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."

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