A New City Commission

They held elections in the city of Key West on Tuesday, and though not many people bothered to show up, things have changed. I saw quite a few of these signs on my way to work, misspelling and all, which I thought was quite goofy. McPherson was mayor of the city for a while and was making a comeback this time around. He did not comeback losing badly to well know local attorney and political newcomer Sam Kaufman. Kaufmangot 62% of the vote which amounts to 271 votes of the 436 votes cast in his district. District 2 was held by the retiring Mark Rossi, no loss, and covers North Roosevelt Boulevard from Garrison Bight almost to the Beachside including Stadium Trailer Park and Sigsbee. Weird shaped district of indifference but there are hopes Kaufman will be modern and open and bring some useful change. He noted dryly in the newspaper the race was not even close so  perhaps there is a hunger for change in the district. 

District Five runs from North Roosevelt at Fifth in a bizarre diagonal slice across the city mid town area to approximately Higgs Beach.  District Five was held by Teri Johnston who also came in promising change and she managed to shuffle the deck chairs moderately in a town mired in stasis but she decided to give up the struggle and is replaced by a fire cracker who has taken on runs for the mayor's job twice and in failing to win garnered a surprising number of votes. Margaret Romero who cites her past as an IBM executive promised the Keynoter she will not let the citizens down. That should be interesting. The 1000 voters in the district who showed up had an interesting choice between Romero and Mike Mongo another local activist with his own record of afflicting the comfortable. They seemed to appreciate the choices because Romero beat Mongo by just 65 votes. 

The best race of the lot was the ouster of the sole incumbent who decided to run for a second term. Fats Yaniz has been the most colorful member of the Commission, speaking his mind ignoring decorum and not always presenting himself in the most judicious light in public. We can draw a veil over his stint because he has been replaced by a recently retired Judge who apparently found retirement tedious. Judge Payne, now Commissioner Payne was elected to his New Town District 4 with 712 votes out of 1080 cast. Yaniz had a habit of tangling with the mayor even challenging the mayor to leave the commission chambers once to settle a dispute with their fists in the street. I kid you not. I think this wild west attitude will be replaced by a rather more pompous note, probably much to the relief of the always even tempered Mayor. Judge Payne dropped this brilliant line to the paper, as though it was a presidential race perhaps rather than a city commission race with a dismal 29.77 percent turnout:

"We never got negative, we just [focused on] the positive and that resonated with the people," Payne said Tuesday night.

There are real issues facing the Commission which has six members and three of them are new. Truman Waterfront needs to be planned after a decade of doing nothing, the three new Commissioners had better figure out some way to appoint people to the Historic Preservation shambles that actually care about preserving Old Town because there are a lot of people in Key West who are annoyed at several recent decisions. Luckily the Mayor got the new city hall approved and I say luckily because I really like the location on White Street and the former school which may well look splendid. 

I live in the county so I don't vote in the city and with the pathetic turn out for a critical election I am sorry because my one vote could have made a difference! From my perspective Key West needs a vision and I remain skeptical that this new wave of commissioners will provide that but I hope for the best. Pedestrian zones anyone? Bicycle paths? Effective recycling? Solar power? Anything new and modern and forward looking...?  

Driving The Lower Keys

I have no particular beef with cyclists, I ride a bicycle myself from time to time, though not compressed into spandex clothes. Not being smart does bother me and cyclists get run over all the time in Florida, more so in Key West than elsewhere. Considering how distracted drivers will be in their cages I think it is either very foolish or desperately optimistic to think that riding the white line on the shoulder is the best possible place to be on a Florida Highway, especially when the Sunshine State has placed a perfectly serviceable path at your service for your exclusive use. This guy gets a Darwin Award:

Enough of that, time to pause to enjoy the view while not running down a cyclist:

And there is the sewer work, continuing on, now between  Summerland and Big Pine Keys, not disrupting traffic  though the bike path is torn up.

I cannot help but think that twenty years ago the much wealthier Federal Government tried to persuade the Keys to do the sewering with less local cost and nothing came of it. The bonds to cover the cost now will amount to 200 million dollars and about seven thousand dollars a household for the hook up amortized over the years. It needed to be done then for maximum reef benefit. Better late than never.

Night Time On Fleming

My wife calls me the night crawler and she busted me on my lunch break at some ungodly hour enjoying the warm night air. I justify my wanderings by taking pictures.  My Bonneville at 86,000 miles, still the best motorcycle I have owned in 45 years of riding.

The post office at 400 Whitehead Street, the westernmost point:

The main Key West post office that serves everyone up to and including Bay Point, Mile Marker 15.

A cruiser motorcycle caught in my headlight.

And the usual assorted porches and front steps of the Old Town.

 

And then I went round the corner to Southard Street where I found some other views worth stopping for.

Fleming Street at one thirty in the morning.

Crocodile

The Key West Citizen posted a photograph of a juvenile (we're told) American Crocodile sunning itself off Smathers Beach.

The wild creature was seen (in the wild) off Dog Beach as well. I am not terribly fond of Dog Beach as Cheyenne doesn't swim and  therefore what's the point of us going? But for other dog owners this is a quiet corner dedicated to letting your dog prance around and swim. Not with a crocodile in the offing. Even if it's  a small one.

AS you might imagine a crocodile sighting has had the urban dwellers of Conchtown up in arms with lots of bravado and chest inflating. Talk of guns and posses and threatening to run the invader out of town on a rail etc...etc... You can imagine the nonsense they speak, people who like to think of themselves as debonair dwellers in the Tropics who have no facility with life as it is lived in the land of cockroaches, scorpions snakes and dinosaurs. 

Wildlife experts (scientists, please note) will tell you that crocodiles are docile shy creatures who want nothing more than to be left alone. Mostly they inhabit Florida Bay between the Upper Keys and mainland Florida but a few trundle down the Keys to be spotted lurking in the mangroves of Cow Key Channel from time to time. The only alligators in the Keys are to be found in the Blue Hole, a freshwater former quarry on Big Pine Key:

They are different creatures than the more familiar and widely seen alligators, they have narrow snouts and snaggle teeth (like anyone is noticing these minor differences at the critical time) but most importantly alligators live in fresh water and crocodiles live in salt water ( and crocodiles are few enough in number to be endangered).

I have a healthy respect for predators, be they snakes sharks of dinosaurs of either sort and I don't play with them or provoke them. But I respect their need to live and in the case of snakes bats and spiders I love how they clean up the insect and rodent life for us. There has only even been one recorded crocodile attack ever in Florida and two stupid people swam in a canal known to harbor crocodiles. They did it at dusk when the predators are out and they got their limbs scratched for their trouble. No sane sensible person has ever been attacked by alligators but idiots to get in their way and alligators will kill you by drowning you and stash your body underwater until you rot when you are easier to tear apart and eat. So if you don't like that sort of a fate don't provoke alligators. But people do and then the alligators are blamed for behaving as they should. 

And one other thing, from experience I can tell you that watching dinosaurs sunbathe is about as interesting as watching paint dry. If you've never seen one in the flesh you probably won't believe me but it's true. They just lie there.

Or you could watch Cheyenne in the alligator position:

Really. Come back in 15 minutes and nothing will have changed.

Sitting With Roxie

Luckily I like dogs; and I say luckily because my neighbor needed his dog sat. Say hi to Roxie:

I felt a bit weird walking a dog on a leash around my house. Cheyenne wouldn't be seen dead not being trusted around her home but I was not keen to lose this little tyke who was in my trust.

I loaded Roxie into the car, much excitement, for a ride to the Big Pine Bark Park.

She had a grand time sniffing and running. Cheyenne was blissfully unaware of my treason - she was home sleeping off a hot muggy afternoon as is her won't in her 14th year of life. Young Roxie had a blast.

Watson Trail, Key Deer refuge, Big Pine Key.

 

I took her home for a while and Cheyenne was not terribly impressed.

I closed the dog door to prevent the intruder from escaping.

Sitting still wasn't in the cards for the overstimulated Roxie and after a while she ran to the front door and I figured it was time to take her home for the night.

It was fun having a young small dog around for a little while, but like visiting grand kids I was glad to relinquish my duties and return to companionable silence with my under stimulated Labrador.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cheyenne and Me

I attribute some of Cheyenne's sleepiness early in the morning to our  time zone. Until we switch back to winter time on November 1st daylight in the morning isn't going to show up till almost seven. Thus when I arrive home around  6:20 it is  pitch black at home and I tip toe into a house filled with the sounds of peaceful snoring from dog and wife. It has to be said that Cheyenne is now well into her 14th year and she is no longer as active as she was. The heat and humidity of the time of year also work against her. So, all in all I am getting in less walking in the morning than I used to. Afternoon walks are now out of the question...my girl sleeps on her bed and opens one eye when I say goodbye on my way back to work.

The other morning I was in the mood to walk even just a little  bit so I tempted Cheyenne out with a chicken strip. The jerky was organic made in the USA etc... and thus irresistible but for a while it was touch-and-go as to whether my Labrador was ready to leave the house. The day before we had walked 40 minutes which is a lot for her in the heat and sometimes she prefers at best a walk very other morning. I was glad I rustled her out of the house. I needed gas for the car so we went east toward cheap fuel on Ohio Key, 15 minutes form the house, and against commuting traffic toward Key West. I also thus got to see the sunrise which looked a lot better than this picture at Bahia Honda:

The old girl perked up quite a bit by the time we got to Veterans Park near the Seven Mile Bridge and she took off with me in tow trailing plastic bags for the inevitable contemplative moment. Its these moments that refresh me, watching her have fun on a beach that is empty thanks to low season. Come here in January and the pallid masses are swimming in waters cold enough to make me shudder.

Just to remind me, as if I needed it, I found one more sign people are weird, probably drunk and quite possibly driving. Four perfectly good fish no longer swimming in their natural environment but cleaned and gutted and grilled and left not eaten. Cheyenne enjoyed one and I tossed the rest. What a waste. 

These ibis are my idea of what free range chickens should be like: quiet clean and unobtrusive.

I was ready for bed quite honestly but the sun finally put in an appearance...until we switch to winter time daylight comes close to seven in the morning and sunrise obviously later than that...so I was up past my bedtime and for that I was grateful to Cheyenne.

By this time herself was ready for breakfast and bed, quite likely in bed knowing my soft spot for herself.

Her appetizer of fish with a side of cold fries found elsewhere set her up for the morning and I think she asleep faster than I was.