Letter to the Editor

A few things about the article and the PAL building:

1) Although the new multi-purpose recreation field in the area of the PAL building is on the Master Plan, the plan has been changed at least 9 times since I was appointed to the Truman Waterfront Advisory Board in October 2015.

2) In the article – “A 2012 report by city engineers said it would be less expensive to knock the building down than to repair it.” This is technically correct, however, if this structurally sound building is renovated for say, $1-$1.5 million, the city would have a multi-purpose building worth probably at least $3 million or more. A local, highly respected architect who is already familiar with the building, walked the area with me a month or two ago and said the building is structurally sound and he didn’t see any reason for it to be torn down.

3) If plans are carried out to build on the beautiful, open space Gilleran Field aka Petronia Street Field, this would be one of the biggest mistakes in the history of Key West, imo. To me, this shows a complete lack of foresight to build on that open lot, which is one of the few open spaces left in the entire city.