Poinciana Gardens goes on life support as concerns grow for feckless Fourthers
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
It fell to an emotional Manuel J. Castillo to announce to commissioners news that some feared was coming: Poinciana Gardens, the new Duck Avenue and 17th Street assisted living facility is in poor financial health.
Meeting in cyberspace June 16, a hushed silence fell over the Zoom rooms when Castillo began to speak.
“It troubles me much to have to have this conversation with the Board,” said Castillo, who runs both the city and county housing authorities.
Castillo then gave a brief history of the creation of the facility in 2018; its turning over to private management companies, and its current issues with red ink.
“We were beginning to see an increase in occupancy,” Castillo said. “And then Covid-19 hit.”
Now, having subsidized Poinciana Gardens to the tune of $2.5 million, Castillo hopes for a new partnership with the City of Key West.
Though nothing was decided at the meeting, the overwhelmingly positive reaction to this suggestion offered hope.
“None of us really understand exactly what went wrong here, but we’re all interested in doing whatever we can to save it,” said District II Commissioner Sam Kaufman, after the meeting. “And it looks like there could be an opportunity with the county to merge the operations of Bayshore Manor, which is old, heavily subsidized by the county, and only has 16 beds.”
The idea of losing the state-of-the-art facility is not something anyone wants to see, he added.
“It’s just too important to allow it to fail,” he said.
As regards the Fourth, City Manager Greg Veliz tried to speak for the Commissioners he’d debriefed after the first full weekend of the reopening of the tourist economy, amid growing unease with plans for the family friendly annual event.
“There were many, many photographs that showed that people were not being responsible,” Veliz said. “Some would question whether social distancing is capable with the number of people we had in town, on Duval Street, and outside some of the establishments . . . Last week we passed the Fourth of July fireworks display . . . I don’t know how we guarantee [a safe, mandatory mask-wearing event.] . . . I think we can promote it; we can definitely ask for it . . .
but I think that putting law enforcement into a situation where ‘either put your mask on or we escort you off the beach’ is going to become problematic . . . Is that something we want to revisit? I’m not sure we can deliver anything significantly different from what you saw this weekend.”
Most Commissioners agreed that plans for the Fourth had to move forward.
“I think we should give it a shot,” said District III Commissioner Billy Wardlow, who also suggested some changes to the ramps leading to the beaches. “I’m scared. I want to see it go through, and I think . . . citizens of Key West will . . . do the right thing. I really think we should give it a try.”
Ultimately, the Commissioners unanimously agreed to proceed with Independence Day plans, while a representative of the Key West Rotary, which puts on the event, declared that he felt the event could proceed safely.
District V Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover suggested setting up a preemptive meeting with first responders to go over plans again, drawing support from her colleague Clayton Lopez, of District VI, and Mayor Teri Johnston.
“When we talk about personal responsibility, to me that’s a trait; that’s not a plan,” Johnston said. “This is our first big test. I’m very concerned about what happens on the beach.”
The City Commission holds its next full cyberspace meeting July 21.
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