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Election results and aftermath. Election results were finalized. According to the Supervisor of Elections web site (which was down the day of and following the election), turnout was a dismal 28.19%.
- Key results
- KW City Commission District 1 decided. Monica Haskell was easily elected to represent District 1 on the Key West City Commission, in the seat that had been occupied by former commissioner and mayor Jimmy Weekley.
- KW City Commission District 6 runoff. Neither Aaron Castillo nor Marci Rose attained the 50% plus one vote to win the District 6 seat outright; the race will be decided in the general election on November 5th. Until that time, term-limited commissioner Clayton Lopez will continue to represent the district on the commission.
- The Miami Herald initially reported this race as having been decided in Castillo's favor, but Castillo fell at least five votes short of winning outright.
- In its Wednesday special edition, Key West Voices reported that no races were too close to call. As of Wednesday morning, this one obviously was. KWV regrets the error.
- Newcomers Castillo and Rose face off in Key West's Old Town district 6, which includes Bahama Village. Castillo has a huge cash advantage, which Rose identifies as substantially coming from outside corporate interests and local tourism mogul Ed Swift's many companies. This race could be hotly contested over such issues as tourism policy including cruise ship restrictions, and the future of expiring transient rental licenses in Truman Annex.
- Monroe County Commission District 1 - Holly Merrill Raschein, incumbent, was reelected. Citizen coverage.
- Monroe County School Board Member District 2 - Yvette Mira-Talbott was elected. Citizen coverage.
- Races to be decided by the November 5th general election.
- U.S. Senate. Rick Scott, incumbent, Republican nominee vs. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Democratic nominee.
- U.S. House of Representatives, Florida District 28. Carlos A Gimenez, incumbent, Republican nominee vs. Phil Ehr, Democratic nominee.
- Monroe County Commissioner District 3. Jim Scholl, incumbent, Republican nominee vs. Chris Massicotte, Democratic nominee.
- KW City Commission District 6 (nonpartisan). Aaron Castillo vs Marci Rose (see above).
Childress saga nowhere near over.
- Texts and emails subpoenaed. In connection with the June firing of KW City Manager Al Childress, State Attorney Dennis Ward’s office subpoenaed cell phone and email records for all six city commissioners and the mayor, as well as for city attorney Ron Ramsingh and his brother, Raj Ramsingh, who is the city’s chief building official.
- Meeting canceled. The special Key West City Commissioners meeting Sam Kaufman and Mary Lou Hoover called for Monday August 26th was canceled. That meeting was to consider rehiring former City Manager Al Childress, whose controversial firing in June was opposed by the two Commissioners and every one of the dozens of members of the public who commented at the meeting.
Sworn in. Danise “Dee Dee” Henriquez was sworn in as the new Mayor of Key West at a ceremony on Monday, August 26th. Keys Weekly's profile revealed that she does not support rehiring Al Childress, likely among the reasons for canceling the special meeting. Monica Haskell was also sworn in.
Bad Monkeys. Linda Cunningham connected the fictional corruption depicted in the Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey (set and shot in the Keys and elsewhere) with the very real history and culture of local corruption that includes the saga of Bum Farto and recent grand jury indictments of former Monroe County administrator Roman Gastesi along with county employees and contractors.
ROGO process questioned. Monroe County officials presented recommendations by its Affordable Housing Advisory Committee in a recent meeting.
- Flawed model. Members of the public, including Last Stand president Ann Olsen, argued that flaws in the hurricane evacuation model used to determine ROGO (building permit allocations) merited an independent review. A previous review showed that the Keys are not in compliance with the rule that all residents have to be out in 24 hours. An analysis showed that the Keys have reached an evacuation level of 26 hours.
- Last Stand (representing a slew of community organizations) expressed its opposition to the ROGO allocation process in an open letter to the Monroe County Commission in July, and public statements at meetings since.
Food insecurity. WLRN ran a story describing how increased demand for food assistance in the Keys has not been matched with an increase in donations.
Traffic on the stretch. A resurfacing project on the 18 miles stretch was slated to begin today. Over the next year, expect periodic delays and detours as FDOT repaves 4.4 miles of the stretch between Jewfish Creek Bridge and the Miami-Dade county line.
Not erased yet. Business owners who cater to Florida's LGBTQ+ tourists objected to the latest attempt by officials in the state to erase the LGBTQ+ community. Several outlets ran an AP story and original reporting that Florida's tourism marketing agency quietly removed the “LGBTQ Travel” section from its website sometime in the past few months.
Get Bent. Mark Hedden appreciated Arthur Cleveland Bent's legacy of “Life Histories of North American Birds,” a massive, 20-plus volume assemblage of all the then-known information about the bird species found in North America. Hedden recently saw a blue-gray gnatcatcher (gotta love the name) at Fort Zachary Taylor, which let him back to Bent.
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| Good morning - Alyson Crean |
Previously in Key West Voices
Today is election day. Although listed as a primary election, today's vote is open to all those registered in Monroe County and its incorporated municipalities, with non-partisan races and a county commissioner seat to be decided today.
- Please vote if you have not already done so. If you have an unreturned vote by mail ballot, please bring it with to your voting location, which can be found at the Supervisor of Elections web site.
- Key races to watch include:
- Key West City Commission District I, the seat vacated by term-limited Jimmy Weekley. With only two candidates, the District I commissioner will be chosen today.
- Keys Weekly asked candidates Monica Haskell and Ben Hennington about rehiring City Manager Al Childress, who was fired by the commission in June, as well as future priorities for Key West.
- Key West City Commission District VI, the seat vacated by term-limited Clayton Lopez. The top two finishers in District VI will vie in the November general election, unless one candidate gets over 50% of the vote.
- Keys Weekly also asked candidates Aaron Castillo, Thaddeus Cohen, and Marci Rose about rehiring Childress, and future priorities for Key West.
- Big money outside donors. In a campaign email, Rose highlighted that 60% of top fundraiser Castillo's contributions came from corporate interests, including out-of-town hotel and development interest, local tourism operator HTA, the corporation that operates the hospital, and PACs based in Miami and Tallahassee.
- Monroe County Commission District 5, where incumbent Holly Raschein is challenged by Melissa Ptomey and Paul Wunderlich for the Republican nomination. Because there are no candidates from other parties, the primary winner will be declared the winner of the District 5 seat.
- The Citizen highlighted distinctions between the candidates with questions about a controversial commercial development, ROGOs, and single member vs. at larger districts.
- Indictments a factor. Ptomey, along with Democratic candidate Chris Massicotte for incumbent Jim Scholl's district 3 seat (which will be decided in November) have highlighted in their campaign communications the spate of indictments and firings of county officials and contractors as evidence of betrayal of the public trust (see next story).
- Special edition. Key West Voices will endeavor to distribute a special edition on Wednesday, August 21st with preliminary or final results of today's election, which will become available after the polls close Tuesday evening. Complete coverage and a preview of November's general election will appear in Key West Voices next Tuesday, August 27th.
Roman Gastesi indicted. Retired Monroe County administrator (the top unelected official in the county) Roman Gastesi was indicted by a grand jury convened by Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward. Gastesi is alleged to have played a part in a cover-up of drug theft and mismanagement at the taxpayer-funded Trauma Star helicopter medical evacuation service. The alleged misconduct occurred in 2022 before Gastesi had retired.
- Ward's accusation. “Mr. Gastesi’s alleged actions reflect a pattern of misconduct that affects our community’s trust in government, and we are fully committed to ensuring justice is served.” Three others have already been indicted in the case.
- Third-degree felony. Gastesi is accused of knowingly and intentionally obstructing, delaying or preventing the communication of information relating to the commission of a felony.
- Audited. Keys Weekly detailed the County Clerk's audit report last year that detailed the theft and mismanagement.
- Serious charge. If convicted, Gastesi could face up to five years in prison, five years of probation and a fine of up to $5,000.
- We need a closer look, according to Commissioner Craig Cates, who wants an outside investigation.
Bad Monkey premiers. The Apple TV+ series is based on a novel by Florida favorite author Carl Hiaasen and was filmed in the Keys and elsewhere.
Oh, Florida! Linda Cunningham enjoys Craig Pittman's weekly compendium of Florida foibles, and notes that our community earned no fewer than three mentions last week. Not something to brag about.
- Your humble KWV curator never misses it either. Subscribe here; one email each week on Sunday evening.
Debby flew a kite. Mark Hedden watched how Suwannee 22, a swallow-tailed kite rode out Debby the tropical storm that intensified to a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall earlier this month.
