(Ed Swift and Blind Justice)
Two replies to yesterday’s “Duck Karma – Key West” post. The first responder, Peggy Butler, is Diane Burledsen’s partner. She wrote her own review of the recent city commission meeting, after watching it on Channel 77. Here’s the weblink. http://www.peggregory.com/index.php?page_id=374 The second responder, Jim Brooks, a retired naval officer, handles community affairs for the Naval Air Station Key West. My replies follow theirs.
I’m with Diane, Sloan. Had I been there, I would have laid down my pen and clapped for you, also . . .
I am in agreement with you all the way. That is why I supported Tom [Milone] so vigorously, helping him set up his website, making calls and e-mailing folks, despite not being able to get out to people. I knew if Jimmy (regardless of whether he is a good person or not) got back in (and of course, he wants to be mayor again, which was the plan when he ran for commissioner, from all indications), we were in jeopardy of going down the same road we went before with the Ducks and I knew Tom would not compromise his intellect and his values. And, Tom had no hidden agenda. What you see is what you get with him. I still cannot understand (except he is not a bubba) why he was not elected. Yes, he isn’t the bubbly friendly person who is in demand socially, but just as with people voting for George W. Bush, I don’t give a damn how socially extroverted a person is. I care about his character, his honesty and how he will handle the issues. And, I certainly felt that way about Tom’s candidacy. And, the people who do take the time to know him, know he is friendly if given a chance and would do anything on earth to help anyone.
So, thank you for not compromising your principles in speaking before the commission. You were right on the money with everything you said.
Have a nice weekend, Sloan,
Peggy Butler
I like Jimmy, but I supported Tom because I felt we needed new blood on the city commission, and because I had observed Tom doing his homework and speaking out ongoing at commission and other government meetings for years, whether he was running for office or not. In his last campaign, he called himself “The People’s Watchdog,” and that’s exactly what he has been. He is not from around these parts, he is not part of the local power structure. He certainly would not have voted, as Jimmy Weekley did at the city commission meeting three weeks ago, where the tour ordinance was first hashed about, to give Ed Swift’s Historic Tours of America (HTA) a 300-foot protected zone around its stops on our city streets, which Mr. Swift seemed to argue at the city commission meeting earlier this week, he and HTA had acquired exclusive squatters’ rights to because of all of their hard work building up HTA’s business in Key West. Mr. Swift left out that he had gotten those squatters’ rights because the city had given him a monopoly. And then the city had enforced the monopoly by running Duck Tours out of business in the mid-1990s, wasn’t it? Sloan
———————————–
Always interesting reading your posts Sloan.
City has an opportunity to “fix” this problem when the HTA license expires. I have come to my personal conclusion that maybe the Citizen editorial was on the mark: don’t do ANYTHING until the HTA license expires.
Here’s my perspective based on studying tourism at the Univ. of New Haven: in Key West, you currently having a business venue push a tourism venue. What is more desirable is have a community push a tourism “philosophy” and build the venues around that. In other words, don’t put the cart before the horse.
The city’s tourism market has shown a train style venue is a good thing AND transportation is needed to move people from cruise ships to downtown. The market exists. It’s the “community” that owns that market: not a company. The “community” needs to determine what is the right mix to respond to the demand as well as impacts to the community. Maybe a business can run tour trains all day but it screws up traffic. So maybe the right decision is to run XX numbers of trains per day and no more.
Knowing demand and what the community is willing to accept, then FILL it through competitive bids and/or processes.
HTA is more than just the Conch Tour train. If they were to be outbid, it’s still going to exist. The “jobs” aren’t going to go away. Employees will transfer from one employer to the next.
There’s a window of opportunity to get the city’s ducks in a row (intended pun). I have to agree with the Citizen editorial.
Jim
Hi, Jim.
Alas, the city not doing anything until HTA’s franchise agreement expires in six years almost certainly would be viewed by a judge and jury, and by an appellate court, as the city’s continuance of HTA’s monopoly in the interim.
Commissioner Teri Johnston said at the last meeting that we don’t have to let the tour companies be in charge. We can be in charge and tell them what they can and cannot do. I agree with that, but it has to be done in a way that does not discriminate for or against another tour company.
Someone suggested that we stop all tour companies. This may be legally possible when HTA’s franchise expires, but not now, because a court and jury and appellate court would side with HTA, because of its franchise agreement with the city. HTA’s agreement is really in the way, in other words.
Someone else, like you did, suggested that it be put out for bids, one company ends up with it, like Waste Management ended up with our waste removal disposal after bidding for it. Problem with that is HTA’s big head start due to the monopoly. Neither CityView nor Duck Tours could match HTA’s bid in this market. Neither could even pay what HTA pays the city now under its franchise agreement.
Someone today told me the National Park Service just noticed the two Key West companies that provide tours to Ft. Jefferson that one of them will have to quit, the one willing to pay the least to the Park Service, I think. The rationale was two companies put to much pressure on the environment in the Park. I said maybe that’s okay for a National Park, but I didn’t think that approach would fly in Key West, which isn’t a National Park. Again, HTA’s monopoly clouds everything. Were KW a virgin market being courted fresh by HTA, Duck Tours and CityView, it would different.
The fact is, KW’s is a tourist-driven economy, which has developed haphazardly with the aid of visionary businessmen like Ed Swift, who took a lot of risks. Maybe his being a conch, a homeboy, got him some slack cut. Maybe some deals were made. Duck Tours looked like a deal, its demise.
We now are hearing clamor to get rid of Fantasy Fest. Lots of locals would like to, they say. Maybe if they got their wish, maybe if they got Duval Street cleaned up all the way, they would wish they hadn’t gotten their wish. Maybe they would be wondering how they are going to pay the rent and light bill and buy groceries and pay Waste Management to keep the city clean.
I understand there was a time when the Strand Theater on Duval ran “Deep Throat” continuously, for the American sailors stationed here. I remember when KW was a sailor town and depended as heavily on sailors as it now depends on tourism. There was division then over what was best for the city: sailors or poverty. After the Navy cut its KW operation way back, the city had to reinvent itself to stave off poverty. It became a tourist destination.
There simply is no easy fix to the tour vehicle situation. The first step is to break HTA’s monopoly, because nobody wants KW to have another Duck Tours experience, except maybe Duck Tours.
The next step comes in six years, as I see it. HTA’s franchise agreement runs out, the city can look at new options. Even so, I don’t see tours stopping. Too many visitors to KW want to take the tours. Many of them like what they see and come back to visit. Some buy a home here. We need a tour company. We might need more than one. I mean, this is America, isn’t it. Isn’t our national religion capitalism and the free enterprise system? 
Sloan