodal Transportation Coordinator. And to everyone’s delight, it is Key West local and beloved bicycle advocate Ryan Stachurski. Yay!

While the formal name of the position is Multimodal Transportation Coordinator, Bike Guy is the shorthand or affectionate term many of us use as the position used to be called the “Bicycle Coordinator.” That and let’s face it, with public transit use for commuting at less than 1% and a recent survey of 3,700 residents saying not enough people used public transit to rate the system, the only real alternative to driving around the island is biking – so Bike Guy it is. 

Engineering Director Applauded for Pick

Tim Staub, the wonky, hard-working, and much appreciated previous Multimodal Transportation Coordinator had his last day before heading to graduate school, on July 30, so Engineering Department Director Steve McAlearney did quick work in boldly choosing an unconventional candidate. Everyone we talked to was bowled over with appreciation that Mr. McAlearney went with this pick. We say unconventional because Mr. Stachurski, 46, and who starts his new position in a week or so, has a Computer Science degree and not the more typical Planning or Engineering background traditionally hired for this kind of position. And his most recent job is part of the management team at our local Home Depot on N. Roosevelt. 

What Ryan lacked in conventional instruction, he more than made up for in practical life experience, self-training, and general bicycle enthusiasm. You’ll hear that in a minute from some of the people we interviewed about Ryan.

I think I’ve known of Ryan since shortly after I moved to the island in 2015 as we followed the same transportation issues and attended similar bicycle events. He’s a well-known and well-regarded advocate for safer and easier bicycling throughout the island. He’s always the first to volunteer and enthusiastically participate in any Key West event that has anything to do about bikes, from the Papio Kinetic Parade, the Zombie Ride, the Christmas Bike Ride to monthly bike enthusiast rides.

He regularly turns up for transportation hearings and City Commission meetings about bicycling. He participated as a citizen in developing the Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. He writes to the Mayor and Commissioners about these things. He participates in social media posts about these issues. He regularly provided advice to previous Transportation Coordinators.

My observation is that what sets Ryan apart from others who participate on bicycling and transportation issues in the community is the depth of research he does and the thoughtful way he goes about articulating the matter. In discussions about bike facilities Ryan can quote from FDOT best practices, Florida bicycle laws, FDOT Complete Streets guides and Federal and NACTO rules and recommendations too. He always seems to take the time to put it in language everyone can understand and most importantly he never sounds like an anti-car, left-wing bicycle fanatic (not that there’s anything wrong with that). On an island where most people drive, that’s an important skill. 

Funny, in public meetings I’ve always noticed Ryan has an easy rapport with City and County Engineering and Planning staff and FDOT staff too – because he knows this stuff and they appreciate that. And now he’ll get to work with them instead of just providing input as a citizen. How cool is that?

A Little More About Ryan

He rides his bike every day for transportation. He tells us his bike is a “fixed gear track bike – for efficiency and reliability (it was kinda standard equipment when I was a legal courier).” So, he was a bike courier. That’s brave. He even has been offered a job as a local bike mechanic, so he definitely knows his way around a bike.

He helps run the Key West Bicycle Association that is “committed to promoting safe cycling by educating cyclists and drivers, while encouraging the city to improve its cycling infrastructure.” 

He’s a founding and enthusiastic regular member of the Southernmost Slow Ride bicycle group, that hosts monthly fun rides around the island for people of all ages and abilities. They are well known for “Full Moon” themed nighttime bike rides where everyone decorates and lights up their bikes and regularly make stops for food and drink.  

He and his friends have built some of the coolest entries and even won awards for the Papio Kinetic Sculpture Parade. Ryan is a master technician and builder who helps create these amazing moving floats and is often the one driving the vehicle, while he lets his pals take the more glamorous and public facing spots, except it seems for the picture below.

About his journey to Key West Ryan tells us:

“Marley (Claridge) and I moved to Key West in 2015. We didn’t really know anyone who lived here, but both of our parents relocated to South Florida. We liked the quirkiness; how easy it was to get around by bicycle and we’d be somewhat close to family. I was born in St. Petersburg, Florida and receive my computer science degree from the University of Central Florida (UCF). Having grown up in “isolated” suburbs, I always sought to live in the town center – where the action was, where people interacted, and where everything was close by.”

About his hopes he says:

“Drawn-in by the joy of cycling, equitable and efficient transportation became more important to me as I learned about climate change, and the public health and safety impacts of the automobile status quo. I think that sometimes the best way to get around Key West is by taking a walk or a ride. It’s how I’ve been getting around for years. I think we can do more to facilitate alternative transportation in our city and the steps we take can help improve the quality of life for us all.”

Nuts and Bolts of the Job

Here’s what the application for the Multimodal Transportation Coordinator says:

“This job’s mission is to reduce single-occupant motorized vehicle use and enhance alternative transportation options. The position will work strategically from the Planning and Engineering Departments while collaborating with Planning, Parking, Transit, Building, Code, Community Services, Legal, and Police Departments to:

• Reduce vehicle miles travelled and single occupancy vehicles through best management practices in bicycle and pedestrian planning/implementation. 
• Act as a team leader with the City staff to collaborate on the design and implementation of mobility strategies for all modes of transportation: transit, shuttle, tour bus, pedicabs, automobile, bike, pedestrians, and others. 
• Provide support in implementation of the City of Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. 
• Maintain the city’s Bicycle Friendly Community designation. 
• Serve as the initial point of contact for citizens and staff regarding bicycle / pedestrian issues.”

In other words, be the Bike Guy. Our opinion is this kind of important work should have more staff and its own work group at a higher level, perhaps even a small department and a big budget, to facilitate coordination among all the agencies that have a hand in transportation. But Ryan has the chops to transcend formal hierarchies and get people together to get stuff done. He also has the support of the Mayor, Commission and most importantly the City Manager, who realizes that something this important isn’t siloed in one person, but that multi-modal transportation transcends the organization.

What People Are Saying About Ryan Stachurski

“We are thrilled to have Ryan join our team. His years in the community and familiarity with local biking and transit networks make him a great asset right out of the gate. We are excited by his energy and to see what ideas he will bring to the position.”

His Boss. Steven McAlearney, Director, Department Engineering

“What an excellent choice! Someone that rides a bike to and from work, understands the complexity of improving bicycle infrastructure while appeasing drivers and has the quiet patience needed to deal with our local politicians. I look forward to monitoring his every move and demanding from him instant improvements at every opportunity.” 

Tom “The Bike Man” Theisen, Owner, BikeMan Bike Rentals Key West

“I look forward to Ryan advancing our strategic goal #6 Traffic and Pedestrian Friendliness.  Ryan comes to the City of Key West with an incredible track record of bicycle safety initiatives, so I am looking forward to his leadership in completing our Wicker Bike Trail and Crosstown Greenway Phase ll strategic objectives along with his team in Engineering. Welcome aboard Ryan!”

Teri Johnston, Mayor, City of Key West

“This is unbelievable. I can think of no better person to calmly educate the car centric people in city hall. And, with Patti at the helm, he should have support from the top. Wow. Wow. Wow.”  

Evan Haskell, Owner, WeCycle Key West Bike Shops

“Although disappointed in the departure of Tim Staub as Multimodal Transportation Coordinator just as he had started to make progress on many fronts in improving the safety of our roads for pedestrians, bicycles, and other users, I was thrilled to recently learn of the hiring of Ryan as his replacement. Working with Ryan for several years as a fellow bicycle advocate, I have always found Ryan to be diligent, prepared, and thoughtful in his approach to encouraging positive change in Key West for users of alternative transportation. Ryan’s local knowledge and relationships and experience in advocating for pedestrians and bicycles for many years should provide a solid foundation for Key West to become the safest city in the United States for bicycles and pedestrians.”

Roger McVeigh, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board

“I look forward to working with Ryan Stachurski as the City’s new Multimodal Transportation Coordinator. It is very helpful to have someone like Ryan in this position who has first-hand knowledge and experience of the many transportation issues needing improvement in the City. I have appreciated Ryan’s advice and recommendations as a private citizen, and I know that City transportation will improve with Ryan now as a city employee. “

Sam Kaufman, City Commissioner, District 3

“Ryan is going to bring some great skills to the table: team leadership, creativity and on the ground experience.”

Alison Higgins, City of Key West Sustainability Coordinator

“I know we just hired him, and he comes with some glowing references and praise, but I haven’t met him yet. But you can bet I will get to know him!”

Mary Lou Hoover, City Commissioner, District 5

“I believe Ryan is a good choice for the role. Like Jim Malcolm before us all, Ryan is someone going into the role as a person who has ridden every street on the Island and up the Keys for good measure. He knows the people who experience the roads and paths every day and he helped form the Bike-Ped Master Plan as a citizen, so I fully expect him to hit the ground running.

There are a lot of good projects coming up with the Wickers Field path and there are materials in place to expand wayfinding sharrows and Engineering wants to do more temporary traffic calming to see how we can improve our sightlines and make our neighborhood streets safer.

I fully expect Steve, Kelly, Ian, Daniel, Katie, and Alison, and everyone on City Staff to work with Ryan to get the ball rolling and make sure we make our streets safer for all ages and all abilities.”

Timothy Staub, Multi-Modal Transportation Coordinator April 2019 – July 2021

Here’s Wishing Ryan the Best!

Ryan tells us that one of the first things they’d like him to focus on is bike parking. We like that and have some ideas. He continued: “One of my goals is to help meet the needs of users of all ages and abilities. I’ll strive to make it easier for people to “leave the car at home,” expand communication and encourage steps that can improve safety.” We like that too.

If you see Ryan on the street, congratulate him and wish him well in his new position as the Bike Guy, we mean, Multimodal Transportation Coordinator with the City. Ryan’s success means our island’s success. Congrats Ryan!

# # # 

You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here

Streets for People / Duval Street Revitalization Back on Track

Posted on October 1, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on October 1, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here.

It’s like déjà vu all over again. Nearly two years after the release of a Duval Street Revitalization Plan Request for Qualifications (RFQ), comes word from the City’s Planning Director Katie Halloran, that a Duval Street Economic Corridor Resiliency and Revitalization Plan RFQ release is imminent. With some luck and a compact selection process we’re told a vendor could be on board for a project start this winter. This is great news for our beloved downtown’s future. The icing on the cake is that this iteration comes fully paid for with a $500,000 State grant. Here’s how we got here…

Mayor Johnston’s Push to Help Duval Street

Mayor Johnston ran on a platform of revitalizing Duval Street in 2018. She came through by initiating the Mall on Duval pilot project in 2019 and the discussions about that begat the release of a Duval Street Revitalization Plan RFQ on November 21, 2019 (RFQ). Of the RFQ she said at the time:

“We all love our main street and want to see it prosper and bring our community together. Mall on Duval brought locals downtown who haven’t been there in years, prompting a conversation about what improvements need to be made, including widening sidewalks – they range from 8 to 18 feet – and adding planters and benches. There are street designs that have the sidewalk on the same level, and you divide it off by concrete planters. The street can be cobblestone and the sidewalks can be different materials. We also need shade, benches and water fountains.”

Mayor Teri Johnston, November 2019

In reaction to the forthcoming release of the new RFQ, the Mayor, this week, said:

“Although this process has taken longer than we had originally expected, the additional scrutiny by our Planning Department will assure us the very best responses and ultimately improve our final community product. This is a large project requested by the majority of our Key West residents, so we need to get it right!”

Mary Teri Johnston, September 2021

We applaud the Mayor for her tenacity in keeping the project moving forward.

Residents Say They Want the Project and City Codifies Effort in Strategic Plan

Mayor Johnston’s been elected by overwhelming margins twice, while promoting Duval Street revitalization and residents say they want something to happen too. The January Key West Community Survey of 3,700 residents showed “Two thirds  of us are in favor of closing Duval Street for pedestrian traffic on evenings and/or weekends” and the data clearly show that “revitalization of Duval Street” is our #1 top rated capital project. 

The newly adopted Key West Forward Strategic Plan codifies this as the #1 major project and recommends setting aside $1.5 million in FY 21/22 and $1.8 million in FY 22/23 for engineering and construction. The #2 priority area, after Affordable Housing in the Key West Strategic Plan is Adaption/Sea Level Rise. Duval Street Revitalization will be done with this in mind. The Planning Director saying:

“One major goal of the plan is to revitalize the corridor in a way that promises additional resilience to climate related risks, particularly sea level rise.”

The third priority in the Strategic Plan is Roads and Sidewalks. The fourth is Environmental Projection. The fifth is Cleanliness and the sixth is Traffic & Pedestrian Friendliness. No doubt that the Duval Street Economic Corridor Resiliency and Revitalization Plan plays a major role in five of the six priorities the City will be addressing via the Strategic Plan over the next few years. As it should because the corridor’s success is our island’s success.

So, About That Two-Year Gap in RFQ Releases

The original Duval Street Revitalization Plan RFQ  was released on November 21, 2019 (RFQ). After a long process, a consultant team comprised of two well regarded firms was selected at the August 19, 2020, City Commission meeting with the top two competing vendors appearing on Zoom to make presentations. A contract was signed in November 2020 and a phase one budget and scope was in the works last winter. All was set for public meetings and a project start this past spring. And then the wheels came off.

One of project leads had quit the main firm. At the same time in February, Keys Weekly printed an “artist’s rendering” included in the consultant’s original submission depicting Duval Street as well, not very Duval Street like. There was such a hue and cry over the rendering, as discussed here in The Wee Donkey, Whataboutism, Bathwater and Duval Street’s Future; February 19, 2020, that a month later we surmised the combination of the two events led to the cancelation of the contract and an announcement of a new RFQ process. However, we now know that isn’t exactly so. Ms. Halloran told us:

“KCI’s contract was terminated because without notice they removed their planning staff, and then their lead project manager/planner who had strong historic preservation and public outreach credentials resigned.

Secondary vendors were not simply chosen because we wanted to make sure we adhered to procurement procedures and in particular, wanted to make sure our procurement was acceptable to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) because they are funding the lion’s share of the planning portion of the project.”

Here’s the crucial part. When the original RFQ went out, the City was likely going to end up funding the planning effort itself. KCI’s personnel problems may have been a blessing in disguise because the additional time allowed the Planning Department to secure a $500,000 planning grant from the State DEO to pay for the effort. But that meant they were now obligated to rewrite the RFQ to State standards. And get the rewritten RFQ approved by the Office of Economic Opportunity. That’s why, nearly 9 months after the old contract fell apart, there’s still no RFQ for a new vendor on the street. The City is awaiting DEO’s blessing.

The New Scope of Work and Timeline

When we asked the Planning Director to explain what was happening, she very generously took the time to share the following with us:

“The State Department of Economic Opportunity is currently reviewing the second round of the Duval RFQ. We have been awarded a $500,000 planning grant from the DEO (CDBG MIT funds) so we must vet the RFQ through them to ensure the City is reimbursed for this project. I think we can release within two weeks. If we give the RFQ eight weeks on the street (the timeline has not yet been finalized, it may be shorter), our Ranking Committee (not yet selected, but would include staff and community members) would have their rankings completed by December. We may get through City Commission and have our selected partner approved by January 2022.

The planning process for the corridor is our focus now. I don’t think the planning process itself should take longer than 12-18 months once a consultant team is on board, otherwise we risk public participation/meeting fatigue. We know this project must be guided by community input and preference. Identifying the funding to actually construct the full length could take years and the construction process will definitely take years. This is not a short-term project.

The scope of work for the Duval RFQ includes mobility planning, civil engineering, historic preservation, landscape architecture, and public facilitation. One major goal of the plan is to revitalize the corridor in a way that promises additional resilience to climate related risks, particularly sea level rise. This may also include working with local businesses to assist with economic resilience. This revised RFQ ensures we are meeting our DEO grant requirements, and is more directly tied to resilience, in addition to revitalization (making the street even nicer to look at and more comfortable for pedestrians).”

Here’s Hoping This Important Project is Back on Track

Given the length in time it took to conduct the last RFQ and considering how much time complicated procurements take to get through the City’s bureaucracy, we think the Planning Director’s timeline is a bit optimistic. But we’re rooting for her to meet this schedule and get something started this winter.

We know Katie Halloran and her small team have a lot of issues on their plate now. With the hot Bahama Village 3.2 Acre Development and the new Strategic Plan topping the list. But we feel like this signature project of Mayor Johnston’s is in really good hands. The delay has allowed for funding to come in for the effort. Certainly, more than was budgeted for the original, so we can expect a robust process. We can’t help but feel this effort will be for the better with a solid Key West Forward Strategic Plan at its back and because the community outreach won’t have to be conducted during the height of last year’s shutdown and subsequent recovery effort. And the project’s new emphasis on resilience, given our attention to sea level rise, also seems more appropriate.

All in all, perhaps the two additional years it took us to get here, will be worth it. We’re rooting for the Mayor, the Planning Director, and our community to make it so.

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Featured picture is taken from page 43 of the Key West Forward Strategic Plan. You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here.

Streets for People / Airport Expansion Means Fewer Cars on Our Island 

Posted on September 24, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published by KONK Life newspaper on September 24, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission. And please don’t forget to follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook and check out all our Streets for People stories here.

Recent stories by two of the island’s favorite news sources Gwen Filosa and Nancy Klingener, brought us news (here and here) that the Key West International Airport has already set a record for annual passengers, surpassing 1 million for the first time ever and the year isn’t even over. They also shared that the County has started an $80 million expansion to build a new concourse to handle the overcrowding of the departure and arrival areas. 

The stories, widely shared and commented on via social media, were met with the usual weeping, and gnashing of teeth. Some decried the lost innocence of the quaint architecture and cozy confines of the existing structure to be replaced with a modern, spacious glass box. Others complained that more airplanes mean more noise. Most seemed to bemoan a paradise lost to ever more visitors.

Okay, we get that it’s kind of cool to walk off your plane onto the tarmac because it adds to the “remote island” feel of Key West (HT: Jamie Mattingly). I like it. But the airport expansion is a good thing because it means travelers aren’t coming by car. Fewer cars mean less traffic congestion and parking problems downtown which enhance the experience for visitors AND residents. It is also better for business. Win. Win. Win. Let’s dive into some numbers on why this is so…

Airport Expands to Accommodate More Passengers

Richard Stickland, Monroe County Director of Airports recently outlined an $80 million new concourse that will open in 2024. It will include a new security checkpoint, new gates, a new “hold room” for departing passengers, new concessions, a new baggage claim area and glass-enclosed jet bridges, or jetways, to connect the planes with the building. He told Keys Weekly in May:

“There will be much more space to spread out and the new design overall will enhance the customer experience and the services we can provide. People won’t all be crunched together and on top of each other while waiting to depart or while waiting for their baggage. It’s the right amount of facility for the projected numbers of passengers we’re dealing with.”

We’ve seen many social media posts of people complaining about overcrowding at the airport. The recently announced passenger numbers setting a record of 1 million passengers with three and a half months to go in the year and a possible 1.5 million by years end undergirds the County’s decision to expand the airport facilities to accommodate the crush. 

Traffic Congestion a Top Concern for Decades

As we’ve noted in many of our Streets for People stories, one of our favorite things to complain about on the island is traffic and parking. It seems to have been a major concern for a couple decades now. In her 2019 “Toward Car-Free Key West”; Journal of Transportation Demand Management, University of South Florida study, researcher Mary Bishop cited traffic congestion concerns as “well documented” in a 2004 citizen survey where 58% of residents ranked it number one among quality-of-life concerns. She also noted a 2015 City-sponsored survey ranked it number three behind affordable housing and the cost of living. More recently in a January 2021 Key West Community Survey of residents conducted as part of the Key West Forward Strategic Plan, only affordable housing ranked lower than traffic and parking on a list of 18 rates issues.

So having visitors arrive by means other than a car is a good thing.

Tens of Thousands of Cars Arrive on Our Little Island

According to the County’s latest 2020 TDC Visitor Profile Survey, 77 percent of visitors to the Keys arrived by car. 42 percent arrived in a personal car, 28% in a rental car and 7% flew into Miami and then rented a car. 20% flew into Key West and 2% flew into Marathon. Less than 1% come in by ferry and bus. Mary Bishop citied an 82% arrive by car number in 2013 in her research.

On a base of 2.5 million stays to the Keys (2019 Monroe County Visitor Volume and Spending; DKS Shifflet) that’s a lot of cars. We regret that we can’t be more precise about the driving numbers to the island of Key West, as the Visitor Profile Survey and Visitor Volume and Spending reports don’t break out travel by destination, even though they do break out other things like length of stay. We also regret that the TDC only shows the latest report of each kind, so we can’t line up the years or explore past data. However, the Key West International Airport (EYA) Visitor Analysis, March 2021 says that of those that drive, 52% make it all the way down to the Key West. The report also gives us Average Annual Daily Traffic Volumes of 84,000 Keys-wide with what looks like about 20,000 daily in the Lower Keys (see chart). This gives us a better idea of volume as it is less than the 77% number, but that’s still not enough information to adequately extrapolate the numbers of cars arriving here as we don’t know how many people are in each car.

One could say 2.5 million visitors x 0.52 arriving in Key West by car = 1,300,000 visitors arriving by car. If we average 2 persons per car that’s 650,000 cars or 12,500 a week. If the average is 3 that’s still 433,000 cars or 8,399 cars a week. We only have 3,000 metered, free, and Resident on street spaces downtown. That’s a crunch. We need better stats. We’d welcome some help.

So, while it is safe to say that for visitors who stay overnight in Key West, that there is less travel by car than the Keys overall because the airport and ferry are located here, we just can’t be more precise with the actual volume of cars crossing the Cow Key Bridge onto our island. We hope in the future, the TDC would consider more breakouts of the numbers in their reports so we can be more accurate in our reporting.

Regardless, the point is that it is still a huge volume of cars and that’s why for the past couple of decades traffic and parking problems continue to top the list of local’s complaints. 

Airport Visitors Stay Put in Key West, Stay Longer, Spend More and Don’t Drive

Here’s the key takeaways as reported in the excellently presented and easy-to-read Airport Visitor Analysis:

• From a tourism development standpoint, EYW airport visitors are attractive because they are spending more per day in the Keys and place less demand on the road and bridge infrastructure of the region. 
• Almost 90% of airport visitors stayed in Key West vs 52% of visitors using other forms of transportation. 
• While the increased service to EYW should help relieve pressure on the road and bridge infrastructure, the biennial traffic assessment study from Monroe County and the Florida Department of Transportation shows that passenger volumes rose, and travel delays increased between 2017 and 2019. Further expansion of EYW service in 2021 could offer some additional relief. 
• Almost nine in ten visitors who travel through EYW airport stay in Key West. Those that fly into the Key West International Airport are significantly less likely to travel up the island chain and put additional stress on infrastructure. Of those flying into EYW, 2% took accommodation in the Lower Keys, 5% stayed in lodging in Marathon, 2% stayed in a property in Islamorada and 2% stayed in a property in Key Largo. Those who traveled to the Keys through other means (e.g., rental car, personal vehicle), on the other hand, are more likely to travel down the island chain with 16% taking accommodation in Key Largo, 13% in Islamorada, 17% in Marathon, 2% in the lower Keys and 52% in Key West. 
• Visitors who fly through EYW airport spend an average of $99.45 per day, this is about $30 (44%) more than visitors who arrive using other forms of transportation.

In the Toward Car Free Key West study, we learn that: “Of those arriving to the Key West Airport, 67% answered that they did not use a car at all during their visit. For the Key West Express ferry terminal arrivals, 78% answered that they did not use a car at all during their visit.”

Much has been made of the lack of spending by cruise ship passengers. What the data shows is that people who travel by air spend more money than people who drive, take the ferry, or come by cruise ship. They also stay longer and stay here in Key West, so aren’t spending money up the Keys. And most don’t get a car rental. This is all good news for our island.

Repeat Visitors Use Cars Less with Each Visit

One of the Key takeaways from Mary Bishop’s research is something many of us may have come to known anecdotally, but she gathered the numbers to back it up. The takeaway is that once you are here on the island of Key West you don’t really need a car to get around. AND that once visitors experience Key West, the lightbulb goes off, and they understand this too. This is borne out in the fact that they tend to rent cars less and use the airport more on subsequent visits. Here’s how Ms. Bishop explains it:

“There is substantial evidence from this survey data to indicate that a vehicle is not needed once visitors arrive on the island. In total, 49% of visitors reported walking as their primary form of transportation while visiting and 32% reported not using a vehicle at all during their stay. The lack of need for a vehicle can also be indicated by the changing trends with repeated visits. While 42% of first-time visitors rented a vehicle for their stay, the percentage dropped to 20% by only the second visit. Meanwhile, arriving via the Key West Airport (67% of airport arrivals did not use a car at all during their stay) became more popular over the number of visits, rising from only 6% for first-time visitors to 34% for visitors who had visited more than five times. These findings suggest the importance of determining what is needed to convey the knowledge of repeat visitors to first-time visitors.”

Market to First-Time Visitors: You Don’t Need a Car While You’re Here, So You May as Well Fly or Ferry

The first of Ms. Bishop’s four recommendations to conclude her report is to convey this knowledge that cars aren’t necessary on the island to first time visitors as they are making their trip planning decisions via marketing. Certainly, the TDC’s marketing could do more of this. But the TDC markets the entire Keys and the only way to see the entire Keys is by car. So mostly we get marketing from the TDC that touts driving the Overseas Highway. Once people bring a car into Key West, they tend to use it. So perhaps the Chamber, the Business Guild and the local Key West lodging and attractions community can do a better job of pushing a car-free experience, so people don’t rent cars. 

And for people who drive personal vehicles, perhaps we can do more to promote airplane and ferry travel, which are recommendations two and three of the study.

If More People Are Visiting, It’s Better They Don’t Drive Here

More people are coming to Key West, and if they arrive by airplane, it is good for our economy because they stay longer and spend more per day. It helps reduce horrendous congestion on U.S. Route 1 throughout the Keys. And it helps alleviate traffic and parking problems on our island. Just imagine if the additional 500,000 visitors arriving at the airport this year vs 2019, were to get here by driving instead? We’d have to pave over paradise to accommodate them. So, let’s embrace the airport expansion as a good thing. 

In a follow-up article we intend to explore more deeply the numbers in all these reports and how we can accomplish the recommendations in the Toward Car-Free Key West study. Stay tuned…

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Research Reports:

• Toward Car Free Key West by Mary Bishop University of South Florida
• Key West International Airport (EYW) Visitation Analysis-DRAFT 3-24-21 (1)
• 2020 TDC VPS County Wide ANNUAL Summary FINAL 03242021
• 2019 Monroe County Volume and Quarterly Seasonal Travel Shares SD
• Key West’s Airport Hit a New Record with Passengers. But It Has Brought Problems; by Gwen Filosa, September 16, 2021 
• Key West Airport Numbers Are Flying High and a Fix Is En Route – ETA: Three Years; by Nancy Klingener, September 15, 2021
• Key West Airport Readies for $80M Upgrade; by Mandy Miles, May 3, 2021

You can find all the KONK Life Streets for People column articles here and recent stories below:

• Reimagining Key West – 10 Goals for a Better Future and 10 Actions to Get There; September 17, 2021
• Serious Bikeshare in the U.S.A. is 11 Years Old. Its Success Shows Cities Can Do Innovative Work; September 10, 2021
• Can We Save Key West Transit from a Death Spiral? September 3, 2021
• We Need to Increase the Quantity and Quality of Bicycle Parking Downtown; August 27, 2021
• City to Make It Easier to Bike to the Lower Keys Shuttle Bus; August 20, 2021
• 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
• We Need to Encourage Efforts Like the Proposed Lama Electric Scooter; August 6, 2021
• Uber-Like Transit Coming to Key West?; July 30, 2021
• Our Top 7 Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Articles of 2021; July 24, 2021
• With the Duval Street Revitalization Plan Way Behind Schedule, Here’s 3 Quick Wins for Pedestrianizing Duval Street Now; July 16, 2021
• Limiting Large Cruise Ships Gives Us an Opportunity to Make Duval Street and Historic Downtown More Locals Focused, Again; July 9, 2021
• Mayor Bravely Puts Onus on Commission to Do Heavy Lifting on Bike, Walk and Transit. Will They Come Through?; July 2, 2021
• Monorail, Monorail, Monorail or Just Say No to Privatizing Key West Parking; June 25, 2021
• New City Manager Will Be Good for Bike, Walk, Transit and for Key West; June 18, 2021
• PeopleForBikes Ranks Key West 39^th Best City for Bicycling; June 11, 2021
• First and Bertha Streets Corridor Road Improvements Are Another Missed Opportunity to Make Bicycling Safer and Easier; June 4, 2021
• Want Sidewalk Cafe’s and Other Amenities? We Need to Take Some Space from Cars; May 28, 2021
• In Quest to Improve Crosstown Greenway, City Prepares to Construct New Bike Trail Segment; May 21, 2021
• How Better Transit and Bicycle Facilities Can Help Address Affordable Housing; May 14, 2021
• City Commission Tries to Have Its Cake and Eat It Too on S. Roosevelt Blvd. – Perhaps Dooming a Safer Project; May 7, 2021
• What’s Old is New Again – Two New Bike Trails Take Us Back in Time to a Simpler Key West, April 30, 2021
• Do Key West Commercial Areas Need Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)? – Part 2: What BIDS in Key West Might Look Like, April 23, 2021
• Do Key West Commercial Areas Need Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)? – Part 1: What’s a BID?; April 16, 2021
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – A Dozen Marketing Things KW Transit Can Do to Increase Ridership; April 9, 2021
• The Sorry State of Key West Bus Stops – We Just Don’t Care; April 2, 2021 
• It’s Time to Reconsider a Road Diet on S. Roosevelt and Make the Promenade and Road Safer; March 26, 2021 
• 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
• 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
• Eight Things We Can Do to Pedestrianize Duval and Still Allow Cars, March 5, 2021 
• How We Get Wider Sidewalks Downtown Without Ripping Up the Streets – Parklets; February 26, 2021 
• The Wee Donkey, Whataboutism, Bathwater and Duval Street’s Future; February 19, 2021 
• Averting E-Bike Mayhem and Making Key West Sidewalks Safer; February 12, 2021 
• Sustainability Board Wants to Make Free, Frequent and Simple Key West Transit a Reality, February 5, 2021 
• Volunteers and a Little Green Paint Show How We Can Make it Safer to Bike; January 29, 2021
• Jump Link Test

Chris Hamilton is founder of the local advocacy group Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown. He’s a native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led nationally renowned efforts promoting transit, bike, walk and smart growth for Arlington County, VA’s DOT. Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Serious Bikeshare in the U.S.A. is 11 Years Old. Its Success Shows Cities Can Do Innovative Work

Posted on September 10, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written for and published by KONK Life newspaper on September 10, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

Today we’re reprising an article we brought our readers in a different venue a year ago. The story has relevance to us here in my hometown of Key West and other cities for several reasons:

1. Bikeshare and now e-scooters or micromobility, as they are commonly called together, are changing the way we move about our cities for the better. They are efficient, clean-powered and healthy. They help us reclaim space from cars and repurpose it for people.
2. The back story of the country’s first major bikeshare program shows that local governments, working cooperatively with each other and the private sector, can make our cities better places.
3. The success and replication of this program, Capital Bikeshare, shows that local governments with the guts and leadership to try new things win the future.

My hometown of Key West, maybe like your hometown too, is full of wonderful people and good ideas that would make our community’s future better. We have ideas for pedestrianizing more of our downtown streets, revamping our public transit system, and making it safer and easier to bike and walk. Yet time after time, ideas are quashed by naysayers, NIMBYS, whataboutism and moneyed special interests. Projects that do get going wither on the vine from inattention, turnover, budget constraints and incompetence. It is a wonder we get anything new done. And yet…

And yet, we have the example of Capital Bikeshare. A program pushed forward by multiple local governments that included funding from private sources, local, State and Federal funds. A program that showed, YES, government can still do good things. I ask you to read this story with that in mind. Then apply the lessons learned here and in my good friend Gabe Klein‘s awesome book Start-Up City and go out and do good things. Enjoy…

Capital Bikeshare is 10 Years Old. Its Success Hinged on Pioneers Working Together.

By Chris Hamilton, September 13, 2020

In just 10 short years bikeshare has changed the way we move about our cities. Here’s a little more back story on the pioneers who worked together to transform transportation in North America.

September 20, 2020, marks the 10th Anniversary of Capital Bikeshare, the first successful, large-scale bikeshare program in the U.S.A. After a decade of growth, a system that began with 400 bicycles at 49 stations now has nearly 5,000 bikes at almost 600 stations in 3 states. More impressive is that the massive success of CaBi, as it is affectionately known, sparked a movement that now sees similar bikeshare operations in 120+ cities across North America. 10 years later Capital Bikeshare is still one of the top systems having been named North America’s best just a few months ago (Six Best Bikeshare Systems in the U.S. and Canada, Money Crashers, June 20, 2020).

Bikeshare, along with the micro-mobility devices that followed it, have in a very short time, revolutionized the way we get around our cities. If not for the daring and teamwork of some pioneers in the D.C. region, who knows how long it may have taken to prove the feasibility of this idea and catch on the way it did. The best systems have become such a staple of everyday living that one can’t even imagine the Washington, D.C. region or the cities of New York or Chicago today without their respective bikeshare.

Two innovative DOTs took a leap of faith on the concept.

What’s remarkable is that a couple of local government entities, the District of Columbia and Arlington County, Virginia Departments of Transportation, jointly took a leap of faith, launched and then quickly expanded a unified system without the usual and laborious bureaucracy and proof of concept planning that precedes most government projects. As a result, the agencies hit the ground running, met immediate acclaim, and that success fueled further growth. It was only once Capital Bikeshare was firmly established as an ongoing concern, a couple years into the project, that the DOTs took a breath and generated “transit development plans” or TDPs that covered long-term planning, expansion and financing that cements the system as a permanent part of the region’s transportation infrastructure.

• 

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DDOT mirrored its chief, acted like a start-up and pushed the project over the finish line.

It was a perfect storm of people and opportunities that made it all come together. The District had tried a small 10-station bikeshare project called SmartBikeDC that generated early adopter fans. D.C.’s progressive mayor, Adrian Fenty, hired for his District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Chief an unconventional, entrepreneurial, start-up guy in Zipcar executive Gabe Klein who knew how to get stuff done quickly. Mr. Klein assembled an amazing team of like-minded people who ensured the eventual Capital Bikeshare project felt more like a private start-up than a government run project. Once Gabe decided to abandon SmartBikeDC’s operator Clear Channel Outdoor and join with Arlington’s bikeshare procurement, he and his people made the CaBi project blossom and pushed it over the finish line.

Gabe’s team included true believers like Jim Sebastian and Chris Holben, who did all the planning under the direction of their their boss Karina Ricks. Alice Kelley, Scott Kubly, John Lisle, Karen Le Blanc, and others were part of Gabe’s brain trust. Gabe and a host of others at DDOT ensured success. This story is well chronicled in Gabe’s awesome book, Start-Up City (our review of the book), on Wikipedia and in a number of articles that appeared in the news within a few years of the launch (Many Unsung Heros Made Capital Bikeshare a Reality, by Dave Alpert, Greater Greater Washington, 1/9/13; The Best Bikesharing Program in the United States – How D.C. of all places, made it happen. by Tom Vanderbilt, Slate.com, 1/7/13.)

But a lesser known subplot of the story had developed concurrent with the District’s efforts on the other side of the Potomac. For Capital Bikeshare’s launch to actually happen on September 20, 2010, this story had to advance over the course of a few years on both sides of the Potomac before coming together. Without this set of circumstances serendipitously happening, just this way, bikeshare as we have come to know it, may not exist.

Arlington Commuter Services entrepreneurial spirit gave life to an idea and wouldn’t give up in the face of bureaucracy.

Across the river in Arlington County, the Arlington DOT had a successful entrepreneurial Bureau (Commuter Services) that for more than a decade had been using top of the industry private contractors to pioneer groundbreaking retail (The Commuter Store), business to business (Arlington Transportation Partners), community outreach (BikeArlington and WalkArlington), internet (CommuterPage.com, CommuterDirect.com and more), marketing (Arlington’s Car-Free Diet) and research services (Mobility Lab) that relied on an intricate maze of outside grants and self-generated funding. It’s accolades and success (A Dozen Easy Principals for Organizational Success), allowed it to act autonomously enough to bypass some of the usual bureaucracy to bring new projects to market. That included Capital Bikeshare. The management part of that team included: Lois DeMeester, Bobbi Greenberg, Jay Freschi, Chris Eatough, John Durham and Howard Jennings.

It started with this team, whose mission was to “make it easy” to use transit, bike, walk and share the ride, believing in the idea and dream of one of its younger team members, Paul DeMaio. Paul traveled to Europe and brought back stories of nascent bikeshare projects in Germany (Call-a-Bike comes to mind). He painted such a vivid picture of solving first and last mile transportation issues at one of the team’s annual strategic planning meetings, that everyone encouraged Paul to write a proposal for the unit to submit a grant for State “experimental” transportation funding. When it wasn’t funded the first year, it was resubmitted again and got funded a year later. Paul was then tasked to lead the Arlington effort and the entire bureau committed to making the project happen. Something this different would take a multi-disciplinary and entrepreneurial team to bring it to life. Luckily, in Commuter Services, bikeshare found life.

Once seed funding was found via the State grant, the Crystal City Business Improvement District’s insightful leaders (Angie Fox and Rob Mandle) volunteered to match the State money if the County would agree to start the project in Crystal City. In fact, concentrating on one specific neighborhood helped the project. Then DOT Director, avid bicyclist and annual European bike trip traveler Dennis Leach, who protected and nurtured Commuter Services’ vision from the rest of the bureaucracy, came up with half of the initial funding by matching the state grant and BID monies.

With money in hand and the realization that the project couldn’t be done with County staff (too many hoops to ramp up), the team turned to look for a contractor to operate the system. The idea was modeled after the County’s ART bus system, where Arlington owned the buses but hired a private company to manage and operate the system. The County was also responsible for all marketing and public relations for ART. Commuter Services just happened to already be the unit that did the ART bus marketing, so this model was envisioned to work similarly for bikeshare. The County would own the equipment, hire an operator and keep the marketing and public/community relations in-house.

The Commuter Services team didn’t think of bikeshare as just biking or a novelty but rather as an extension of the transit system and as a serious addition to the transportation service mix offered by the County. This philosophy undergirded everything and was a large part in how needed people, throughout the government hierarchy who were pre-disposed to not spend money or take on new projects, were brought into the fold. Arlington already had a reputation for “smart growth” and getting people to use transit. If bikeshare was seen as part of that, then it didn’t seem so foreign. This strategy was crucial in gaining acceptance. (Read: Cities Must Understand Bikeshare Is Transit)

Using the ART bus operation as a framework, County Attorney Bruce Kimble and Purchasing Agent Maryam Zahory likely spent 100 hours (volunteering nights with Commuter Services) to draw up a never-before-been-done Request for Proposals (RFP) and then a contract for the unproven concept. Thousands of municipalities had contracts for bus systems. But THIS kind of bike transit system had never been tried before. Their painstakingly meticulous and pioneering work eventually paved the way for other cities across the U.S.A. (the RFP and contract was widely shared) to put out similar contracts for service, spurring bikeshare across the continent.

Regional cooperation wins out.

By now our story has taken a couple years just to get to this point. Having heard that the District was having problems with Clear Channel and thus might need a Plan B, the team ensured the RFP and contract allowed for other local jurisdictions in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to “ride” or piggyback Arlington’s contract without having to go through their own entire procurement process to purchase their own set of bikes and stations and thus create a regional system. District of Columbia, City of Alexandria, VA and Montgomery County, MD staff were asked to sit on the RFP selection panel as a result. After months of work, the group selected Alta Bicycle Share, a company that was set up specifically for this project by Alta Planning & Design from Portland, OR. This spin off company was later acquired by Motivate.

Even as a vendor was being selected, the District was still holding out hope with their talks to use SmartBikeDC vendor Clear Channel Outdoor. A couple forward thinking, smart-growth champions, County Board Members Chris Zimmerman and Jay Fisette, insisted on a regional approach and didn’t want Commuter Services staff to move forward differently from D.C. They initiated a meeting with DDOT’s Gabe Klein and Arlington staff.

It helped that a number of influential local bloggers at Greater Greater Washington, TheWashCycle and Beyond D.C., among others, cheered for bikeshare in the region and also insisted that different systems on either side of the Potomac made no sense. It aided the cause that the Alta Bicycle Share vendor proposed using the amazing Montreal Bixi system bikes. The solar-powered system didn’t need to be hard-wired like SmartBikeDC and the bikes were much more sturdy. After the meeting, the Clear Channel route was abandoned by the District and Arlington and D.C. staff moved forward together on a unified project.

Two DOT’s working together with a shared belief in an idea and in each other.

Although both agencies were using the same contract to work with Alta Bicycle Share to create a brand new bikeshare system, there was no formal compact, memorandum of understanding, or agreement between the DOTs on who did what and how they’d manage that system. The District and Arlington owned their own respective equipment (the stations and bikes – although the bikes could cross jurisdictional lines), shared managing the vendor and were responsible for all marketing and PR. The people involved, on both sides of the Potomac had a shared belief in the project.

Everyone respected the respective strengths each brought to the table and trusted each other to have the best interests of the whole at heart. That faith in the idea and each other fueled the project. Another common bond between the District and Arlington teams was respect for the vendor Alta Bicycle Share, who brought an amazingly strong team of their own to the project (Alison Cohen and Charlie Denney among them). Too often government entities treat contractors at arms length or worse, like serfs. But Mr. Klein’s background in the private sector and Commuter Services experience using private contractors elevated the endeavor to a true partnership between all three entities. It clicked. And the results were fun and amazing.

This is how Alison Cohen put it in a 2013 interview:

“From the agency side, the team that I worked with from DDOT and Arlington was so professional and incredible, the real thought that I had was “don’t mess up”. During that first launch, there was a lot of learning between Alta, PBSC and the clients, and we ended up working all together to make sure that everything was covered. We at Alta ended up being in the middle to fill in all the gaps in this first-ever bike share contract. It was a very tiring and very exciting 4 months from when we completed our contract in May 2010 to system launch in September 2010. There was such a wave of dedication from all of the staff of the agencies, all the staff that we hired, and from PBSC to ensure a successful launch.” League of American Bicyclists, June 4, 2013, Women Bike Wednesday: Alison Cohen, Bike Share Pioneer

Yes, the system was almost named George.

The D.C., Arlington and Alta teams worked with Arlington’s marketing firm (Alberto Gonzalez‘ Pulsar Advertising which included Jim Wright and Katherine Carlson) to come up with a name and branding. Yes, we almost called the system George, after our first president. WeCycle was another popular choice. Capital Bikeshare and CaBi won out for a variety of reasons including trademark issues and testing with the public. Pulsar had also worked with the Downtown DC BID on the branding of the D.C. Circulator bus and this would become visually evident later as Gabe Klein insightfully insisted Capital Bikeshare branding be similar to the Circulator – thus the unified red, black and gold colors.

It further helped that the firm (Destination Sales and Marketing Group, (DS&MG) headed by the amazing entreprenaur Lois DeMeester, the District was using for its TDM marketing program, goDCgo, and would be responsible for much of the marketing and social media rollout, was the same contractor working for Arlington Commuter Services on various projects. In fact goDCgo staff (Katie Sihler headed the effort) sat next to the Bike Arlington (DS&MG) staff (Chris Eatough and Tim Kelley) responsible for Arlington’s portion of the rollout.

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“Don’t underestimate how hard it is to work together to make something happen.”

With a contract vendor, branding and marketing teams in place, this is where Gabe’s management and communications’ team took the lead heading into the summer before the launch. It made sense as they were the most heavily invested in terms of stations and bikes after all, and so they pushed the ball over the goal line toward the September 20 launch. The rest is history.

At the grand opening ceremony at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette welcomed everyone “to the most bike friendly region in America!” He added:

“This is regional success. Don’t underestimate how hard it is for one jurisdiction to reach out to another and for two of them to work together to make something happen. And it’s only the beginning because Alexandria, Falls Church and Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties are next.”

He was right, the story of Capital Bikeshare happening may have seemed easy to the public. But the confluence of good people and goodwill and the serendipitous circumstances that had to occur to make this happen is the real untold story of CaBi. Congratulations to everyone involved, on both sides of the Potomac, in changing the region’s transportation system and showing the way towards a better future for the rest of the country. Happy 10th Anniversary!

– By Chris Hamilton, September 13, 2020

Resources about the history of Capital Bikeshare:

Gabe Klein’s book, Start-Up City – Inspiring Public and Private Entrepreneurship, Getting Projects Done and Having Fun vividly brings to life the go-go atmosphere of the project and time. I highly recommend the book!

Many Unsung Heros Made Capital Bikeshare a Reality
By David Alpert (Executive Director) January 9, 2013; article in Greater Greater Washington

The Best Bikesharing Program in the United States – How D.C. of all places, made it happen. 
By Tom Vanderbilt, January 7, 2013, Slate.com

Arlington TV Newsmakers video about the launch of Capital Bikeshare

Capital Bikeshare in Wikipedia

Cities Must Understand Bikeshare Is Transit, by Chris Hamilton, April 17, 2015

Women Bike Wednesday, Alison Cohen, Bike Share Pioneer; June 4, 2013; The League of American Bicyclists

Arlington County’s Capital Bikeshare page including reports, stats and more…

DDOT’s Capital Bikeshare page

Capital Bikeshare’s About and History page