There has been a great deal of discussion in the Citizen newspaper about how the clean up on Flagler Avenue turned out. Silly me, I thought it looked pretty good for months and months of street closure. I guess I wasn't looking closely enough because people have been calling in to the Citizen's Voice (the anonymous complaints page) complaining endlessly. I stopped by to have a look.
The plan was to take several blocks of Flagler where the street coming into town went from four lanes to two, throw in some sidewalks and give it a clean up. Property owners complained because they had been encroaching a little bit here and there and suddenly the city wanted it's offsets back, but the work went ahead, turning the gravel lined country road back into a proper city street.
The former street edges looked rather ragged like the one in the picture above, which is a side street where the new sidewalk ends. The sidewalks are still in the process of drying off at various intersections but Flagler now has curbs the whole way: 
The city also paved some of the parking lots lining Flagler, how much exactly depends on the elevation change after the repaving. Here we see someone with an over sized truck making good use of the new sidewalk:
These are the ramps to allow wheelchairs (and bicycles) easy access: 
And Discount Auto gets a whole new lot as they allowed the city to park construction vehicles on their lot during the months and months of work.
Flagler Avenue is one of three main arteries into and out of Key West. It is less utilitarian (and slower) than North Roosevelt and less pretty (and faster) than South Roosevelt (which has no traffic lights). It gives access to New Town as it runs right down the middle and it will land up at Casa Marina, Flagler's old palatial hotel, or the southern end of Duval Street. Lots of people depend on Flagler Avenue.
So instead of being glad that the stretch between First Street and White Street is now smooth and clearly marked we've heard from people who say it is not bicycle friendly. In Florida it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk yielding to pedestrians. Others say the cut outs are confusing and one is liable to hit them. The opposing voices say they are only a problem if driving drunk, a sentiment with which I tend to agree.
Others argue that some parking spaces have been lost as now there is only parking on the outbound (south) side of the street. True enough but fortunately there are lots of side streets. Another solution might have been to take the houses on one side of the street and continue Flagler as a four lane street though I would argue that might have been excessive, and expensive. But some people want everything. I think the finished result looks good. Here is Flagler graded into the Conch Train Roundhouse parking lot: 
Looking west toward White Street: 
They have even planted trees though I thought Mike Mongo's suggestion (one his less implausible ones) of planting mango trees wasn't at all bad. I expect some would complain that people might get hurt picking the fruit or something, were the city to be so radical. There's always someone ready to complain as we have seen.
I wondered what the sparrows saw from their perch, a clean street or a mess of curbs? 
This skateboarder had no trouble negotiating the sidewalk: 
I could easily walk a dog down here: 
Even viewed from the front seat of my kennel the new Flagler looks as easy to drive as ever was:
The plan was to take several blocks of Flagler where the street coming into town went from four lanes to two, throw in some sidewalks and give it a clean up. Property owners complained because they had been encroaching a little bit here and there and suddenly the city wanted it's offsets back, but the work went ahead, turning the gravel lined country road back into a proper city street.The former street edges looked rather ragged like the one in the picture above, which is a side street where the new sidewalk ends. The sidewalks are still in the process of drying off at various intersections but Flagler now has curbs the whole way: The city also paved some of the parking lots lining Flagler, how much exactly depends on the elevation change after the repaving. Here we see someone with an over sized truck making good use of the new sidewalk:These are the ramps to allow wheelchairs (and bicycles) easy access: And Discount Auto gets a whole new lot as they allowed the city to park construction vehicles on their lot during the months and months of work.Flagler Avenue is one of three main arteries into and out of Key West. It is less utilitarian (and slower) than North Roosevelt and less pretty (and faster) than South Roosevelt (which has no traffic lights). It gives access to New Town as it runs right down the middle and it will land up at Casa Marina, Flagler's old palatial hotel, or the southern end of Duval Street. Lots of people depend on Flagler Avenue.So instead of being glad that the stretch between First Street and White Street is now smooth and clearly marked we've heard from people who say it is not bicycle friendly. In Florida it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk yielding to pedestrians. Others say the cut outs are confusing and one is liable to hit them. The opposing voices say they are only a problem if driving drunk, a sentiment with which I tend to agree.Others argue that some parking spaces have been lost as now there is only parking on the outbound (south) side of the street. True enough but fortunately there are lots of side streets. Another solution might have been to take the houses on one side of the street and continue Flagler as a four lane street though I would argue that might have been excessive, and expensive. But some people want everything. I think the finished result looks good. Here is Flagler graded into the Conch Train Roundhouse parking lot: Looking west toward White Street: 
They have even planted trees though I thought Mike Mongo's suggestion (one his less implausible ones) of planting mango trees wasn't at all bad. I expect some would complain that people might get hurt picking the fruit or something, were the city to be so radical. There's always someone ready to complain as we have seen.I wondered what the sparrows saw from their perch, a clean street or a mess of curbs? This skateboarder had no trouble negotiating the sidewalk: 
I could easily walk a dog down here: 
Even viewed from the front seat of my kennel the new Flagler looks as easy to drive as ever was:
Nope, I see nothing but good that came from this intervention by Big Government. As you can tell, in the midst of a Depression we are pretty bored here in Key West with nothing worse to argue over than the shape of a sidewalk cut out.
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I also have a wordy essay posted here:
http://conchscooterscommonsense.blogspot.com/
These trikes are getting huge amounts of advertising space in the magazines. I could buy four or five Bonnevilles for the price of this one. Or two Bonnevilles with sidecars. 
The trike would be handy at Boondocks, the tiki bar, mini golf and fried food haven at Mile Marker 27.
There's always something going on at this popular watering hole. When I'm out on my deck at night with a light north wind freezing the landscape I get to enjoy the fine music wafting across the salt ponds.
Prizes games and treats, it sounds irresistible. Unhappily I had to work and I missed being on the road with the fine party people who showed up for this: 
It was a bit of a surprise seeing a tour trolley stuck in traffic on the Boulevard. The newspaper had a picture of the new City View trolleys soon be seen in their white livery offering more rides around the city. Perhaps the numbers of tours will force them to expand and find sights of interest in boring old New Town. 
Road food at the Southernmost Burger King, where the menu is identical to everywhere else. No Conch fritters here.
I saw this horribly parked Kia when I was trying to find space for my kennel and I wondered why they had to take up two whole spaces.
I gave up worrying about scratches on my kennel a while back. People have difficulty parking with accuracy even when they are trying to do it right and the narrow lanes make it easy for someone not paying attention to put a scratch in your car. Worrying about dings is a waste of time in this town. There's lots of parking in New Town for a different sort of Triumph, in this case a TR6.
My step mother got one as a gift from her cheating husband however the gift didn't quite work out. It never ran right and it took the dealer years to figure out there was a piece of paper loose in the fuel tank blocking the fuel flow as it sloshed around. Weird but true. The Triumph was replaced by a reliable Nissan and the marriage dragged on through a couple of decades of misery. I was long gone, but cars do store memories quite well. 
It sucks to see people down in the Keys for a few short days to get away from winter Up North and they find themselves huddling out of the damp cold breeze alongside the locals. Or you can come down to cruise the Overseas Highway with a bed roll and ape hangers. It must be exhausting holding your hands up in the air for hour after hour. Perhaps some free bud light eases the pain.
I don't suppose it needs a tag but I wonder if the brake lights work?
No Bonnevilles here. They say Harley sales have plummeted though you wouldn't know it. 
Not everyone trailers their motorcycles for a trip to the Keys. Some people rent and a few people even rent cars, and a few of them spend extra to rent convertibles. For their sake alone a little heat would be nice:
There have been a few mornings when my wife, who always converts her car has refused to lower the roof claiming it's too cold. She even has electric seats which I could use this endless winter on the Bonneville. The world turned upside down - sub tropical frost.
Or there is the modern version, Ashby and Laird in the dying sun.
New Town used to be open fields with dairy cows and fruit trees criss crossed by whit gravel lanes. Then heap air conditioning came along, outsiders wanted to buy the ramshackle wooden huts downtown and residents could buy "proper" sized lots and build normal ranch homes and share the American dream with the rest of the country.
Long straight streets, ample parking, lots of trees.
Houses can be a lot bigger in this part of town. 
Cheyenne found something. 
Apparently some people like steak tartar enough to publicize their preference. I like mine done on the charred side of medium. 
It isn't what they first think of when they say they are coming to Key West on vacation, but it is Key West, nonetheless.