In Key West, there is no better example of how the wealthy and powerful roll over the community's best interests than the disgraceful history of Truman Annex.
Back in March 1987, I was part of the big crowd of Key Westers gathered at Truman Annex to hear Pritam Singh's plans for the Navy property he had purchased. The Presidential Gates on Whitehead Street were opened for the first time in years and the music of the Bahamian Police Band made it a festive occasion. Singh outlined his plans, assuring us that residents' concerns would be addressed and that Truman Annex would be a real part of the town, with affordable housing, a public softball field and a meditation garden at the old foundry building.
Of course, Truman Annex never did become a real part of the community. Instead, local and out-of-town speculators snapped up these residential units to illegally rent them out as "vacation rentals," draining off badly needed long-term housing and turning Truman Annex into one big unlicensed hotel. The meditation garden at the foundry building never materialized. And the promised softball field later ended up as a tiny park that has been kept padlocked for years because of concerns about "liability." These are just a few examples of the trail of broken promises littering the history of Truman Annex.
This kind of deception could never have taken place without the collaboration of our city officials. Last year, the Truman Annex Development Agreement extension—written by the developer—came before the City Commission, offering a chance to right the many wrongs resulting from the numerous amendments to the original agreement.
The problem was that the agreement extension was delivered to the City only on the day of the Commission meeting. City Planner Ty Symroski pointed out that he had not had an opportunity to review the document and asked that a vote be postponed until the next meeting. Likewise, City Attorney Bob Tschenkel said that he hadn't had a chance to examine it thoroughly enough to answer commissioner's questions.
But Mayor Jimmy Weekley commanded, "I'd like to see this approved tonight" and Commissioner Carmen Turner obliged by making a motion to approve the extension, which passed. As a sop to concerned citizens, the City Planner was ordered to check for "any problems," which would be dealt with at the next meeting. And as you might expect, the issue was never mentioned again, at least not at a public meeting.
Now this sleazy collusion between Truman Annex developers and city officials is raising its ugly head once again. The Hilton Hotel is pushing to add nine transient units at the property, cottages that the developer assures us will "look like residences," which must come as a relief to everyone. As part of the deal, the long-padlocked "public" park would be opened at last—to serve as the entrance for the new transient units. Of course, the developer promises that the park will be open to everyone. And if you believe that one, I've got a development agreement I'd like to sell you.
But the real sleaze concerns the fuzzy math that the developer and the City are using to magically turn one original residential unit at the old weather station into nine transient licenses to be transferred to the new sites. These transient licenses were created by the 12th amendment to the Truman Annex Development Agreement, approved by the City Commission after there were no more transient licenses available under the state-mandated Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO).
At the last Planning Board meeting a representative of the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) raised several major concerns about the proposed project, including the need for affordable housing for the employees filling the new jobs that would be created by the development and the added traffic in an already congested area.
DCA Secretary Steven Seibert will ultimately decide whether or not this latest outrage is allowed to proceed. But judging from his past decision, we can expect the shameful history and broken promises of Truman Annex to roll on.