Letter to the Editor
As a child The KW Bight was the most intriguing neighborhood on the island. Riding a bike down Caroline was such a treat. It was filled with colorful characters and bustling maritime industry.
20 some years ago I was elated that the bight be preserved. Voted for it and I’ve been a tenant here for two decades. .
I remember the last three schooners built across the street, Captain Outrageous’s airstream and many fascinating people like Captain Bill Ford and his wife Fran.
Many changes have taken place over my 67 years, but the 600 block of Greene has kept much of the Key West flavor we all love. Leslie, at Captains Corner, Kermit’s gingerbread house at Xmas & pies, The Conch Farms dazzling surroundings and fresh island fish, 90 Miles to Cuba’s quaint charm, Reef Relief and Peppers all locally owned and operated. Mario Sanchez’s bight has changed but his art and that of 37 local artists flourishes here on the 600 block.
We are and should be a town of lovingly preserved enchantments that put us at a remove from the overbuilt and over-bulldozed development of the rest of the country with abundant natural beauties—lush vegetation, our town boasts some of the most intriguing architecture anywhere in the form of the famous “Conch” houses built by early settlers, Mr. Skoko lives in the last one.
The shrimpers, commercial watermen, and sponge market are gone. The Waterfront market is a memory, large hotels and buildings have sprouted, but the Schooner Wharf still hosts wooden tall ships which differentiates our neighborhood from any other marina in Florida.
Harvey, the last commercial trap man standing pulls and tends his traps under old growth trees on Greene St.
Trees have been cut down and more and more congestion fueled by more parking lots and garages have lured people to town by car instead of spending on mass transit or bike lanes. The city is encouraging dirty air and congestion.
We, the cottage industry business people of Greene St, many of us natives are against the destruction of the last few beautiful old growth trees on our block. Against more congestion, years of painful, dirty, noisy construction, enormous taxpayer expense and against the total extinction of the last commercial fisherman.
These are the pleasures of Historic Seaport we who work and live here ask you to maintain. This was the mandate of the voters two decades ago. Additionally What the visitors to the historic seaport come here for, a real experience. If they wanted convenience they would go to Disney World.
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