Softly softly one hopes for the best. Morgan McPherson is gone and Craig Cates has won a resounding victory at the polls, the paper says 2,777 votes against the incumbent's 1748. This is a small town in an off year election so people who live in the city and actually turn up to vote carry all the weight. Mayor Craig Cates will have Commissioners Billy Wardlow, Jimmy Weekly and Clayton Lopez on the dais with him. The comments section in the paper's electronic edition blames Morgan McPherson's support for the former schools Superintendent Randy Acevedo for losing him the vote by a decisive margin. I did not expect Cates to win, and certainly not to win without a run off. After an election, especially one with an upset, one hopes for change.
Meanwhile voters kept the two year term for city mayor, declining to extend it to four and the city voters also declined to sell off the piece of land the city owns, almost by accident, under the Pier House Resort.
At this point I'm guessing then Bahama Conch Community Land Trust is breathing a sigh of relief as Cates seems to support them, and the water park suggested by McPherson will no longer be likely at the Truman Waterfront.
Some people think this is a victory for Outsiders in Key West and a defeat for Conchs. For the city to progress in difficult times these labels ought to be ditched, but anyone who thinks Cates isn't a Conch needs to think again.
Who did I vote for? Happily I live in the county and didn't get a ballot. I'm looking forward to the future as a city employee with hope for better things to come in tough times.
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