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Key
West losing its luster for visitors
My wife and I have been
visiting Key West twice a year since 1994. At one time we even
considered moving to your city and we were very vocal in getting many of
our friends to vacation there. Every day I log on and read The Citizen
from the comfort of my home 35 miles west of Chicago, the city that was
mentioned ... as "unsafe to walk in." I freely admit I spend more time
in Key West than downtown Chicago.
While there are areas in
Chicago that should be avoided, there are also many areas in Key West to
avoid, including Duval Street, Mallory Square and Higgs Beach with its
street beggars.
Talk about feeling
threatened. While I have never spoken with Will Soto, we have had the
pleasure of seeing him many times perform at sunset, and I agree
wholeheartedly with his ... letter that something has to give as far as
cruise ships. There are too many of them; there are too many people
wandering aimlessly, almost trancelike, when all those ships are in
port.
Duval Street and Key West
have become too commercialized. When we started visiting Key West, we
did so because it was a funky, different place to go. It had its own
local flavor. The truth be told, we hardly frequent Duval Street any
longer, as I don't appreciate the countless T-shirt or ice cream shops
and stores that we have at home. We have started visiting what few
"local" restaurants we can find off Duval.
Parts of Key West are now
driven by greed; property values are so high that friends of ours who
work there cannot live there. Perhaps the few locals who are left should
be force-moved to Stock Island and you can then turn Key West into a
large amusement park? I'm sorry I do not have the answers to your
problem, except to voice our concerns, but if something doesn't change,
our trip scheduled for this November will be our last.
Bob Slusarek
Plainfield, IL |
