By Bruce Mitchel

I would like to sincerely and publicly apologize to anyone who attended the Mayor’s Ball Saturday night at Michael Halpren’s Southernmost House and was offended by the informational picketing by members of the Key West Rip-Off Rapid Response Team.

We were not protesting the mayor, the Mayors Ball or the great charities it supports. Rather, we politely brought public discussion of the rip-off shops and who rents to them to a very influential group of Key West citizens. Our purpose was to inform the community minded of Key West that Michael Halpern continues to rent to a rip-off cosmetic shop, Oh La La, 120 Duval Street, despite his public and private assurances that they would be gone by the end of last year. This is one of three remaining cosmetic shops that harass pedestrians, rip off tourists, violate city code, and give all of Key West a bad name. 

For the last five years, our group of volunteer consumer advocates has tried to stop the cosmetic shop rip-offs, recover money for victims, warn cruise ship passengers, and lobby for stricter enforcement of the city code. We also have staged sidewalk protests in front of the rip-off shops to warn consumers and stop the deplorable practices of these businesses.

For the last five plus years, Mr. Halpern has rented to a business many believe has no place in Key West. We are disappointed Mr Halpern didn’t follow through on closing the store at the end of 2019 and don’t understand why he hasn’t returned our calls so he can explain his decision. Thank you to many of the attendees who voiced their support for the fight against the rip-off shops, and again my apologies to any attendee who was offended by our actions. I am truly sorry. 

To demonstrate the sincerity of this public apology, I am donating $1,000 to each of the charities the Mayor’s Ball supports and thank all of those who attended.

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