I almost scrolled past the comment with a simple “Not my monkey. Not my circus.” I paused and backed up, mostly because the darn thing was written well, sans swear words and emojis and punctuated to an English teacher’s specifications — and about as divisive and counterproductive as a social media post can be.
The writer was having a classic come-apart over perceived transgressions by the Key West City Commission majority and was having none of it. It ended with a barely veiled threat: “That’s OK. This island has changed. They’re about to learn there are more of us here now than there are of them.”
The “them” in question presumably are the Key West born-and-breds and a whole raft of decades-long residents who’ve chosen to make Key West home. The “us” seems to be an alliance of longtimers and newcomers who might best be described as “not-a-Bubba-not-a-Conch” political progressives. The “about to learn” was a reference to next year’s city commissioner elections.
For the record, my faith checks all the progressive “us” boxes and my politics often make me a card-carrying “them.”
I get the frustration that leads to just-wait-till-next-year-and-we’ll-show-them. Commissioners have made decisions this year that I disagree with, not the least of which is the majority’s support for local police assisting Immigration and Custom Enforcement in their traffic stops and roundups of local residents.
We look inept. There have been serious and often embarrassing failures among new commissioners, the mayor, the city manager and new city employees to get up to speed on the civics lessons of how government works, the differences between ordinances and resolutions, the checks and balances in how money gets spent and who gets hired and fired. The process of rebuilding a city government after the criminal indictments and departures of key employees has played out in public meetings with acrimony, suspicion and unsupported charges of collusion with the amorphous “them” and “us.”
It’s both understandable and applause-worthy that outrage at commission decisions has morphed into political activism that’s drawn opposition candidates for next year’s commission races. We don’t see that often in Key West, where successful candidates are too often unopposed and then get to enjoy lifetime tenures of ribbon-cuttings, proclamations and parades. I hope we’ll hear substantive debate over policies and collaboration about achieving shared goals.
Sure we don’t always “like” what happens on our island. But we live in Key West where friends can gather for our annual Christmas Day at Fort Zach. We brave the long lines and scarce parking as we share the park with thousands of visitors and locals (one of whom happily volunteered to take our group pix.) And where for a few wonderful hours we know hope, peace, joy and love without measure or complaint.
Key West Love: Warts and all
There’s a lot not to like about Key West in 2025.
Sea level rise and climate change are flooding our neighborhoods. Hot, polluted offshore water has killed the reef and endangered fishing and water sports. The island’s workforce is literally disappearing, forced into hiding from ICE, held without charges and deported or moving on to places they can afford to live. Ordinary housing is a hollowed-out nightmare of too expensive, too decrepit and too unfit to raise a family.
The baby boomers who arrived on the island from the 1970s to the early 2000s and remade the post-Navy town into their own Key West Mystique image are, well, past our prime. We’ve left the island for healthcare and old-age assistance. Many have stopped volunteering, writing checks or serving on boards. We’re still in line for concerts, sunset sails and an assortment of arts and cultural venues and benefit galas, but let’s be real here. We’ve got a looming sell-by date.
The tourism and real estate boom days that began about 2015, soared through Covid and looked unstoppable even a year ago are dead. The rosy-glasses folks and the “hate all tourists” folks will quibble, but ask yourself: When’s the last time the days before Christmas felt so slow? When’s the last time you could book a monthly vacation rental on the spur of the moment for January, February or March or find a place to celebrate New Year’s on a whim? Prices are exorbitant, but there are plenty of vacancies in Old Town.
Our economy and our quality of life rest on a deteriorating infrastructure and ecosystem and on a torrent of tourists that is slowing to a trickle. At our peril, we pretend Key West will remain at the top of everyone’s bucket list to live and to play in. No amount of marketing can shield us from the state and federal policies that encourage travelers to choose destinations outside the United States.
The next couple years should force us to reconcile our bitter political differences and get on with doing what Key West has always done well. Reinvent itself: not in one-sided images of the aging boomers, progressives, MAGAs, doomsayers or been-here-forevers, but in a shared collaboration that transforms us-against-them rhetoric like that social media post into a place we might not always like, but will always love.
As my mother reminded me any time I complained, “But you live in Key West.” I do. That’s love. Warts and all.
I hope your analogy is right and the “Us & Them” aren’t those with red hats and the quirky (I’ll leave it at that) people who make the island the greatest place on Earth.
The problem isn’t a few bad decisions by the commission. It’s the normalization of corruption, an entrenched culture of backroom deals, selective enforcement, and public betrayal that too many have shrugged off as “just the way it’s always been.” But that doesn’t make it acceptable. And it certainly doesn’t mean we have to keep tolerating it.
We’ve watched more than a score of indictments of city officials this year. We’ve seen department heads led away in handcuffs. We’ve seen apparent contracts negotiated in the shadows and public trust bartered like currency. That’s not governance. It’s racketeering with the Key West city seal.
So when you talk about “us” versus “them,” let’s be clear: the “us” isn’t defined by how long someone’s lived here. The real “us” are the people, newcomers and multi-generation Conchs alike, who are done accepting corruption as tradition. We hear from lifelong locals every week who whisper their support, who say they can’t speak up publicly but will speak loudly at the ballot box. That’s the quiet majority. That’s the real “us.”
This is about accountability. It’s about refusing to let a beautiful island be held hostage by a few who treat public office like a private inheritance. It’s about believing that Key West can be more than a cautionary tale. It can be a model for change.
It’s a different time. And we’re not going back.
I agree. ‘us’ is anyone ,who’s been here for 10 minutes or 100 years, that’s against all of the rampant corruption. ‘Them’ are those who continually turn a blind eye.
I also want to say ‘hip hip hooray!’ for not letting Truman Annex literally steal ROGOs while claiming they’ll pay (next to nothing) for housing. Ha! We’re smarter than that!
Great observations, Linda. I know this might seem counter intuitive to share your unique content elsewhere, but I think this is worth sharing with outlets on the mainland.