Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Top 10 Stories for 2020 – #7 Covid Recovery Plan Focuses on Downtown and Business
Posted on December 25, 2020 Leave a Comment
By Chris Hamilton, December 26, 2020
Covid Plan In Sync with Our Issues
You may have noticed that six months ago Friends of Car-Free Key West became Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown. We changed the name out of a recognition that the way we use our streets, especially our main street and the commercial streets in our historic downtown, is a focus of our work. When more people bike, walk and use transit it enables us to repurpose more of our shared asset – streets – from private automobile storage to community and shared uses. It is the “Streets for People” in our slogan “Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People.” Thus we were very impressed that the City’s “Key West Recovers! A 17-Point Business and Humanitarian Covid Recovery Plan for 2020-2021” focussed so heavily on many of the items we champion here at Friends. THAT’s why this make our list at #7.
In fact, over the course of the pandemic we’ve written about most of the items included included in the business section of the Covid Recovery Plan. Such as Duval Loop, parklets, moving business outdoors, and creating help for local businesses and marketing.
What Is The Covid Recovery Plan?
It is worth everyone’s time to review the easy-to-read and succinct 8-page plan and the accompanying Key West Recovers PowerPoint presentation that the Mayor and Commissioner’s received from the consultant, Elisa Levy at their October Commission meeting. If you have 30 minutes, it is well worth it to watch Elisa’s passionate presentation in this video (click on item 4).
Ms. Levy had recently been hired to do a long-term strategic plan for the City going out 3-5 years. But the Mayor thought we needed something more immediate to deal with the current crisis. Elisa described it as the strategic plan is building the house, and the Covid Recovery Plan is like the house is on fire. We don’t have the luxury of time and we need to move the needle forward now to help the community cope. This plan covers the most important items as ascertained by a broad group of the community.
The report states that “Key West Recovers has been built from the ground up in a matter of six weeks. It comes from community members, and is an excellent example of government/civil society participation. In total, the process involved more than 300 people, who volunteered approximately more than 200 hours of time.” The process took place in four major steps: 20 Zoom roundtables with 250 people from various community groups; 2. Surveys; 3. an 11-member blue ribbon task force; and 4. back to the community for feedback.
The Plan has 17 specific points, 10 aimed at business and 7 at humanitarian. Many of the points are already being addressed and many completed. In fact on the night they received the Plan the Commission voted on one of the 17 points and re-instituted the FREE fares for visitors on the Duval Loop. (See #9: “FREE Fare on Duval Loop for Visitors is Back!, December 22, 2020)
The Focus on Downtown and Business Recovery
These are a few of the points we thought worthy of mentioning from the Business section of the Recovery Plan:
“Plan Point #3. – Operation Storefront – An initiative supported by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts to fill empty storefronts on Duval St. The Arts Council will move their annual membership show into shops to entice locals to visit Old Town, and to make the street look beautiful.”
“Plan Point #4. Safe Events, Fairs and Festivals – Promote outdoor events, fairs and festivals by making it easy for businesses to submit applications. The City will assist as much as possible, and help with planning.”
“Plan Point #5. Promoting Outdoor Business – Assist restaurants and cafes with efforts to move outside by creating a Safety Protocol and application and by assisting them upon request.”
If you are going to waive outdoor cafe permit fees to encourage outdoor business, why aren’t we closing any blocks to cars?
In recent articles we talked about about this a lot so we were happy to see the City take action to support this. In the City’s Key West Recovers website, the Information for Business section discusses waiving all permit fees for Sidewalk Cafe Permits. THIS is a good thing. However, we aren’t sure if anyone has taken the City up on this offer and perhaps that’s because the City really hasn’t closed down any blocks of Duval or downtown to cars yet. It simply may be to uncomfortable to put tables and chairs outdoors next to parked cars and car traffic. If we want this to be successful we’ll need to close down some sections to car traffic.
We’ve outlined a few ways to do that over the last six months in these articles:
- Reimagining Key West – 3 Quick Wins for Revitalizing Duval Street April 24, 2020
- 20 Parklets on Duval in 2020 April 28, 2020
- City of Key West – Let Our Restaurants Take the Streets! May 6, 2020
- Can We Pedestrianize Duval and Still Allow Vehicles? May 28, 2020
- Duval Street – We See the Future and it Could Start Now June 24, 2020
“Plan Point #7. Duval Loop – Cut the fees to encourage visitors to get around town to our businesses for free.”
Based upon the Item #7 recommendation from the report, on October 20, the City rescinded the $1 fare for visitors using the Duval Loop that was imposed on May 5 (see “Commission: No More Free Ride for You” article for details). So the report immediately did something positive. As you may recall we were vociferous proponents of a FREE fare on the Duval Loop (see “Keep Duval Loop FREE for Visitors” April 30, 2020.)
“Plan Point #9. Free Business Assistance – one-on-one consulting to business owners in KW.”
The City has made it possible for businesses to receive personalized consulting at no-charge from the Florida Small Business Development Center. This is another win.
“Plan Point #10. Communications Coordinator – This is the lynchpin of the Plan. There are currently many resources available for Covid, but no mechanism for sharing them with the community. The City will hire a Communications Coordinator to share resources, services and tools with the Community.”
We think hiring Nadene Grossman Orr of We’ve Got the Keys, who does such an amazing job with Fantasy Fest, to be the liaison with the business community to help with implementation, is a stroke of genius. She is already proving invaluable helping local businesses navigate the do’s and don’ts of Covid Recovery and the City Hall bureaucracy.
These Short-Term Fixes Point to a Need to Look at a Business Improvement District in the Long-Term
We applaud the way this plan identifies these issues and tackles them. But all of the issues covered by these points could be addressed by a downtown business improvement district or BID. If we are going to make this a sustained effort over the long haul, we are going to need to do more than these temporary and ad hoc measures. Instituting a BID would cement these as permanent solutions. Please read this in-depth article, “Does Duval Street/Downtown Need a Business Improvement District?“, June 4, 2020 for more.
Recovery Plan Gives Us Hope for the Future
We are lucky to have so many people who love our island, put their heads together and come up with a plan to help us move forward, together, as One Human Family. Everyone who participated, deserves a lot of thanks and credit. Especially the Mayor and the consultant, who didn’t charge for this phase of her time. I was lucky enough to interact with Elisa on one of the Zoom Round Tables and some private follow-up and she was incredible. If her and the community’s work on this is an example of what we’ll get with the upcoming Strategic Plan, then our little island is in very good hands. And THAT’s why this is in our Top 10 for 2020 coming in at #7.
Everyone should get behind this plan and help the City move it forward.
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#8: Some Progress on E-Bikes and Scooters Ordinance (December 23, 2020)
#9: FREE Fare on Duval Loop for Visitors is Back! (December, 22, 2020)
#10: The Cow Key Bridge Carmageddon That Wasn’t (December, 21, 2020)
Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Top 10 Stories for 2020 – #8: Some Progress on E-Bikes and Scooters Ordinance
Posted on December 22, 2020 Leave a Comment
By Chris Hamilton, December 23, 2020
Fear of Deluge of E-Rentals Nets Moratorium
Back in February the City Commission put a 180-day moratorium on new companies coming in and renting motorized or non-motorized vehicles. The impetus was the fear of rental electric bikes and electric standup scooters overrunning the town, and specifically overrunning our sidewalks and making them unsafe for pedestrians. The time was said to be needed to review data on traffic safety and capacity as leaders figured out what to do first.
New Florida Law Regulates E-Vehicles
On July 1, a new Florida law provided for three classifications of e-bikes or pedal assist and throttle bikes and gave them all the rights, privileges and duties of human powered bikes, meaning they could operate anywhere a regular bike could operate, including a sidewalk. However, the new law also gives counties and municipalities the ability to regulate their use on sidewalks. It also allows local governments to regulate their use on streets in the same manner as bicycles.
Moratorium Extended and E-Bike Ordinance Drafted
At the Commissioner’s October 6 meeting they extended the moratorium by another 180-days or longer in order to complete the tasks needed to get an ordinance in place, citing the Corona Virus as a reason for the delay. At the City Commission’s final meeting of the year on December 2, City Attorney Shawn Smith let everyone know that since a draft ordinance was part of his annual goals for the year, he had given Mayor Johnston a completed draft to review the previous week. This draft codified the new State rules in the City’s ordinance but did nothing to address safety on the sidewalks or streets, in fact it simply permitted e-bikes and e-scooters on sidewalks. As the Citizen newspaper put it in reporting on the issue of the Mayor’s response:
“That the ordinance essentially says open the city’s streets and sidewalks to e-vehicles and let them come in. I had great concern about that because we have not data on sidewalk safety, on where these vehicles go, how we control them, how we monitor them. Because of our lack of bicycles lanes, we have shoved everything onto our sidewalks which, I think we can all agree that they’ve become very dangerous…. We’ve got small sidewalks. We’ve got busy sidewalks. And we’re trying to put one more form of transportation on them. We need to know how to do that safely.”
Mayor Johnston
The Mayor doesn’t think another traffic study is needed but does want some data on potential conflicts between e-vehicles and pedestrians and wants safety recommendations included as part of a package. She suggested an existing consultant could help.
We agree with the Mayor. The current draft of the ordinance simply let’s all vehicles use the sidewalks and that’s a recipe for disaster. We think it would be easy enough, as the new State law allows, to simply insert language in the ordinance that ban e-bikes and scooters from most sidewalks that aren’t already part of a multi-use path, like on North and South Roosevelt, Bertha Street and Atlantic Avenue.
We think it should be noted that Commissioner Kaufman has voiced concern about the length of time this has been taking and wanted to insure that our City’s Multi-Modal Coordinator, Tim Staub, was given more sway in final recommendations. We agree with the Commissioner as well.
More Comprehensive Package Should Be Brought Forward
Rather than just handing the City Commission a draft ordinance, City Management was tasked with and should have provided Commissioners with a more well-rounded and thought-out approach. It should have included data and safety recommendations. It should also have included recommendations on making our streets safer for bicycles, e-bikes and scooters to ride on, so riders don’t even feel the need to ride on sidewalks. So good for the Mayor for pushing back and demanding better. We think this is progress THAT’S why it is on our list coming in at number #8. Perhaps next year a completed ordinance with lots of safety recommendations will appear higher on our list. We hope so.
# # # #
#9: FREE Fare on Duval Loop for Visitors is Back! (December, 22, 2020)
#10: The Cow Key Bridge Carmageddon That Wasn’t (December, 21, 2020)
Sidebar –
If E-Vehicles Don’t Belong on the Sidewalks, We Have to Make Our Streets Safer
We strongly believe that e-bikes and scooters have an important place in our city’s transportation options mix. They need to be supported. Commissioner Wardlow likes to rail against these crazy, new-fangled vehicles. And while we agree with him that their use on most sidewalks is a problem for pedestrians, we have to point out that he’s not been known as a supporter of safer bicycle infrastructure, like protected bike lanes, when it would inconvenience cars.
If e-bikes and scooters shouldn’t be on sidewalks, FDOT and the citizens agreed on a solution in 2017 for making S. Roosevelt Boulevard safer. The plan was to narrow the four car-traffic lanes down to three, one in each direction with a middle turn lane. This would have allowed for a wide, protected bike lane in each direction – something that e-bikes and scooters could have used and then avoided conflicts with pedestrians when they use the sidewalk or multi-path or promenade as it is alternately called. But Commissioners Billy Wardlow and Clayton Lopez as part of a 5-2 majority of the City Commission voted against FDOT’s solutions and most of people in a focus group and public meetings. Instead they sought to keep four through travel lanes for cars and to keep the bicycles on the sidewalks along with the pedestrians. (The graphics below depict the options presented. The red and green dots on one graphic depict people that say yes or no to each option.) To their credit, Commissioners Jimmy Weekley and Sam Kaufman were the lone dissenting voices for common sense, voting against keeping the status quo of four car-lanes.
Perhaps now that there are more e-vehicles around, we can get Commissioners Wardlow and Lopez to change their tunes. It still isn’t too late as FDOT doesn’t plan the rebuild the road until 2023. And now what about N. Roosevelt Boulevard?…
More info on this issue here:
Key Wes Takes a Look at Rebuilding S. Roosevelt Boulevard Into 2-Lane Road With New Bike Paths; by Gwen Filosa, February 4, 2017; Florida Keys News
FDOT-Lane-Repurposing-Corridor-Study-SR-A1A-South-Roosevelt-Boulevard
Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Top 10 Stories for 2020 – #9: FREE Fare on Duval Loop for Visitors is Back!
Posted on December 21, 2020 Leave a Comment
By Chris Hamilton, December 22, 2020
It’s back! The FREE fare for Visitors that is. And that’s a good thing for everyone downtown – visitors, residents and businesses alike. In a little noticed move, the City Commission reinstated the FREE fare by a 7-0 vote at its October 20 meeting. They did this because Item #7 of the 17-Point Covid Recovery Plan, developed between citizens and businesses, recommended returning the Duval Loop to its FREE for everyone status. Why did they even have to do this? Why didn’t the City listen to the residents and businesses the first time around?
No More Free Ride For You!
Well you see, on May 5 during the height of the Pandemic shutdown, the City Manager asked the Commissioners to impose a $1 fare on Visitors to help raise revenue in anticipation of losses to come. (Note, there were no proposals to raise any fees on parking, but that’s a story for another day). He and the Transit Department Director posited they could raise $380,000 annually and he asked for Commission support.
Despite the Mayor and Commissioner Weekley both noting, there had never been so many people that had used the City’s online e-Comment to voice their opinion on an agenda item before, with 28 against the $1 fare and one neutral, the City Commission voted 5-2 to give the Manager what he wanted, no matter what the residents thought. Both Commissioners Kaufman and Weekley were passionate in their defense of leaving it alone. Mr. Weekley cited the Loop’s success in encouraging visitors to drive less and leave coveted parking spots for locals. Mr. Kaufman also citing the Loop’s amazing success, questioned the timing, asking “What’s the urgency of making this decision now instead of during the budget process. I’d rather talk about the whole transit budget at the same time, why tonight?” Alas the deal was done and the $1 fare was instituted by a 5-2 vote. (For ALL the gory details of that night, including copies of the 28 e-comments view: “City Commission: No More Free Ride for You!; May 5, 20020).
We’ll note that the October 20 report accompanying the recommendation to reinstitute the FREE fare said that the new fare was bringing in $59 a day. Generously annualizing that amount comes to about $20,000 a year. Far short of the lofty $380,000 estimate. Let’s make sure this never happens again.
Why the Duval Loop Should Be FREE for All
Launched in August of 2017, the Duval Loop quickly became a favorite of visitors and all the lodging, attractions, restaurant and retail businesses in our downtown. The service is successful because it is FREE, FREQUENT (buses arrive every 15-20 minutes) and has a SIMPLE route that is easy to understand. In 2019 more than 410,000 trips were taken on the Loop. More people rode the Loop than the other four City bus routes (orange, blue, red and green) and the Lower Keys Shuttle all combined. It is only 3 years old but is universally hailed as something the “City did right!” Why mess with success?
Not surprisingly, many in the local Key West community agree. At the time we noted the overwhelming free fare proponents on Facebook’s Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown and Reimagining Key West sites. Even though the May 5 fare change continued FREE fares for residents with an ID, folks seem to understand that this is about getting visitors and workers easily around downtown and discouraging them from driving cars to do so. It works people say, so why mess with that achievement by fundamentally altering its formula?
Here’s some more reasons why charging visitors to use the Duval Loop is a bad idea:
- FREE and FREQUENT, painted on the sides of the buses, is easy to market. It mostly sells itself.
- The service is a an economic development tool.
- The Hop On Hop Off aspect is ruined if it becomes just another bus route where one needs exact change and has to queue up to pay.
- We ask people who DO drive to park at one of our facilities like the Grinnell Street Garage and then hop on our free downtown shuttle to get around.
- It’s just a dollar. But who always has exact change these days? Who even wants to deal with cash and all those germs? What’s a family to do if they have to pay $4 on the first trip and $4 back? Any cost will have an elasticity factor and ridership will suffer.
- Queueing up to pay slows things down. It causes delays and friction. Delays and friction will cause a drop off in ridership.
- Counting and securing cash has hard costs and personnel costs.
- We’ve made a commitment to the lodging, attractions, restaurant and retail businesses and all the visitors who have rated the service so highly (4.5 out of 5 on Trip Advisor) and we should keep that commitment.
- If we make the service harder to use, some people will choose to drive. That means a more congested streets downtown.
- If we make the service harder to use, some people will simply choose not to go to another part of downtown, thereby hurting some small businesses.
In the end, if more people walk, bike and take the bus it makes our streets more efficient. It is friendly to our environment and helps combat climate change. It makes us healthier. And happier too. Very importantly it helps our local businesses prosper. Charging a fee for using this amazingly successful bus is the wrong way to go. It is a step backwards. So thank you to the City for seeing the error of their ways and getting this right. Again. And THAT’s why this is our #9 story of the year.
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#10: Cow Key Bridge Carmageddon That Wasn’t (Dec. 21, 2020)
Articles
- Commission: No More Free Ride for You!, May 5, 2020, Friends of Car-Free Key West
- Keep the Duval Loop FREE for Visitors, April 30, 2020, Friends of Car-Free Key West
- What Benefits Can Cities Expect From Fare-Free Transport, March 11, 2020, Cities Today
- Public Transit Can Be Free, August 24, 2018, Jacobin
- Americans Spend Over 15% of Their Budget On Transportation – These Cities Are Trying To Make It Free, March 2, 2020, CNBC
- Free Public Transport Is Gaining Popularity in European Cities, October 30, 2018, CZ.com
- Should Transit Be Free?, January 28, 2019, Transit Center
- Should Transit Be Free?, Part 2, February 12, 2019, Transit Center
- Who’s Afraid of Free Public Transit, May 25, 2018, NextCity.org
Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Top 10 Stories for 2020 – #10: The Cow Key Bridge Carmageddon That Wasn’t
Posted on December 20, 2020 Leave a Comment
By Chris Hamilton, December 21, 2020
Blame It On the Jet Skis
Blame it on the jet skis. FDOT told the City a few years ago that the Cow Key Bridge’s two spans needed full rehabilitation because of saltwater corrosion. It seemed that jet skis spraying the saltwater on the underside of the bridge made both spans structurally unsound. So, giving the City plenty of notice, FDOT said that in 2020 they were going to close one bridge span at a time leaving one lane in each direction for 16-20 months. For the first time in Key West history, EVERYONE spoke with one voice. NO!
Traffic Backups? Clutch the Pearls
The collective clutching at pearls by Key West citizens of all stripes seemed to catch FDOT off guard. The Chamber of Commerce led the charge! Said Executive Director Virginia Panico: “Businesses are barely hanging on after Irma. Time is money and when company workers are spending more than an hour a day in traffic, jobs are not going to get done. Everyone will pay because there will be overtime.”
“Our absolute number one priority is ambulances and fire trucks; we cannot go forward without a plan for emergency vehicles to cross without obstruction,” said then Assistant City Manager Greg Veliz. He added “The inconvenience will be much larger than the North Roosevelt project. It’s a small bridge but our only bridge that all roads lead to in and out.”
Said then Keys Weekly writer Hays Blinckmann in her opening paragraph in a story about the project on October 2, 2018: “It’s hard to muster enthusiasm for a root canal, but it’s a necessary evil. That’s what residents of Stock Island and Key West will have to accept with the upcoming Cow Key Channel project, due to start in February 2020. Still shaking off the repercussions of the North Roosevelt renovation as well as Hurricane Irma, it’s hard not to be pessimistic. But good news is that FDOT, the city and county are listening and addressing concerns.”
FDOT Accommodates the Pearl Clutchers
Root canal is an apt description of what people expected. To their credit FDOT listened. They added money to the project to shrink the timeline from 16-20 months to less than 9 months, by working around the clock. Instead of only two lanes they figured out how to have 3 open during rush hours and then they came up with more money to offer incentives to the construction contractors to meet their deadlines. Project costs zoomed to make folks happy. In the end the total project cost was $6.2 million plus another $800,000 in incentives. No price was too high to keep traffic flowing. Bus routes were changed, and a new light was installed at the north end of College Road. And yet…
Carmaggeden!
Still, everyone was freaking out as the project approached this February. Newspaper headlines rang out with “Traffic Nightmare,” “Carmeggeden,” “Headaches for Motorists,” and leaders called it a “great disruption” and “huge inconvenience.” Everyone panicked…
Enter COVID
And then the COVID Pandemic happened. And the shutdown between mid-March and June 1. And between travel restrictions, closings in other places, and less travelers overall, the bridge work went on and didn’t seem to adversely affect those using the road. There was little gnashing of teeth or whaling or whining. The project went smoothly. Said the Mayor of the project: “It almost went unnoticed.”
As we write this, FDOT is packing up, having finished paving and marking and the project done early. In fact, all four lanes have been open since late September. Would we have traded the inconvenience for not having to deal with COVID? ABSOLUTELY! But Carmageddon never did come to Key West. We can be thankful for small favors. And THAT’S why this story is #10 in 2020.
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Welcome to the Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Top 10 Stories for 2020
Posted on December 19, 2020 Leave a Comment
By Chris Hamilton, Sunday, December 20, 2020; Photo of an empty Duval Street, a sign of the times this past year.
Let’s begin with acknowledging that 2020 hasn’t been a good year for anyone. Not for individuals, businesses, non-profits, Key West, our country or even for the planet. We’d all just as soon turn the page and get on to a 2021 that promises, with a vaccine and a fresh start with a new president, to be a better year.
What we hope to do over the next two weeks is bring you the most important Key West, bike, walk, transit and streets for people stories of 2020. We think it important to document where we’ve been, celebrate any progress and call attention to efforts that have faltered.
2019 Was a Good Year for Progress on Our Issues
We hope you’ve enjoyed our look back at 2019’s Top 10 as last year a lot got done in our little town. We adopted ambitious bike/ped and transit plans. Added a new pedestrian pocket park on Duval and rebuilt the bike/ped path on Atlantic Boulevard. Installed activated red lights on N. Roosevelt at five pedestrian crossings. Implemented some progressive parking strategies. Conducted some fun and useful Mall on Duval street closings. And we took some initial baby steps towards a bicycle greenway, Duval Street revitalization and closing the gap at the Admiral’s Cut. (To read each of 2019’s Top 10 just go to our “Recent Blog Posts” section in the right-hand column of this web page.)
But 2020 Hasn’t Been Quite as Good
Again, and we won’t belabor the point, but the COVID Pandemic interrupted a lot of progress. And while we can’t tie everything to the pandemic, we should acknowledge that often, for many people in government, who have responsibility over these issues, the focus, appropriately, was elsewhere.
So, while in 2019 progress was seemingly being made on finally closing the gap at Admirals Cut, a whole year has gone by and nothing more has been done. In fact, there may now be less chance of something happening then a year ago, as the owners of that property seem to be fighting with everyone over cruise ships.
Another example, perhaps perpetrated by the business turndown, is the seemingly lost opportunity to do something positive when a developer built a giant, nearly 100-car parking lot, in the middle of our historic downtown, right on our main street – on Duval at United. The parking lot does nothing to enhance the attractiveness of the area and misses out on addressing things from affordable housing to helping revitalize Duval. It seems the City got caught flat-footed in not realizing the use was allowed and now we have a parking crater in the middle of our beautiful main street.
As we count down the Top 10 stories you may notice that a few of our stories have an element of lowered expectations, even as we may be extolling something that should generally be positive. But that seems a theme here in 2020. Two steps forward and one step back. Let’s make 2021 a better year.
With that being said, starting tomorrow we’ll count down our Top 10 stories of 2020. Please let us know in the comments on our Facebook page where you agree and where you don’t. We always appreciate the feedback.
Recap of Friends of Car-Free Key West Top Stories of 2019
Posted on December 18, 2020 Leave a Comment
This is our January 1, 2020 recap story sharing all of our Top 10 Stories of 2019 as counted down on our Facebook page (click on the links below to go to each story):
#1 Adopting a Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (Dec. 31, 2019)
#2 Adopting Ambitious 10-Year Key West Transit Plan (Dec. 30, 2019)
#3 New Duval Pocket Park for People Replaces Parking Lot for Cars (Dec. 29, 2019)
#4 Mall on Duval (Dec. 28, 2019)
#5 “HAWK” Signals Installed at Five N. Roosevelt Crosswalks (Dec. 27, 2019)
#6 City Implements Progressive Parking Strategies (Dec. 26, 2019)
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23, 2019)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Help Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22, 2019)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21, 2019)
#10 City Addresses Closing Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20, 2019)
What were your top 10? Are we missing something? Have them in the wrong order? We always love to hear what you think. Share in the Comment section.
Taken as a whole, this was a pretty good year. What brings many of these items together is a push from our City’s Mayor. She’s big on developing plans AND she’s big on testing and trying things out to get things done. The new City Manager and his staff get it and seem to be moving forward too.
It may be odd that two planning documents top our list. But both of these plans are once in a decade and once in 23 years in the making. It just so happened they were both adopted this year. As both of these plans are fairly bold and ambitious, if they are actually implemented, our little City could be transformed into a true biking, walking and transit paradise. It is up to us as citizens to keep pushing for the improvements already contained in the adopted plans. We must emphasize with NIMBYS and naysayers that these actions have been vetted and approved by the City Commission.
Why is it important we keep pushing? Our island is small and built out. Traffic and parking congestion are a drag on our quality of life. If more people walk, bike and take the bus it makes our streets more efficient. Research shows it is better for our environment and helps combat climate change; It spurs local business; makes us healthier; more equitable; and happier too.
While Key West s unique, we hope to show through this page that we can learn from others by sharing best practices from around the world. We want to shine a light on positive efforts and call out areas where we need to improve. We’ll hope you’ll join us by following our Facebook page, sharing our page with your friends, participating in the discussions our stories spark and helping us by bringing your own knowledge to these issues.
Thank you and Happy New Years!
2019 Top 10 – #1: Adopting a Key West Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
Posted on December 17, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Tuesday, December 31, 2019
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. If implemented, could we in five to ten years, get to half of all work trips within the City made by biking and walking? – more than doubling the current percentage of 23 percent (15% bike/8% walk).
As one of the 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 and walk, because that’s cheaper than accommodating cars and ramping up transit. We agree. An island that is safer and easier for more people to bike and walk would be healthier, more equitable, cleaner for our environment, combat climate change, increase prosperity for local business, and would make us happier too. The Plan adopted by City Commission in March is an amazingly straightforward blueprint to make it happen.
The Plan was 23 years in the making, as the last time the City adopted one was in 1996. Sadly, many of the recommendations from that era are in this plan again because they were never taken up. The good news is this version, written by the foremost planning firm of its kind, Toole Design Group, undertook painstaking field assessments and data collection to undergird its recommendations. They then vetted these ideas with multiple online, email and in-person surveys, public meetings, outreach at community events, public bike rides, boards set up around the island at shopping centers, intercepts along the trails and streets and further meetings with city officials, commissioners and stakeholders – including a citizen Project Advisory Team and the City Commission’s Parking and Alternative Transportation Group. They even had an interactive online map so citizens could pinpoint trouble spots and sketch out solutions. And then for good measure more public meetings. This plan has been thoroughly vetted and is ready to go. In fact, the City has already shown progress with the Crosstown Greenway (#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project, Dec. 23) and Atlantic Boulevard (#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path, Dec. 21) projects.
To the plan’s credit it includes a Multimodal Connectivity chapter that looks at larger policies and community goals and puts the bike and walk actions in context of traffic, parking, transit and other modes. It addresses the need for safety education and marketing. It presents a vision of the future and breaks down bicycle and pedestrian network recommendations into short, medium- and long-term actions. It includes a section on Complete Streets, best practices, evaluation, funding and maintenance. In short, all City staff have to do is pick up the document and go through it step by step.
Lots of people already bike and walk by default in Key West because our island is flat, small and warm. But if we are going to get more people to bike and walk that is going to be because we make it safe and easy by design. While there are many low-cost action items included in the plan, there is a cost associated with the substantial infrastructure changes. However, we must think of these costs as an investment in our future. All we need is the will to take this excellent document and get going.
Are we ready Key West?
KW Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan 2019 (1)
Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Appendix
Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Master Plan Phases
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#2 City Adopts Ambitious 10-Year Key West Transit Plan (Dec. 30, 2019)
#3 New Duval Pocket Park for People Replaces Parking Lot for Cars (Dec. 29, 2019)
#4 Mall on Duval (Dec. 28, 2019)
#5 HAWK” Signals Installed at 5 N. Roosevelt Crosswalks (Dec. 27, 2019)
#6 City Implements New Parking Strategies (Dec. 26, 2019)
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23, 2019)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Help Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22, 2019)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21, 2019)
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20, 2019)
2019 Top 10 – #2: City Adopts Ambitious 10-Year Key West Transit Plan
Posted on December 16, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton, Monday, December 30, 2019
Free fares. Simplified, more direct routes. Service every 15 minutes, seven days a week. Wow!
With the community’s input, Key West Transit and their consultant, Tindale Oliver, drafted a 10-year Key West Transit Development Plan that will transform the City’s bus service in the coming years. It is bold, ambitious and in line with a more environmentally sustainable, walk, bike, transit friendly city. The City Commission approved the TDP at its meeting on August 6.
The Plan calls for building upon the wildly successful Duval Loop model and adding a new series of “Loop” routes in Old Town, Midtown and New Town; adding a circulator route on Stock Island; and then linking those with a series of “Connector” routes from New Town, the airport and a new Intermodal Center (with parking) at the transit facility on Stock Island. The plan also calls for doubling the Lower Keys Shuttle service in the Lower Keys to Key West. Best of all, these new, simplified routes will span 7 days a week at 15 minutes frequency instead of every 90- or 120-minutes City routes operate on now. The plan is also including provisions for making all City bus service (except the Lower Keys Shuttle) free.
THIS is all fantastic news. Kudos to the Key West Transit Director, his staff and the City Commission for boldly moving forward. The hard part, implementation, starts now. We think this is the sleeper story of the year as it hasn’t received much press nor much talk around town. Perhaps because the City doesn’t even have this plan on it or Key West Transit’s web site. Hey guys, can you please share this wonderful plan so all can see!
Key West TDP Draft Report (Large File)
PPT Presentation of KW Transit Developement Plan TDP August 2019
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#3 New Duval Pocket Park for People Replaces Parking Lot for Cars (Dec. 29, 2019)
#4 Mall on Duval (Dec. 28, 2019)
#5 “HAWK” Signals Installed at Five N. Roosevelt Crosswalks (Dec. 27, 2019)
#6 City Implements Progressive Parking Strategies (Dec. 26, 2019)
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23, 2019)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Help Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22, 2019)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21, 2019)
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20, 2019)
2019 Top 10 – #3: New Duval Pocket Park for People Replaces Parking Lot for Cars
Posted on December 15, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton, Sunday, December 29, 2019
Where once stood a dozen plus parking spaces in the middle of our main street, with an ocean view to boot, now stands a beautiful park on the ocean where people can stroll and sit. Here’s how Michael Halpern described the parking lot next to his Southernmost House Hotel:
“It’s a traffic nightmare: traffic gets in and can’t get out,” said Halpern. “There is a crime and drug problem on the street on a constant basis. And it’s unattractive, and it’s dirty, smelly and it floods regularly.” The rotting seaweed problem is consistent in the summers, making the street fetid-smelling, and the street often floods. The scant parking spaces are difficult to navigate in and out of, and the big green Dumpster has held center stage in recent years.” Most people agreed.
Plans had been made by the City to do something for over a decade and nothing ever seemed to get done. Halpern stepped up to pay about $1 million for renovations in exchange for leasing part of the property for outdoor café seating, similar to the deal the Southernmost Beach Resort has next door. Following some good discussion about the use of public space for private interests (there could be a whole series of articles on this alone) the concept passed City Commission last summer, 2018. This May the City Commission agreed to Halpern’s design plan, construction started in the summer and the park was recently, for the most part, completed and has been open for a couple months.
It’s a beautiful addition to Duval Street. And they fixed the drainage problem too. Success!
While we don’t minimize the issues inherent in leasing public property and perhaps wish the City had found the money to do the project on their own, the fact is they didn’t get it done for over a decade till someone stepped up with some cash and a good idea. We hope the final execution, which will include the café seating for Southernmost House food trucks (on their own property), will be as thoughtful and well executed as what’s been built to date. The four art benches are wonderful. Most important of all is that people gravitate to and love this park already.
This is #3 on our list for many reasons, including the mere fact of something getting done (like numbers 5, 6 and 9). It’s on our list foremost because it shows how much better we can make our main street when we get rid of a little car parking. We hope the success of this project informs future plans for the revitalization of Duval Street (see #8 Duval Street Revitalization Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22)) and that we continue to repurpose car parking for pedestrians and people strolling, shopping, sitting, watching and eating.
Kudos to Michael Halpern and the City.
#4 Mall on Duval (Dec. 28, 2019)
#5 “HAWK” Signals Installed at Five N. Roosevelt Crosswalks (Dec. 27, 2019)
#6 City Implements Progressive Parking Strategies (Dec. 26, 2019)
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23, 2019)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22, 2019)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21, 2019)
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20, 2019)
2019 Top 10 – #4: Mall On Duval
Posted on December 14, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Saturday, December 28, 2019
On February 15, with a big ribbon-cutting ceremony and much fanfare, a pilot project dubbed “Mall on Duval,” where the 500, 600 and 700 blocks of Duval where closed to car traffic between 5 pm and midnight, was born.
In a report at the time by Gwen Filosa for the Miami Herald: “City leaders hope the big change, will please visitors and also attract locals who have sworn off Duval Street because of maddening traffic that at times pits cars, bikes, scooters, pedicabs, skateboarders and pedestrians against each other. The car-free zone was created to “stimulate economic activity, and provide lessons learned for potential expansion of restricted vehicle events,” according to a memo from the city’s engineering. The plan emulates other pedestrian malls such as Lincoln Road in South Beach; St. Augustine’s George Street; Boulder, Colorado’s Pearl Street; San Diego’s Seaport Village; and parts of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. “This is not a tourist attraction,” Mayor Teri Johnston said at the Feb. 5 City Commission meeting when the decision was made in a 6-1 vote. “This is for us, the people who live here every single day.”
Restaurants and shop keepers got involved. Local radio stations came out. City leaders and staff set up weekly booths to talk to residents. Most importantly of all, it did draw locals downtown to see what all the fuss was about. People liked the convivial, car-free atmosphere. We’ve posted many pictures, week after week, of happy, smiling people enjoying the car-free weekends.
The pilot, which was to last through April 27 was popularly extended into the summer. But the positive energy created in the winter and spring didn’t seem to last. At least, for some. When that pilot was ending mid-summer, some business interests balked at further renewals and said they were losing money. This time the extension only passed by a 4-3 vote and when implemented, was done only once a month to appease vocal business opponents. Recently, City Commission extended it on a 4-3 vote through mid-February but compromised on only every other weekend.
We give the Mayor, Commissioner Weekly and others kudos for trying. Is the pilot a home run? No, perhaps it’s a double. The project is likely too complicated to succeed for everyone without some corresponding changes to the infrastructure of the street. Or without the help of a dedicated group, like a business improvement district (BID), to help orchestrate and run it and coordinate with the City. But the reason Mall on Duval is important and comes in at #4 on our list is because, as Mayor Johnson has said, it HAS succeeded in getting more locals to come downtown. Surveys show people have liked it and had some fun. It has gotten the Duval businesses AND the community at large talking about how to take better care of our main street and stimulate economic and social activity that benefits everyone. Most importantly, the conversation that has been generated about what works and what doesn’t has made everyone realize we need help (in the form of some expertise), we need a plan of action, we need to define success and then measure it. Item #8 on our list, Duval Street Revitalization Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22), would never had happened were it not for the Mall on Duval Pilot Project. That’s why this pilot was a good thing.
#5 “HAWK” Signals Installed at 5 N. Roosevelt Crosswalks (Dec. 27, 2019)
#6 City Implements Progressive Parking Strategies (Dec. 26, 2019)
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23, 2019)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Sought (Dec. 22, 2019)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21, 2019)
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20, 2019)