By Sue Seboda
During Covid a dangerous creature emerged – the government god. In search of relevance, these self-appointed gods picked Covid winners and losers. They delivered incredible profits to big box corporate giants while shuttering small businesses even if they could operate safely. Casinos won, churches lost. Airlines, where passengers sit inches apart, continued to fly but restaurants were closed, some forever. They gave “essential” folks the ability to pay their bills and booted many “nonessentials” to food lines and government handouts. All the while the government gods were free to ignore their own rules and studiously avoid the very real consequences of lockdowns. Sadly the fear soaked citizens let them do it.
In Key West, we are once again at the mercy of government gods. This branch of Tallahassee gods has decided they know what’s best for Key West and they, and they alone, will pick the winners and losers in our town. The House will vote on HB267 soon and, if passed, the bill will land on Governor DeSantis’s desk for signature or veto. HB267 seeks to override the November 2020 referendum in which Key West citizens voted to restrict the size and number of cruise ships. This bill was sponsored by Rep. Spencer Roach from Ft Myers and Rep. Tyler Sirois of Merritt Island.
Inquiring minds would like to know how the size of cruise ships in Key West impacts Ft Myers, Merritt Island or any other city in Florida? Have Rep. Roach and Sirois been in Key West when thousands of cruise ship passengers have been disgorged? Are Rep. Roach and Sirois aware that many businesses in Key West are doing notably better without cruise ships? Have they bothered to ask why that might be? Have they evaluated how businesses who have been hurt with no cruise ships will be impacted when they return at a level consistent with the referendum? Or are they only focused on the reduced income that Mark Walsh and Pier D Development will experience from smaller ships?
Has Mark Walsh’s nearly $1,000,000 donation to Friends of Ron DeSantis encouraged Rep. Roach and Sirois to arrogantly assert we “are engaging in economic elitism in an attempt to remake Key West in the mold of Martha’s Vineyard”. First, why do they care what happens in our town? Second, are we elitists if we want cleaner water? Third, is it elitism to prefer more businesses that serve both the locals and tourists and less that peddle junk? Fourth, please produce one human being who wants Key West to be Martha’s Vineyard. In my humble opinion it is elitism for any Tallahassee god to create laws that determine which Key West businesses prosper and which do not thereby impacting the nature of our town.
Regardless of your political party or whether you are for or against cruise ships, we should unite in the knowledge that our vote matters. If those at the State level believe the citizens made a mistake, let’s examine all of the facts and perhaps hold another referendum if current reality differs from assumptions made in November 2020. As a community we should honestly evaluate how and which businesses have been and will be impacted with no, limited, or the maximum number of cruise ships. We should also determine post covid travel patterns before any decision is made since this could significantly impact the debate. One thing we cannot do, however, is let the government gods take over our town and once again pick who wins and who dies.