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!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
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:
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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.
"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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :
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.
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.Manure.
> "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."
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 :
- Did the City get the fair price thought it would for the space Waterfront Market originally moved out from thirteen years ago?
- 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?
- Why are waterside Bight tenants paying at least 1/3-lower rates than what Waterfront Market pays for its Deli space? Is this fair?
- 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?
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.
Monday, September 10, 2007
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.
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.
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!
Do you have a favorite site? Post details about what is happening there, and send us the link!
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