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Did you know? Old Town
group started as a joke
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff Writer
KEY WEST — Did
You Know? ...
In most cases,
these three words would formulate a harmless phrase and a conversation
starter. But in Key West, the words have become the battle cry of one
Old Town neighborhood group that is asking for a balance between tourism
and residential life.
Committee for a
Livable Old Town has become famous or infamous, depending on who you
talk to, for its ongoing series of cartoon "Did You Know?"
advertisements. The advertisements include factoids on cruise ships,
Conch Tour Trains, overcrowding, water pollution and other Old Town
issues.
Livable Old
Town's advertising efforts have been effective enough to trigger
creation of another group, Community for a Better Key West, to combat
Livable's efforts.
"Our theory is
simple. You either agree with our ideas or you don't," said city
planning board member Bill Verge, who runs Livable Old Town with local
restaurateur Elliot Baron. "We've got some of the dialogue going."
For the past two
years, Livable Old Town has lobbied for higher cruise ship disembarkment
fees and more stringent environmental practices for cruise ships. The
group opposed the expansion of adult entertainment in the historic
downtown area and commercial developments for the old Plantains
restaurant and Jabour's Trailer Court. The group also complained earlier
this year that owners of a pier behind the Hilton were bringing in more
cruise ships than its agreement with the city allowed, and that the
owners of Old Town Trolley and Conch Tour Trains were behind $500,000 on
its franchise payments to the city.
"The business
community has the chamber of commerce representing them. Livable is the
voice of the residents," Verge said. "We had a lot of people telling us
'we'd like to do something,' but didn't know what."
The group has led
the fight for Old Town neighbors to "peacefully enjoy their homes and
island," Baron wrote in a recent letter to potential donors. "For nearly
two years, we have forcefully advocated for a balance which gives equal
consideration to residents' wishes, rather than constantly putting
business first."
Livable has
strengthened its role in local politics over the years, which has led to
other groups forming and running competing advertisements. The Community
for Better Key West formed in February and began running advertisements
with testimonials from local business owners.
The testimonials,
which have featured local dentist Dr. Hector Guzman and magazine store
owner Arthur Valladares, talk about how tourism has benefited their
businesses and employees. The group also has a Web page with statistics
on the economic benefits of tourism and a paper on the economic benefits
of cruise ships, written by Chris Belland, co-owner of Historic Tours of
America, which operates the Conch Tour Trains and Trolleys.
"Some have
pointed out the negative impacts and we wanted to point out the positive
aspects," said Randy Moore, a Key Haven accountant and member of The
Community for Better Key West.
Livable Old Town
came out of tongue-and-cheek effort by Old Town residents to secede from
the rest of the city. Old Town residents were trying to stop large
diesel-engine, Greyhound-style buses from touring Old Town streets,
Baron said. Residents gathered at the Key West Bight Neighbors
Association to talk about it and other quality of life issues in Old
Town.
"It was taxation
without representation," Baron said. "We're the money well. We pay the
most taxes and maintenance fees for our homes. We have to put up with
Conch trains driving in front of our homes and people staring in our
windows. What we have is a mixed use community and there hasn't been any
consideration about the people who live here. Those who are exploiting
it are the ones who don't live here. It's our houses that sell the
tours."
Baron and Verge
also are members of the environmental and resident group Last Stand,
which also has fought for cruise ship limitations, clean nearshore
waters and other Old Town community issues. The group sued the city over
cruise ships, and part of the settlement led to a cruise ship quality of
life study.
In less than two
years, Livable Old Town's Web site has had 12,500 hits, and the site has
become a must-read for those following local debates and for
international cruise ship watchdog groups. Many stories and pictures
have been used by the Blue Water Network, Oceana and other world
environmental groups.
Most recently,
the group staged a protest that garnered world headlines. Livable
members urged local residents to get in their cars and drive down Duval
Street on the same day five cruise ships and thousands of spring
breakers and motorcyclists were in town. The idea was to illustrate that
the city's lack of planning has led to overcrowding of downtown streets,
which becomes a burden for Old Town residents and a poor visitor
experience for tourists, said Baron.
Baron takes issue
when people call him anti-tourist. He runs Mangia Mangia, a restaurant
that caters to tourists as well as Old Town residents. His family's
restaurant is listed in Zaggats and other tourism publications.
"Am I
compromising or am I compromised?" he asks when people talk about
finding a balance in a tourist town.
tohara@keysnews.com |
