Rip-Off Team wants city action on repeat cosmetics shop violato

May 17, 2019

Mr. James Scholl City Manager
City of Key West 1300 White St.
Key West, FL 33040

Dear Mr. Scholl:

On behalf of our local citizen advocacy group, the Key West Rip-Off Rapid Response Team (KWRRRT), we are hereby formally requesting that you exercise your authority under City Ordinance 18-707, which authorizes the City Manager to convene a hearing looking toward the suspension of a cosmetic shop permit if the permit holder has previously been found in violation of applicable city ordinances.

We are asking that you convene this hearing against Far Beauty, LLC, which operates a cosmetic shop at 211 Duval St. In a Settlement Agreement with the City dated April 24, 2019, Far Beauty admitted to having committed prior violations and was ordered to pay fines in the maximum amount of $500 per violation, plus $250 in administrative costs.

As we demonstrate below, monetary penalties such as these are utterly ineffective in deterring the cosmetic shops from continuing to violate the City’s ordinances. Unless you convene the suspension hearing authorized by Section 18-707, the shop at 211 Duval Street, and all the other cosmetic shops in Key West, will continue to flout the law in the same manner they have in the past.

Historically, these cosmetic shops have had an abysmal track record regarding compliance with applicable code requirements. According to data compiled by the Code Compliance Office, over the last three years the cosmetic shops have been the subject of 62 complaints lodged with the Code Office and 20 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau, for a total of 82 complaints. Importantly, these are the violations that have been reported. It’s anybody’s guess how many more violations have occurred that were not reported.

In light of this long and consistent history of repeat offenses by the cosmetic shops, it is clear that the monetary penalty provisions of the Code (i.e., $500 maximum fine per violation plus $250 in court costs) are an insufficient enforcement mechanism to ensure that the shops comply with the City’s regulations. Compared to the substantial revenues generated by these shops (as evidenced by the sky-high prices they charge for their products and services), these fines are utterly trivial and obviously are viewed by the cosmetic shop owners as merely a nuisance. In short, they perceive the fines as no more than a small part of their overall cost of doing business; they pay up, and then they return to their practice of ignoring the ordinances and committing more violations.

Clearly, stronger enforcement measures are necessary, especially now that the City has adopted important new regulatory provisions governing cosmetic shop operations, including requirements that the shops notify the public that they do not hold a Florida cosmetology license; obtain prior written consent before applying any samples or products to a customer; and that store employees wear sterile disposable gloves when applying any samples or products.

The KWRRRT acknowledges that the City Attorney and several of the Commissioners, notably Commissioners Kaufman and Weekley, invested a great deal of time and effort in crafting those recent amendments, which were designed to protect consumers and promote public health and safety; and we applaud the efforts of all who helped make the laws a reality.

Unfortunately, based on the prior track record of the cosmetic shops, we are convinced that all of the time and effort expended by the City Commission on the new legislation will have been totally wasted unless the City strengthens its enforcement mechanisms.

That means that you must invoke your authority under Section 18-707 and convene a suspension hearing, thereby sending a message that the City is resolute in its determination to protect consumers and safeguard public health.

If you do not, the cosmetic shop owners will surely perceive the opposite message, namely that the City is not serious about enforcing the new requirements and that “business as usual” will continue to be tolerated.

Sincerely,

Tevis Wernicoff [email protected]

Bruce Mitchell [email protected]

CC: Mayor Teri Johnston
Commissioners Weekley, Kaufman, Wardlow, Davila, Hoover, Lopez Law Director Shawn Smith
Assistant Law Director Ronald Ramsingh
Director of Code Compliance Jim Young
Assistant City Manager Greg Veliz