400 Whitehead Street, Night

I don't use the main Key West Post Office much, if at all. Postal Service like the Department of Motor Vehicles and other  public offices seem to work much more smoothly the smaller the community they serve. I always deal with vehicle registrations in Big Pine and the post offices at Summerland and Big Pine have shorter lines and less kerfuffle than this office or the other Key West office in Overseas Market where Winn Dixie is located. But this place looks intriguing by night.

It's too bad it has to be locked. 

But one can't imagine anything good coming of leaving these spaces open after dark...

Welcome! - during daylight hours...

If you want to see a Key West chicken in the wild, or pay to park your car during the evening in a secure lot, this is where you come.

Sun And Water

The recent cool winds have brought a clear blue dome of sky overhead, waves where they would not normally be expected and a chance to go out and see things under a stark winter light.

It was an opportunity to play with the camera and enjoy the warm sun and cold breeze while Rusty played.

The winds blow up this weird foam off the water. It looks like a washing machine gone wild but it is just salt water froth and you will see it whenever there are strong onshore winds.

He likes the mangroves as there aren't many people or strange noises to startle him

Florida Keys Wilderness.

Long abandoned truck of some sort. Pretty much decomposed in a matter of decades at most.

All this loneliness lies within a mile or less of US One where the light poles are. If you know where to look!

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Nuclear Water

By Sara Matthis from Keys Weekly this astonishing admission of  peril to our own South Florida water:

Turkey Point powerstation, Biscayne Bay

Drinking water is safe for now; experts worry about Biscayne Bay

Wednesday’s news of radiation contamination emanating from the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant leaking into Biscayne Bay alarmed Florida Keys citizens on every level. First, the Keys drinking water comes from the same neighborhood as the plant. Second, the affect to the fishery — so close to home waters — could also have an enormous impact.

“There is no tritium [a radioactive isotope of hydrogen] in our water supply,” said Kirk Zeulch, executive director of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority. Zeulch said there are numerous monitoring wells around the well field that pumps water from the Biscayne Aquifer and none of the tests show a trace. “But this needs to be kept on the front page to keep the issue from fading away. We need help from the state and federal authorities that regulate nuclear power plants and the studies need to continue.”

According to news reports about the leak, the high levels of tritium are a result of changes made to the plant in 2013 to increase energy output. Critics allege the reactor’s canals ran too hot and too salty. The result, they say, is a “saltwater plume” underground that is headed inland. Although it’s five miles away from FKAA’s freshwater well field, Zeulch described it as a “threat, but not an imminent threat.”

Several times, the plant has received special permission to pump freshwater into the canals to relieve the salinity. However, University of Miami hydrologist David Chin has said that doesn’t alleviate the problem because evaporation rates exceed natural rainfall and it may also increase pressure on the saltwater plume causing it to expand further.

Tom Walker, deputy executive director of FKAA, said the utility is not aware of any tritium in the saltwater plume and said that two weeks ago, the power plant was ordered to place extraction wells into the heart of the saltwater plume by a Tallahassee judge.

“Florida Power and Light will start extracting the hyper-saline water and then injecting it into deep wells into the boulder zone of the Floridian Aquifer,” Walker said, adding that the plan to extract the water from the saltwater plume is due in April.

Zuelch said the court-ordered measure could halt the saltwater plume’s progress, or even cause it to retreat. FPL has issued a statement saying the public and drinking water are safe and that improvements are a continuing effort.

According to a study released by the Miami-Dade Commission this week, over the last five years levels of tritium found in the canals ranged between 1,500 and 16,500 pCi/L. (Natural levels in Biscayne Bay are 20 pCi/L and the legal limits for tritium in drinking water are 2,133 pCi/L in the United States.) Because some of the canals are as deep as 24 feet, experts worry the tritium (as well as high levels of saline, phosphorus and ammonia) collected in early January from the bottom of the canals at rates of 2,600 to 3,400 pCi/L are reaching tidal surface waters connected to Biscayne Bay. Miami-Dade County has asked FPL to address these new findings.

The report does not address how increased levels of tritium might impact the public or marine life. According to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, everyone is exposed to small amounts of tritium everyday as it can occur naturally. It enters the human body through food and drink consumption and half is excreted within 10 days. By comparison, a CT scan delivers almost 2,000 times the amount of tritium considered safe in drinking water.

Florida Keys Commercial Fishing Association’s Bill Kelly said he called on Nick Wiley, the director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, to study the problem on Wednesday.

“We need to test the lobster, shellfish and finfish in Biscayne Bay,” Kelly said. “We need to know if there’s any concern about public consumption of any of those products collected in that area.”

Kelly said it might impact 150-175 commercial fishing operations in that area, not counting restaurants.

“The product value of the spiny lobster alone in that area is more than $40.6 million,” he said. “I’m anxious to gather more information on this. The news is not good for man or beast.”

Turkey Point was constructed in the early 1970s. It supplies more than one million homes with power in South Florida.

Key West Architecture

People never cease to amaze me and a few weeks ago when I met a long time resident of Miami who told me he'd never been to Key West I was, once again, amazed. Lack of curiosity is a cardinal sin in a human being it seems to me. Time is short and there is much to be seen. Like the odd shapes of homes in Key West, an histrionic district unlike any other in North America.

"Exclusive cottages" the rental sign said the kind of signage which always prompts me to parse the true meaning  of the sentiment expressed. Exclusive to whom?  Surely not someone who thinks Olivia Street is waterfront overlooking azure tropical seas like the sign shows?

Classic Key West wooden homes have lots of angles and lines and decorations carved into the wood. Porches abound on houses raised slightly off the ground.

Construction always amazes me here. The requirement is supposed to be preservation of the character of Old Town, not that businesses are required to be so strict these days. There is no room here for large construction trucks, and working out doors can be hot and sticky even this time of year. A true challenge.

 An eyebrow house being kept up:

It was a design feature in Key West to extend the roof line over the top windows with the idea that they could be left open in inclement weather to air the house. Later the discovery was made that the overhang trapped hot air and didn't work so the design was dropped.

 Winter visitors are easily identified by their car covers, left in place for the summer:

A trailer! Unusual sight here surrounded by expensive homes. Grandfathered in to defy the rapid pace of gentrification. 

 An atmospheric tropical home in unpainted termite-resistant Dade pine overlooking Bill Butler Park.

 More aerial construction overlooking Olivia Street:

A typical jumbled Key West sky line:

Chapman Lane, Bahama Village

A cool Spring  night, a strong east wind, the anticipation of daylight savings time a mere week away and a few minutes to yourself in the middle of the night: Chapman Lane beckons...

"In the middle of the ghetto?" a rather timorous acquaintance of mine asked, voice trembling at my near brush with death. Bahama Village to me is just another Key West neighborhood and no one has ever bothered me there any more than they have elsewhere in the city at night or by day. 

I find the architecture here resembles the African American community that still constitutes a majority of the population in "the Village." Insofar as it is coherent and solid and based largely on the historic nature of the origins of Old Town Key West. Night photography here I find rewarding because there is an absence of glare and of invasive buildings and broken up blocks of old wooden houses.

Checking the Conch cottages lined up on Chapman you find they are as they once must have been more or less. No invasive Historic Architecture Review Commission requirements for modern structures here.

One after another the houses resemble what one expects to see in Old Town:

Check it out for yourself. Just about far enough from Duval to make the obnoxious noise disappear...

Simonton Court

Much has been made of the process of gentrification currently under way and inexorable in Key West. Politicians make pious noises about affordable housing but they don't have their hearts in it when it's not election time so nothing gets done. And developers keep building.

The homes in the picture above are the new Southernmost Cabana Resort which are 21 million dollar homes just a stone's throw from Duval Street and sure to generate noise complaints when the part time residents discover how noisy Duval Street can be. Not long ago this was a lot filled with 44 trailers for truly low income people, all swept away:

It was a messy community filled with people who earned a living and one wonders why that wasn't enough.

But it went all wrong, suddenly things weren't up to code it was unsanitary and for the greater good of all concerned better that the trailers be removed and the place cleaned up. That the Spottswood family suddenly took an interest would surprise no one especially as they have connections to the Catholic Church. Because it suddenly became apparent, the church was evicting the low income tenants. I guess they figured that was what Jesus would do. The Blue Paper at the time (2013) had a brilliant editorial on the subject (LINK).

The Gentrification of Simonton Street Trailer Park

As a hundred or so residents begin packing in view of their upcoming eviction from the defunct Simonton Street Trailer Park, one wonders what has done-in the small village tucked beneath those shady trees. The City Commission voted last Tuesday to approve Joe Cleghorn’s redevelopment plan, which includes cutting down 40 of 45 trees and removal of all 44 low-income trailers.

Doesn’t the City have regulations protecting affordable housing and why did the Catholic Church, the previous owner, agree to sell to Cleghorn, despite the quite predictable social hardships that evictions would cause?

This is a classic tale of gentrification and as the story goes, this one has it all: distressed nuns, questionable Monsignor, pedophilia scandals, Canon Law, ghostly electric meters, suspicious property tax documents, elementary school children, a Wall Street tycoon, and to top it all off, local regulations out of a Kafka novel.

The sale of church-owned real estate is not new to Key West. The Reach and Duval Square were built on land sold by the Catholic Church. But such sales have become increasingly controversial across the nation. Most church-owned land, you see, was donated, at one point or another, by parishioners who did so with an expectation of some charitable use. But the Catholic Church has now racked up over 2 Billion dollars in sex scandal settlements and the money has to come from somewhere.

By the time the Simonton Street Trailer Park was put up for sale, the Archdiocese of Miami owed $ 26 Million in sex abuse and pedophilia settlements, after priests confessed of having molested children including a 13-year old altar boy named Mark Foley, who later became a US Congressman. In various congregations, people have come forward saying in essence, ‘How dare you sell the land my family gave you to pay for your sex scandals?’

The Church’s desperate need to liquefy real estate has renewed interest in an obscure code dating back to the Middle Ages called Canon Law, the law that regulates the Catholic Church. Canon 1300, for instance, couldn’t be clearer: the intentions of those who give to pious causes must be carefully observed. So, of course, the million-dollar question is always, ‘how did the Church end up with a particular property and what will it be used for after its sale?’

It’s easy to see how the Church could find itself in a public relations nightmare when selling donated property to pay off rape victims. What to do? Enter the “eminence grise”: very well connected people who would assist the Catholic Church in discretely divesting themselves of property while keeping up with appearances. One of the most famous of these individuals certainly was Raffaello Follieri , the quintessential Italian playboy, dating actress Anne Hathaway, rubbing elbows with Bill Clinton and wheeling and dealing with the Vatican. Back in 2007, he was scheming to acquire some $ 350 Million of church property. What’s interesting for us is the guideline that was approved by the Vatican for sale of property to the Follieri Group:

“ensure that these properties [are] converted to uses that would … contribute to their communities in a socially responsible fashion consistent with the ideals of the church.”

According to some, Canon Law requires that the church only sell to those that plan to use the property for good works such as orphanages, schools, homeless shelters.

Follieri was, in fact, a penniless Barry Lyndon living on credit in an apartment house at Trump Towers. In a sordid twist straight out of ‘The Sopranos’ he and some associates linked to the mafia were arrested for embezzlement.

So, was the sale of the Simonton Street Trailer Park justified under Church guidelines? We can’t find any trace of a public advertisement of the sale but we do know the architect of the deal is a man named Peter Batty. Interestingly enough Batty has a foot in both worlds, he’s both the Deacon of St. Mary Star of The Sea Church and the head of Spottswood’s SBX Commercial Realty company.

“We had no idea the trailer park was for sale,” said a very involved St. Mary’s parishioner who asked to remain anonymous, “We were told, after the fact, that it was for the best because the trailer park was not making any money, that the Basilica School was broke and would get the interest on the money generated by the sale.”

And indeed, documents furnished by the property appraiser describe the Simonton Street trailer park as a charitable pit. In mid July 2007, the Church claimed there were only 18 trailers on the property, most tenants were paying no rent, and that what little income there was went to the school and requested that the property receive a property tax exemption. However, when we cross referenced the data with Keys Energy meter accounts for the Simonton Street trailer park, we found that 23 meters were active at that time, with certain meters obviously servicing more than one dwelling. According to Mike Rison, who moved into the trailer park on September 1, 2007, only 12 [of 44] spaces were empty, he and others were paying $500/month to the Church and the trailers that were there all appeared to be occupied.

In April of 2009 Cleghorn’s Southernmost Cabana Resort paid the Archdiocese a $ 480,000 down payment on the $ 2.4 Million closing price for the trailer park. The balance of $ 1,920,000 plus interest was to be paid in monthly $ 8,800 installments with a balloon due on April 30, 2013. The Archdiocese of Miami has refused to reveal whether the final payment has been made. Cleghorn has a plentiful history of foreclosure suits with banks on previous land deals including BB & T, Penny Mac, First State Bank, Branch Banking Trust, Citibank, Flagstar Bank, and Centennial Bank. Obviously the trailer park could have produced much more cash for the school than the interest payments offered by banks these days.

The Archdiocese and the developer kept up a pretense, claiming the property would continue to be used for affordable housing. Nothing too serious, of course, if they had meant it they would have agreed to a deed restriction.

Cleghorn now says that the City forced him to give up the trailer park by refusing to grant him a 25’ X 248’ easement adjacent to the one-acre parcel. So, unfortunately, Monsignor, the trailer park is going to have to be redeveloped … And by some strange coincidence the modular homes that will replace the trailers are fabricated by none other than Cleghorn himself. God does work in mysterious ways.

So, for $ 480,000 in quick cash the Archdiocese of Miami threw those living at the trailer park under the bus. And the school? The school was saved by an actual act of God, literally… Hurricane Wilma. The storm picked up the 158-foot yacht owned by Wall Street tycoon Peter Halmos and plunked it down in 1-foot of water in the middle of the Calda Bank. While stuck in the mud for two years Halmos fell in love with Key West and bailed out the Basilica School at St. Mary’s.

“I felt so bad for the nuns,” says a local fisherman who had two kids attend St. Mary’s, “there was no electricity for the AC, their food was so lame and depressing I started to bring them fish.” So, what ever happened with the money from the trailer park? The Church has refused to answer our questions.

In Miami some parishioners grew so frustrated with perceived corruption in the way the Archbishop had been handling church affairs that they created an action group called the “Christifidelis”. The group, headed by attorney Sharon Bourassa, conducted an investigation and strongly supported a former priest’s suit against the diocese. The accusations point to Monsignor Favalora, [he signed the Warranty Deed for Cleghorn] who at the time was the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami having jurisdiction over the Key West parish. The Christifidelis tell a sordid account of financial misdeeds, nepotism, alcoholism, sexual abuse, voyeurism and priests living a life of luxury. There is a claim that these accusations lay behind the sudden resignation of Archbishop Favalora in 2010.

“I don’t care what you guys say. It’s a nice place to live,” said Jeep Caillouet, to the City Commission about the trailer park, “It’s got the biggest trees in town. There’s no drugs over there that amounts to nothing. It’s a nice neighborhood. I hate to see it go.”

In less than a year’s time Key West has lost workforce housing at a record pace. First it was over 100 units at Peary Court, then the 230 or so with expiring deed restrictions and this past Tuesday another 44 units at Simonton Street Trailer Park were put on the slab. Key West does have an ordinance requiring 30% of newly constructed housing to be dedicated affordable housing, but somehow lately every project seems to have its own particular reason as to why it should not apply. For Peary Court and now the Trailer Park, the developments were not considered “new construction” even though both development plans call for total demolition and all new structures.

The ordinance seems convoluted. When Ed Swift built the condominiums at the Steam Plant he provided 30% affordable housing. Why is he the only developer who doesn’t threaten to sue the City over having to follow this law?

“If we keep applying this logic,” said Commissioner Tony Yaniz who voted against the development plan, “imagine if Stadium Trailer Park went away. What are you going to do then? Where will we get our workforce from? Miami?“

Commissioner Teri Johnston, who called for a revision of the ordinance, agreed, “We are losing so much of our affordable housing and we need to replenish it and everything that we are doing is going in the wrong direction.”

“The workforce housing ordinance needs to be revised,” said Commissioner Lopez, who lamented that the law does not clearly obligate Cleghorn to provide any affordable units, “I twisted the developer’s arm beyond what I could do legally, but still got him to agree to do things that he was not legally required to do,” said Lopez who successfully pushed for a written provision requiring Cleghorn to either find the current tenants another place to live or to compensate them with $ 2,500. Lopez, who reluctantly voted in favor of the development agreement, pointed out that, “The City Planner warned (with the City Attorney nodding in agreement) that to vote against was to invite a lawsuit.”

Commissioner Rossi without a word simply voted, “No.”

What is the logic behind forcing “new development” to provide 30% affordable housing, while allowing existing workforce housing to be 100% gentrified?

“I love this City and I don’t want to leave,” said Jeep the banjo player to the Commissioners, “Somehow, maybe, you guys can figure out how to keep people like me and others in this community.”

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