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.
1 comment:
Well boys and girls is was your lack of attention, your lack of involvement, your lack of responsibility over many years that has not only caused Buco's problem but those that other businesses in Key West are facing
Where were you while the gears were being put into motion for the destruction of not only Waterfront Market but most other Key West hometown businesses?.
You rarely support local business instead you run to the chain stores or the internet you purchase products cheaper and or not have to pay sales tax.
I have a friend whose own business relies totally on local businesses, yet this person buys everything off the internet, from his clothes, electronics, computer gear, music, shoes, home decor items etc.
When the businesses in Key West who are his bread and butter dry up, he will probably like most of you not see the fact that he helped destroy the businesses that feed and clothed him.
I see many of you now whining whimpering , moaning, holding rallies and meetings, but only when those local businesses are near the brink.
It is your fault and it is more than likely too late to save the Waterfront from what you the people have done. Many of you are also the same people who sat back on your fat fannies and allowed the invasion of chain stores and the conversion of homes and hotels into upscale condos happen to our community.
Less than 50% of you vote in elections be they local, state or federal.
Take responsibility for your own actions or un actions and stop blaming others for what you could have prevented from happening if you were an involved citizen. Become proactive instead of reactive
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