John Smith Letter to City Commission and BVRAC Board 

The following is a letter that John W Smith wrote to the City Commission and BVRAC Board regarding “The Loft’s at Bahama Village” 3.2 Development. 

On Wednesday, July 6th, there is to be a City Hall meeting discussing the 3.2 Development, immediately following the City Commission meeting. It will begin at 5PM in City Hall. On Thursday, July 8th, the BVRAC Board meeting will be held in City Hall Chambers. 

The Frederick Douglass School Black Educators’ Memorial Project, Inc.

Information presented to Mayor Johnston and City Commissioners and the BVRAC Board from John Wilson Smith on or around June 5, 2022, regarding the 3.2 Acre and the Loft Development, addressing their status and an update on their progress.

 The 3.2 Acres

It is public knowledge that in 2002, the U.S. Navy returned a total of more than 33 acres of land, previously confiscated from the Black community of Bahama Village, for eminent domain during the 1940s. When the property was returned, it was stipulated that 6.6 acres were to benefit the Black people of the Bahama Village community. To date, the Bahama Village community has not received anything.

Several months ago, I attended a Charter Review Board meeting, whereby the Charter Review Board took a stance to vote on recommending the city commission put the 3.2 acres into District 6. With respect to the 3.2 acres, exactly how were they placed in District 6? How does this happen when key community members including the Chairman of the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee Board among others believed that the 3.2 acres were in District 6?

Finally, without the City Commission’s public approval, the last remaining portion of the Navy’s property, the 3.2 acres, were reinstated in District 6. Up until this action, NOT one inch of Black peoples’ property was in District 6. The community has been misled under the assumption that the 3.2 acres were in District 6, when, in fact, they have been in Jimmy Weekley’s District 1, for over 10 years.

The Loft Development 

In relation to The Lofts Development, I, and the members of our group are extremely disappointed in the new trajectory of the plans that Aids Help of Monroe Inc/Director Scott Pridgen has presented to date. We feel this way, mainly, because the numbers do not reflect the major issue, that of showing that the original benefactors of the remaining 3.2 acres of the 6.6 acres returned to the Black Community are not receiving their fair due intended by  the U.S. Navy.

Aids Help, Inc. was quoted as saying “It could build whatever the community desired.” 

In addition, Aids Help mentioned that the design or quantity of units can be modified to make the final numbers work, as it is a community project. We are asking for clarification to help us understand these remarks.

There are a total of one hundred twenty-six (126) units, three (3) very low-income units, eleven (11) low-income units, and fourteen (14) market rate units. According to current statistics, very few Black families and individuals will be able to buy home ownership at the fourteen (14) market rate income units. The fourteen (14) market rate units are for households with an AMI (Area Median Income) of 140%, or a sale price of $600,000 dollars. The numbers released, previously, by AIDS HELP are Not The Final Numbers. 

The Bahama Village community has once again been misled and deceived by the fallacious testimony about the “LOFTS DEVELOPMENT,” the 3.2 Development, which includes, too, the loss of a promised commercial space.

The current plan does not include, nor does it help the Black and native Conch community of Bahama Village. The sad reality is that Black people still live in substandard conditions in public housing that is over 80 years old. Therefore, The Bahama Village Community is hereby destined to receive nothing, except the negative impact from a brand-new development.

After reviewing the situation and speaking with other community members, the community feels as though the 3.2 acres have once again been taken from the Black people of Bahama Village for a third time, and twice within the past 20 years. If the community at large does not have a presence there, we strongly recommend that the property remain a green space. Other individuals should have the opportunity to produce a plan that will include the Black community and Native Conchs.

We are calling on our Key West community to help support our group’s appeal to the City of Key West, the Mayor and Commissioners, and the BVRAC Board to help us see that the Black Members of Bahama Village and the Native Conchs receive due process. We ask, too, to please allow history to author a story about each of those concerned with regulating this matter in a way that they may be remembered as individuals who did the right thing for, and by the people of Key West.

Signed: John Wilson Smith, President

Frederick Douglass School Black Educators Memorial Project, Inc.

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