ELECTION PROFILE – MARGARET ROMERO

Regular speaker at commission meetings, Romero wants to move beyond her three minutes

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Pick a Key West City Commission meeting, any meeting, for the past several years and Margaret Romero will inevitably be found at the podium, speaking out on a host of issues for the allotted three minutes.

Running to replace Teri Johnston as the District V representative on the Key West City Commission, Romero walks to the microphone during the public comment portion of each meeting, often armed with a thick notebook of research she has done on a specific topic. And she often takes commissioners and city staff to task over their recommendations on the matter.

The proposal for the city to purchase Peary Court and convert it to affordable housing? “A smokescreen” to get a $55 million bond issue on the ballot that might be diverted to fund other projects, she says.

The Truman Waterfront Park project? Some of the things proposed for the new park, such as the concert amphitheater, “are special interest-oriented.”

The Horace O’Bryant School renovation that put a 64-foot building in a residential neighborhood restricted to a 25-foot height limit? “I went so far as to find out, yes, [construction] could be stopped. The school board didn’t want to hear it,” Romero said in a recent interview with Konk Life.

These challenges and others are Romero’s way of giving a voice to residents she believes are too intimidated to protest.

“I do research, that’s what I do,” she said. “I kept doing it because people would say, ‘oh, God, I’m so glad you’re doing that.’ I continue to try to do the right thing and make sure people have the correct information and there is a solid business case for things that happen.”

That desire for a “solid business case” comes from Romero’s background working 30 years for technology giant IBM. But her passion for local government started about seven years ago when Romero tried to get some information about affordable housing for her aunt.

“I couldn’t get any answers. I wasn’t hearing anything. That’s what got me started on this,” she said, adding, “There’s a business side of me that just wants to do the right thing. Fiscal responsibility in everything we do and transparency in government.”

Affordable housing is still an important topic in Romero’s playbook. She advocates giving a tax break to landlords who keep their year-round rental properties affordable. But her research has grown to include a multitude of topics – including the $250,000 city grant to bail out the schooner Western Union, which she opposed – each one researched in part for its financial implications for taxpayers. A sixth-generation Conch, Romero has tried to look at each issue from a resident’s point of view.

“Think. Citizens. Period. If we always do right by our citizens, then we’ll always be doing right,” she says.

Romaro, 64, has run for Key West Mayor three times, each time defeated by current Mayor Craig Cates. She has not held an elected position but sat on the Key West Strategic Planning Committee in 2010, the Restoration Advisory Board for Naval Air Station Key West, and the Citizens Emergency Response Team, an emergency preparedness committee working with the Key West Fire Department. She is also involved with St. Mary’s Catholic Church, has written a cookbook and received hazardous material removal training.

“I do a little bit of everything,” she laughed.

But it is local government that continues to attract Romero. And she is hoping that she will have a vote on the city commission after the Oct. 6 election, not just three minutes at the podium.

“Some people think I have conspiracy theories,” Romero said. “I think I just ask a lot of intelligent questions.”

 

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