Scary 2024 storm season begins - Weekly briefing - June 4, 2024

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Scary 2024 storm season began on June 1st. Amid predictions for an extremely active storm season, storm-related stories appeared locally. Although the official season runs from June 1 to November 30th, storms can happen earlier or later. 

• Little girl, big impact. The arrival of the La Niña (which means 'little girl' in Spanish) weather pattern brings increased risk of dangerous storms.
• Record hot water. The tropical Atlantic is abnormally warm, helping set the stage for a busy hurricane season, according to an early forecast by scientists at Colorado State University. Higher ocean temperatures provide more energy to fuel stronger storms.  
• Tremendous heat. Sea surface temperatures at the end of May were about where they should be in the middle of summer.
• Stormy history. A review of some Keys storm history was sobering. 
• Evacuation guidance. Government agencies have carefully designed evacuation plans all set, but under some scenarios — like a rapidly intensifying hurricane — county officials might not distinguish among population groups or zones of the Keys.  
• Apps to download. Keys Weekly offered a concise list of recommended apps to install on your phone, now. 

Trash costs going up. In a 5-0 vote May 15, the Monroe Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) tentatively approved a 20% increase in the cost of residential trash collection in unincorporated Monroe County. Officials are in the midst of negotiations for a new contract with three trash hauling companies.

ROGO / BPAS survey. As part of its year-long process to determine whether and how many additional residential building permits should be issued across Monroe County, the first of several surveys was made available to the public on behalf of the BOCC. Rather than seeking input from residents on the crucial questions of evacuation policy and the capacity of the Keys, this iteration focused on educating the public on the mechanics and nuances of building permit allocations. The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MCROGOSurvey1 

Key West bond issue. Keys Weekly published a letter to the editor elaborating why approval of November's referendum authorize a $300 million line of credit for the city is a bad idea. 

Southernmost Point Plaza planning meeting. The City of Key West scheduled a meeting on June 13 to gain community input on the proposed design for a planned revamp of the area around the Southernmost Buoy.

Wisteria Island case decided. A federal judge ruled in favor of the U.S. government in a court case to determine the ownership of Wisteria Island in Key West Harbor.

No hablo español. Linda Cunningham wrote that Key West is a Spanish-speaking town.

Workforce transportation. Chris Hamilton enthused about new on-demand micro-transit service targeted for workers.

Pride. Along with storm season, Pride month arrived.  

Blown around, sometimes. Mark Hedden considered what our birds do during storms. 

Our Eyes

John Teets

John Martini

Previously in Key West Voices

Extraordinary hurricane season expected. This year’s Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be extremely active. Forecasters expect 17 to 25 storms to form in the Atlantic between June 1 and the end of November.

• As one of the strongest El Niños ever observed nears its end, NOAA scientists predict a quick transition to La Niña conditions, which are conducive to Atlantic hurricane activity because La Niña tends to lessen wind shear in the tropics.
• Hurricane preparation Zoom. The Monroe County Tourist Development Council, in partnership with the Lodging Association of the  Florida Keys Keys and Key West, is organizing the free three-hour Zoom virtual event on Thursday, May 30, at 1 p.m. Register for the conference here. 

Most competitive.  Key West attorney and  Bahama Village resident Marci L. Rose is the third candidate to enter the race for the District 6 seat on the city commission.  Rose faces two other candidates — Aaron Castillo and Thaddeus Cohen — in the most competitive city race thus far. Longtime District 6 commissioner Clayton Lopez is term-limited out of office.

San Carlos ownership dispute. The historic San Carlos Institute, the center for Cuban culture in Key West, is at the center of a legal battle about ownership and is threatened to be sold to pay part of a $63 million legal judgement against the Republic of Cuba.

Casting blame. Linda Cunningham was amused when the “oh-so-awares” get into a slugfest over who or what is to blame for climate change, for dying smalltooth sawfish, spinning sea creatures, King Tide flooding, sargassum carpets, supersized Cat 5 hurricanes, Wizard-of-Oz tornadoes, sea-level rise, coral bleaching and assorted other environmental disasters.

Micro-transit curb-to curb service to debut in July. Chris Hamilton reported that Monroe County awarded a contract for on-demand, micro-transit service. The service, branded as “Conch Connect,” will start in July and will cost $2 per trip in the service area from Stock Island to Key West. 

Farewell, Weenie. Mandy Miles fondly remembered her former downstairs neighbor and seafood department manager at Publix, who passed away recently. 

A rainy day on Grassy Key. Mark Hedden noted that the old KMart in Marathon's parking lot was so flooded it looked as if the blue whale in the Wyland mural might take the opportunity to jump down and swim through the water for a while.

Extraordinary hurricane season expected - Weekly briefing - May 28, 2024

Essential human-curated Florida Keys news, all in one place. 

Subscribe to Key West Voices for free. See something that should be in Voices? Click here to share it with us.

Our Community

Extraordinary hurricane season expected. This year’s Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be extremely active. Forecasters expect 17 to 25 storms to form in the Atlantic between June 1 and the end of November.

• As one of the strongest El Niños ever observed nears its end, NOAA scientists predict a quick transition to La Niña conditions, which are conducive to Atlantic hurricane activity because La Niña tends to lessen wind shear in the tropics.
• Hurricane preparation Zoom. The Monroe County Tourist Development Council, in partnership with the Lodging Association of the  Florida Keys Keys and Key West, is organizing the free three-hour Zoom virtual event on Thursday, May 30, at 1 p.m. Register for the conference here. 

Most competitive.  Key West attorney and  Bahama Village resident Marci L. Rose is the third candidate to enter the race for the District 6 seat on the city commission.  Rose faces two other candidates — Aaron Castillo and Thaddeus Cohen — in the most competitive city race thus far. Longtime District 6 commissioner Clayton Lopez is term-limited out of office.

San Carlos ownership dispute. The historic San Carlos Institute, the center for Cuban culture in Key West, is at the center of a legal battle about ownership and is threatened to be sold to pay part of a $63 million legal judgement against the Republic of Cuba.

Casting blame. Linda Cunningham was amused when the “oh-so-awares” get into a slugfest over who or what is to blame for climate change, for dying smalltooth sawfish, spinning sea creatures, King Tide flooding, sargassum carpets, supersized Cat 5 hurricanes, Wizard-of-Oz tornadoes, sea-level rise, coral bleaching and assorted other environmental disasters.

Micro-transit curb-to curb service to debut in July. Chris Hamilton reported that Monroe County awarded a contract for on-demand, micro-transit service. The service, branded as “Conch Connect,” will start in July and will cost $2 per trip in the service area from Stock Island to Key West. 

Farewell, Weenie. Mandy Miles fondly remembered her former downstairs neighbor and seafood department manager at Publix, who passed away recently. 

A rainy day on Grassy Key. Mark Hedden noted that the old KMart in Marathon's parking lot was so flooded it looked as if the blue whale in the Wyland mural might take the opportunity to jump down and swim through the water for a while.

Our Eyes

Liquid Gold - Lynn Bentley-Kemp

Previously in Key West Voices

Fired TDC director to file suit. Stacey Mitchell, who was fired from her leadership position at Monroe County's Tourist Development Council in the wake of unfavorable audits, will file a wrongful termination lawsuit sometime this year, according to her attorney.

• Alleges campaign of retaliation. Her attorney said the audits only came after county commissioner Craig Cates, of  Key West, was initially denied TDC funds to pay for a drone show.
• First audit in 20 years. The first three of several audits of the TDC were done by the Monroe County Clerk, whose office is independent of the Monroe Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), of which Cates is one of five members.

Tavernier CEMEX / Publix development derailed by the state. In a surprising ruling, Florida's Department of Commerce, Division of Community Development filed an order rejecting the plan for an overlay zoning district that was approved by the BOCC in February. 

• Inconsistent. The order said that the special zoning district, created to allow the major development to circumvent land development restrictions, was inconsistent with development limits under provisions the Florida Keys Area of Critical State Concern designation. 
• Staff opposed. County planning staff had recommended denial of the proposal due to its inconsistency with the goals and objectives of the Tavernier Livable CommuiKeys Plan, which guides development in the area from Tavernier Creek to MM 97. 

Casa Marina development delayed. After hearing strenuous objections by many residents of the Casa Marina neighborhood, the Key West city commission voted to postpone its decision on a zoning change request by the resort's owners until the Nov. 14 commission meeting, when four of seven members of the commission will be newly elected. 

• New transient licenses sought. Park Hotels & Resorts is promising they’ll rebuild the employee housing on one of the parcels if they can build six new buildings on the other parcel with 23 new hotel rooms, requiring new transient licenses that have not been newly issued in Key West for more than a decade.

$300 million bond issue to go to Key West voters. Key West voters in November will be asked to approve issuance of $300 million in general obligation bonds, which will be funded by increased property taxes. 

• Approved by the commission. The city commission on May 9 voted to give preliminary approval to the ballot question, although a second reading is required next month before it is formally placed on the ballot. 
• Potential projects could include a new fire station on Kennedy Drive, renovations to the police station, revitalization of Mallory Square, replacement of the Martin Luther King Community Pool, Bayview Park renovation and addition of a splash pad, and several road-raising, draining improvement projects.

Third candidate files for KW City Commission District 6. Local attorney and Bahama Village resident Marci L. Rose entered the race for the commission seat that Clayton Lopez is vacating due to his term limit. She faces candidates Aaron J Castillo and Thaddeus Cohen in the August primary. The top two vote-getters would then square off in November, unless a candidate gets over 50% of the vote to win outright in August.  

DeSantis appoints a Toppino, a Spottswood, and a Spottswood employee to LKMC hospital board. Gov. Ron DeSantis is sending three new members to the Lower Florida Keys Hospital District (LFKHD) Board of Commissioners, where they’ll serve alongside five current members he just reappointed.

• Concerned residents. The appointments come in the wake of a packed meeting this month at which residents shared concerns that many of their health needs — including cancer care — aren’t being met.

$35 million of TDC funds for workforce housing. The BOCC approved an ordinance and policy change, so if and/or when the governor signs a bill, the county can move forward on putting $35 million in Tourist Development Council funds toward affordable housing projects. The funds would be restricted to housing for tourism industry employees, in a sense a taxpayer subsidy for the tourism industry. 

Increased trash cost. The BOCC tentatively agreed to increase the residential trash rate by as much as 20% (in unincorporated Monroe County), 10% more than staff recommended, for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

New Seven Mile bridge considered. State transportation officials hosted a meeting about replacing or conducting major repairs to the Keys’ iconic bridge. Any such work would be years away. 

Hot weather. News outlets nationwide reported on record setting hot weather in the Keys last week. On Tuesday, Key west tied its highest heat index ever at 115 degrees. 

But no climate change in Florida. Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation to eliminate climate change as a priority in making energy policy decisions, despite the threats it faces from powerful hurricanes, extreme heat and worsening toxic algae blooms. The measure also removes most references to climate change in state law, bans offshore wind turbines in state waters and weakens regulations on natural gas pipelines.

Florida GOP opposes weed. The Florida Republican Party officially decided to oppose Amendment 3, the constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would legalize recreational cannabis for adults 21 years and older. 

• No one else is selling no. Campaigners bankrolled by dominant players in the cannabis and CBD marketplace launched a $5m advertising blitz in support of a ballot measure.
• Medical marijuana passed in 2016 with 71.3% support. A supermajority of 60% of the vote is required for the referendum to pass.  

Lucky 17. Linda Cunningham with Ranger Ed and friends scored a great camp site at Ft. Jefferson, and loved it, despite the nearby construction. 

Rock star. Mandy Miles told us how the tax collector's rock star auditor and a software tool have identified tax cheats and enabled collection of more than $400,000 in unpaid bed tax, interest and penalties - in less than a year. 

Hedden double header. Because of delayed posting of links, we have two columns today from marvelous Mark Hedden, from May 14 and 17. 

• (May 14) A walk in the park. Mark visited the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden and found a common yellowthroat lurking low in the bushes.
• (May 17) A hundred-and-twenty-three-thousand birds flew over Ft. Zach in one day day last week, but few of them stopped over. 

Fond appreciation. Every seat was filled at Williams Hall for the community's celebration of the life of Shirley Freeman.