Streets for People / Monorail, Monorail, Monorail or Just Say No to Privatizing Key West Parking

Posted on June 25, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written for and published by KONK Life newspaper on June 25, 2021and is reprinted here with permission. 

On Tuesday, June 15 the City Commission heard a pitch from United Parking Partners’ Florida subsidiary FLParkingCo to privatize the City’s Parking Department, lessening the operational burden of our local government while bringing in oodles of guaranteed cash to Key West. The scene in City Hall reminded us of the Simpsons episode (Marge vs. the Monorail) where fast-talking salesman Lyle Lanley convinces the good townspeople of Springfield to buy a monorail system. Look, using private contractors has its place. Turning over our public streets and an important revenue source isn’t one of them. The City Commission should just say no to privatizing the Parking Department. Here’s why…

“Parking Ambassadors”

Lyle Lanley, I mean Dan McNutt, CEO of FLParkingCo, kept talking about Parking Ambassadors, as if they were highly trained concierges roving our streets and spreading joy. I suppose it sounds better than “Certified Parking Enforcement Specialists,” the current City staff designation, but come on now ambassadors? Really? “Right this way Sir and we’ll show you to your personal parking spot. Oh, let me get the door for you. Do you need directions?” 

Of the Parking Ambassadors, the presentation said: “FLParkingCo will staff the operation with fully vetted and trained parking ambassadors, who will serve the City of Key West stakeholders, residents and visitors with the highest level of professionalism and dedication.” When you use euphemisms and double-speak like these for the people doing the enforcing and writing the tickets, you know something’s up.  

Lyle Lanley in Season 4, Episode 12, Marge vs. the Monorail

FLParkingCo Goals Are Flimflam

Mr. McNutt’s presentation focused on two goals. The first is generating revenue by “managing a well-designed and properly maintained paid parking program available to the residents and visitors.” Hmmm… I wonder why our Parking Department never thought of that. How this differs from the current approach, wasn’t explained.

They also discussed a second lofty goal of “Improve the Parking Experience.” This goal seems to rest with those wonderous Parking Ambassadors as their presentation says on how they’ll improve the parking experience: “Hire, train, and staff the City of Key West’s parking program with qualified and screened personnel, who will serve as ‘Parking Ambassadors’ and adjudicate paid parking citations on a professional and friendly basis.” To implement this goal the presentation provides 3 objectives as follows:

  • “Develop a staffing plan in conjunction with seasonal demand and City needs
  • Prepare professional Parking Ambassadors to execute the program
  • Institute process-driven and value-add program focused on the highest levels of user satisfaction”

That’s it? How in the world does this “improve the parking experience?” More euphemisms and double-talk add up to flimflam.

Financials Don’t Add Up

The basic pitch is that FLParkingCo is offering the City of Key West a guaranteed $10M a year and 50% of the net profits above $10M to take over the functions of the Parking Department. Ohhhh… Ahhhh…. $10 million guaranteed. Sounds promising, eh? Well let’s look a bit more closely at the numbers.

FLParkingCo presented a six-year look at the City Parking Department’s financials from 2016 through a projected 2021. The spreadsheet included in their presentation shows the Department steadily increasing revenue from $6.2M in 2016 to a projected $10M in 2021. So, the City Parking Department is already hitting $10 million a year and they want Key West to share 50% of the profits above that? That’s the deal? Really?

Interestingly their spreadsheet only includes “gross terminal” or meter revenue. Where’s the revenue from tickets? Where’s the revenue from permits? Add in those numbers and the City’s Parking Department, which together in a typical year bring in between $1 and $1.5 million and you are already bringing in well more than $11 million. So, was FLParkingCo being deceptive in not showing the whole number?

According to the presentation spreadsheet the profit margin or Net Operating Income (NOI) for each year is in the high 80 percent range. And as we said, that doesn’t even include ticket and permit revenue. So, the City is already very efficient at this parking thing – spending a little over $1M in operating expenses for the Parking Department and bringing in about $11.5M total. Why on earth would we turn it over to a for profit concern and make potentially less? 

FLParkingCo Doesn’t Have a History of Operating Municipal Parking

A look at FLParkingCo and their parent company Unified Parking Partners shows they operate parking for hotels and restaurants, hospitals, airports, commercial buildings and event parking. No doubt they do a very fine job in all cases as their testimonials attest to. But neither site provides examples about operating programs for cities. When Mayor Johnston asked Mr. McNutt about this, he said they didn’t operate any cities in Florida, but they do have some in other states. We couldn’t find them. 

The Public Interest Isn’t Served

Regardless of the numbers or even if a private company could potentially bring Key West more revenue via privatization, it’s a bad idea to turn over a public asset to a private monopoly. Says the think tank Sustainable Cities about Parking Meters and the Perils of Privatization:

“Parking spots are the curb lane of your streets. Your streets are the primary public space in your city. They are intimately connected with everything that happens in the city, which is one reason parking policy is so politically controversial. On street parking – in contrast to garages, which are very different – is a fundamental and integral element of urban planning policy. In effect, these deals aren’t about just parking spots, they are assigning a property right interest in the biggest component of public space in the city to a private monopoly that doesn’t have the public’s best interests at heart… management of public space is, along with public safety, schools, and taxation, one of the single most important factors contributing to the attractiveness of a city as a place to live and do business. In an innovation era, in an era of ever more rapid change, locking yourself into a fixed policy for public space is a terrible mistake.”

We agree. Would having a contract with a private company preclude the City from removing parking spaces for bike lanes? How about taking away a few spots for parklets? Reducing a few spaces for sight line purposes or delivery services? What happens when there are special events and metered parking is temporarily unavailable? What happens if the City wants to expand Residential Permit Parking? Would the City have to reimburse the FLParkingCo for the “loss” of revenue in these cases as happens with the disastrous privatizing of city parking in Chicago?

Presumably the City Commission still would set the rate for meters, garages and permits. But when the City raises the fee, 50% of that money goes directly to the bottom line of the company, not the City.

What happens when the private company, in a rush to generate revenue goes on a predatory enforcement binge? Who takes those outraged calls? And can City Commissioners simply say well I’m sorry we don’t have control over that anymore? Not likely. Commissioners will get the blame but have no redress. 

From the Season 9, Episode 1, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson.

Let Shelbyville Hire FLParkingCo, Key West Should Just Say No

At the end of FLParkingCo’s presentation, I half expected Dan McNutt to say, as Lyle Lanely said to Mayor Quimby and the people of Springfield, “I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest…Aw, it’s not for you. It’s more a Shelbyville idea.” In the Simpsons episode Mayor Quimby quickly says, “Now, wait just a minute. We’re twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville. Just tell us your idea and we’ll vote for it.”

But when Mayor Johnston asked for questions to the presenter, she was met with crickets from the rest of the Commissioners on the dais. The Mayor asked a question, but the way she asked it, seemed like she was just being polite. One got the sense, that unlike the people of Springfield, the Key West Commission wasn’t impressed by this presentation. Either were we. Let’s hope this idea never sees the light of day.

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / New City Manager Will Be Good for Bike, Walk, Transit and for Key West

Posted on June 18, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written for and published by KONK Life newspaper on June 18, 2021and is reprinted here with permission.

On Tuesday night the City Commission ended their search for a new city manager by naming Interim City Manager Patti McLauchlin to the job. Ms. McLauchlin is an excellent choice and has the potential to deliver in making our little island more bike, walk, transit and streets for people friendly. Everyone should be excited for a promising next few years. Here’s why.

She’s Already Doing a Great Job

On Tuesday night Mayor Johnston said “I don’t think any of us could ever have imagined what you’ve accomplished in your first three months as interim city manager, but it has been outstanding. We know you’re going to lead this community in a moral, equitable way and I can’t tell you how proud I am of you.” 

Says longtime Key West good government advocate and member of the Parks and Recreation Board Roger McVeigh of the new City Manager: “Having closely watched Patti in action in her most recent role as Acting City Manager for the last 90 days, it is difficult to ignore the new direction and substantial progress the City has made in seeking and planning solutions to many unfinished legacy City problems. Legacy problems such as workforce housing, sea level rise and climate change, homelessness and reconstituting KOTS, overall City cleanliness, completing Truman Waterfront Park, rethinking Mallory Square, Duval Revitalization, Key West Connect, Bayview Park revitalization, and Public Transit and Pedestrian and Bicycle infrastructure are all in various stages of being addressed in a meaningful way.”

She and Mayor Johnston Appear in Sync

For those of us observing city hall, it has been obvious since her appointment as Assistant City Manager in 2019 that Patti McLauchlin is in sync with Mayor Teri Johnston. We’ve noticed a redoubled effort to bring staff along with the mayor’s efforts since her Interim appointment. There’s an obvious and easy rapport between the two public servants and that bodes well for our issues.

As we’ve documented here (Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Top 10 Stories of 2020 – #2: Teri Johnston’s Re-Election Moves Our Issues Forward; January 2, 2021), here (#4 Duval Street Revitalization Project Brings Hope to Downtown; December 28, 2020) here (Grading the Candidates on Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People: Mayor’s Race; July 24, 2020) here (Key West Releases 17-Point Covid Recovery Plan; October 21, 2020), here (Duval Street Revitalization Moves Forward; June 10, 2020 and here (2019 Top 10: #4 Mall on Duval; December 27, 2019) we believe Mayor Johnston gets it. As we said earlier in the year of the mayor:

“A Covid Recovery Plan, a Strategic Plan, a Duval Street Revitalization Plan and an understanding of and willingness to act bravely on bike, walk, transit and streets for people by our mayor, gives us hope for our little island’s future.”

Having a City Manager who thinks similarly and who knows how to engage the bureaucracy to action will only help Mayor Johnston accomplish her progressive vision. Mayor Johnston wins with Patti’s selection. Which means we all win.

Patti’s Been the Point on Recent Planning Efforts

The City’s Covid Recovery Plan and Strategic Planning (Key West Forward) efforts envisioned and championed by Mayor Johnston and most excellently executed by Elisa Levy have one big thing in common. Patti McLauchlin has been their point person. She’s at every meeting and makes sure to round up the right staff. She’s a constant presence in moving this forward. She has been and continues to be the point person on both plans. Anyone who has participated in these programs has come away impressed and hopeful that we’re finally getting somewhere. Credit the new City Manager for being able to bring it all together.

Adds City Hall observer Roger McVeigh: “Working closely with Mayor Teri Johnston, Strategic Planning Consultant Elisa Levy and seasoned Finance Director Mark Finigan, Patti is well on her way to developing a Fiscal 2022 budget that, for the first time during my almost 20-year tenure in Key West, reflects the priorities of the citizens.”

She Even Righted the Ship on Café Permits

Recently the City announced tighter code compliance with Sidewalk Café Permits. While it seems officials just wanted to get a handle on making sure businesses were complying with ADA clearance rule, insurance requirements and paying the proper fees, business owners and residents noticed the contradiction in that these restaurants were doing a good thing by enlivening our downtown streets and said so on Facebook. Patti McLauchlin noticed too. She quickly called a June 8 public meeting to discuss and review the issue. THAT’S the kind of good communications and thinking we need to see more of from management.

Our New City Manager Will Continue to Make Our Island a Better Place

Patti McLauchlin is a people person, a planner, and a proven doer. She’s tireless. She’s in sync with our Mayor Johnston and she’s beloved by City staff. THAT’S a recipe for success across the board. It means over the next few years we’ll be willing to bet that bike, walk, transit and streets for people issues will get a fair shake. And that gives us hope. 

I’m going to end with my good friend Roger’s words about Patti as they are so appropriate: “It is refreshing to see the City appoint a calm, considerate, thoughtful and dedicated leader who understands she works for us. Patti sets the perfect example for all City Directors and City Staff to follow. I have no doubt that Patti is the leader, the right person at the right time, that can achieve the needed accountability and lead City Staff to a true rebirth of Key West.”

Amen to that Roger! Congratulations to our new City Manager, Patti McLaughlin.

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Photo credit: Dorian Patton

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / PeopleForBikes Ranks Key West 39th Best City for Bicycling

Posted on June 11, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published for KONK Life newspaper June 11, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

On June 3 PeopleForBikes released its 2021 City Ratings expanding internationally for the first time for this its fourth annual iteration. The City of Key West received a score of 58 on a 100-point scale which earned it 39th place of 767 cities measured and 10th place in the Small U.S. Cities category. An improvement over last year’s #115 ranking. Pretty darn good! We’re small, flat and have good weather, so lots of us ride bikes. That’s the reason for our relatively high score. We asked some local leaders about what the rating means and dug deeper into the scoring for some analysis. Here’s what we found and what it means for bicycling’s future in Key West.

The PeopleForBikes Annual City Ratings = Tough Standards

For the first time PeopleForBikes included 30 European, 45 Canadian, and 25 Australian cities. It also expanded its list of U.S. places from 567 to 660. They also simplified the scorecard and went to a 100-point scale rather than a 5-point scale used in previous years. Last year in 2020, the City received a score of 1.9, ranking it #115 (Key West #115 in Best Cities for Bikes List, June 10, 2020). In 2019 it received a 1.9 and garnered a 2.1 in the annual list’s first year in 2018. 

The City Ratings are a data-driven approach to evaluate and compare bicycling in cities that can help leaders pinpoint improvements to make biking better for everyone. This year’s ratings draw from two key factors: the quality of the bicycle network in a region (Network Score) and community perceptions of bicycling (Community Score). The first is sourced from the PeopleForBikes Bicycle Network Analysis, the second from online surveys submitted by local residents and advocates about bicycling in their city. The simplified ratings allow PeopleForBikes to compare U.S. cities with the best places around the world. Being able to benchmark against the best allows places to set the bar high.

PeopleForBikes says: “While a score of 52 might seem low, cities with scores of 50 or more demonstrate higher ridership, improved safety and greater access than their peers. That being said, most U.S. cities will fall short of world-class examples of integrated bicycling in places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam. By offering a comparison to some of the world’s great bike cities, we hope to inspire and motivate others to accelerate their bike infrastructure and programs that get people on bikes.”

Having tough standards set by some of the best cities in the world like Utrecht (83), Amsterdam (81), Copenhagen (80), and Paris (66), helps explain how a seemingly low score of 58 is still able to get Key West to the top of the lists. 22 cities in the U.S., including Key West (39th), came in the top 50 internationally, but again, the international sample was very small and used mostly for demonstration purposes.

Key West’s Score – Bicycle Network Analysis

This is the Network Score for Key West. “The Bicycle Network Analysis, or BNA, is a data analysis tool that measures the quality and connectivity of a city’s bicycle lanes — in other words, its bike network. A bicycle network is defined as the system of paths, trails and streets that someone riding a bike can use to access everyday destinations, like:

  • Neighborhoods — access to parts of the city where residents live.
  • Opportunity — access to jobs and schools.
  • Essential Services — access to places that serve basic needs, like hospitals and grocery stores.
  • Recreation — access to recreational amenities like parks and trails.
  • Retail — access to major shopping centers.
  • Transit— access to major transit stations.”

Key West, at 4 miles long, 1 mile wide and a total of 4.2 squares miles, is small. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that access from where people live to where they work, go to school, shop and play is all relatively close. In most cities, this simply isn’t the case, especially as most towns aren’t surrounded by water but have sprawling suburbs. Our numbers are generally above 50. Which is good. The exception of course is transit. And it isn’t that you can’t get to transit by bike, rather the low score is a reflection of the awful transit service or transit score that we have here on the island. So that part of the score won’t improve till our transit does. (Sustainability Board Wants to Make Free, Frequent and Simple Key West Transit a Reality; February 6, 2021)

The Network Analysis Map below (methodology explained here) shows high-stress (red) and low-stress (blue) areas for bicycling in Key West. This map looks like there are a lot of high stress areas, especially on some of the major streets. So, we’re surprised by the high BNA score and think some of it may have to do with the way the analysis aggregates the data by Census Block and thus mitigates some of the red. Also, we suppose if you avoid the red streets, you can get around most everywhere, and that’s true, but you really have to work at it to avoid these red streets. 

We hope to explore this map in the future to document where change is needed. For example, the First and Bertha Streets Corridor stands out here as high stress, is labeled in the Bike/Ped Plan for protected bike lanes and yet as the street is being rebuilt, will get no new bicycle infrastructure (First and Bertha Streets Corridor Road Improvements Are Another Missed Opportunity to Make Bicycling Safe and Easier; June 4, 2021).

Key West’s Score – Community Score and Survey

Each year, PeopleForBikes conducts an online survey to capture perceptions of biking from people that live, work and play in the cities being rated. We’ve often promoted this survey on our Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown Facebook page. The Community Score is based on a 100-point scale derived from four equally weighted scoring categories: Ridership, Safety, Network and Awareness. Answers to questions in these four categories provide valuable insight into how often people ride bikes for transportation and recreational purposes, how safe they feel riding a bike in their community, whether the local bike network helps them reach useful destinations and if they are aware of nearby bicycling resources. Here’s Key West’s Community Score:

As we said at the top of the story, lots of people in Key West ride bikes to get around. They’ve told this to PeopleForBikes in the survey and this is reflected in the score of 72 for ridership. The survey’s also saying, as is reflected in the 65 Network score, that we’re able to get where we need to go on a bicycle. However, Key West’s low score of 43 on Safety means people in the survey are telling PeopleForBikes we don’t exactly feel safe getting around. The awful 34 score on “awareness of biking resources and our city’s efforts to improve biking” is the weakest score of all. 

The Awareness and Safety scores jives with our and other’s analysis that we score well here in Key West because we’re small, flat and warm. Not particularly because of anything the City of Key West is doing. 

What Leaders in Key West Are Saying About the City Ratings

We asked some Key West leaders and bicycle advocates what they thought about the Key West’s score and ranking. We also asked bike rental owners an additional question, if they are seeing more people biking these days and what that means for their business. Here’s what they had to say:

Key West City Commissioner Sam Kaufman:

“Key West is so special and unique. We live where you can traverse our island by bike and get to anything with a tremendous amount to do and see – all available by bicycle. Add the welcoming nature of our residents, the local cultures, the great restaurants and entertainment- all accessible by bike too. Most of our roads have a low-speed limit which is bike friendly. Also, many KW residents rely upon bikes as their sole form of transportation creating spaces where most drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists alike are accustomed to sharing the roads, sidewalks and paths. Although Key West certainly could use improvements to bicycle infrastructure, locals and visitors alike can travel most areas safely and relatively quickly. No other place offers the awesome beauty of the water and nature with all of the above. We love Key West and so do visitors on bicycles!!”

Tom “The Bike Man” Theisen, bicycle advocate and owner of BikeMan Bike Rentals:

“There are tons of people on the island and that equates to all the bike rental shops being very busy. Also, all of the hotels in Key West are online, we are maxed out. The rankings are not a good reflection of the effort and money that the city puts into its bike infrastructure, which is almost nothing. We are warm, small, flat, and interesting. That’s why we’re a popular place to bike.”

Tim Staub, City of Key West Transportation Coordinator:

“It’s a reasonable ranking. It can be improved, but it will take time because of how the (PeopleForBikes) program is weighted towards the whole built environment, not just the network. A big thing I’m noticing from the rankings is the heavy weight on cities with gridded narrow streets, lanes, small lot sizes, and short setbacks.”

Evan Haskell, bicycle advocate and owner of WeCycle Key West bike shops:

“I’d agree with Tom (Theisen) that our place in the rankings has more to do with the mass of people cycling than anything the city has done to improve conditions. There are some great things in the pipe, but we will have to be pro-active to make sure the new Bike/ ped coordinator is on the same page (bummer that Tim is leaving). *

Not only are there tons of people here and the town is maxed out, COVID-19 had the effect of getting more people active outdoors. Bike rentals are up, with 2021 looking to well exceed 2019 figures. I’d be selling bikes like crazy if I could get them. It’s a global bike boom for demand and that is compounded by the global shipping challenges affecting all imported goods. If i order bikes right now, I’m looking at Summer 2022 arrival and I’m still waiting on bikes I ordered back in October.

Like everyone else on the island, the staffing challenges are real. The employee market has never been so tight, which is a good thing for our residents as wages are rising.”

Key West City Commissioner Gregory Davila:

“I guess I’m happy that Key West was ranked high however, I don’t want anyone to think that we’ve achieved something so it’s ok to stop moving forward.”

Roger McVeigh, local and vocal bicycle advocate:

“Great news on the rating! In light of our year-round pleasant weather and flat and small geography (7 square miles), there is no reason we should not be number 1 in rankings.”

What Does All This Mean for Key West’s Bicycling Future?

Drawing from the data and the conclusions of those we interviewed, we’ve gotten all the low hanging fruit already. Because we’re small, flat, have a compact street grid and have great weather 12 months a year, we don’t have to do much to find lots of people on bikes.

The PeopleForBikes survey AND the people we interviewed agreed that there’s nothing the City is doing that is enticing people onto bikes, but rather our relatively good score is because of the natural factors already in place. 

The good news is that’s the bridge to a better future. Roger is right. There’s no reason that Key West couldn’t be #1, at least in the Small Cities in the U.S. category. We could become known as the world’s bicycling paradise. We could become known for the same bicycling culture as rock star cities Copenhagen and Amsterdam. We start with a better natural base than most any city in the world.

But the low safety numbers in the PeopleForBikes survey show people don’t exactly think it is safe to bicycle in Key West and all the red “high stress” streets on the Bicycle Network Analysis show where people think it is unsafe. Research shows that to get the people who aren’t comfortable on the streets to bike, you need to have good bicycle infrastructure. We have a roadmap in the Bicycle Network Analysis that shows us where to target the infrastructure improvements. All of this is in our Bike/Ped Plan. We just have to implement it and not ignore it as we’ve done on First and Bertha Streets. That’s the hope for the future and the only way we’ll improve our score.

*As we go to press, we’ve learned that the City’s Transportation Coordinator, Tim Staub, submitted his resignation and his last day will be July 30. He’s leaving his position to go to Graduate School. We’ll definitely be bringing you a story soon on how his good work will be sorely missed. If you see Tim, please thank him and wish him well.

# # #

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / First and Bertha Streets Corridor Road Improvements Are Another Missed Opportunity to Make Bicycling Safer and Easier

Posted on June 4, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published for KONK Life newspaper on June 4, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

Monroe County is in the middle of a year-long construction project to rebuild the First Street/Bertha Street corridor, a major thoroughfare that crosses the entire island, Gulf to Atlantic. The City’s Bike/Ped Plan indicates that this “High Stress” corridor should get a trail and protected bike lanes. Rebuilding the street from the ground up is the perfect time to construct these recommendations. But nothing of the sort is happening, mostly because of the desire to save some little used parking spaces. Alas, our island’s leaders will be letting another major street rebuild go by without noticeably improving conditions for bicycling. That’s a shame.

The Perfect Time to Add Bike/Ped Facilities is When We Rebuild/Repave Our Streets

I’m paraphrasing our mayor, but at a recent meeting she lamented that we keep talking about bicycling and talking about bicycling and then we repave our streets and we do nothing for people on bikes. Amen! To her credit she tasked the City Engineering Department to start sharing repaving designs with the Commission before these things become done deals. 

Think about it. During the pandemic the City rebuilt Duval and Simonton Streets between Truman and Front Streets. When they put the top layer of asphalt on and repainted these streets, they didn’t enhance the streets for bicycles or pedestrians. No new bike lanes. No new pedestrian crossings. Just the same old nod to our car-convenience culture and plenty of parking spaces for private autos, just like before. Unless something drastic happens, despite the best of last-minute intentions, we may see the same thing happen next year when they start rebuilding S. Roosevelt Boulevard (City Commission Tries to Have Its Cake and Eat It Too on S. Roosevelt Blvd. – Perhaps Dooming a Safer Project May 7, 2021).

According to the Federal Highway Administration “The best time to create bicycle lanes is during regular street reconstruction, street resurfacing or at the time of original construction.” FDOT, County and City engineers will all tell you the same thing too. So, since they haven’t put in the final layer of asphalt on this project, is it too late?

The Project We’re Getting

The project is being broken up into three logical phases. Bertha Street between S. Roosevelt and Atlantic Boulevards. Bertha Street between Atlantic and Flagler Avenues and First Street between Flagler Avenue and N. Roosevelt Boulevard where it connects with Palm Avenue to whisk you downtown. (Oh right, the Palm Avenue Bridge was rehabilitated last year with no improvements to the bike or pedestrian infrastructure, but we digress.) The middle phase, Bertha between Atlantic and Flagler, is currently under construction. 

Here are the Phases/Sections, the current conditions and what is planned:

Bertha Street from S. Roosevelt Boulevard to Atlantic Boulevard
Bertha Street from Atlantic Boulevard to Flagler Avenue
First Street from Flagler Avenue to N. Roosevelt Boulevard

Four Good Things Worth Noting

The project isn’t without its merits. Here’s four good things happening:

Good Thing #1: Stormwater Management

One of the good things everyone is getting out of this project is a stormwater management system, including backflow prevention devices, that will fix the drainage problems on this corridor. That’s a big deal, because the multi-use bike/ped path on Bertha between S. Roosevelt and Atlantic floods regularly, often forcing people on bikes into the car traffic. 

Good Thing #2: A Slightly Wider Multi-Use Bike/Ped Path


The multi-use bike/ped path on Bertha between S. Roosevelt and Atlantic we’re told is currently anywhere between 8 and 9 feet wide. After the project is done, this will be 10 feet wide. That’s better.

Good Thing #3: Narrower Car Travel Lanes

Wider is not better on car travel lanes though because wider travel lanes induce cars to travel faster. Thus, studies show them to be less safe than narrower travel lanes. So, we think it is admirable that this project is narrowing the travel lanes on Bertha from 14 feet wide to 11 feet wide. 

Good Thing #4: A Dedicated West-bound Bicycle Lane on Bertha

With the extra space taken from reducing the width of the car-travel lane, the County will install a bicycle lane in the westbound or Atlantic to Gulf direction between S. Roosevelt and Flagler Avenue.
 

176 Bad Things About This Project

Okay we exaggerate. Just a bit. But it feels like 176 things. Here’s ten missed opportunities or bad things about this project:

Bad Thing #1: It Doesn’t Do What the Bike Plan Says Should Be Done

What’s the point of holding community meetings, doing the field work, and making recommendations if someone is simply going to ignore two years’ worth of planning work? It is maddening! Check out pages 33 and 34 and 74 of the adopted Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. It clearly shows that on Bertha between Atlantic and Flagler and on First between Flagler and N. Roosevelt there should be bike lanes installed in the street in the short-term and that, when possible, a trail should be constructed on First Street and protected bike lanes on Bertha between Atlantic and Flagler. The perfect time to construct the preferred recommendation. You got it. When they rebuild the road.

Bad Thing #2: There’s No Westbound Sidewalk on Bertha Between S. Roosevelt and Atlantic

Why isn’t there a sidewalk instead of grass on the La Brisa side of the road? 

Bad Thing #3: A Bike Lane on Only One Side of the Road?

Why is west-bound Bertha worthy of a bike lane and not east-bound? What’s going on with that? 

Bad Thing #4: The West-Bound Bike Lane Doesn’t Connect to Anything

Nothing is worse than a bike trail that begins and ends without a safe way to continue on to your destination. Or a bike lane that is truncated. This bike lane doesn’t connect to a bike lane on S. Roosevelt, and it needs to connect through the intersection at Flagler and then continue on to First Street. It’s just this little piece of infrastructure that says we really haven’t thought this through. 

Bad Thing #5: Parking Takes Priority Over Bicycle Safety on Bertha

The reason there’s only a west-bound bike lane instead of protected bike lanes in both directions as the Bike Plan calls for is because someone at the City decided saving a few parking spaces on one-side of Bertha was worth more than bicycle safety. The sad fact is that these spaces are little used, and all of the properties have driveways. 

Bad Thing #6: No Change on First Street. None Whatsoever

There are no bicycle improvements on First Street. That is unless you count painting Sharrows in the middle of the street as an improvement. Says long-time bicycle advocate Tom “The Bike Man” Theisen: “First street is a disaster, why keep those few parking spaces and loose a full-on bike lane and corner visibility? They need to remove all parking on both sides and create safe bike lanes. We all salmon up George and their plan does nothing for us.” We agree.

Why is this? So that they can maintain the existing parking that no one uses. The housing along this stretch either has its own huge parking lots (George Allen Apartments) or the single-family homes all have driveways. Look at the pictures in the County presentation, go to Google Maps Street View or take a ride down the street yourself. Very little of the parking spaces are used. Obviously, this was noticed when the Bike Plan was produced and that is where space for a bike trail was to come from. The County told us it was the City that made the decision on the parking. The City referred us to the County for information about the project. Hmm…

Bad Thing #7: Swimming with the Salmon on George

The Bike Man brings up a point. If bicyclists are afraid of using First Street, which they generally are because of the heavy traffic, and total lack of bicycle infrastructure, they salmon up George Street as an alternative because it is much less used by cars. For those not in on the lingo, salmoning is a term for bikers who ride the wrong way up a one-way street or bike lane. George parallels First Street between N. Roosevelt and Flagler but is one-way in the east-bound direction. One thing the City could do is get rid of the parking on George and put in a two-way bike lane. But there’s the rub. In order to do this, they’d have to sacrifice some parking and we know our leaders will never do that. So, if they won’t fix First Street or George than there’s no safe way to get from one side of the island to the other.

Bad Thing #8: No Bike Crossing of First Street for Crosstown Greenway

We’ve talked about how the Crosstown Greenway is a major priority for the City here, here and here, so it surprises us that there are no markings planned for the Crosstown Greenway on Staples Avenue as it crosses First Street. This is an oversight. 

Bad Thing #9: There’s No Bike Infrastructure at the Bertha/Flagler/First Intersection

The intersection where Bertha Street, Flagler Avenue and First Street all meet is a difficult one because First Street and Betha Street aren’t directly across from each other. Intersections are always where the most crashes occur, especially for bikes. It is that way because even when there is bicycle infrastructure, like a bike lane, the engineers don’t design the bikeway all the way through the intersection. This project is no different. There’s absolutely NO consideration of how bicycles are supposed to safely travel through here. 

Bad Thing #10: The Corridor is a Disconnected Mess

Picking back up on connectivity, one of the main reasons people cite for not riding a bicycle for transportation is the lack of a connected network of easy, safe, recognizable bicycle infrastructure. There are Sharrows in both directions on First. There are Sharrows in one direction and a bike lane in the other on Bertha between Flagler and Atlantic. And there is a multi-use path on one side with a bike lane but no sidewalk on the other side of Bertha between Atlantic and S. Roosevelt. That’s a disconnected mess. No network effect. 

Yet Another Lost Opportunity for the City to Do Right by Bikes

This is a Monroe County project, but they tell us the City of Key West Engineering Department had input and made the decisions on parking that ultimately have made this project another disappointment for people on bikes or who want to bike. None of the four well known bicycle advocates we contacted said they’d ever been asked for input nor heard of opportunities to do so. Either did we. 

Our island is flat, compact and warm. Perfect conditions for bicycling. And yet only 12 percent of us commute to work by bike. If the City is serious about climate change, sustainability, health, equity, small business prosperity and yes, happiness, we need to do better. Time after time our leaders have failed us because they always make the easy choice to bow to the predominant, mainland attitude that cars and parking rule. We only seem to do bicycling when it fits in with and doesn’t inconvenience those mainland car values. 

We need to double down on the opportunity to make Key West a bicycling paradise. The easiest and most cost-effective time to build on that promise is when we reconstruct our roads and streets. For this First and Bertha Streets Corridor project, the final asphalt hasn’t been poured. The paint and markings haven’t been laid. Will any of our City leaders have the guts to demand better for this project now before its too late? 

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / Want Sidewalk Cafés and Other Amenities? We Need to Take Some Space from Cars

Posted on May 28, 2021     1 Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published for KONK Life newspaper on May 28, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

On May 19 the City announced they’ll begin tighter code compliance with the Sidewalk Café Permit Ordinance. Comments from business owners and residents started popping up on Facebook. In response, a week later the City announced a June 8 public meeting on the subject. Hmm… While it seems officials just want to get a handle on making sure businesses are complying with ADA clearance rules, insurance requirements and paying the proper amount of fees, perhaps it’s time to look at the issue more broadly and relieve the stress on our overcrowded downtown sidewalks by taking away some space from cars.

A More People Centered Duval Keeps Stalling Out

We’ve seemingly talked and talked about a more people friendly Duval and adjacent commercial streets for decades and nothing seems to happen. Perhaps because of the all or nothing approach of much of our discussions, nothing gets done. On the one hand people want a car-free Duval and on the other people say it can’t be done because where will the traffic go? And so, stalemate. 

To her credit Mayor Teri Johnston has been trying. First with the Mall on Duval pilot project and then with the Duval Street Revitalization Study. The mayor also spearheaded a Key West COVID Recovery Plan that aimed to assist restaurants with attempts to move some seats outside. The Mall on Duval pilot ended with acrimony all around, the Duval Study was to have begun months ago, only to be thrown back on the street for yet another RFP, and the business efforts of the COVID Plan have expired.

Why can’t these endeavors seem to gain any momentum and permanence? Fodder for another story…

City Aims to Bring Restaurants into Café Compliance

Now the City has announced its Code unit will be more readily checking up on the folks who did move some seating outdoors and ensuring their permits are in order and paid up. Said the City:

“The City of Key West’s Code Compliance will begin enforcement of the Sidewalk Café Permit Ordinance beginning in two phases. Phase one will ensure that food service establishments that want to place tables and chairs on City sidewalks have completed and submitted the application to the Planning Department ensuring that the requirements for insurance and ADA have been met. Phase two will ensure that the additional seats will be paid for starting October 1, 2021.  Permit applications are available on the City’s website here.” 

The eight-page Sidewalk Café Permit Program Guidelines and Checklist and accompanying fees seem kind of onerous on their face. Take for example a restaurant that wants to put out two little tables with four total seats. This is what their fees add up to:

Example Biz             Amount         Fee

   $100.00                 $100.00         annual “Base Application Fee”
$2,368.80                 $592.20         one time per seat “Impact Fee”
$2,000.00                 $500.00         annual “Revocable License Fee”

The business in the example will owe $4,468.80 for year one and then $2,100.00 annually thereafter. For four seats.

While we no doubt need compliance with these issues and all businesses should pay their rightful share for using city right of way, on the other hand these businesses are trying to do exactly what people have been asking for by putting tables on the sidewalk. They are enlivening our downtown streets and helping with the pandemic by using the outdoor air. And then we go and…

Perhaps some wiser heads at City Hall noticed the seeming contradiction in tone, and that’s why one week after they announced the get-tough policy, a June 8 Public Meeting to “discuss and review” the licenses for sidewalk cafés was on the schedule. THIS seems like a better approach, doesn’t it?

Mayor Johnston’s Thoughts on the June 8 Public Meeting

When asked about the upcoming Public Meeting on Café seating Mayor Teri Johnston thoughtfully replied:

“First and foremost, Key West is a perfect venue for outdoor dining.  We are blessed with near perfect weather, and you have to admit, Key West is a terrific “people watching” community. Our restaurants were exceptionally impacted by the global pandemic and our outdoor cafe program is an opportunity to bring some economic healing for our local businesses and employees.

There are some compromises that need to be openly negotiated between the City management team and our restaurant owners to keep our outdoor café program moving forward. To that goal, City Manager Patti McLauchlin has called for a transparent working session with our restaurant owners to work through the details to assure that this popular program will thrive.”

Good for the Mayor. Let’s hope the compromises she speaks of include the fees and making it easier for businesses to participate. Knowing her, we think it will.

The Elephant in the Room: Our Downtown Sidewalks Are Too Crowded

Note pedestrians walking and talking in single file. Imagine how much more pleasant this would be if the car parking were removed and the sidewalk was widened by a parklet to accommodate the tables and chairs. Oh and note the bike tied to the tree.

While its good the Mayor and City Manager are working with businesses to make this program a success, there’s still the issue of the elephant in the room. 

As the café table compliance issue popped up on local Facebook groups a week ago lots of opinions on various aspects were voiced. This sentiment from the always thoughtful and astute observer of Key West life, Linda Grist Cunningham of Key West Island News fame, struck me as spot on:

“When walking our narrow sidewalks, I resent having to negotiate patio tables and chairs (and customers.) There simply is not enough room on most of our sidewalks for dining, customers and those of us passing through. Sure, if the streets were closed and these dining areas moved off the sidewalks and next to the curbs, that would be fine. But is jamming up the sidewalk making it tough to impossible for pedestrians? Not so much”

And that’s the rub, isn’t it?

Our narrow sidewalks are just too jammed up. There’s newspaper and promotional boxes, menu boards and A-frame retail signs, street vendors hawking their wares, bike racks, traffic signs, light and electric poles, trash and recycle cans, and bikes locked to everything because we don’t have enough racks. Yes, there are a few restaurants with café tables and let’s not forget all the people simply walking, talking and window shopping. Sometimes the sidewalk is so crowded you have to walk single file at certain times of the day. For people with mobility issues, this must be a nightmare.

But why is this?

It’s because we’ve given over too much of our community asset, the public right of way, to car traffic and private car parking. Walk Duval Street or any of the adjacent commercial streets like Southard, Fleming, Caroline and Greene. Stop and count the number of people on the block at that moment and then the number of cars. The people outnumber the cars 10 to one. So then WHY, why on earth do we give up some much of our shared space to cars and put everything else on the sidewalk as an afterthought? 

It is time this imbalance be addressed. 

Here’s Three Things We Can Do to Help

While this issue of imbalance on our streets and sidewalks between people and cars should be folded into the City’s Strategic Plan and will be addressed by the Duval Street Revitalization Plan, if we ever get one, there’s some other things we could be working on in the meantime:

  1. Replace Car-Parking with Parklets

One way to “widen our sidewalks” and add more people activity to our streets quickly would be to allow businesses, organizations and the City to install parklets in space that is currently used for parking. Parklets are spots for people. Not cars. Parklets are an extension of the sidewalk out into the street, usually in what was formerly a parking space – thus the name. They are often temporary and can be built quickly and relatively inexpensively so putting them in wouldn’t preclude more permanent infrastructure changes in the future. Here’s a good story with more information and examples: 

How We Get Wider Sidewalks Downtown Without Ripping Up the Streets – Parklets; February 26, 2021

2. Pedestrianize Parts of Duval and Adjacent Blocks AND Still Allow Cars

“Shared Streets” or “Woonerfs” as the Dutch call them is a term for a street shared by cars, bicycles and people as equals. Although cars are allowed, they are restricted to a walking speed of say 5 mph and the onus for safety is entirely on the driver. Bikes cede the right of way to pedestrians. Instead of dividing a street with barriers, like curbs, sidewalk and bike lanes, everyone uses the street simultaneously and cars are forced to drive slowly. Commercial Street in Provincetown, MA is an example. 

One could do this by setting the speed limit on the designated blocks to 5 mph, getting rid of the parking spaces, installing signs saying Pedestrian Zone and putting up a few barriers to protect any parklets, or other outdoor street furniture. Here’s a story with examples:

Eight Things We Can Do to Pedestrianize Duval and Still Allow Cars; March 5, 2021


3. Create A Downtown Business Improvement District

This item may take a bit longer than the first two. But if there’s one thing that this whole episode of the City trying to corral restaurants into compliance on the Sidewalk Café Permit Program brings into focus, is that our little Mom n Pop businesses need an organization that can help them with these issues. A BID or Business Improvement District would be their advocate and would help coordinate a response and participation. As it is now, it is every business for itself in trying to deal with the City and a whole host of other issues, all while trying to do what they do best and run a business. Here’s our story with lots of analysis, details and examples:

Do Key West Commercial Areas Need Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)? – Part 2: What BIDS in Key West Might Look Like; April 23, 2021

Let’s Use the June 8 Public Meeting to Start Addressing the Imbalance Between Cars and People Downtown

While the City’s Public Meeting on June 8 is to “discuss and review” the licenses for sidewalk cafés, this program won’t be a success unless we begin to address the elephant in the room. 

Perhaps we can use this event to broaden the dialogue. 

People want a more pedestrian friendly downtown. People want to see more sidewalk cafés, benches, street furniture, art, trees, and more on Duval and adjacent blocks. But we can’t put it all on our already overcrowded and narrow sidewalks. Cars have the privilege of way more than their fair share of our community’s public right of way. Enrique Penalosa sums it up this way: “a citizen on a $30 bicycle is equally as important as one in a $30,000 car.” It is about time we address the grave imbalance in the way we use our streets. 

# # #

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / In Quest to Improve Crosstown Greenway, City Prepares to Construct New Bike Trail Segment

Posted on May 21, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written and published for KONK Life newspaper on May 21, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

What do a new bike trail segment and professional baseball in Key West have in common? Well, if you know where MLB affiliates for the Padres and Cubs – named the Key West Padres, Sun Caps, Conchs and finally the Key West Cubs, who played in the Florida International League from 1969 until 1975, then you know where the new trail is going. 

Still confused? Here’s a hint. The teams played in Wickers Stadium. 

Still don’t know it? While most of the old stadium is long gone, locals, especially parents and their kids, now know the area as Wickers Sports Complex between 14th Street, Kennedy Drive, Flagler Avenue and Poinciana Elementary. The cool news is that a new two-way bike trail, an important connecting segment of the Crosstown Greenway, is scheduled to be constructed by the time school starts in September 2022. 

New Trail Starts with Planning

A few weeks ago we brought you a story about planning starting during the next 12 months on the Smathers Beach and Salt Ponds Bike Trails (What’s Old is New Again – Two New Bike Trails Take Us Back in Time to a Simpler Key West; April 30, 2021). These two bike trails, like the Wickers Trail Segment, are being pulled of the City’s Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, adopted in 2019. We applaud the City’s Multi-Modal Transportation Coordinator Tim Staub for trying to get a mix of short-term and longer-term projects planned and constructed so that we get some quick wins on the ground now, next year and in each of the upcoming years after that. 

Mr. Staub has outlined all of this in a recently released, easy-to-read Transportation Report 2021 that outlines what he and others on City staff are prioritizing to do regarding transportation in the next 12 months. There’s a dozen plus planning, construction and service projects mentioned covering bike, walk and transit from the respective Bike/Ped and Transit Plans. We found out about all of these trail projects from this document and hope to highlight more of what’s in it over the next few months. 

Commissioner Davila Nails Why This Project is Important

When asked about this project because he’s known to be a fan of it, Commissioner Gregory Davila said: “The Wickers Bicycle Trail is vital to improving the safety for our residents. Currently, bicyclist and pedestrians have to cross two parking lots in order to travel between Duck Avenue and the current bicycle path that runs between Kennedy Drive and 12th Street. That’s just not safe. It only makes sense to improve that area with a dedicated path. The space is there to make this happen.”

A Key Segment of the Crosstown Greenway

The Wickers Bicycle Trail is a key segment in the 3.5 mile long Crosstown Greenway. The Greenway is the City’s main bicycle focus over the next few years as it can more safely carry east to west bicycle traffic through the heart of the city, than North and South Roosevelt Boulevards as bicycle routes. Phase 1 of making the Greenway a more established route was completed last fall (Volunteers and a Little Green Paint Show How We Can Make It Safer to Bike; February 1, 20201).  A Phase 2 of the “Volunteers with Paint” project will happen sometime this year. 

A robust central bicycle route (the Greenway) is a major element in both the Bike/Ped Plan and Comprehensive Plan. For the Crosstown Greenway to obtain its promise though, there must be bicycle centric infrastructure and connectivity along all of it. Thus, the importance of this project. 

The Wickers Bicycle Trail

As bikers travel the Greenway north on the Seidenberg Avenue Trail – the concrete cut-through path from Seidenberg Avenue between 12th and Kennedy (the subject of a fun upcoming story) – bicyclists are met with four lanes of car traffic on Kennedy and then have to navigate two parking lots serving Wickers Sports Complex and Poinciana School before coming to Duck Avenue at 14th Street.

The new trail will link Duck Avenue with the Siedenburg Avenue trail, aligns them better with the intersections and improves the crossings of Kennedy Drive and Glynn R. Archer Jr. Drive. In addition to improving mobility, the area suffers from flooding from normal rain events. So, bicyclists will now be able to avoid sloshing through a huge lake every time it rains.

According to the design recommendations for the trail in the Bike/Ped Plan, the City hopes to:

  • Build a 10-foot-wide bicycle trail
  • Install a 6-foot sidewalk adjacent to the trail
  • Provide a minimum 2-foot buffer between the trail and sidewalk
  • Install 15-foot-wide crossings on both Kennedy Drive and 14th Street and Duck Avenue with stamped asphalt to accommodate the trail and sidewalk
  • Use refuge islands, curb extensions, stamped asphalt crossings, and bike boxes to create more predictable traffic patterns and shorten pedestrian and bicyclist crossing distances 

All of this is shown in the preliminary drawings here. This project is the first portion of the Wickers Sports Complex update that will be occurring over the coming decade. Mr. Staub notes that the design of this project is still in the works, but if all goes as planned, it should be constructed prior to start of school in September 2022.

Hope for Key West’s Bicycling Future

Taken all together, Phases 1 and 2 of the “Volunteers with Green Paint” projects and the Wickers Field Trail segment on the Crosstown Greenway and the Smathers Beach and Salt Ponds Trails gives us hope that the City is finally turning the corner on implementing the promise of the Bike/Ped Plan and making it easier and safer to bike in Key West.

Our island is small, flat and warm. Perfect for biking year-round. So, our focus as a community should be on getting more people to bike by investing in bike infrastructure because it’s cheaper than accommodating more cars. The City should be applauded for taking these initial steps in the right direction and encouraged to do even more, faster because in doing so we can make Key West America’s bicycle paradise. 

Oh, and next time you are riding your bicycle through the Wickers Sports Complex, see if you can spot the remnants of the old Wickers Stadium and a fun part of Key West’s days of yore.

Featured Photo at top of story taken by the City’s Property Appraiser’s Office c1970. Second photo of Wickers Stadium taken by Dave Horton. Both photos grabbed from here.

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Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / How Better Transit and Bicycle Facilities Can Help Address Affordable Housing

Posted on May 14, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written for and published by KONK Life newspaper on May 14, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

A survey of residents in January, conducted as part of the City’s strategic plan process, identified affordable housing as the number one area of concern. No surprise. It’s been the number one issue for decades and still is. It seems all of our discussions of affordable housing focus mostly on the cost of rent or a mortgage. But that’s only part of the affordability problem of living in Key West, or in any city. The other is the hidden cost of transportation. Specifically owning and operating cars to get around. Research shows that many close-in, more expensive neighborhoods are actually cheaper to live in than those further away from the center city. Why? Because these neighborhoods are served by excellent public transit and bike facilities, lessening the need for families to own multiple cars. So, shouldn’t the City, as part of its approach to affordable housing, also ramp up public transit service and bicycling facilities bringing total affordability costs down? Yes, they should. We’ve even got the plans already on the books to get there, if the City’s leaders are willing to implement them faster. Let’s explore.

Affordable Housing in Key West

To its credit, the Mayor and City Commission are marshalling resources to address the affordable housing issue through their extremely well-run strategic planning process. They just had a very informative and thoughtful Affordable Housing Workshop on April 21. They’ve released a draft Key West Forward Affordable Housing document with a four-point process in goals and actions for getting there: 

  1. Build capacity for coordination and long-term planning 
  2. Develop new housing (College Rd., Bahama Village, etc.)
  3. Preserve and renovate existing housing
  4. Legislative and regulatory measures

If you read the draft, you’ll come away thinking these are all admirable goals and solid actions to be explored and taken. But nothing in any document or discussion addresses transportation as it relates to affordability. The City should take a step back and look at the total affordability issue to see if there’s additional ways, they can help address the problem.

Housing + Transportation = Affordable Living: A More Complete Measure of Affordability

For most people, after housing, transportation is their second biggest expense. In December the American Automobile Association said that in 2020 the average annual cost of vehicle ownership rose to more than $9,500. Now multiply that by every adult in a household and you’ve got a serious expense. In fact, many American households spend more on cars than they do housing, especially in the suburbs. 

Studies that have looked at housing and transportation costs have found that lower transportation costs in many urban areas with good access and transit help offset higher housing costs across most income groups. Location affordability measures the share of income spent on housing AND transportation. Households in location efficient places spent significantly less on household transportation, often enough to offset the higher housing costs of these choice neighborhoods. Walkable blocks with good transit service and bike facilities especially contribute to these savings.

If you live in one of these walkable neighborhoods with good transit and bicycle facilities, you may be able to live not owning a car or having just one car for a two-adult working family. If you live in a car-dependent subdivision those same two adults need two cars to commute to work, take the kids to school and go on errands that include shopping and play. 

More than 15 years ago in a groundbreaking study, the Center for Housing Policy linked these two together in their report entitled A Heavy Load – The Combined Housing and Transportation Burdens of Working Families. On average, the study found that working families in 28 metropolitan areas spent 57 percent of their incomes on the combined costs of housing and transportation, with roughly 28 percent of income going for housing and 29 percent going for transportation. In the search for low-cost housing, working families often “drive till they qualify” or locate far from the center of town where housing is often less expensive than neighborhoods close to downtown. But this dramatically increases their transportation costs and commute times because this housing is car dependent. 

The study found that one of the effects of the drive till you qualify mentality is an increase in driving that increases congestion in a city. Something we’ve also noticed in Key West.

In Key West there are More Cars, Longer Travel and No One Takes the Bus

Drive till you qualify is born out in the stats. Data gathered from the U.S. Census American Community Survey 5 year average, in 2019 and the 2019 Key West Transit Development Plan (TDP) paints a picture of a lot of vehicle ownership and car use for commuting and little if any use of public transit. The data also tell us something we already anecdotally know. Traffic across the Cow Key Bridge is increasing because so many people that work in the City now live in the County and a good number of people that live here also now work in the County. We’ve all heard stories of a less congested Key West in the 1970’s and 80’s, when more people lived and worked on the island. 

The search for more affordable housing has led many to the outer reaches of New Town, places like West Isle Club, Ocean Walk, Las Salinas, and Seaside and beyond the Cow Key Bridge to Stock Island, Big Coppitt, Sugarloaf, Summerland, the Torches, Big Pine and even Marathon. This has led to more cars and more driving. Fully 55% of Key West households and 65% of Monroe County (including Key West) households own 2 or more cars. More cars per family makes the cost of living more expensive.

2019 numbers link here. 2010 link here. 2000 link here.

Housing and Transportation Costs in Key West and Monroe County

The Center for Neighborhood Technology or CNT is a four-decades old non-profit think tank dedicated to providing research, tools and solutions to create sustainable and equitable communities so that neighborhoods, cities and regions work better for everyone. Over the years they’ve created some powerful, data driven interactive tools, one of the most popular of which is the Housing + Transportation Index (H+T®). From their website: “The traditional measure of affordability recommends that housing cost no more than 30% of household income. Under this view, a little over half (55%) of U.S. neighborhoods are considered “affordable” for the typical household. However, that benchmark fails to take into account transportation costs, which are typically a household’s second-largest expenditure. When transportation costs are factored into the equation, the number of affordable neighborhoods drops to 26%, resulting in a net loss of 59,768 neighborhoods that Americans can truly afford.”

“The Index shows that transportation costs vary between and within regions depending on neighborhood characteristics. People who live in location-efficient neighborhoods—compact, mixed-use, and with convenient access to jobs, services, transit and amenities—tend to have lower transportation costs.”

According to the CNT transportation costs are considered affordable if they are 15% or less of household income. So, the overall Affordability threshold would be 30% for housing and 15% for transportation for a combined 50% of income.

There’s No “Affordable Living” (Housing or Transportation) in Key West

In many cities across the U.S., you’ll often find that center city and inner ring neighborhoods that were built to a walking and biking scale and that have good transit are location efficient and have lower Affordable Living costs than their car-dependent suburban neighbors. Key West is compact and much of our city’s street grid was laid out for walking. So, we have some good bones to start with and that is borne out in the number of commuters who walk and bike. But we have horrible transit. 

When we use this tool and look at neighborhoods in Key West and Monroe County it tells us something we all already know. Neither the City, at 40% of income nor the County at 39% qualifies as affordable in meeting the 30% standard. And our car-dependent transportation makes it worse.  In Key West we are at 20% of income and in the County at 22% spent on transportation. Well above the 15% affordable standard and way above at 60% and 61% respectively on the combined standard of 50%.  Data shows that Americans spend 13% of their income on transportation.

H+T Fact Sheet for Key West

H+T Fact Sheet for Monroe County

Click on image to enlarge. Click on links above for full PDF version of each Fact Sheet.

In Key West a Regional Typical Household has an income of $57,000. Housing costs = 40% of income. Transportation costs = 20% of income and total housing + transportation costs = 60% of income. If we look at Regional Moderate Households with incomes that average $45,000, an even higher percentage of income is taken. Housing costs = 50% of income, transportation costs = 22% of income and total housing + transportation costs = 72% of Income.  

The numbers mirror the national trend line as housing is slightly cheaper overall in Monroe County, but transportation costs are higher and so overall livability or housing + transportation costs are higher. Regional Typical Housing 39% + Transportation 22% = 61%. Regional Moderate Housing 49% + 35% Transportation = 74%. So, living in car-dependent Monroe County is more expensive overall. But because transit is so awful in Key West, we don’t see the much lower transportation costs in the close in neighborhoods that you get in other cities.

The City Should Adopt a Broader View of Affordability that Includes Transportation – Affordable Living

As we stated at the top, we find it admirable that the City leaders are working hard to address housing affordability. With the help of their wonderful Strategic Planning Consultant Elisa Levy, and a host of local experts and advocates, we have no doubt some good things will happen on adding to the supply of units that are less expensive to rent and own on that 40 to 50 percent of income that goes towards housing. But we’d posit that the City can bring down overall livability costs by bringing down the 20 to 22 percent of income that goes towards transportation. So, if the City adopts a broader view of Affordability that includes transportation, they can bring more tools to the effort.

3 Ways We Bring the Cost of Transportation and Thus Overall Affordable Living Down in Key West

Fifty-five percent of households in Key West and 65% of households in Monroe County have two or more cars. Only 10% of city households and 6% of Monroe County households are car free. When I left my native Washington, D.C. 6 years ago nearly 40% of all residents living in the District of Columbia and about 8 in 10 new residents to the city didn’t own a car. Why? Because the public transit, biking and walking is so excellent. This helped make living in the city relatively affordable and is one of the driving forces in why the city added 90,000 people in the last decade. Put another way. In the District, housing as a percentage of income is high and comparable to Key West at 40% of income. But transportation costs are 14% of income for an overall Score of 54% compared to Key West’s 60%. That’s the difference quality transportation can make.

In order to bring Affordable Living costs down in Key West, we have to enable people with multiple cars to go car-lite and people with one car to go car-free. Here’s how:

1. Promote Mixed-Use Infill Development and Coordinate it With Transportation Services

Much of the more recent affordable housing stock, like the 208-unit Quarry Apartments on Big Coppitt, have been built up the Keys. The upcoming 280-unit Wreckers Cay project and the 104-unit College Road project are being built on Stock Island. Most everything, at least at present, beyond Cow Key Bridge, we should consider car dependent. Building workforce housing where every adult and most teens need their own car to get to work, school and play is nuts. 

The City’s draft Housing Plan includes the 3.2 Acres in Bahama Village site for affordable housing and identifies other island locations for more housing. This is a good thing. So are ideas for amending the code to allow more accessory dwelling units and up zoning shopping centers and other parcels to incentivize redevelopment that includes a mix of uses, including affordable housing. 

All of this needs to be coordinated with transportation options in mind. Building new housing near existing or planned transportation improvements is imperative. So is planning future transportation projects to serve working families. Optimally all of the development along major transit and bicycle facilities should be allowed to get denser. 

2. Institute Free, Frequent and Simple Transit NOW

We can’t address transportation affordability and thus overall affordability, without a decent transit alternative. And let’s face it, other than the Duval Loop, public transit service in Key West is worse than abysmal. The “frequent” Duval Loop service has been slipping and no longer arrives every 15-20 minutes. The North and South Lines have 90–120-minute printed waits in between buses. And the Lower Keys Shuttle has 10 inbound trips a day and 10 outbound trips a day with waits of one to two plus hours between buses. On top of the inadequate service, bus stops provide no information about what route stops there or where the bus will go (The Sorry State of Key West Bus Stops – We Just Don’t Care; April 2, 2021). The transit agency doesn’t even try to market and promote what service they do have (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – A Dozen Marketing Things KW Transit Can Do to Increase Ridership; April 9, 2021).

No wonder about ½ of one percent (0.5%) of Key West residents and about 1% of Monroe County residents use public transit to get to work. The numbers don’t lie. Other than biking and walking there’s essentially no alternative to get around. In the Location Efficient neighborhoods, we discussed earlier, there was excellent transit service. That allowed households to ditch one or both of their cars which brought down the neighborhood’s overall affordability. Until our leaders seriously address our woeful transit system, most people will have no choice but to pay nearly $10,000 a year to own and operate each car on top of their already exorbitant rent or mortgage. 

But there’s hope.

In late 2019, the City Commission adopted an ambitious, progressive 10-Year Transit Development Plan (TDP) promising a system of five “Loops” (Duval, Old Town, Midtown, New Town, Stock Island) connected by a four simple “Connector” lines (Airport – along S. Roosevelt, North – along N. Roosevelt, Intermodal Connector – from a Stock Island Park n Ride to downtown, and Lower Keys Shuttle) all with 15-20 minute frequencies and eventually free fares. A system like THIS just might be able to serve our residents and workers and allow them to be less dependent on their cars and thus eventually have a more affordable living. 

On January 14, the City’s Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) adopted a Fare Free Resolution calling on the City to raise metered parking rates by $0.50 cents to target implementing the Plan sooner than later (Sustainability Board Wants to Make Free, Frequent and Simple Key West Transit a Reality; February 6, 2021). The SAB is following up on its January resolution and making their proposal part of their annual priority list being developed now. Hopefully, City Commission and staff will take note of the SAB’s good work.

The SAB has proposed a new funding mechanism to speed of implementation of a very good transit plan. Federal money is pouring into the City’s coffers for transit. And parking revenues that help fund the bus system are up. So now is the time, during the current budget process for the next fiscal year that begins October 1, to set the Free, Frequent and Simple plan in motion on an expedited timetable. Especially as the issue can be addressed in both the affordable housing process and strategic plan.

And let’s set a goal to help focus our efforts. On such a small island, shouldn’t we set a goal of 10% of Key West residents getting to work by transit by 2025?

3. Radically Speed Up Implementation of Our Bike/Ped Plan

We’re fortunate that bicycling as an alternative to driving is faring much better than public transit. So is walking. 12 percent of Key West residents already bike to work. Seven percent walk. But, listening to long-time residents it seems like even more people use to do this. But with our longer commutes and more congested streets it is likely getting harder and harder to entice people to do this. We’ve already got the low-hanging fruit of people that are confident enough to bike and walk on our streets. According to national surveys, when it comes to bicycling, about half the population falls into an “interested but concerned” category that is willing to bike if they perceived it were safer and easier. For this group that means high quality bicycle infrastructure. Here’s what that looks like:

Picture it. Clearly marked separated and protected bike lanes, greenways or bike boulevards, and off-street paths connect throughout the city, forming a seamless, uninterrupted network of bicycle facilities allowing safe travel through and around the island for everyone of all ages and abilities. Signs show bikers and walkers where they are and how to get to their destination. Bike boxes at busy intersections create space for bicycles ahead of the cars. Ample bike parking is found within a block of all work, shop and play destinations. Wider sidewalks in busy downtown areas, intersections with bump outs and mid-block crosswalks, traffic calming to slow the cars, and places for people to sit, watch, chat and eat in more places. This is the vision the Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Transportation Plan paints for our future. 

As one of Key West’s preeminent bike advocates consistently says, the island is warm, flat and small, so our focus should be on getting more people to bike, because that’s cheaper than accommodating cars. We agree. And we have a world class Bike/Ped Plan already vetted and done. In fact, our Multi-Modal Transportation Coordinator has already started some projects including the first phase of the Crosstown Greenway and planning for the Salt Ponds and Smathers Beach Trails. But if we put more staff and money into it, we could ramp up the number of bicycle projects 10-fold and make a big jump.

With the advent of cheaper electric bikes and scooters, on a flat, small and warm island that is no more than four by two miles, shouldn’t we set a goal of at least 30% of our work trips made by bike by 2025? And at least 10% by walking. 

Excellent Options to Driving Make Our Island More Affordable Too

With 2025 commute mode goals of 10% for transit, 30% for bicycling and 10% for walking, that would mean fully half of all commute trips would be by these alternative modes. And when you add in carpool and other modes, it would mean that the drive alone rate would be closer to 40% instead of the current 63%. Those kinds of numbers can help bring living costs down.

For a few years now at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtownwe’ve been saying that an island where more people use the bus, bike and walk is more healthy, green, sustainable, equitable, prosperous and happy. We’d like to amend or usual list and add that an island where more people can take transit, bike and walk more easily is also more affordable too. Especially for working people. If we’re finally going to make headway on an affordable housing issue that has vexed our island for decades, maybe we need to come up with some new strategies and come at it from a new angle.

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / City Commission Tries to Have Its Cake and Eat It Too on S. Roosevelt Blvd. – Perhaps Dooming a Safer Project

Posted on May 7, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. This story was written for and published by KONK Life newspaper on May 7, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.  

The City Commission seemingly took a step in the right direction Tuesday night, when by a 6-1 vote (Commissioner Wardlow dissenting), they rescinded a bad 4-year-old decision and gave the City Engineering staff direction to make the S. Roosevelt Boulevard corridor safer for cars, bikes and pedestrians with a new design. The catch is their resolution says to do this as long as it doesn’t interfere with the timeline or budget for the project. It was clear staff didn’t believe they could meet the spirit of the resolution. So, without some modest sacrifices in time, funding and maybe parking, the Commission’s gesture is likely too late in the process to make a difference. The Commission can’t have its cake (getting to say they did the right thing by voting for a safer design) and eat it too (make no concessions on timeline and budget). They need to summon the courage to do better.

In 2017 FDOT Gave the City the Opportunity to do the Right Thing

In February 2017 the then City Commission voted 5-2 (Wardlow, Lopez, Payne, Romero and Cates vs. Weekley and Kaufman) against the recommendation of FDOT, their own City Engineer and most of the participants of a public process to keep the current configuration of S. Roosevelt Boulevard at four through travel lanes when FDOT rebuilds the section of the road from the end of Smathers Beach to Bertha Street to mitigate flooding issues, as they did with the rest of the road some years back. FDOT and City staff recommended a safer two through travel lanes (one in each direction instead of two), a middle turn lane for the condos and hotel and bicycle lanes to attract some of the bike riders from the Promenade and lessen conflicts with beach goers, runners and walkers. The Commission couldn’t fathom making a change and didn’t want to inconvenience car travelers, even though an FDOT analysis said the change wouldn’t affect traffic flow or volume. But that was then. 

New Commission, New Decision

We have a more forward-thinking Commission now. After doing a lot of research, Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover sponsored a resolution on Tuesday night that rescinded that 2017 decision and instead directed staff to design the road to “Complete Street” standards as proposed four years ago. As the first speaker on the issue, WeCycle Bike Shop owner Evan Haskell said, “FDOT recommended this four years ago. It was the right thing to do then and it’s the right thing to do now.”

Mr. Haskell also answered critics who are afraid this will slow traffic down when he noted that the current four through lanes design includes installing signalized HAWK crossings, like on N. Roosevelt Boulevard, at each of the two condos (La Brisa and Key West by the Sea) and The Barbary Hotel. These wouldn’t be needed for crosswalks that only have to cross two lanes of car travel. He noted that FDOT said the HAWK signal will slow traffic more than the alternative (two through lanes). Speaker Roger McVeigh agreed and noted how much nicer a reconfigured boulevard could look in comparison and how important first impressions are to the visitors coming in at the airport.

The Mayor and Commissioners agreed. As Mayor Johnston put it “Why would we spend the time and money to put in an antiquated road. We keep talking about bike lanes and then we repave roads and don’t put them in. We have to build for the future.” Commissioner Hoover added that if we lose a few months on the timeline to get this right we should do so.

Is This Too Little Too Late?

The Mayor and Commissioner Hoover’s admonition to doing the right thing, even if it takes slightly longer, seemed to run headlong into the resolution’s wording about not compromising the current schedule. Engineering Department Director Steven McAlearney and City Engineer Kelly Crowe went into contortions in trying to explain why despite the vote, it may be too late to change direction. Said Mr. McAlearney, “It is more than just changing the paint on the road.” Which is exactly the opposite of what the Commission and public has been told all along.

Apparently, some items fell through the cracks, like getting all the rights-of-way deeded to the project. And this makes it harder to design something new that needs a few extra feet in width. In particular the City Engineer pointed out “We got the other required property’s (rights of way), but I don’t know why we didn’t get Key West by the Sea’s.” Engineering explains there’s a choke point in front of Key West by the Sea and they either need a few feet of space on that side of the road or you’ll have to lose some parking spaces, perhaps as many as 30, on the other side. 

Key West by the Sea Management has indicated that they may give the land to the project, as they see virtue in having a middle turn lane, a shorter crosswalk to the beach for their residents and a sidewalk, but it may take a few months to go through the formal process of the resident’s voting first. And the rub seems to be that everyone now seems in a hurry and very mindful that FDOT has a deadline of September 7 for the City, which is conducting and paying for the design, to turn in 100% completed drawings by then. 

Project Delays Are Typical on Road Projects. So Why is Everyone NOW So Adamant About Meeting a Deadline?

When was the last time an FDOT project was completed on time? We should note this project has been delayed a number of times already and isn’t scheduled to be constructed for two more years. But NOW no one seems to have any wiggle room in giving the City a bit more time with its design to make this a better project. I guess FDOT doesn’t like that the City changed its mind about the project and some at the City don’t seem willing to press the issue with FDOT. 

City Engineering staff presented so many caveats to the process that it was pretty clear in watching the proceedings they believed they couldn’t get a new design done by September 7. But the way the resolution was written, saying the Commission wanted the change as long as it didn’t interfere with the timeline and budget, hamstrings staff’s ability to do the right thing.

Let’s Not Let the City Commission Off the Hook So Easily

Commissioner Hoover seemed to say a small delay should be acceptable. She’s right. And the Mayor agreed saying: “We need to get to yes, by getting to a street for the future for Key West.” We agree.

This is a 25-year decision. What’s a few months or even a year and a couple hundred thousand dollars, if it means we all get a safer road that works for our future? It’s a small price to pay.

The Commission can’t have its cake (getting to say they did the right thing by voting for a safer design) and eat it too (make no concessions on timeline and budget). They need to summon the courage to do better and take the constraints off of staff about timeline and budget at its very next meeting. Otherwise, their vote will have been nothing more than an empty gesture.

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It’s Time to Reconsider a Road Diet on S. Roosevelt and Make the Promenade and Road Safer; March 26, 2021 

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / What’s Old is New Again – Two New Bike Trails Take Us Back in Time to a Simpler Key West

Posted on April 30, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. (Featured picture by Britt Myers, Keys Weekly); This story was written for and published by KONK Life on April 30, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

Do you know where the Cubana Plane, once used by Cuban defectors in an attempt to reach the U.S., is? It’s parked along Government Road behind the airport and next to Little Hamaca Park and the Salt Ponds. Still confused? That’s because few people use Government Road these days. But that could change if the road gets incorporated into two new proposed bike trails, that it turns out, aren’t really that new of a concept.

New Trails Start with Planning

Here’s something novel for Key West. Someone on City staff is actually trying to follow and implement an adopted plan. Maybe we’re being unfair to City Hall. Letting community driven plans, written by big-name consultants, sit on shelves and grow old and musty, happens in a lot of places. So, color us impressed that the City’s wonky multi-modal transportation coordinator is trying to both get some quick wins on the ground so people see progress AND begin planning today for some longer-term projects that will take more time to bear fruit. 

We’re speaking of course about the Engineering Department’s Multi-Modal Transportation Coordinator Timothy Staub’s charging ahead with implementing the City’s, Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, adopted in February, 2019. A couple months ago, we brought you the feel-good story of Mr. Staub and a band of volunteers constructing the first phase of the Crosstown Greenway (Volunteers and a Little Green Paint Show How We Can Make it Safer to Bike, January 29, 2021). The Greenway, an element of the Bike Plan, was a nice little victory to show people some quick, easy and inexpensive ways to put paint on the street and make it safer for cars and bikes. 

Tim recently released to the Sustainability Advisory Board and City Commission a straightforward, easy-to-read Transportation Report 2021 that outlines what he and others on City staff are prioritizing to do regarding transportation in the next 12 months. There’s a dozen plus planning, construction and service projects mentioned covering bike, walk and transit from the respective Bike/Ped and Transit Plans. Over the next couple months, we’ll revisit this subject and hope to highlight some of the exciting projects. Two projects in particular caught our attention for their novelty and daring and because for some people they recall a forgotten era before tourism took over our town.

Salt Ponds and Smathers Beach Trails

Connectivity in the Bike Plan is a big deal. Nothing is worse than a bike trail that ends without a safe way to continue on to your destination. Or a bike lane that is one block long. It also means connecting people from where they live to where they work, shop and play. If people don’t perceive a convenient (think: easy, short, direct) AND safe way to bike somewhere, they’ll find another way. They’ll drive. They’ll call an Uber. They might take the bus – in other cities, but not here in Key West because our transit is so abysmal – but  that’s a whole other story). Or they won’t take some trips at all – and that’s bad for our Mom-and-Pop shops. The Salt Ponds and Smathers Beach Trails aim to both provide convenient and safe connections that entice more people to use a bike to get from A to B.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Salt Ponds Trail

The better named Salt Ponds Trail, called the Airport Connector Trail on page 65 of the Bike Plan, would connect the communities of Ocean Walk, Las Salinas and Seaside, where a lot of the city’s workforce lives, with downtown via a time-saving and safer bike trail. This new facility would cut behind the backside of the Key West International Airport, with the ideal design being a wide boardwalk or something with limited disturbances of nature, to Government Road where it would cross Flagler Avenue at 7th Street and then connect up with the Crosstown Greenway. This short-cut between downtown and these uptown communities, would take riders through the middle of town and the salt ponds, rather than out and around S. Roosevelt Boulevard. It could save bikers 10+ minutes. Don’t underestimate the difference between a 20-minute and 30-minute commute, especially when the 30-minute commute is often windswept in at least one direction along the beach.

But it seems this new trail isn’t such a new idea after all. In fact, more than 20 years ago, those “in the know Conchs” knew of and used the trail.

Tom “the Bike Man” Theisen, owner of BikeMan Bike Rental Key West, tells us that he worked with Key West Bicycle Coordinator Jim Malcolm, who held the job from January 1999 until his death in November 2008, on the Salt Ponds idea including holding meetings and mapping a path. There already was a defacto path people used. “You could walk back there, and kids would ride bikes and play paintball.” In the early 2000’s Mr. Malcom wanted to formalize it.

He tells us “the path from behind the salt ponds was complicated because the Sunrise Suites people didn’t want anyone going past their property.” He went on to explain that there is apparently an agreement that the city can have access through an easement to the Salt Ponds but because the Sunrise Suites objected, the project stalled. Even though nothing happened with the planning effort, “The area was accessible for a long time after that.”

The Bike Man goes on to say that over the years, fences and some channels were dug to prevent access. He ends with: “A connecting path is of course very logical and could be used for recreational purposes as well (as a good commute short-cut), cheap to implement too.”

Smathers Beach Trail

The long-term goal for the Smathers Beach Trail (page 69 of the Bike/Ped Plan) is to allow the High School to connect as well allowing students to have another path that doesn’t involve Flagler. It can better connect New Town residents to Smathers without having to travel along Bertha or go all the way around past the Cow Key Channel and airport. The proposed trail also lines up with FDOT’s proposed HAWK light pedestrian crossing.

Says Bike Man Tom Theisen: “The whole area where the Cuban plane currently sits was open to the public, people drove out there and had their lunch etc. It was a nice space, and it was the start of a trail to Smathers Beach. The trail ran along the runway fence and ended at the bridal path close to the big concrete block (known as the Key West by the Sea condominium). It was easy to bike, though not paved. One day the city came in and put up a fence claiming people where dumping and that was the end of it. Years later they cut a channel where the path was so now a bridge would be needed to restore it.”

Will the Future Mimic the Past?

During the community meetings and public surveys in preparing the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan people remembered these old paths and got them put into the document. Good for them!

Mr. Staub points out that: “The trails are going to be a long-term project that will probably take a few years to accomplish, which is why we want to start planning them now. It’s going to require a ton of environmental work, and partnering with FAA, School Board, County, and State land is involved too.”

Former City Manager Greg Veliz was said to be a champion of these trails because it revives routes that many Conchs used to use to wander through the Salt Ponds. Maybe they were on to something with these paths in the old days. Times were simpler and people expected common sense and practicality to prevail over other considerations. 

We applaud the Multi-Modal Transportation Coordinator for pulling these off of the Bike/Ped Plan and starting the planning for the two trails in the next 12 months. As Tom Theisen says: “If the city wants to reduce automobile traffic the paths should be at the top of the list.”

Amen. Let’s get these done!

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

Streets for People / Do Key West Commercial Areas Need Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)? – Part 2: What BIDS in Key West Might Look Like

Posted on April 23, 2021     Leave a Comment

By Chris Hamilton. (Featured photo by Karrie Bond) This story was written for and published by KONK Life on April 23, 2021 and is reprinted here with permission.

In Key West we’ve seen budding support for putting in parklets to widen the sidewalks, for restaurants and retailers to “take the streets” and even for some semblance of the return of Mall-on-Duval-like activities. Advocates have been calling for commercial streets that are more pedestrian oriented. The City’s COVID Recovery Plan recommends free transit, moving businesses outdoors and creating marketing and related support for local retailers. The City, in fits and starts, is trying to embark on a Duval Street Revitalization Study, envisioning a better looking and functioning N. Roosevelt business corridor, and conducting workshops aimed at projects to enhance the Mallory Sq./Sunset Celebration experience. And during the last year, the wonderful Mom&Pop Business Key West group was formed, to give local business operations a voice to improve things. It seems a missing element in all this is someone to organize and help businesses accomplish activities that will help them, and their immediate neighborhoods prosper. The businesses are too busy running their businesses and the City, well, they could probably use some help too. Might the answer be one or more Business Improvement Districts or BIDS in our commercial areas?

This is a big subject, so, we broke it into two stories. Last week, in Part 1 – What’s a BID? we tried to answer that question. This week in Part 2 – What BIDS in Key West Might Look Like, we’ll explore where BIDS might be able to help, how they might function and what they may be able to accomplish that isn’t happening now.

Part 1 – What’s a BID? Summary Recap

The International Downtown Association (IDA) says: “A Business Improvement District (BID) is a public/private partnership in which property and business owners elect to make a collective contribution to the maintenance, development and promotion of a commercial district.” Since the 1970’s nearly 1,000 BIDS in big cities (New York City has 76) and small towns across North America have popped up. As a Department of Transportation employee of Arlington County, Virginia government, I worked closely with six Arlington, Virginia business improvement districts over the years – each one being indispensable to helping its neighborhood thrive.  

I witnessed local BIDS do small things like provide ambassadors on the street to welcome people and provide them with directions. They helped small shops with permits and applications. The local BIDS did extra sweepings of the streets and emptying of the trash cans. They sponsored branded benches, bus stops and recycle bins. They provided maps and wayfinding signage. ALL of the BIDS I worked with promoted walking, biking and transit and they directed workers and visitors to long-term parking and shoppers to short-term parking. They fostered farmer’s markets, block parties, movie nights, lectures, gallery walks, first Friday events to promote businesses and full blown one and two-day festivals of all sorts. And when it was a holiday or special occasion, they made sure the street light poles were festooned with flags sharing the moment as a neighborhood. They helped foster a stronger sense of place and belonging.

BIDs are financed primarily through a dedicated, add-on BID tax, assessed over and above normal real estate taxes. BIDS begin when a group of local businesspeople petitions a City to legally create one. In Florida a locality must authorize the creation of these districts. We found 16 BIDS in nine cities throughout Florida.

Part 2 – What BIDS in Key West Might Look Like

We intend this article to hopefully be the beginning of a discussion. I don’t pretend to know all the answers. I’m not a BID consultant. But as a local DOT employee up north, I worked closely with BIDS for a couple decades and my observation here in Key West is that our commercial areas could use some similar help. So…

The Key West Historic Seaport Acts Like a BID

Key West already has one BID-like organization. The Key West Historic Seaport. Back in the day, City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley and some other thoughtful folks, saved the Bight from certain overdevelopment into big hotels and timeshares, by using a similar State authority to BIDS, and created an entity to buy the property. While they are a city-agency, the Historic Seaport have their own income and budget, overseen by their own Key West Bight Management District Board of Directors. The Port and Marina Services Director and his team are City employees reporting to both their Board and the City Manager. 

As they have their own budget, they have their own staff and contractors. The Bight Board and its staff: 

  1. invest in infrastructure improvements to the site, 
  2. operate the site, meaning they clean the area, trim the trees and landscaping, provide routine maintenance for all the common areas, 
  3. assist the businesses with liaising, lobbying and troubleshooting with City and County agencies as individual businesses and as a powerful and unified group, AND
  4. they promote the businesses on the site and program the Key West Historic Seaport with unified, branding, marketing and events with the help of a marketing contractor that has over $344,000 annually to work with.

As we discussed in the first article, most BIDS across the country do for themselves numbers two, three and four and then they work with their locality to do number one.

Check out the Seaport’s web site. So, while their marketing firm is asking people to shop, dine and play at the Seaport, who’s doing that for businesses on our Main Street and other commercial areas?

Who’s Doing for Our Commercial Districts, What the Bight Board Does for the Historic Seaport

The short answer is that the City is responsible for 1. infrastructure and 2. operations, and no one is doing the 3. assistance/liaising with the government or 4. marketing. For example, the City’s Community Services Department is responsible for street cleaning every morning on Duval. It is also responsible for putting up barricades for events and for installing the Christmas wreathes on the street poles at the Holidays. The Bight Board does this for themselves. They also put in and maintain their own bike racks and more. 

The City is stretched pretty thin as it is. With N. Roosevelt Boulevard and Mallory Sq. studies underway, what if those commercial neighborhoods wanted some of the extra services Duval Street receives? What if White Street asked for help installing holiday lights and wreathes? What if Duval Street wanted more? Certainly, the City has the resources and scale to do a lot of things, but what happens if we want to do more? Wouldn’t it be helpful to have BIDS or Historic Seaport-like operations in other parts of the City?

We should note that based upon community input, as part of the City’s COVID Recovery Plan, the City did recognize the need for numbers three and four and hired the wonderful Nadene Grossman Orr’s Team at Key West Events – We’ve Got the Keys to assist businesses with permits and compliance and to do some marketing. But the contract was only for three months and has already ended.  If the City recognized this kind of help was needed for 3 months, why not longer?

What about the Chamber and Other Organizations?

We have a lot of organizations in Key West that may seem kind of related. The Key West Chamber of Commerce, the Key West Business Guild, the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West, the Key West Attractions Association, and just this year Shop Mom & Pop Key West was established. There’s also the Monroe County Tourist Development Council or TDC. They all do a fantastic job at what they do. I attend many of their functions. There’s indeed a little overlap, but do any of them specifically look out for and provide the kind of typical BID services at a neighborhood level like we’ve discussed here? The answer is no.

Key West Historic Seaport businesses belong to all these organizations and yet they also get the added help of their BID-like organization. That’s not to say one of these organizations couldn’t, if tasked with running a BID, do it. But none of them are providing those typical services to Duval Street or White Street or N. Roosevelt Boulevard at the moment. The creation of any BIDS would need to cede to these other organizations what they do best and concentrate on filling in the gaps, not duplicate services. Same goes with what the City does.

Could We Use One Or More BIDS in Key West?

We’ve noticed many local business owners say they have problems getting permits for sidewalk seating and others don’t know where they’d even begin at the City if they wanted to put in a parklet in front of their business. Others have shared stories of receiving little support when they tried to participate in Mall on Duval. That and there seems to be a different City department for everything. Wouldn’t it be easier to have an advocate for neighborhood businesses? Someone who could help organize things. Our business districts are our city’s life blood. If we’re going to invest in infrastructure, shouldn’t we likewise invest in its smooth operations? Shouldn’t we likewise invest in helping those businesses be all they can be? Shouldn’t we also invest in marketing and creating a sense of place around these businesses that attract residents and visitors to use them, especially downtown? Yes.

Where Could We Use BIDS?

Duval Street. When I first started thinking about this subject, I was primarily thinking about Duval and adjacent 400 and 500 blocks on Front, Greene, Caroline, Eaton, Fleming, Southard, Angela, and Petronia because it is our Main Street corridor, and is also a focus of our Facebook page – Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown. Following up on the demise of the Mall on Duval, the City has embarked on a path to do a “Duval Street Revitalization Study” that will enlist an engineering and planning consultant to help plan the revitalization of the infrastructure or streetscape of Duval. The Mayor said she envisions improvements including widening sidewalks and adding planters, benches and water fountains. 

But once we renovate Duval Street, is that enough? Or do we need someone to help the businesses and community take advantage of and operate this improved asset? Yes, yes, we do.

The businesses themselves are too busy just trying to run their own operations. These days that’s harder than ever to do. Mom and Pop shops shouldn’t also be expected to figure out how to make all this happen, coordinate with each other and actually do it. While the City should certainly set the table and provide services and capital improvements for one of its most important assets, Duval Street, and they do, should they be expected to do all the work or even more work, especially the activities part? Or should there be some sort of empowered third-party organization that can take responsibility for helping small businesses thrive while liaising with and enhancing what the local government does do? 

I talked to Paul J. Menta, the founder of Shop Mom & Pop Key West, and he enthusiastically liked the idea of a downtown BID, saying “Can I tell you; I love this! I want a downtown business district that connects all the areas and side streets.” He suggested perhaps a district with a historic theme shaped like the Duval Loop route that encourages visitors to hop on the Loop or other provided transit and try out each of the different areas. He went on to further advocate for better Loop-like (think frequent) service from Sugar Loaf to enable workers to get downtown. 

While we prefer Paul’s idea of one downtown BID, focused mainly along Duval, it may make sense to break it up into multiple BIDS (yet still be connected up by frequent, free transit). In Arlington, Virginia the 2.3-mile-long R-B or Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor had 3 different BIDS covering it. Duval certainly has Lower, Middle and Upper sections, each with their own distinctive vibe. Or maybe each section is just marketed differently by one BID? Just food for thought.

Where Else Could We Use BIDS?

White Street. What about White Street from Petronia to United? This, sometimes called White Street Gallery District, has its own small-town flair and needs that may be worthy of some help.

Petronia Street. The Bahama Village portion of Petronia Street is its own little paradise and has a rich history. Imagine if these businesses acted with one focus. And if this section was car-free.

Truman Avenue. Truman Avenue between White Street and Duval Street is a nice mixture of shops, hotels and a few restaurants and bars. Are they their own district or could they be folded into something nearby?

N. Roosevelt Boulevard. Perhaps our largest commercial district hugs N. Roosevelt Boulevard from the Triangle down to Truman Avenue. This diverse, car-centric area has needs that are very different than the places downtown. What are the possibilities of more unified planning, operations and marketing of this stretch of U.S. Route 1? Especially since the City is doing a survey of needs at the moment.

“Downtown” Stock Island. The I Love Stock Island Group already has a marketing presence, some great events and touts the local businesses. What if this was more formalized with a staff and budget to do more?

Funding

As we discussed last week, most BIDS are financed via an added tax on properties within the district. Section 511 of Florida Statues pertains to Special Neighborhood Improvements Districts, like BIDS. It authorizes these districts the ability, through the local government, to levy an ad valorem tax on real and personal property of up to 2 mills annually or up to $2 for every $1,000 of property value, which at max translates to $2,000 annually for every $1 million dollars in property value. Would Key West commercial property owners, like their counterparts in places across the country be willing to pay a little extra for these additional services? That’s a crucial question. 

Perhaps in Key West there are opportunities for some innovative funding to keep any additional tax on commercial property owners even lower. The County’s Tourist Development Council (TDC) takes in an awful lot of money annually. Perhaps some of that money could be put to use enhancing our commercial districts’ operations rather than some of the money it spends on advertising Key West in general. Making the product they are advertising a stronger place might be a better way of attracting tourists, rather than clever marketing slogans. Just a thought. Other ideas?

Imagine What Key West BIDS Might Accomplish

The easiest way to imagine what BIDS in Key West might accomplish, is to simply go back to the Key West Historic Seaport example and imagine having the cash and staff to do similar infrastructure, operations, business development and marketing in other areas.

I’d imagine, for example on Duval Street, where there’s seemingly a festival every weekend, it would be easier for event organizers to work with a BID and the City rather than dozens of individual businesses and the City. We heard the Mall on Duval failed because it was badly organized and didn’t help the businesses participate. Failure would be less likely if there was a BID organizing the activities. Likewise, it is time-consuming and difficult to get dozens of businesses owners together for meetings. However, if BID staff can represent their neighborhood, operations and events, whether run by the City or private entities, can be made to run smoother.

Imagine a unified website for the district with information for residents and visitors and property owners. Instead of just Christmas wreathes during December, banners and flags could be programmed throughout the year, providing a unified look. 

Imagine that wayfinding signage was installed directing people to each of the micro-neighborhoods in and around Duval. Imagine that visitors were further provided information on where to rent bikes and to catch transit. Even better that there is unified promotion of long-term parking lots so that short-term metered parking can be used for shopping and dining. 

While the City does a nice job cleaning the streets each morning on Duval, imagine if there was a little team that could trouble-shoot and supplement this service throughout the day and evening. The same people could act as easily identifiable ambassadors to answer questions and they could also act as the eyes and ears on the ground and alert the police or public works when something goes awry like a broken streetlight, abandoned bikes, malfunctioning traffic signal or illegal trash dumping.

Further imagine that the BID could raise money and plan for small improvements such as street furniture, bike racks, benches, parklets, water fountains and additional trees and landscaping. Perhaps they could even help Key West Transit install map and signage information at every bus stop in their district.

Imagine a new business needs assistance with getting an outdoor seating permit or permission to set up a parklet or needs help navigating other City, County and State rules. The BID could step in and help. They could even work with the Chamber and other organizations to foster lectures and seminars to help the businesses.

What’s Next?

Typically, BIDS begin when a group of local businesspeople or a local business organization petitions a City to legally create one. Often BIDS are fostered by local governments that realize they can’t do everything themselves and could use some help. But the City won’t act unless there’s a groundswell from the businesspeople in these places to rally for something like this. A BID is a mechanism to provide help to businesses and their neighborhood. But they need to ask the City for help to make it so.

Could the Duval Street Revitalization Study Look into Creating a BID?

Perhaps the best avenue to approach this subject, at least for Duval Street, is via the Duval Street Revitalization Study process. The City still hasn’t contracted with a firm to do the work. While the Study is focusing on infrastructure, it seems appropriate that the selected consultant, in consultation with the business community and public, could come up with recommendations and action items relating to a Duval Street or Downtown BID overseeing this enhanced asset too.

Likewise, perhaps the N. Roosevelt study could look into the same. Potential districts on White Street and Stock Island may need to grab the bull by the horn themselves.

Final Takeaway – A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships

Instead of dozens or hundreds of businesses in a local neighborhood competing with each other to be seen and heard, with unified neighborhood operations under a BID umbrella, a rising tide lifts each individual business. Now’s the time to learn more, think it through and hopefully have a good discussion about creating BIDS during these upcoming planning processes. Our commercial districts are too important to just leave their success to chance. Let’s help make that discussion happen.

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

Chris Hamilton
Chris Hamilton

A native of the District of Columbia, where for a couple decades+ he led the nationally renown Commuter Services unit for Arlington County, VA’s DOT, Chris has lived in Key West since 2015. He lives car-free downtown and works and volunteers for a couple non-profits.

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