Hometown last candidate forum

Key West Mayor candidates face off last time before primary

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

As the 2018 election season hits the homestretch before the Aug. 28 primary in Key West, all seven of the candidates for mayor met July 23 in a question and answer forum sponsored by Hometown!, the local non-partisan resource for candidate and election information.

Of course, this being Key West, there was more than a dollop of irreverence injected into some of the candidate statements. For example, Sloan Bashinsky pulled out his cell phone during his introductory remarks and took a call from God, who apparently asked why $155,400 in annual funding to six local non-profit agencies was on the chopping block in the upcoming fiscal year budget.

“Have they lost their minds,” Bashinski said God asked him, referring to city budget officials. “Yeah, I think they have.”

“Sloan, can I get that number,” asked Todd German, Hometown! chairman, after Bashinsky put his telephone away.

But most of the questions by a group of four local panelists and the resulting answers were serious and tackled a wide range of issues, including affordable housing, sea level rise, whether city commissioners should be elected in citywide elections rather than by district, and should the city continue to operate its ambulance service – which has not produced the revenue supporters originally predicted – or outsource the operation to an independent entity.

That last question was directed to current Commissioner Margaret Romero, who is giving up her District 5 seat in order to run for mayor. Acknowledging that the ambulance service is operating at a deficit instead of breaking even, Romero said she has ridden along on some emergency calls and believes the fire department is the best agency to operate the emergency service.

“Those are the best people we could possibly have,” she said.

Romero was also asked by panelist Bryan Green what she believed she could achieve as mayor that she cannot as city commissioner.

“It appears that the mayor gets listened to more than the city commissioners,” she answered, adding that if elected, she would look out for the entire community, “not special friends or special groups.”

Former Key West City Commissioner Teri Johnston had several questions directed at her, including whether she would support expanding services to the homeless staying at the city overnight shelter, including medical assistance and job training. Johnston said she would support services that would treat the shelter residents with compassion.

“More than 45 percent of the people at [the shelter] right now are active working individuals that simply cannot come up with the first, last and one-month deposit… I’m all for programs that give someone a hand up, not a hand-out,” she said.

Candidate Randy Becker was asked whether he thought giving the new owners of the Peary Court apartment complex $12 million in land bank funds was a sensible use of taxpayer money. Becker said yes, as long as the original agreement to keep the existing apartments as affordable while building 48 new units was kept. But the owner, Cornfeld Group, is now asking the city for permission to subdivide the existing apartments to create more units instead of adding new buildings, Becker said. The new mayor and commissioners “need to hold the line with Cornfeld Group that these buildings be kept affordable and there would be additional units,” Becker said.

Candidate Cari Noda was asked what she thought was the most important issue facing Key West besides the dearth of affordable housing. School security, she said.

“In Monroe County we’ve had, what, five or six brand new schools built in the past five or six years. And not a one has any kind of high-tech security systems,” she said, adding that disaster preparedness was also top on her list of issues she would tackle if elected.

George Bellenger, running for a second time for mayor, was asked what past city commission decisions he would change if he could go back in time. He immediately said not forcing developers of Truman Annex and the next-door Shipyard housing projects to keep the units as affordable housing for a longer period of time before transitioning to market-rate transient housing.

“Any decision the city has made that has not helped provide long-term housing for our workers should have been gone back and reviewed,” he said, adding that Key West is paying for those “mistakes” now.

Panelist John Dolan-Heitlinger took a contrarian view when he asked Teri Johnston about sea level rise, claiming that unspecified data shows the level of rising ocean waters has slowed to zero. He asked what evidence Johnston would use to ensure Key West doesn’t unnecessarily spend money fighting a problem that may not actually be a problem. Johnston was emphatic in her reply.

“I don’t think we’re going to spend any unnecessary money because it is a problem,” she said to audience applause. “It’s one of, I think, our community’s greatest challenges that we prepare without being Chicken Little.” Key West needs to look to other communities, such as Miami Beach, to see how they are addressing the problem and use best practices to “harden” Key West to prepare for future climate change because “It’s coming,” she added.

Bellenger took another question about what he would do in his first 100 days as mayor if elected. He said he would revisit the city’s 10-year comprehensive plan to ensure the tree canopy would be restored, begin building the proposed affordable housing development slated for city-owned property on College Road, and give city public works staff better tools such as pressure washers to clean Duval Street.

Candidate Bill Foley was asked if he believed the city should build affordable housing itself or provide incentives to developers to take on that responsibility.

“I have no problem with the city building affordable housing but they should not be in the business of running it,” Foley said. He also touted his financial background, saying, “I deserve your vote because I am a problem solver. I’m great with finance and great with problem solving.”

But Bashinsky took the prize for being the most entertaining candidate, delighting the audience with his irreverence for current city officials, calling out Commissioner Clayton Lopez for his representation of Bahama Village and complaining that he wasn’t asked any questions about the homeless shelter despite the fact he has been a resident there in the past. And when he was asked by Kay Harris, editor of the Key West Citizen and one of the panelists, why he kept running for mayor (he has consistently been a candidate since 2003), Bashinsky had a quick answer.

“I have said every time I ran that I ran because God told me to run. Nothing’s changed. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” he said, pausing, then adding, “I think that anybody who wants this job is insane.”

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