depress Ctrl and + keys at same time to increase zoom (font size), depress Ctrl and – keys at same time to reduce zoom
In its second Friday edition, The Blue Paper (Key West the Newspaper) – www.thebluepaper.com – knocks the lights out again. I feel like an amateur compared to Naja and Arnaud Girard’s investigative reporting, and Arnaud’s Technicolor editorial cartoons are a piercing howl. Yesterday’s edition strips naked as jay birds Balfour-Beatty, State Legislator Holly Raschein and bribed state legislators determined to give Balfour-Beatty a free tax ride the US Government is not giving Balfour-Beatty. Then comes a really joyful praise report on the North Roosevelt Boulevard redo, which might cause great relief and jubilation in a parallel universe, but not in Key West. Then comes a deliciously ruthless expose of what really is going on in producing the “green living” water Keys people receive from the mainland, and what sure looks to me like a heap of not unexpected double talk from Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority and, not even reading between the lines, the development community. Again, www.thebluepaper.com. Bon aperitif! Bring lots of Rolaids.
While on the subject of WATER and real investigative journalism, a Steve Estes show stopper editorial from the News-Barometer on Big Pine Key. Apologies to Steve, my word processor lost the paragraph formatting.
Monroe County is being called the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the coastal United State when it comes to the effects of global climate change and eventual sea level rise inundation. It’s an apt description. If sea level rises just to the minimum of the published expectations, some 12 percent of the land currently above water in the Florida Keys would be either under water or part of an unusable wetland. If the more moderate projections are real, closer to 25 percent of the coastal areas of the Keys could be suffering from sea level inundation in the next 30 years. In other words, we have a problem folks. So it’s a pretty good idea that our elected leadership is taking sea level rise seriously and is working on a climate change action plan that will eventually be rolled into the county’s comprehensive land use plan. The plan is somewhat devoid of details at the moment, instead approaching the issues with a more broad-brush approach, attempting to lay the foundation for future decisions that can nail down the details. Just the fact that our leadership understands there is an issue and stays away from the denial mentality that permeates too much of the national and state discussion is a good thing for us. Many of us won’t live to worry about how high the sea rises. But our children and grandchildren will have to deal with the situation. One of the primary causes, according to the science, is greenhouse gas emissions. The plan calls for a reduction of those gasses. One of the issues discussed is for a greater efficiency in the delivery of electrical power. The thought process is that as summers get longer and warmer, the demand for cooling, and thus the peak demand on our electrical distribution system, will get more severe. That demand could cause even more of the occasional power outages we all experience today. In this, the land of near eternal sunshine, more and more moves toward harnessing solar energy should be a top priority for our elected leadership, including those elected to guide the future actions of Keys Energy Services. This should create a demand for building regulations that incentivize solar energy. Taking water heaters, stoves and outdoor lighting off the grid will greatly reduce power demands in the years to come. If folks don’t like solar, gas does the same thing. We’ll need the power for cooling. Whenever we rebuild roads, they should be raised to a level where sea rise won’t impact them for the expected life of the road. Shoreside properties should be encouraged to slope their land upwards to account for sea level rise. Before we begin this years-long process to sewer the rest of the Keys, let’s make sure that we’re putting in lift stations and pumps where sea level rise won’t interfere with expedient operation and maintenance. Begin work now on finding money to lengthen boat ramps. This will not be a cheap undertaking. And it is an undertaking we should not have to commence alone. The state of Florida should make the Keys a test case in mitigation against sea level rise, because, well because we will be first and they can learn valuable lessons from us to use in other, more populous areas. The federal government should also take a hard look at making us the test case because, well because we will be first and they can learn valuable lessons from us to use in other, more populous areas. And quite frankly, we can’t do it on our own. But we’re still glad our elected leadership is paying attention.
I especially liked,
“In this, the land of near eternal sunshine, more and more moves toward harnessing solar energy should be a top priority for our elected leadership, including those elected to guide the future actions of Keys Energy Services. This should create a demand for building regulations that incentivize solar energy. Taking water heaters, stoves and outdoor lighting off the grid will greatly reduce power demands in the years to come. If folks don’t like solar, gas does the same thing. We’ll need the power for cooling.”
On the other hand, if sea levels really are rising, maybe it’s time to look at no further new development in the Florida Keys and a planned, staged, long-term evacuation to the mainland, as opposed to yet another taxpayer bailout of a community who chose to live in a known flood zone.
Back to amateur hour, Paul Williams of Homestead replied to yesterday’s Old Town parking and city bus service ponderations – Key West post.
Hi Sloan, Just a quick note… The Marathon run was initiated a few years ago, with funding from a Federal DOT grant. I believe that the Feds, today, still foot the bill, and it’s re-authorized every few years. Within KWDOT, the Marathon service is handled as a separate division. What that means is that drivers’ salaries and the buses themselves are paid for with Federal grant money.
The Marathon operation does not draw down City funds. Remember, a couple of years ago, when the recession caused City bus service, along with all City Services, to be reduced? The Marathon run was insulated because the City Manager did not have to pare it back, along with other City - wide reductions. There was no corresponding KW or MC governmental income reduction to balance out.
KWDOT Marathon Drivers start at a slightly higher hourly rate, consistent with Federal Guidelines, but they get Zero participation in all the benefits features which accrue to regular, full time City employees. IE: They get no health care, no paid holidays and no retirement. Just a slightly better wage, which doesn’t equal the dollar value of the City Employee benefits they do not enjoy. The notion that KW businesses are being taxpayer subsidized by having their Lower Keys employees’ travel expenses partially “comped” by taxpayers is true. But its Federal taxpayers, not City or County residents who are being impacted.
Also: If you’re on a bus travelling US-1, remember that you’re riding a two lane road with no alternate route. If traffic gets heavy, or if there’s even one out of state Winnebago doing 35 miles an hour, you’re going to be late. Period. This is not a deficiency that KWDOT – or MIT – or the State Department - can technically correct, that is, until they put rotor blades on the buses. It’s a Lower Keys fact of life that both riders and drivers have to live with. Second only to Safety, the objective of “Running on Time” comes first. Because of the vagaries of Keys Traffic and the 24/7 need to drive conservatively, that is – safely, it’s impossible to maintain the published KWDOT schedule all the time.
OK, Sloan: Having said that, I know that when I personally have to wait for a bus more than 7 or 8 minutes, I start cursing the powers that be without restraint. I absolutely do not care that I’m not standing at a Miami bus stop where there are so many buses ( and so vast a Federal subsidy) that one comes every 15 – 20 minutes. I’m just LATE, and therefore I’m understandably UPSET! The Truth: Getting away from the KWDOT published schedule always, on a daily basis, causes KW drivers and management personal mental stress whenever it happens. I mean, in varying degrees: Always.
Solution: Easy. More buses. Until then, I will continue to personally fume when the bus does not stop HERE within – oh – 30 seconds of the schedule. It’s true!
Paul Williams
Homestead
I replied:
Hi, Paul – Do you ride the KW Marathon bus frequently? Sounds like you do.
I travel from Little Torch to Marathon at least once a week, and same frequency from Little Torch to KW. I have never once seen a KW city bus held up by slow traffic. Some times vehicles, including cars, move under the speed limit, but traffic mostly moves near or above the speed limit, and I have seen KW city buses over the speed limit, and I have seen then leave shoulders at bus stops and cut out in front of oncoming traffic, causing that traffic to have to brake.
I hear US 1 bus rider’s complaints after I pick them up at bus stops. As I wrote today, they talk of buses being an hour or two or even three hours late, or not coming at all; or getting there to soon and leaving before passengers get to the bus stop. I did the market research, in the field; not intentionally, but that’s how it turned out.
Am glad to hear the city does not pay for the KW to Marathon to KW bus. You are sure the Feds pay everything for that bus service: the drivers wages, the fuel, maintenance, breakdown repairs, insurance etc?
Other than saying the city ought to charge passengers what it costs to transport them around KW, I did not write today about bus service in Key West, which was pretty good when I rode city buses back in 2003 and 2004. Tom Milone told me yesterday that the city discontinued the Purple bus, which ran from Duval/Caroline streets intersection, as I recall, to Winn-Dixie and Publix and back, and was much more convenient for people in Old Town going to those shopping centers than the other color buses/routes, which went out to Stock Island. Tom said he is crowded for time to get all his shopping in out there, and make the return bus back into Old Town.
Sloan
A north Georgia fortune teller amiga told me yesterday that she didn’t see me running for Key West Mayor this year, and I said I was glad to hear that. I told amiga Sandy Downs yesterday, that the recent theoretical Key West mayor campaign platform and related ponderables post outlined a campaign platform someone could use and maybe get him/herself elected this year.
Pearl Harbor lookoutMeanwhile, a public announcement from Larry Murray yesterday:
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:54:02 -0700
From: citizenlarry007@yahoo.com
Subject: Strategic Planning Meeting at Sugarloaf School
To: keysmyhome@hotmail.com; island@bigpinekey.com; bigpinenews@aol.com
Gentlemen:
Superintendent Mark Porter has added a seventh gathering for his Strategic Planning Community Engagement Sessions at Sugarloaf School on Wednesday, April 10, 6:00-7:15 PM, with Kelli Fricke, the SAC Chair, as host. This decision was announced sotto voce on the District’s website. No fanfare. No press release. No mention of it to Bill Becker today on “Morning Magazine”. However, I am sure you can get the word out.
Larry
Dr. Larry Murray
Fiscal Watchdog and Citizen Advocate
Sloan Bashinsky
This entry was posted
on Saturday, March 23rd, 2013 at 6:16 am and is filed under Today's Cock-A-Doodle-Doo.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
