Bar Pilots Sue to Stop Cruise Ship Vote in Key West

Bar Pilots Sue to Stop Cruise Ship Vote in Key West

Federal lawsuit says judge, not voters, should decide cruise question

The Key West Bar Pilots Association filed a lawsuit in federal court last week to keep cruise ship referenda off the November ballot. The suit names Joyce Griffin, Monroe County’s non-partisan Supervisor of Elections; the City of Key West; and the Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships, the nonprofit group that organized a successful petition drive to give voters the final word on an issue that has long vexed the community.

The ballot questions ask voters whether or not to limit the capacity of cruise ships and the number of daily disembarkations, and whether or not to prioritize cruise ships with better public health and environmental records. The Key West Chamber of Commerce endorsed one of the three referenda last week. Key West Mayor Teri Johnston described the proposed amendments during a candidates’ forum as a “compromise between the numbers of passengers and the size of ships and the environmental issues we’ve had.”

The pilots’ lawsuit claims the amendments would be the end of cruise ships coming to Key West. They claim no modern cruise ships meet the proposed criteria, despite the fact that such ships have called on Key West in recent years. Their claim is also at odds with recent comments by Mayor Johnston, who said that executives from Royal Caribbean have offered assurances that they are “willing to work with the City of Key West and accommodate the request of the citizens.”

However, if a federal judge agrees with the pilots, the cruise ship questions would be deleted from the November ballot.

The Bar Pilots Association is made up of four captains who contract with the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, a conglomerate of 15 member cruise lines. The pilots provide cruise ships with assistance when they come into and out of port and are paid according to the size of the vessel they handle. According to an investigation by the Port of Miami, the four Key West pilots earned over $2 million in 2015.

“This lawsuit is a desperate ploy to stop Key West’s 15,000 voters from exercising their rights,” says Arlo Haskell, treasurer of the Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships. “Whatever you think about cruise ships in Key West, everyone has the right to vote on an issue that will impact our public health, our environment, and our economy. We will fight the Bar Pilots with everything we’ve got to make sure Key West voters are allowed to decide for themselves.”

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