Key West’s new mayor ready for action

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Two days after winning the election for mayor of Key West, Teri Johnston was at Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park with her granddaughter, soaking up some sun before the winds of political change begin to blow.

“It’s one of our fleeting moments. I thought I’d take advantage of it,” she laughed, eight days before she was set to be sworn in for a four-year term as the city’s leading elected official.

It may be awhile before Johnston has time to relax at Ft. Zach again. She has an ambitious initial agenda to begin her term on Nov. 19. First, she wants to begin creating what she calls “people’s committees” to study and report back on ways to improve Duval Street; including cleaning up the street, filling the growing number of empty storefronts on the city’s main commercial boulevard, and exploring the feasibility of creating a pedestrian mall on specific blocks downtown. Next, she wants to streamline the building permit process at city hall. And lastly, Johnston wants to fast-track vetting city-owned vacant land parcels to see which ones might be suitable for workforce housing development.

“Those are the three biggies I’m going to hit the ground running on,” she said.

So long beach days.

When asked how she will produce results on some of the long-standing problems facing Key West, particularly the dearth of affordable housing, when previous administrations could not, Johnston said her experience as a builder – she and partner Dar Castillo own Affiliated Design and Construction Managers – gives her a unique understanding of how to solve the challenges of development. Allowing building permits to be issued faster and partnering with private developers to build on city-owned parcels will be the most effective way to start easing the stress of the lack of affordable housing in Key West, she said.

“An acre and a half can do a lot in Key West. It doesn’t do the city any good to leave them vacant,” she said, referring to the dozens of small city-owned land parcels wedged into neighborhoods throughout the city. “These people [developers] do it every day. They are experts at it.”

Johnston already has deep relationships with city officials and staff, having previously been a city commissioner from 2007 to 2015. Those relationships and her belief in inclusive leadership may help build consensus on difficult issues such as housing and the growing conflict between tourism and residents’ quality of life. She has already reached out to her campaign opponent, Margaret Romero. The two ran a remarkably civilized campaign against one another, focusing on issues and not on attack politics. In fact, the two entered the Harvey Government Center together on election night and sat together for an interview as Johnston made her first appearance as mayor-elect.

“Whatever I can do to help to make this community better, I’m there to help,” Romero told Johnston. “I’m still willing to make this a better town.”

Johnston received 66.13 percent, 6,635 votes, of the ballots cast in the Nov. 6 election. Romero received 33.87 percent, totaling 3,398 votes. The mayoral race attracted a plethora of candidates this year because five-term Mayor Craig Cates was forced out due to term limits, leaving the seat open to all comers. At one point, 12 candidates had declared they were running for the mayor spot.

Romero gave up her city commission seat after one term, choosing to run for mayor instead. With her loss, she may return to what was arguably her most effective role in Key West government; speaking from the public microphone at city commission and other municipal board meetings to nudge, cajole and sometimes demand that officials take her issue research under consideration. She promised to be at the Nov. 7 commission meeting as well as the Nov. 19 swearing-in ceremony for Johnston. I’m not going anywhere, Romero promised.

“I’ll be there,” she said.

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