I have no problem with having pride and keeping my area clean, I play well with others. However, like many others in the community, I am both confused and concerned about the formation and activities of the City of Key West's recently formed Eyesore Committee.
It is alarming when a list of `non-eyesore' criteria is said to exist but not available to the public which it is directed to. In addition to those concerns expressed in print by other islanders— the committee's criteria, fairness, subjectivity, etc.— I find the situation to strike a very deep chord in my American soul and I question not only its wisdom but the Constitutional interpretation.
Man is considered to have certain rights that are inborn. A government may not deprive him of these rights, it has limited powers that are delegated by the people.
A few thoughts:
• This is the United States. We have the right to live and express ourselves freely on our own private property as long as our actions do not break laws (public nudity, for instance) or pose a danger or health hazard to others.
In the same way that I can fly a flag (stars and stripes or Conch Republic, for that matter), I can sit on my porch in curlers and fluffy slippers. I also have choices in outdoor furniture, ranging from Adirondack chairs to plastic-and- aluminum chairs. Electric chairs are out. Maybe I'd store some bricks out there or lock my bikes up for safety.
I might even use it as an al fresco studio, like Mario Sanchez or Papio Suarez did, where I'd paint or write.
• Others might percieve me as being either neat or sloppy. But as far as I know, there's no enforceable law against either.
• I understand issues of health and/or posing a clear and present danger to others. Standing organic material trash, rotting trash, poisons and pesticides, fire hazards— definitely not good.
• I wonder about the city's agenda. Eventually, the community will react to the Eyesore Committee activity with something like this: How is keeping this criteria private going to help achieve a goal of having a clean city? What is an eyesore, exactly? Where are these eyesores?
Do we have the right to exclude ourselves from this campaign and remain an eyesore? Do we have the right to personal freedom of expression and the right to live as we want, providing that we aren't a clear and present danger to society? Is my semi-cluttered front porch with christmas lights still up any of your business? Why doesn't the city focus on their own areas responsibilities— the public spaces?
And the city will respond by cracking down on the island's homeless, removing them from the parks and the beaches. Then, we, the people known for our tolerance, will have in effect demanded the action against the less fortunate.
How are you going to get that "trouble area" as cited in the mayor's speech to the Chamber of Commerce, Bahama Village, to `embrace your ideas', bring them into the fold, as it were, tow the line? Will it be a stealth operation, cleaning the area at night before anyone is awake?
How will you know if the junk you're removing isn't someone's personal property or symbol of cultural legacy? Would Shine Forbes' house be one of those eyesores?
How soon before we have a citizen dress code so that we look like our advertising? How long will it be before those wonderfully-painted art cars will be labeled an eyesore?
Finally, how can I get on this clean-up committee?
David Laughlin Key West