Letter To Editor / Peary Court
By Roger C. Kostmayer
If you care about the future of Key West, the March 15 election is an opportunity to have a long term positive impact on both your life and your community.
A vote to buy Peary Court for worker housing – residents like nurses, teachers, firemen, waiters and police – would be one part of a comprehensive housing plan to protect the quality of life and achieve long term economic stability. Failure to obtain voters’ permission, meaning the “no” vote wins, leads to: the loss of 157 homes now being used by those workers, a substantial increase in the affordable and workforce housing problem, and the probable development of multi -million dollar residences on that property. Think about that.
Therefor, there are two choices: a “no” vote will produce negative financial and quality of life results; and a “yes” vote for Peary Court (if the project is managed effectively over time) will produce a partial solution to a critical community problem, a solution about which we can all be proud. It’s better to avoid the worst outcome, many experts agree, even though some of the benefits of buying Peary Court are difficult to quantify.
To be clear, Peary Court is not a magic bullet solution to KW housing issues. The forces of increasing demand and decreasing supply make affordable housing a difficult challenge for communities like ours, from Aspen, Colorado to New York City. But making hard decisions today that will protect our quality of life in the future is the right thing to do.
Vote YES.
[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0] 
Roger, I disagree. I recommend a NO vote.
The Peary Court purchase is not part of a comprehensive housing plan. In fact The City has NO comprehensive plan to deal with this issue. This is simply a knee jerk reaction to a single option. If there was a comprehensive plan there would be many other options on the table that create more affordable units, for less money and at truly affordable rents. For the same $55 million the city could easily build twice as many units at a lower cost which in turn could rent at truly affordable rates.
Additionally, if the City had a comprehensive plan we would not be watching current affordable housing units disappear to redevelopment projects.
Finally, Peary Court is NOT AFFORDABLE HOUSING. At the planned rental rates it does not come close to meeting the definition.