Here's an idea!

This came from Ben Senturia (brother of Alice Senturia, who is on the steering committee), and it is a fine idea.

It looks as though you have four out of seven votes (a majority) on the Commission. If that is true, your goal is to solidify that support so that no one will change their minds. You might ask your supporters to deluge those four commissioners with letters, notes, and calls thanking them for their stand in support of the island. Appeal to their egos. Make them "heros" which in turn makes it much more difficult for them to change their minds. Thanks again for your good work.

Ben Senturia

The four commissioners whose support of approving a 90-day extension we have for certain are Mark Rossi, Bill Verge, Clayton Lopez, and Bill Gibson. The two of whom we are as yet uncertain are Teri Johnston and Dan Kolhage.

Here's a letter you may feel free to use:

Dear [commissioner],
Keeping Waterfront Market open is a matter of utmost urgency, and our Key West community has joined together to insure that this happens. Please do your part by voting to approve a 90-day extension for Buco Pantelis when the request comes before the city commission.

We are counting on you!

Signed, your loyal supporter,
[you]

There you go! The email addresses are listed here. And thanks, Ben!

What Can I Do?

For the past month, the steering committee for Friend of Waterfront Market has been getting together and putting together the structure of the deal to buy Waterfront Market and make it a not-for-profit cooperative. After looking at several models and modalities, we have come to the agreement that this is the best direction for us to head. This is good news.

We are hammering out the details. In addition to the seafood, meats and cheeses, deli, wines, and grocery items and necessities Waterfront Market provides for our community — how many of us go there for daily items, as well as for special items when we are having guests? — Waterfront Market is the supplier of the best and most local/fresh produce to 120+ wholesale customers. The structural model the steering development is such as to take this into consideration, and guarantee uninterrupted service to both sets of customers, retail and wholesale.

While we are doing this, we need supporters to write the newspapers, to call your city commissioners and the mayor, and to send emails. (See below.)

Here's why. In order for this (or another deal) to proceed, Buco Pantelis and Waterfront Market must go before the City Commission and request another 90-extension. Presently, what I here from my fellow steering committee members is that four city commissioners have given there blessings. They are Clayon Lopez, Mark Rossi, Barry Gibson, and Bill Verge. From what I understand, as Waterfront Market is in his district, Bill Verge is sponsoring the motion for the 90-day lease extension.

Below are the email addresses of the city commissioners, the mayor, and the newspapers, as well as the city commissioners and mayor's phone numbers. But first allow me to share with you what we have learned.

Community support for Waterfront Market staying open is nearly 100% unanimous. In the weeks Friends of Waterfront Market have been organizing, we have accumulated almost 1000 email addresses all in support of Keeping Waterfront Market Open. Our movement became a factor in this last election. Candidates spoke out openly on their support of this cause. This is what we have learned: Keeping Waterfront Market Open is one of the top priorities on the island.

That said, for any reason in the next couple weeks — when the decision must be made to extend the lease in order to enable a transition from one owner to either all of us as a community-owned Waterfront Market or to another potential buyer — if any real obstacle is put up by any elected official (or city employee, or individual employed by the city) we will know that that person or group is working with an agenda other than the best interest of the Island.

Why I mention this is the aforementioned city commisioners contacted by Friends of Waterfront Market have all to a one supported the movement to keep Waterfront Market open. (Bill Verge and Barry Gibson even showed up with the 30-to-40 supporters who turned out for the Friends of Waterfront Market's press conference on the steps of Waterfront Market two weeks ago.) Friends of Waterfront Market and supporters intend to be present at the commissioners meeting that this decision it made. A significant portion of the prosperity of our Island community's prosperity is at stake here, and people must be held accountable so as to insure that portion's well-being.

Over 45 household's have members employed by Waterfront Market. Our Island's independent fisherman, crabbers and lobsterers depend on Waterfront Market's seafood wholesale and retail operation. Our top 40 restaurants get their "cherry-picked" produce from Waterfront Market. Hotels, guesthouses, and caterers get their produce from Waterfront Market. Local artists, craftspeople, and artisans sell their wares and goods at Waterfront Market.

For anyone to obstructively stand in the way of keeping Waterfront Market open is a strike against our way of life and our entire community.

Please take a moment and let your feelings be known to the relevant parties below.

—
Mayor
Morgan MacPherson
mayor@keywestcity.com

—
City Commissioners:
Barry Gibson
bgibson@keywestcity.com

Dan Kolhage
dkolhage@keywestcity.com

Clayton Lopez
clopez@keywestcity.com

Mark Rossi
mrossi@keywestcity.com

Teri Johnston
tjohnston@keywestcity.com

Bill Verge
Bverge@keywestcity.com

—
Newspapers
Key West Citizen
Letters To The Editor
citizen@keysnews.com
Citizens Voice
voice@keysnews.com

Key West The Newspaper
kwtnblue@bellsouth.net

Solares Hill
Mark Howell
mhowell@keysnews.com
Nancy Klingener
nklingener@keysnews.com

—
...and those are the addresses. Email is one our most influential tools to make our positions known. Each one counts for many other voters. Take a single moment, write one or two lines, and with minimal effort suddenly your voice counts.

Let our one thousand voices be heard: "Keep Waterfront Market Open!"

Word gets out: KEEP IT OPEN!

photo: Mike Hentz/Key West Citizen

Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to the Key West media for the coverage we have received this week, most notably:

• Bill Becker and US-1 Radio;
• Mandy Bolen, Mike Hentz and The Key West Citizen;
• Sam Nissen and the Key West Keynoter.

The value of this attention is in communicating that the Keep Waterfront Market Open initiative is a genuine movement, and that as a movement we are on the move.

As our new website, waterfrontmarketkw.com, was left unmentioned in the newspaper articles, if at all possible, it would be a great service to all of us if everyone on our mailing list forwards the link to the site to their immediate friends and family. Waterfrontmarketkw.com is the access point to sign-up to receive information on how to KEEP IT OPEN!

We have begun to collect funds, and the money has begun to trickle in. As word spreads, I believe it will soon turn to a stream, and then a river.* Our plan is clear: We are aiming to buy Waterfront Market and to open it as a community-owned grocery. (When you want to make a pledge, and have questions, call me/305-304-1555. The Friends of Waterfront Market money is held in an escrow account at TIB administered by attorney Robert Citron.)

Make it known: Friends of Waterfront Market is in the process of raising $1.5 million dollars because we love Key West, we love living here, and the quality of life which makes living here such a dream come true is what is at stake.

*Checks made out to Friends of Waterfront Market should be dropped off at The Restaurant Store/Cole's Peace Bakery at 1111 Eaton Street, or the Law Offices of Hugh Morgan at 317 Whitehead Street.

FOWM Press Release — 11/09/07

PRESS RELEASE

Friends Of Waterfront Market Says
"Keeping Waterfront Market Open Essential"
Community-based Group Forms; Announces Plan

KEY WEST, FL — A group of concerned citizens announced today the formation of a community-based initiative called Friends of Waterfront Market. The purpose of the founding of the group is to spearhead the movement to keep Waterfront Market open.

In order to make this happen, the group, composed of a mix of community leaders, residents, and business owners, has developed a plan to raise $1.5 million to buy Waterfront Market. The plan calls for a campaign which individually targets the three vital component of the Key West community for support: Residents, neighbors, and families; the 120+ wholesale accounts of Waterfront Market, including restaurants, hotels, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts, and institutional customers; and patron investors who recognize the important contribution which Waterfront Market adds to the quality of life of our Key West community.

An escrow account has be set up under the name of Friends of Waterfront Market at TIB Bank. This fund will be administered by local attorney Robert Citron and all funds will be used exclusively toward the purchase of Waterfront Market. In the event the group chooses to cease pursuing the initiative (another buyer coming through, etc.), all monies will be returned to those who contributed.

A website has been established — www.waterfrontmarketkw.com — for news and information on this effort.

"It is the view of The Friends of the Waterfront Market that our community cannot abide with Waterfront Market's potential closing," says group spokesperson Richard Tallmadge. "The Key West Historic Bight needs Waterfront Market for what it brings to the Bight. The Key West business community of restaurants, hotels and bed and breakfasts' needs the market for the superior quality produce and products it brings to the table. The citizens of Key West need the market because like our community it is truly unique. In other words, the Market is an integral part of Key West's tapestry and to sit idly by and let that happen would be a crushing mistake."


For further information, contact
Richard Tallmadge
305-395-2456
waterfrontmarket@gmail.com
www.waterfrontmarketkw.com

#

FOWM Goal, Proposal, and Action Plan (Nov 2007)

Friends of Waterfront Market
Goal, Proposal, and Action Plan
(November 2007)

Our goal is to keep Waterfront Market open, as it provides quality grocery, seafood, deli foods and produce to a devoted customer base that includes local residents, restaurant and wholesale customers, boaters, and visitors.

Our proposal is to organize a co-op to purchase and operate Waterfront Market as a not-for-profit grocery market with a focus on community and sustainability. To achieve this, we need to determine the community interest in such a venture in a very short period of time. We will need to develop a business plan, raise money, and work with the City of Key West and Buco Pantelis to ensure a seamless transition in market operations. We propose to continue the same focus on quality products and services, with an emphasis on very fresh and organic products and other services that support the needs of the community. A not-for-profit co-op provides a framework for community involvement in this effort to keep Waterfront Market open.

Our action plan is to rally community support for such a venture, and to raise the substantial funds (estimated at up to $1.5 million) needed to purchase, improve and operate Waterfront Market. These funds will be raised through individual co-op memberships ($100 annual membership fees), business memberships ($15,000 each from 30+ restaurants and wholesale customers), and through contributions and patron loans (repayable from earnings) by major benefactors.

We need your support. Please join us with a coop membership, or join our meetings, as we work to keep Waterfront Market open.

For further information, questions, and contributions, contact us
by email:
waterfrontmarket@gmail.com

by telephone:
Richard Tallmadge/The Restaraunt Store (305) 294-7994

or visit our website:
www.waterfrontmarketkw.com

Congratulations to Barry Gibson

The race between Barry Gibson and Richard Klitenick was by far the toughest and the best. This is because whoever of the two won, the district won either way.

Barry attended the first meeting we had as we began this process to keep Waterfront Market open, where we first initiated the co-op starting process. In my heart, I rooted for both Richard and he, Richard because of his connection with us, and Barry because of his. If only they were each in separate districts! But alas...

In any case, I send congratulations to both — for running such excellent and honorable campaigns. This is the kind of run-off I like to see: Where either way...the voter wins.

Press Conference Moved Up To Friday

Today, at a short but intense meeting of the steering committee, it was agreed by all to move the press conference forward two days to Friday in order to have the escrow account and website active.

Everyone interested in showing support for the co-op, everyone who showed at our first meetings, and everyone interested in participating in this process is urged to attend.

The press conference will be on the steps of Waterfront Market at 11 AM.

What we are doing now is accepting pledges for general membership. This is for everyone who plans on becoming a member of the co-op. The recommended pledge is $100, which goes into the escrow account set-up for Friends of Waterfront Market.

We now have pledges from the commercial accounts in the six-figures, somewhere between $100 thousand and $200 thousand. Our goal for general memberships is $3o0 thousand. This translates to 3000 pledges of $100, held in escrow for up to 90 days and to be used towards co-op membership, or else returned.

Why would the money be returned? One, if someone else comes in and buys Waterfront Market. For instance, a Whole Foods-type operation, or an investment group interested in taking over Waterfront Market. There continues to be this kind of interest, though as of yet, this has amounted to little in the way of tangible offers.

Which why we pursue this dream. We are collecting money now to "fund the dream," as Alice Senturia excitedly described the process today.

Make no mistake. Money collected is towards our goal, and may be used towards memberships when it is clear that the co-op is launching, but otherwise will be returned. In the mean time, this is a genuine community trust.

The time has come for all of us to put our money where our mouth is.

So here it is. The goal is keeping Waterfront Market open. The steps of Waterfront Market on Friday morning at 11 AM is when and where all of us can continue to show our support, be it with our presence or our checkbook. I'll be there, the entire steering committee will be there, and the press will be there.

And I urge all in favor of keeping Waterfront Market open and the co-op model be there, as well.

Press Conference and Meeting On Wednesday at 11 AM

It was three weeks ago that I was privileged to take part in a historic event. But considering everything that has transpired in three weeks — including the meeting pictured above — I am hardly believing it has "only" been that long.

Three weeks ago, the meeting was held at The Restaurant Store that led to the formation of the steering committee, which in turn has led to the general co-op meeting and press conference that is taking place on the steps of Waterfront Market this Wednesday. That meeting, attended by approximately four dozen deeply-committed community members, has been the impetus for one remarkable experience after another, until at last, we, the people who the group had charged with being responsible for finding out if a co-op can be done, have our answer.

And the answer, consensually agreed upon Alice Sentura, Christine Russell, Christine Scarsella, Elaine Chinnis, Jim Hendrick, John Correa, Julie Fondriest, Ken Schultz, Michael Shields, Philip Simmons, Richard Tallmadge, Suanne Kitchar, Tony Gregory, and myself...

...is yes.

It will take doing campaigning, signing up pledge memberships, investors and patron restaurateurs — in a short period of time, no less! — but the consensus is it is doable.

Doable? It's being done! We have commitments in the six-figures right now!

The thing is we need commitments in the seven figures. $1.5 million, to be exact.

Here's how we are going to do it. We are going to buy Waterfront Market as a community and we are going to open a cooperative, where members enjoy discounts and benefits and visitors enjoy shopping at one of the best grocery stores they have ever seen: One owned by it's members!

On Wednesday, Richard Tallmadge, speaking as the group's spokesperson and with all of the steering committee at his side, will address the press during the next co-op meeting. Everyone who made the first meeting is urged to attend. Everyone who attended the big second meeting is urged to attend. And everyone who is interested in being part of Key West's future by participating in a process that must be experienced to believed is urged to attend.

When I started this process, I was unaware that it would lead moment's such as the one pictured above. But now I know. And I am hooked.

We are keeping Waterfront Market open. And on Wednesday morning at 11 AM, on the steps of Waterfront Market, before a crowd of press and supporters, Richard Tallmadge and the entire steering committee for The Friends of Waterfront Market will reveal how.

Richard Klitenick Supports Keeping Waterfront Market Open

This was forwarded to me from Richard Tallmadge this afternoon:

Our town has lost some genuine institutions in the last few years – Dennis Pharmacy on Simonton Street and Valladares & Son come to mind. The Waterfront Market is certainly such an institution and we cannot afford to lose it. Not only does it provide a unique service to residents and visitors to Key West, but it characterizes the unique spirit of Key West, too. We should do all we can to hang onto it.

Sincerely,
Richard Klitenick

My feelings exactly.

Up until now, I have not ever personally spoke with Richard Klitenick. But many of my friends do. His campaign manager is Richard Tallmadge, who has selflessly committed his entire team — personal and professional — to keeping Waterfront Market open. His web designer is my good friend (and district 3 resident) Peter Downie, who has generously offered to design The Friends of Waterfront Market's website and membership sign-up page.

Richard Klitenick is in my circle. And now, before the election, he has announced his public support for the campaign to keep Waterfront Market open. Need I say more?

Jimmy Weekley Backs Waterfront Co-op Plan

Tomorrow is the election. Yesterday I emailed Jimmy Weekley and asked his position on our goal to keep Waterfront Market open and our proposal to make it community owned. Here is what he responded:

Mike,

Thank you for your support and I look forward to working with you and the co-op to make it a reality. I appreciate all of the work that has been done and I will support your efforts.

Jimmy

Whatmore, Jimmy Weekley has spoke with several members of The Friends of Waterfront Market steering committee, and discussed our goal, our plan, and our proposal, and he has confirmed his position with them.

In other words, Jimmy Weekley has publicly come out in support of keeping Waterfront Market open, and the Waterfront Market Co-op plan and proposal.

At the beginning of our campaign to keep Waterfront Market open, the question was put to me:

"Do think [Waterfront Market's] future lies safer in the hands of a man currently raising a family here, or a man who owns a competing grocery store in old town?"

Two things happened to make me decide my answer.

One is, from my point of view — without actually ever doing anything to actually keep Waterfront Market open — Mayor McPherson attempted to "steer" the situation to his and his friends' own financial advantage.

Two is, when the deal fell through, Mayor McPherson then publicly mis-represented the turn of events, declaring it Buco Pantelis' fault the deal fell through because " Pantelis refused to signed a non-competition agreement."

I was there. I watched those two turn of events unfold. The first was a sham, as Buco explained on the radio last week; the second was pure CYA. (If you don't know what CYA means, google it.)

So here is my answer: I believe our future is better in the hands of the man who owns a competing grocery store, who has publicly come out in support of the co-op, and who I believe brings with him a new sense of humility and a re-newed sense of responsibility to the Island community of Key West.

In the election tomorrow, I vote for Jimmy Weekley.

There Is A Co-op In Our Future

It has been some time since I have last put an entry into Seagrassroots, and for good reason. I am a strong proponent of the axiom, "Feel the force, don't force the feel." And before now, so much has been accomplished that there has been little reason to write!

In the past three weeks, the co-op idea has taken root. In order to keep Waterfront Market open, our movement to create a co-op had to move swiftly — from conception and formation to organization and implementation within eight weeks! — and through the growing union of this Island community's strengths and talents, it most assuredly has.

Today, we meet again at 11 AM at Blue Heaven restaurant. And while I have been out of town for a week, with this meeting I foresee a continued amassing of strengths and will. It is more than optimism that gives me this insight; it is experience.

You see, here I had gone for a week was to the community of Las Cruces, NM, population 86,000. In Las Cruces, an amazing thing has taken place. Their City has led the way and won the support necessary to build a spaceport.

Not just any spaceport, but Spaceport America. The way Las Cruces sees it, space is the future of our global economy. They have partnered up with Virgin Group, Richard Branson's commercial space tourism venture, and are breaking ground next October. In order to make this a reality, a capital gains tax was voted on and approved for the city of Las Cruces and county of Dona Ana's long-term commitment funds — to the tune of $200 million dollars.

One of the reasons I visited now is I had to learn: Why did the people who make up the community of Las Cruces — median per capita income $16,000; 20 % over the age of 60 — vote for yes on, of all thing, a spaceport.

I met with the mayor and had dinner with three council members. The answer unanimously: "For the future of our children."

This is precisely why I voted yes to keep Waterfront Market open, to support local industry and families, and for Key West to have community owned grocery story with an emphasis on empowerment.

The energy in Las Cruces is amazing. There are nay-sayers. But with the next generation and the ones after that in mind, the community voted 2-1 in support of the creation of a spaceport.

And I return to Key West filled with certainty that we will be able to make a grocery store happen.

There Is A Co-op In Our Future. I feel it.

Invitation to Co-op Meeting, Tuesday, October 16th, 6 PM

"There are a number of citizens who are concerned about the future of the Waterfront Market. As a community we recognize the unique contribution it brings to Key West. We also appreciate everything Buco Pantelis has done and continues to do for this city. Buco wants to move on. It is to that end that we feel it is in the best interest for all concerned to explore some viable options in order to keep the Waterfront Market alive.

"One option that needs to be explored is that of a community cooperative. Successful co-ops work as an integral part of great communities. This is something that the entire community can get behind and we need to see if it can be done.

"Let this notice serve as an invitation to anyone who would like to help in this effort. This isn’t about making money. This is about enhancing our quality of life. This is about transformation, taking a beloved community business and creating a legacy.

"If you would like to join us, reply to this message with your email address and/or phone number and we will keep you on our contact list. Please forward this message to anyone you think would be interested in being involved.

"There will be a meeting of all interested on Tuesday, October 16th at 6 PM at The Restaurant Store/Cole’s Peace Bakery, 1111 Eaton Street. Please attend and bring ideas to share."

— Richard Tallmadge

Why a Co-op?

For me, a co-op is a place to go.

Waterfront Market is like that. I go there for smoothies, for lunch, for groceries. But I want don't want less than that. I want more.

As a single young man on Key West island, I have to have places to go on the Island other than bars or restaurants. I need a place I can go and see neighbors while supporting ideals that are important to me. For instance, when I order a cup of coffee or tea, I want to know that it is fair-trade. I want the beverages served in cups that are ecologically friendly, and if I order food, I want the plates and forks and napkins to be the same. I want to know that whoever or wherever I am buying these goods that the trash my order produces is low-impact and that it is being recycled!

When I shop, I want to buy locally baked bread, local seafood, regional produce. Organics should be an option, not a luxury or a specialty. If I eat meat, can I get free-range? Can the meat for sale be produced with the minimal amount of torture or cruelty? (I am a vegetarian myself.)

How about the people who serve me? I want to know they are well-paid for their work and that they are satisfied with their job. And I saw Sicko; I want to know they have health insurance.

I want to belong to this place, to have a say - a vote! - in its operation and functioning.

And having and knowing all this, I want all this knowing available for visitors to our Island, as well. When guests say, "You live in Paradise," I want this to be even more true than they realize.

This is why I pursue the cause of keeping Waterfront Market open, and its employees employed (and having Buco Pantelis continuing to be involved), and our neighborhoods and locals and visitors and guests supplied and fed.

What were they thinking, the people who had been empowered and employed to be managing this Island - by us! - when they imagined "best use" was to be without Waterfront Market?

In any case, there has been a meeting. It was a success, in that a movement has begun. The newspapers are calling now. This is good. Even better, I hear people talking co-op talk now.

We are a community, Key West. We are a city, but first and foremost we are an Island and a community. The city exists to provide for the community on the Island. That's simple. And now is a difficult time where we must stand together and come together and rise together to insure that the next ten and twenty and thirty years together are as good as - or better than - the ten and twenty and thirty years prior. And that's a large ticket to fill.

Remember Key West thirty years ago? And we want better than that?

Yes.

We want better for ourselves, our neighbors, our children, and our guests. And it starts here, with a co-op.

The next meeting is Tuesday, October 16th, at 6 PM, at The Restaurant Store, 1111 Eaton Street.

~

What's to know about Co-ops

“Cooperatives are not about individual gain."

"They are about working together for the good of the whole.”

"Being a member of a co-op empowers one both as a conscious consumer and as an owner-member of a highly principled business."

According to Wikipedia, "A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is defined by the International Co-operative Alliance's Statement on the Co-operative Identity as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise^[1]."

October is National Co-op Month.

From the National Cooperative Business Association...

A cooperative is a business. Co-ops range in size from small store-fronts to large Fortune 500 companies. In many ways, they're like any other business; but in several important ways they're unique and different.

Cooperatives—

• Are owned and democratically controlled by their members-the people who use the co-op's services or buy its goods-not by outside investors; Co-op members elect their board of director from within the membership.
• Return surplus revenues (income over expenses and investment) to members proportionate to their use of the cooperative, not proportionate to their "investment" or ownership share.
• Are motivated not by profit, but by service-to meet their members' needs for affordable and high quality goods or services;
• Exist solely to serve their members.
• Pay taxes on income kept within the co-op for investment and reserves. Surplus revenues from the co-op are returned to individual members who pay taxes on that income.

Types of Cooperatives

Consumer Cooperatives—Consumer cooperatives are owned by the people who buy the goods or use the services of the cooperative. They sell consumer goods such as food and outdoors equipment. They provide housing, electricity and telecommunications. And they offer financial (credit unions), healthcare, childcare and funeral services. Almost any consumer needs can be met by a cooperative.

Producer Cooperatives—Producer cooperatives are owned by people who produce similar types of products-by farmers who grow crops, raise cattle, milk cows, or by craftsmen and artisans. By banding together, they leverage greater bargaining power with buyers. They also combine resources to more effectively market and brand their products, improving the incomes of their members.

Worker Cooperatives—Worker cooperatives are owned and governed by the employees of the business. They operate in all sectors of the economy and provide workers with both employment and ownership opportunities. Examples include employee-owned food stores, processing companies, restaurants, taxicab companies, sewing companies, timber processors and light and heavy industry.

Purchasing/Shared Services Cooperatives—Purchasing and shared services cooperatives are owned and governed by independent business owners, small municipalities and, in some cases, state governments that band together to enhance their purchasing power, lowering their costs and improving their competitiveness and ability to provide quality services. They operate in all sectors of the economy.

Cooperative Principles

Cooperatives follow seven internationally recognized principles:

• Voluntary and Open Membership
• Democratic Member Control
• Member Economic Participation
• Autonomy and Independence
• Education, Training and Information
• Cooperation Among Cooperatives
• Concern for Community

Why Co-ops Form

Co-ops are formed by their members when the marketplace fails to provide needed goods or services at affordable prices and acceptable quality. Cooperatives empower people to improve their quality of life and enhance their economic opportunities through self-help. Throughout the world, cooperatives are providing co-op members with financial services, utilities, consumer goods, affordable housing, and other services that would otherwise not be available to them.

Serving Many Needs...

Cooperatives may be organized to provide just about any good or service such as:

• Business services, such as personnel and benefits management and group purchasing of goods and services
• Childcare
• Credit and personal financial services
• Employment
• Equipment, hardware and farm supplies
• Electricity, telephone, Internet and satellite and cable T.V. services
• Food and food services
• Funeral and memorial service planning
• Health care
• Health Insurance
• Housing
• Insurance
• Legal and professional services
• Marketing of agricultural and other products

For Everyone...

U.S. cooperatives serve some 120 million members, or 4 in 10 Americans. Worldwide, some 750,000 cooperatives serve 730 million members.

The Florida Keys Electric Co-op started in 1940. Membership was the same as it is today - $5.

Co-op Meeting

It is time we all met. Everyone who has been sending encouraging words, or giving me thumbs up at the cash register, or who has called in support.

I picked a winner when I endorsed The Restaurant Store's Richard Tallmadge; he called me the next morning, and said, "Let's do it."

Now what?

Do I list a time and a place and everyone gets together and we create an ad hoc committee whose information-gathering will in turn create a steering committee leading to the formation of a community enterprise? It sounds unbelievable to me, like we are all starring in a feel-good movie. Can life really be this Hollywood?

[gulp] Yes.

Thursday, 6 PM, 1111 Eaton Street. Plenty of parking.

Everyone who is interested.

Any questions? 305-304-1555.

The Best Key West Imaginable

For the past week - since meeting with The Restaurant Store's Richard Tallmadge - I have been going over and going over over the idea of our forming a cooperative, the Waterfront Market Co-op. And when I look at the challenge *this* would be, it looks to be a life direction for me. And it scares me!

Commitment is something with which I am comfortable. But categorization, less so. Am I "the grocery man" type? How long could I manage under the pressure of that role?

I have been testing the waters - "feeling out, " as it were - the idea of what it would mean to fine-tune the direction of our movement to keep Waterfront Market open towards another clear goal. That is, keep Waterfront Market open...for another generation.

[Wow.]

So what I am asking is , Am I able to work with the number of people that is necessary to keep Waterfront Market open for another generation? And more to the point, How long do I want to stay on Key West?

These are the questions that have kept coming back to me this entire past week.

But in the final analysis, I have one answer. It is that I am responsible for my future. And in my future, I want there to be a Waterfront Market for all the reasons I want there to be a Waterfront Market now.

And they are:

1) Waterfront Market is a local home-grown business and success story.
2) Internally, WM provides livelihoods, as well as real careers, for over forty individuals. That's a lot of healthy self-respect being transmitted down the line to a whole lot of families and friends. That's important to me.
3) Externally, WM supports any number of local producers ranging from Linda who makes the humus, to Lee (and others) who provides the lobsters/shrimp/fish, to any number of successful craftsapersons who manufacturer actual local goods and commodities for sale. This continues on acup the Keys and into lower-Florida, as WM buys and re-sells regional produce.
4) Forty of our Island's best restaurants, restaurants for which our Island is famous, use and require the particular quality of produce Waterfront market provides.
5) Waterfront Market is the sole provider of an assortment of essential material goods for a variety of lifestyles.
6a) Water visitors - including powerboat racers, sailing racers, yachties, and transient boaters - rely on our being able to supply them which is why they come here. This is conjunction with...
6b) ...the immediate residential neighborhood requires that grocery store.

Of course, there are more - such as, Do we want that space empty? Do we want a big box retailer in that location? Do I want my neighbors to have to give up real careers for jobs at MegaCorp, Inc? (No.) - but when I look at these core questions, I am certain that I have but a single ethical course of action. And that is to step up and do my part in order to insure Waterfront Market stays open.

What I have learned in this lifetime is there are moments that we look back and we either made a difference when we could, or we look back in shame with our heads hung low. When the Nazis came into power, all sorts of people put themselves out there to impede their rise to power. And those people - both the ones who died and the ones who lived on - have something I want. They have their pride.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up before the world forty years ago, he did it for us. And so at this time I have to pledge myself to keep a grocery store open - so that we have something to look forward to tomorrow. And that is a life worth living.

When I hear Raymond Archer make excuses as to why Key West is unable to live up to the standards of the rest of the modern Western world, or when I read Jim Scholl tow the company line in an editorial in our Island's main newspaper on a subject which he is unknowing, I am demoralized. But the sins of the fathers shall not fall on the shoulders of our sons and daughters any longer.

Because whatever has paved the way for the inept and the insufficient to come to power must be way laid in order that our sons and daughters may have a future here. And not only the sons and daughters who are born here, but the generations of others who have yet to arrive on our miraculous piece of earth in search of the place where there is a place for everyone. It is our duty to take care of Key West so that people who come here looking for something special find it when they get here - just as all of us did and our people before us did, as well.

And if that means making a stand to keep a blessed grocery store open when and where we need a grocery store, well then that's just where the line is drawn.

As was on the issue of annexation of Wisteria Island, so to now let it be with the Waterfront Market:

I say to all developers, politicians, appointees, and hirees who intentionally or unintentionally work to diminish our Island's standard of living and loving, "Go no further. You may not cross this line. I cannot be stepping on toes because they are ours here you are standing upon now. "

Now with the 90-day window of opportunity that Buco has opened for us - with a definitive answer mandatory on November 30 - let us all who would make haste. What we need is recommendations for our first board of directors. Without hesitation, I would recommend Richard Tallmadge.

Qualification for recommendation is simple. It is a commitment to keeping Waterfront Market open for a generation. A commitment to keep Waterfront Market open is a commitment to a particular outcome, a particular future.

And that particular future?

Also simple: The best Key West imaginable!

A Vision of Waterfront Market: Co-op

Buco Pantelis signed a 90-day lease today. Waterfront Market is staying open.

That's the first-most important piece of information needing to be shared. And to give credit where credit is due, intentional stunt or ploy - or not - Mayor Morgan MacPherson's involvement is what helped make this a reality. You see, an interim lease agreement - for the transition between Buco and the "two guys" who behaved as if they were going to buy Waterfront Market - was approved at the most recent city commissioners meeting. And Buco has made use of that. He signed it today.

Seeing as it was believed that the deal was going through, Waterfront Market has been re-stocked. And everyone presently has their jobs. At this time, it's a roller-coaster ride not for the weak of heart, stomach, resolve or constitution.

And I should know. Mayor Morgan MacPherson persuaded any number of individuals to denounce a public gathering organized just to discuss on this matter. For the record, our well-organized and quietly publicized 'gather-round' was post-poned at Buco's request the night before. Thankfully, an email was sent out to everyone verifying this the very night before.

But imagine that! A public official ambitiously working as part of a personal campaign against the public he was hired to represent. For that matter, of her own accord, Buco's attorney Ginny Stone - who also represented the developers trying to destroy Wisteria Island this past summer - strictly to "play ball" with Mayor MacPherson, went so far as to speak out in the newspaper the next day against all of us citizens who have banded together to come to the defense of Waterfront Market.

Like I said, not for the weak of heart, stomach, resolve or constitution.There are shenanigans, and there will be shenanigans. But I am not a politician, and my question posed as a citizen and vested member of our Key West Island community is: What besides distraction does this have to do with the issue?

And once again to bring it back home the issue is simply and exactly, "Waterfront Market must stay open," and what is being done to make this a reality? However...

Is keeping Waterfront Market open really worth the aggravation? What with so many egos, agendas, and interests jockeying for position?

My friends, I say the answer is yes.

At the darkest moment, after the most recent deal had fell through, I had to review my priorities. "Is this worth doing?" Do I want to put myself out there for personal attacks?""And, "If this is the way it is going to be, do I even want to live here?"

It is no fault of my own that my grandparents managed a motel in Marathon and that my mother was a LPN at the then-new Fishermen's Hospital when I made my debut in 1965. By nature then, this is my home. When it mattered, I left and traveled the world so as to bring back something of value. And what I brought back was a world view and an extensive education, as well as a work experience that has taken me from the commercial agriculture fields of Montreal to the organic agricultural fields of California to the community farms of Europe and Mexico. My entire life I have worked either on boats...or in fields. And besides fifteen years of post-high school college and post-graduate work, I know the value of my labor.

And I say here today that standing by and letting Waterfront Market be stolen from us and our community would be likenable to any definition of sin I have ever learned.

Politicking distractions and motives aside, the facts remain unchanged on this matter. Waterfront Market is home-grown local industry and provides necessities for the continuation - and furthering! - of our Island community's lifestyle, and our friends and families work there, and our friends, families and neighbors sell local foods - seafoods - there. And what more, an empty storefront or a "big box" retailer is undesirable and unhealthy. There is a valuable commodty that Michael Shields of all people discussed with me last week, and that is called "social capital." In social capital, Waterfront Market has and will continue to be worth more to our Island than any Bass Fisherman Waterwear store, or whatever, could ever be.

Together, let's transform Waterfront Market - with a healthy, happy Buco and all the staff of Waterfront Market at our side - into a vital symbol of the strength of our community. Along with a number of others, I agree and say we build on the legacy Buco and the people who have contributed to Waterfront Market's success. Let us concrete Waterfront Market's place in our community - by buying the the Waterfront Market together as one and transforming it into the Waterfront Market Co-op...

...stop right there. As a solution or remedy, making Waterfront Market stick as a co-op will be work. This is a fact.

In fact, there are no easy solutions or remedies to the challenges that have been revealed to our Island community as a result of the crisis - and, yes, in all respects, crisis is the appropriate expression - brought on by the threat of loss of Waterfront Market.

Yet everyday reveals new developments in the unfolding of this historic Island moment. And with each day, another ally of Waterfront Market steps forward and brings with them another set of resources. It is why I am sticking with this, and seeing it through. I have one single, incorruptible vision, and that is of Waterfront Market continuing to be an integral component of a genuine Key West community.

What an opportunity Waterfront Market is unveiling! For now, rather than anyone idly standing by as politically-escorted private interests gorge themselves on our Island's choice assets and resources, I see my friends and neighbors and business owners and community figures - many who I have seen for years but not ever met - banding together and standing up for us all, and in the process together reinforcing the foundation of a community which had been disgracefully laid bare and vulnerably exposed.

I like words like genuine and community and us and consensus. These are words that warm my heart and bolster my own flagging spirit in these sordid moments, moments likenable to "the long, dark midnight of the soul."

Remember that "gather-round" we had planned - that was side-swiped for derailment by political ambitions and string-pulling - scheduled a week past in order to have a group conversation, clear up rumors, and decide in consensus on a plan of action? Well, let's have it.

Let us meet and discuss the future of Waterfront Market. many of us have seen the co-op/cooperative model work famously around the world. Let's regain control of our Island, and transform Waterfront Market into a real community-operative!

The “Statement on the Cooperative Identity,” approved by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) members in September 1995, defines the standards by which all co-ops should operate.

The “Statement on the Cooperative Identity” begins with a values statement that describes the beliefs common to all cooperatives:

Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility,

Incidentally, here is the original 1925 International Cooperative Alliance flag.



And if that's not a good sign, I don't know what is.

Rather than be seen as followers of the path that has lead to the problems plaguing and dismantling other communities, let it be the time again that Key West is seen as a world leader in modeling a community in which we can take pride in for our neighbor and children and visitors sake. Let Key West be a model of community that others may learn from and emulate!

It is time we have our meetings - without fear or worry of upsetting the egos and sensitivities of the ambitious few who have over-stepped their bounds and forgotten their oaths of good faith. And let us regain control of the direction of our community so we may all sleep well knowing our destiny is in good hands: Our own.

Bring Dennis Kucinich to Key West!

The Tipping Point

Waterfront is saved.

For the past few weeks, I have been studying over the essential points in a very enjoyable book called Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. The tagline for the non-fiction book is "How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference." And our efforts here in keeping Waterfront Market open have been part of a case-book example of the premise of the book.

At some point this past month - these past two weeks, really! - the important e-mail was sent and received, or the important ear was bent, or the important phone call was made. And though it was followed by another and another, with that action - whatever it was - the forming groundswell had reached a particular momentum that made it's message irrefutable: "Waterfront Market Must Stay Open."

That was the Tipping Point.

In the book, it says that there are three kinds of people important to these kinds of movements. They are Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors "know a lot of people," it says, "They are the kind of people who know everyone." Connectors are not important merely because of the number of people they know, but the kinds of people they know. Each actual Connector, it turns out, specializes in a particular sub-culture or genre or field.

The Maven is a person who accumulates information. But what sets Mavens apart is not how much they know but how they pass it along. Mavens want to help, for no other reason than because they like to help. Mavens have the the knowledge and the social-skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics. To quote, "to be a Maven, is to be a teacher."

Lastly, there are the Salesmen. Salesmen persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing - by stressing an idea's emotional content. Salesman make contagious ideas stick through the use of natural "emotional contagions."

With regard to Waterfront Market, somewhere throughout the disbursement of emails and conversation and phone calls, Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen (Salespeople, really) came into play, and the information necessary to bring about the action to keep Waterfront Market open switched from a latent state to kinetic - or active - one. At that point, the Mayor stepped in and took charge.

It has been an exciting week for me. My background is research, it helped. But all the phone calls and emails that some of the most influential people in my life - my neighbors, the people who own my favorite restaurants and stores and community programs - reinforced my resolve. I knew nothing about actual community action. I know ecology, and I know computers and web, and I know people. And I knew that none of us wanted Waterfront Market closed and all of us wanted Waterfront Market open. The deal is happening as we speak, Mayor MacPherson took and is taking personal interest in seeing it through, and there will be new owners of Waterfront Market.

According to Buco this morning, "the deal looks good, the new owners met with the employees last night, and they're keeping me on as a maintenance man." Seeing as this is the island, the rest of the details will get out there on their own. But it wouldn't have happened without your emails, ear-bending, and phone calls. So on my own behalf, to everyone who did anything, thanks for getting the word out. (I'll be sure let everyone know if anything else comes up.)

In the end, all of us made this happen together. In the end, the Tipping Point was you.

Good News! Mayor MacPherson Steps Up!

From what I understand at this very moment Mayor MacPherson is personally walking a deal through the City Attorney's office that will enable Key West to keep Waterfront Market.

Buco Pantelis just contacted me, and his lawyer tells him the deal is good. He has asked for us to stand down. As our objective is to keep Waterfront Market, rather than possibly impede the progress of a good deal, in a show of good faith, we are postponing the Gather-Round scheduled for 3 PM atWaterfront Market tomorrow. If the deal goes through, Mayor MacPherson is a hero. If not, we will have the biggest general assembly imaginable on Tuesday at 3 Pm. Stay tuned.

Make no mistake, this is the moment where Mayor MacPherson shows whether indeed he has the right stuff to be our Island mayor. But from all what Buco has told me personally just moments ago, it looks good.

It is too early to tell yet as there have been no signatures signed - no ink drying yet - but from all indications Mayor MacPherson is doing the miraculous and stepping up to take personal responsibility in seeing that Key West keeps Waterfront Market.

One Picture Is Worth A Thousand Square Feet

According to Raymond Archer, Marilyn Wilbarger and Jim Scholl, Buco and Waterfont Market aren't good enough for Key West.

So how is it they were good enough for Wilhelmina Harvey, Captain Finbar, and Capt. Victoria?

Press Release

George Murphy asked me for a press release for the radio. I came up with the following....

"I Would Rather Move From My Hometown Island of Key West Than Live Here Without Waterfront Market"
Residents Unsettled By Grab For Real Estate Control By Elected Officials; Consensus Forms In Retaliation

September 11, 2007 - Key West, FL - A group of Key West citizens have given elected officials "final notice" before the coming elections for the representatives of the City of Key West's recent move to oust Waterfront Market. This Thursday, September 13th, at 3 PM, in front of Waterfront Market, a consensus of resident business owners, home owners, and neighbors are meeting for the first time to consolidate, conversate, and to clear up the falsehoods surrounding the elected and hired representatives of the City of Key West's move to do away with what is felt to be an anchorstone of Key West quality of life, The Waterfront Market.

"This is wrong," says MikeMongo Nicholl, blogger and Waterfront Market enthusiast. "Buco Pantelis has built a successful, home-grown business, he has contributed from the very beginning to the development of the Historic Bight's success, and he and his employees - our neighbors - have been there for us through storms and hurricanes, while feeding both the Island and our visitors the very best produce, seafood, groceries and organics for over fifteen years. Now, port director Raymond Archer, a legacy appointee of Julio Avael's, and the big corporate Property Manager [Marilyn Wilbarger of Grubb & Ellis Management] - who didn't even live here until recently - have gotten together in the last couple of years and worked to empty the space so that Wilbarger can put some phantom 'big box' retailer in there. But we don't want Archer, Wilbarger, or some hypothetical corporate retailler. They can hit the road. We want our Buco, Waterfront Market, and the employees to remain and to continue to do the good job they have done serving our Island for the past fifteen years, and that's that."

Gathered around this issue are the owners of the forty-plus restaurants Waterfront Market's wholesale produce division serves, the neighbors of Waterfront Market, the dock and charterboat workers as well as the boating community of the Historic Bight, the fishermen and lobstermen who sell to Waterfront Market, and the charities and churches who Waterfront Market has provided donations to for years. "There is a consensus here, everyone is in agreement, and we are keeping Waterfront Market," says Nicholl. "What we are getting rid of is the public servants and the elected officials who have personal agendas and private concerns at heart."

###

Contact:
MikeMongo Nicholl
http://seagrassroots.org
seagrassroot@gmail.com
(305) 304-1555.

Gather-Round - Thursday 09.13 - 3 PM - Waterfront Market

There will be a "gather-round" Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 3 PM for everyone who wants to be part of the movement to keep Waterfront Market.

We are calling it a gather-round because we are meeting for the first time to show our numbers and to see who is dedicated to being part of keeping Waterfront Market. At this time, our objective is to communicate the nature of our consensus - that Waterfront Market must stay open as a vital utility of our Island community.

Additionally, this will be a time to kill dead rumors and re-enforce good news so that we may all go out on our own, empowered, and individually spread the word with conviction. Decisions will be made about flyering and postering. Further and additional action will be regarded and agreed upon at this time. This meeting will decide the future of our movement. This is the time for genuine discourse.

The gather-round is an open-conversation formative meeting where important email addresses with be distributed, and phone numbers and email addresses with be exchanged.

Then, on Tuesday, September 18th 2007 at 3 PM we will have a general assembly where all and everyone is asked to attend to show our numbers, and our Island community's support for this movement.

---

If you have any questions, I can be reached at 305-304-1555, or immikemongo@gmail.com

Fairly Disgusted

This email arrived from Jim Brooks. He asked me to publish it, "in the interest of balance."

With pleasure. The city is playing CYA (cover your ass), and newly-elected city manager Jim Scholl puts in his two-bits where he shouldn't have, in some reach-around effort to tow the party line. Read on as I fact-check as the letter unfolds.

> Subject: Waterfront Market
> Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:26:51 -0500
> From: cphillip@keywestcity.com
> To: jscholl@keywestcity.com
> CC: mayor@keywestcity.com
>
> Dear Ambassadors,
>
> At the request of the City Manager, I am sending you the press release distributed to local media about the Waterfront Market owner's decision not to renew his lease with the city. The release covers the facts in the case, which have not all been addressed in the local media.
>
>
> September 7, 2007
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> An examination of the events leading up to the Waterfront Market owner's decision to vacate his rented property along the Key West Bight clearly shows there were many factors that contributed to this decision.
> "We were working closely with the business's owner to make it possible for Waterfront Market to remain in its current location along the Bight," said Port Operations Director Raymond Archer. "That market is the anchor store along that strip. The city does not want to see it go. We truly thought that in August, we came up with an agreement that was equitable for all."

This is not what Buco Pantelis and his attorney Ginny Stone were told. During negotiations, they were regularly reminded that "[the City] has three tenants waiting in the wings." Incidentally, this was Jimmy Weekely's argument when he strong-armed Waterfront Market into moving from its waterside position thirteen years ago. And there are still empty spaces their now. That move cost Waterfront over a quarter-of-a-million dollars. And for the record? Over one hundred neighbors came to help Buco make that move. Waterfront Market has been important to us and our island for a long time now.

> The City of Key West renegotiated the Waterfront Market's lease to terms that both parties agreed upon. The property had not seen a rent increase in 5 years, and the renters were being charged well below market rate for the prime piece of property the market occupies. The Key West Bight Board then approved the new lease agreement, followed by the City Commission's approval.
> "The contract needed to be updated," said city Property Manager Marilyn Wilbarger. "But quite honestly, the lease renewal rate we agreed upon was still 50 percent less than market rate for space in the Key West Bight. The new agreement also gave the market exclusive rights to operate businesses as well as free parking for customers."

50 % less than market rate...for who? The rates that Waterfront Market's neighboring tenants are paying is public record. From a high of $20 to a low of $0. That's right, zero. But Buco as the anchor tenant is being strong-armed into paying $6000 extra a month, plus annual increases, including a rate for the deli that is $10 a square foot higher than any of the other water-facing tenants.

> The renegotiated lease bumped rent from $12.88 per square to $16.25 per square foot (which breaks out to going from $11 to $14.67 a square foot for the market, and keeping the deli at $29.55 a square foot), and included 23 free parking spaces and free storage for trucks outside of the building with exclusive rights to three loading bays.

Free parking? What grocery store or retailer leases space without parking spaces and loading space? The mind reels. In fact, the City has plans to install meters in the Waterfront Spaces - that Buco paved at Waterfront Market's expense - that Waterfront Market is supposed to be made responsible for daily covering in the morning and uncovering at closing, so the City can get those extra few dollars from the spots in the evening. Yet an additional burden of responsibility.

> In August, the city received a letter from the business owner's lawyer requesting that the city agree to defer execution of the new lease until October 1, 2007.
> "Mr. Pantelis (the market's owner) is dealing with several personal matters which are directly related to his ability to enter into a 10 year legal obligation with the city," wrote Pantelis' attorney Adele Stones.
> The city agreed, allowing the businesses owner to start renting the property on a month-to-month basis while he worked to resolve his "personal matters."
> "We provided every reasonable consideration to make this work for all parties involved," said City Manager Jim Scholl. "It's disappointing to see people rushing to judgment now that Mr. Pantelis has decided to close up shop. The city doesn't want to see that happen any more than his loyal customers do, but if that's his decision after taking all factors into consideration, we have to respect that."

Manure.

And here is the galling part. How is it new city manager Jim Scholl can make these claims when Jim Scholl has never had any input from Buco Pantelis. The two have never spoke on the matter! Scholl was not involved in the processes. He has no experience with the proceedings other than what he has learned since taking office. Yet here he is claiming that Buco's decision to close Waterfront Market is his alone rather than the fault of the individuals representing the city of Key West - specifically, Raymond Archer and Marilyn Wilbarger - for failing to deliver a fair and tenable contract for Waterfront Market.

> The city regularly reviews its various leases and updates them according to property value and market rates.
> "At the end of the day, we have to answer to all the citizens of Key West," said City Manager Scholl. "We have a responsibility to balance revenue and expenses. As a landlord for the taxpayers, it is our job to find the highest and best use of the city's property, and to get fair return for the taxpayers. Doing anything to the contrary is simply not fair to the taxpayers or to other businesses in town that have to pay higher rental rates."

Fairness. What's all this fairness nonsense about? What we are talking about is the City is piiting itself against the island. And Jim Scholl is now taking responsibility for this fiasco by his uncalled for spin. Does Scholl know that in the new contract, Waterfront Market is paying for an additional three hundred+ square feet that is occupied by walls?

Because to be fair that's the case. In the new contract - the one that is a big part of the movement to put Waterfront Market out on the street to make way for a vaporous corporate big box tenant - Buco is now supposed to pay for an additional 300+ square feet of space...occupied by the building's walls.

In effect, Jim Scholl is volunteering that he doesn't know his head from a hat on the ground, AND that he wants to be remembered as part of the effort to put Waterfront Market and its 40+ employees out on the street. Done.
>
> [Waterfront Market]
>
>
> Christie Phillips
> Public Information Officer
> City of Key West
> City Hall - 305.809.3889
> KWPD - 305.809.1058
> cell - 305.797.0417
> cphillip@keywestcity.com

Now, at this point, I would pose to the fair-minded Jim Scholl and submitter Jim Brooks :

1. Did the City get the fair price thought it would for the space Waterfront Market originally moved out from thirteen years ago?
2. How is it there are empty spaces on the waterside Bight now, and that the successful, local, home-grown, and time-proved operation is being strong-armed into becoming another in the name of fairness?
3. Why are waterside Bight tenants paying at least 1/3-lower rates than what Waterfront Market pays for its Deli space? Is this fair?
   
4. And why does Jim Scholl feel the need to fairly put a spin on this so as to draw more even more critical scrutiny of the situation?

Enough of balance. Balance is done. I am done with banter with the side that is doing the harm in the name of fairness and balance. That's for nimcompoops.

I write here for one reason: To keep Waterfront Market open.

The people who are against that are my enemies because they are the enemies of a consensus. And the consensus is simple. Waterfront Market must stay open. And you know what the important thing about this letter from the city is? It is this sentence of Jim Scholl's...

"It's disappointing to see people rushing to judgment now that Mr. Pantelis has decided to close up shop."

CITY OFFICIALS ARE ACKNOWLEDGING THEY ARE FEELING THE HEAT OF OUR IRE!

Those scoundrels are feeling the heat!

So keep the heat on! Turn it up! Call your friends and neighbors who care! Get the word out now when it matters: We are going to keep our wonderful prcious well-loved Waterfront Market, and the city employees and elected officials who are to blame/take credit for putting it on the chopping block are being shown the door!

I mean, you have noticed how neither Jimmy Weekley or Morgan MacPherson have touched this issue three weeks before the election. We all know where Weekley stands, but word is that Mayor MacPherson is no friend of Waterfront. Put the heat on him everyone! Email Mayor Macpherson at mayor@keywestcity.com, and let him know his re-election or not may depend on his action here.

Waterfront Market

There is a consensus on the island, and that is that Waterfront Market must stay open in its current location, and for good reason: Something greater than the sum of the parts which make up Waterfront Market is at stake.

That "something" is our people's integrity. It is also our quality of life. But it is our integrity that is making me stand up for this institution. Key West is about change, and everyone I know who is successful here on Key West is good with that.

But some change is forced upon us, man-made as it were, and that is the kind of change that we can do without. With regards to Waterfront Market, private concerns and personal agendas have eeked their way into the day-to-day operations and management of island affairs to the point where one of our brightest most shining examples of home-grown success has been thrown on the chopping block - for the sake of progress and a much-ballyhooed "bottom line."

But the bottom line is this. Several parties want Waterfront Market gone so they can further their own personal gain at the expense of our island's quality of life and our people's integrity. And with regard to change for the sake of the few at the expense of the many, that is where I draw my own line. It's where I have always drawn it. And mostly most stay well away from this particular line because it is where so many of us draw it. We are being tested.

Here it is. Silence equals death. It's either put up or shut up. And personally, I'd rather leave my island home than live here knowing I let my island and my community down in a moment of genuine need.

Waterfront Market is greater than the man who created it. It is a community success, and I'll be damned if I surrender it to greed without publicly standing up for what Waterfront Market stands for to me.

It reminds me of this famous poem.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

If we allow the taking of Waterfront Market from our friend Buco, how much longer would it be before these rude intruders came after us?

---

My name is Mike Mongo. My phone is 305-304-1555. The email I can be reached at is immikemongo@gmail.com.

Waterfront Market story around the Internet

There are many of us posting on the developments around the Waterfront Market. If you know of any such postings - on blogs or forums - please forward these links to seagrassroot@gmail.com, and we will get the word out.

Do you have a favorite site? Post details about what is happening there, and send us the link!