Bernstein Park

Walking along Fifth Street in Stock island a few things I saw and that caught my eye:

Former La Curva Grocery Store:

Jet Ski Graveyard:

Shrimp Road Getting Repaved:

The Birds:

Bernstein Park Refurbished and Fenced:

And Decorated with Some Skill:

Warnings In English:

And Spanish:

The Park Is Fresh And New, The Surroundings Not So Much:

Stock Island 5th Street

I spent a thousand dollars to repair the car after 80,000 miles of use, fifty thousand of them under my lead foot. While we waited for the car to be returned to a  state of perfect running order Rusty and I went for a walk. I was concerned that the water pump or the stater motor or both were failing and a dog walk always calms the nerves, especially as I'd rather put the overtime into next year's van delivery.

Stock Island is hanging under a cloud of imminent redistribution of land. To walk and look is to see nothing changing but developers own most of the residential lots south of Highway One and the future of inexpensive falling down housing is in doubt. 

I walked Rusty past the Avenues, a dozen streets laid out east to west across the southwest side of the island, an area I have photographed previously, notably in 2016. These lots are individually owned and are thus unlikely to transformed very easily into profitable apartment complexes or affordable housing groups but the tumble down trailer parks are soon to disappear to be replaced by "affordable housing."

So for now Rusty and I were walking through an unchanging landscape until we got to my destination, a dead end street closed to vehicles where we could walk at ease. The signs say No Dumping in no uncertain terms, unless that is you have floating docks to dispose of!

Dead sea life , offering a seaside decorative motif:

And at the end of the road the less edifying spectacle of trash. This stuff costs a fortune to clear up and it never goes away. I have no idea why people imagine dumping will end in the Keys. There is a  strong, if irrational sense of unfairness about the cost of living here so if there is a way to get one over on the Man, and its totally free then so be it.

Of course dumping (known in England I discovered on my last trip there as "fly tipping") has a severe cost even if it's not immediately visible to the dumping parties.There used to be homeless squatters down here but they got moved along and the gate is the property owner's attempt to maintain the restored order. I have to say the squatters were a wild bunch and I did not feel like they were a happy bunch, rather they were edgy and gave of a barely contained rage vibe. Perhaps the fault lay in me but I am glad the encampments are gone as generally I find the residentially challenged harmless and not at all threatening around Key West. Drunk yes, and irrational certainly sometimes but not violent.

A cyclist was less impressed by the dismal surroundings than my dog so he passed us on the way in and out and such was my lethargy at this point that I forget to get a picture until it was far too late:

Not a place I would seek out again but useful in a  mechanical moment to keep Rusty entertained.

A view to the west through the mangroves across Cow Key Channel to South Roosevelt Boulevard at the Old Houseboat Row in Key West.

A successful stroll I think.

And so back to reality. The land where we are promised "affordable housing" to replace the wrecks in the trailer parks. The trouble is, affordable isn't defined in some fixed orbit that makes sense to the working classes. It is supposedly a multiplication of the legal definition of the statistics gathered to show how much the median income is and whatever that is becomes the defining baseline. Yes it is that complicated but more problematically the resulting numbers put affordability out of reach. So would rather a ratty trailer you can pay the rent on or a four bedroom stilt house that costs say $2800  a month?    The dichotomy is stark. 

And the car? The water pump had a defective pulley only that caused the squealing. The battery astonishingly was the cause of difficult starting and no surprise as it was fully nine years old, and was original equipment in the Fusion! I was quite impressed. And the original complaint, clunking ion the front end was solved with new brakes. It could have been worse and now I can slam on the brakes with confidence when a distracted winter resident cuts me off or tools down the road at half the speed limit because it is that time of year again. 

Stock Island

The good thing about having a dog is that when you have a chore to do your companion animal can ease the boredom. Case in point: the car needed a check up on Stock Island so after I dropped it off at Oily's  shop I took Rusty for his morning constitutional. First we walked past the shrimp docks:

 Commercial fishing is still an important part of Stock Island's economy, as is the general sort of light industry that keeps modern civilization going. Stock Island boasts some modern affordable housing too, in the form of Meridian West where working people can afford to rent.

Stock Island is unincorporated so the County doesn't require sidewalks or other such niceties. It  tends to look a little chaotic and freewheeling which is  a pleasant contrast to Key West. There is talk from time to time of incorporating Stock island into the city   but it's hard to imagine how Key West could subdue the gentle non conformity of this place into the more rigidly run city.

Stock Island offers these kinds of  homes to the low income workforce that keeps Key West functioning. As much as they may look run down these trailers are a resource that, if replaced could push out people who are barely hanging on. 

There are development plans for Stock island and they have been stewing for a good many years. New marinas and new hotels are cropping up along the waterfront and plans were revealed in the newspaper a few months ago for major developments near highway one displacing dozens of trailer park residents.  If these eyesores go,, the question becomes how do residents pay for better quality housing?

 The fact is developers aren't looking to improve the quality of life of the working poor. This sort of development has turned Key West into a city of second homes, and commuting between Key West and the satellite islands has become the norm. It's not easy to live and work in Key West anymore.

 Order is coming to Stock Island, and with it wealth, ad even though its been a long a long time coming the changes are starting to make themselves visible around the edges. 

You don't see auto body shops, welders or back hoe operators in Key West where real estate is too expensive to support normal life functions. What happens when they get pushed out of Stock Island will be interesting.

The car was fine but I needed new front tires. Mike the mechanic asked me where I get my tires as there are no tire shops left in Key West. Banner Tire has become a Sonic burger shop and Sears Auto has apparently given up doing tires. Mike my mechanic was wondering what to do and I told him about my tir resource in Marathon, 50 miles away. My buddy Nick orders tires online and has a mobile mechanic come by his apartment in Key West and installs them there. These are the compromises life requires in this peculiar place. 

Today it's tire shops that have been run out of town. I dread the day when the last motorcycle mechanic packs his bags and heads north. Or the last fisherman, or plumber or builder. It feels like the day is coming.

Land Fishing

So here's the conundrum: you like to eat seafood but you don't fish...Well obviously you find a restaurant and order a fried fish sandwich, or if you are feeling less inclined to the starches you order a grilled fish on a caesar  salad and then you thank me for reminding you of two of the best local dishes you can find in the Lower Keys. Let's face it, there are tons of excellent eateries and dozens of styles and ethnicities of foods cooked for us but Key West is a former commercial seaport. So we want fish, it stands to reason, especially if you live here. 

My wife loves Fishbusterz so I love Fishbusterz, especially as I know we are getting seafood after she makes Fishbusterz noises. Key West Old Town residents have an excellent seafood place on Eaton Street which also offers seating with cooked seafood for consumption on premises. I have heard only good things about them but as I live (and my wife cooks) outside Key West we gravitate to the shops that involve less traffic and parking issues than those downtown. Having said that I feel an urge coming on to explore an Eaton Street fish sandwich...

Fishbusterz offers the proper range of local seafood as you might expect. However their history is quite interesting as they were started as a business to support local boats and offer a market for local fishing. Checking a  story I did on this place in 2008 you can see they have evolved over the past decade. 

They started out selling cooked food while highlighting their intimate connection to the fishing fleet. It was at a time when the commercial fishing docks on Stock Island were under threat of development and Fishbusterz stepped in to keep the fleet  from disintegrating. As it was commercial boats had retreated to the Stock Island docks from Key West Bight, pushed out by massive development.

 And so you can still find locally caught seafood  for sale...locally.

 And if you fancy a conch feast you can buy five pounds of the stuff right here. I am not a huge fan of conch or abalone (on the west coast) as I feel it's one of those foods that gets its flavor from the breading or the lemon juice or whatever coking agent is used. However I am almost alone in that, and this stuff is massively popular.

 Limes and lemons are for sale too, essential accouterments for fruits of the sea.

 And let us not forget suaces and spices from the Key West Spice Company.

 Clothing of one sort or...

 ...another.

 Yes and we should all love Stock Island, shouldn't we?

Fishbusterz is on the main drag from Highway One which starts out at the traffic light where the street is called Macdonald and then the road evolves into Maloney -don't ask, it just does- and on the right just past West Marine the low blue building will appear will all its fishy goodness.