Such was the case on Tuesday night, when the city commission gave the go-ahead to purchase the Republic Bank Building on Kennedy Drive. The proposed purchase is supposed to relieve the terrible overcrowding in city government offices. But the decision to buy the building, now pretty much a foregone conclusion, is a bad one for a couple of reasons.
Even worse, the move would further divide already-fragmented city government services. While city employees certainly need more space to do their jobs, physically separating them is not a solution. Citizens going to City Hall often have business with more than one department. Moving offices to Kennedy Drive would turn what is now a slightly inconvenient trip to different nearby buildings into a cross-town odyssey.
This arrangement would be both user-friendly and economical. Key West residents would be better served by being able to visit all city departments in one location. Departments could also save money by sharing equipment and meeting rooms, and the setup would make it easier to someday network city computers. Plus, the steam plant building is said to be able to withstand a category-5 hurricane, which would allow the city to use it as its emergency operations center. And finally, residents and city staff would be able to park in the now underused Park and Ride— everybody wins!
It's interesting that city commissioners could suddenly "find" the money to purchase a building on rented land, when they can never come up with the funds for urgently-needed improvements. Why can't we find the money to get city computers networked, so that departments can avoid gaps and overlap? Why aren't city records and applications available online yet? Why are our sidewalks such a mess, and why do our streets still flood after every rainstorm? And why can't we find the funds to remodel City Hall so that someone in a wheelchair can actually make their way to the mayor's office?
The challenges we are facing need to be met with vision and with the goal of finding long-term solutions that benefit us all. The city commission needs to get its priorities straight.