Key West is moving into the second phase of becoming "the cleanest little city in America," according to City Manager Julio Avael. Over the past two weeks, city employees were scheduled to walk every street on the island, looking for possible code violations. Seven zones were divided up among all city departments.
The plan calls for each walker to submit to the City Manager's office a "Community Pride in Appearance Report"— formerly known as "Eyesore Reports." This report is a checklist that includes inoperable, wrecked or junked vehicles, weeds and underbrush, unsafe buildings and illegal signs.
Based on these reports, the city's enforcement machinery will go into action, Avael said. "But we will first issue reminders to residents with possible code violations to encourage voluntary compliance," Avael said.
"As always, our citizens can play a role in Mayor Jimmy Weekley's call for maintaining a cleaner city by bringing to our attention instances of debris that needs to be picked up, illegally parked or abandoned car, boats and trailers that need to be ticketed, or other situations involving trash or neglect that need to be addressed," Avael said. "This will help the Public Works Dept. and Code Enforcement play a more effective role in this citywide effort."
Citizens may file their own "Community Pride in Appearance Reports"— report neighborhood eyesores— by calling 292-8100.
Mayor Weekley's "Clean Sweep" program got off to a controversial start last September when Key West The Newspaper reported that city employees were being encouraged to use "Eyesore Reports" to turntheir neighbors in to Code Enforcement. The situation came to light when a Code Enforcement officer reportedly threatened to cite the home of a former Miami Herald reporter as an "eyesore"— but, then, couldn't explain what law had supposedly been broken.
Also, the city's push to rid the island of derelict vehicles had to be temporarily put on hold after it was learned that the towing contractor was illegally dumping the cars on Stock Island.