PAGE ONE COMMENTARY | Obituary: After a Long Illness, the BCCLT Finally Died This Week. No Funeral Is Planned

THE LAND TRUST CONCEPT HELD
MUCH PROMISE TO PROVIDE
AFFORDABLE HOUSING. BUT IN ITS
FINAL MONTHS, THE BCCLT HAD
BECOME A SLUM LANDLORD

MAYBE THE STATE ATTORNEY CAN
FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FEDERAL,
STATE AND CITY FUNDS

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

Obituary: After a long
illness, the Bahama Conch
Community Land Trust (BCCLT)
finally died this week. No
funeral is planned.

We have written here before
that the concept of a land
trust that addresses affordable
housing— or workforce housing,
as it is now being called— is
laudable. That was the stated
idea behind the BCCLT when it
was established here in 1995.

Financed by state and
federal grants, as well as a special
Key West city tax, the idea
was that the BCCLT would buy
houses, rehab them, then deedrestrict
the properties as affordable,
then rent or sell those
properties to income-qualified
residents. What makes the
properties “affordable,” is that
the trust retains the ownership
of the land— which, in theory,
removes the cost of the land
from the home.

Congresswoman, Holocaust Survivors at FKCC Monday

Florida Keys Community College will host the only
public stop of U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s
Holocaust Survivors Florida Keys Tour on Monday,
March 22 from 9:30a.m. to 11:00a.m. in the Tennessee
Williams Theatre on the college’s Key West campus.
The Congresswoman, accompanied by eight Holocaust
survivors, will travel down the Keys beginning March 18,
stopping and visiting local high schools, middle schools,
and synagogues.

FKCC’s session will give the community the rare opportunity to hear first-hand
accounts from eight individuals
who survived Nazi concentration
camps as adolescents.

They will share their personal
stories of courage, strength, and
perseverance in the face of one
of history’s worst genocides
that resulted in the death of approximately
six million Eastern
European Jews during World
War II.

Free Car Show Features Really Cool Cars

SOUTHERNMOST CAR CLUB MEETS
SUNDAY AT SUGARLOAF LODGE

Car club organizer Dick Moody says that the Florida Keys
Southernmost Car Club started out as just a few automobile
enthusiasts getting together every month or so to show off their
customized or classic cars. But now, the monthly Show & Shine
meetings have turned into real car shows, featuring customs,
classics, street rods, low riders, pickup trucks and sports cars.
“Our shows are really fun events,” Moody said. “We even
play 50s music on the sound system. And people are bringing
their kids to see these magnificant machines.”

This month’s Show & Shine is this Sunday, March 21, at
Sugarloaf Lodge at mile marker 17, noon ‘til 4pm. Info: Dick at
(305) 942-1758.

BITCHIN’ PARADISE: Spring Broke

by Kimberley Denney

While I hear people say
that this year there are more
spring breakers in town than
last, all I’ve noticed is a little
more incessant scooter horn
honking, but that’s not a move
owned by the breakers. From
the porch of Grand Vin, one
evening I counted a gang of 18
scooters cruising up and down
Duval, riding two abreast,
whose drivers decided that one
group stop at stop sign was all
that was required of them.

When I came to Key West
on spring break a million years
ago, I don’t remember anyone
on scooters. What I remember
most from that trip was that
no matter how much you need
more people to come in order to
split that expensive hotel room,
it’s just not worth it.

This was back in the 90’s,
and I started out on the road
from Tampa with my two roommates,
Caryn from Brooklyn,
and Girl Jami from Long Island
(designation given by Caryn
because like, duh, she already
knew a boy Jamie). These were
girls who didn’t have to work
part time jobs for spending
money. Girls who dressed by
their giggly code of the Three
T’s: tight, trendy and terrific.

RHONDA: A Family Newsletter: Eat That, Alton Brown

by Rhonda Linseman-Saunders

Parental guilt can make a person do some weird
things. And the sources of guilt are ample, especially
for a recovering Catholic trying to raise a family in
our all-media all-the-time society. It’s a train wreck,
actually. It occurred to me last week, while watching
Good Eats with my husband, that I may need to get
ahold of myself in that regard.

Watching Good Eats, for me, is usually as stimulating
as watching the washing machine agitate (a
notch above watching grass grow). But this time it
left me with a gnawing feeling of inadequacy. Not
only has Alton Brown lost fifty pounds by “simply”
eating healthy foods in reasonable portions, he is also
a fabulous cook, and is nauseatingly personable. Oh,
and he has his own TV show. That’s reason enough
for many people to hate him.

It’s one thing to feel inadequate in comparison
to my old former neighbor, Mrs. Shittogether. You
remember her—the one who works full-time yet has
a perfectly cute, clean house and yard at all times, is
a great mother with confident, trustworthy kids who
were seemingly born with incredible work ethic, and
oh yeah, she’s an awesome cook who throws dinner
parties that don’t feel a bit like gloating.

BOETTGER: One “M’neek” =$400,000

By Rick Boettger

News Flash. Our county government is robbing
us blind.

We the people can get outraged when an individual
steals money. It is easy to understand what a
Monique Acevedo is alleged to have done, and get
angry about it. But we the people have no idea of
how our government leaders pick ten times as much
from our wallets on an ongoing basis, legally, right
under our noses, to enrich their cushy lifestyles at our
expense. It has become my job to expose what they
are doing so that you, the people, will get pissed off
enough to do something about it, namely, vote the
scoundrels out.

The three main ways they steal our money is by
[1] hoarding it, [2] paying themselves exorbitant salaries
and benefits, and [3] building themselves lavish
office buildings. Buildings I’ll discuss another time.
Clerk Danny’s $200,000/year income I’ll detail at the
end below. The main issue today is explaining their
giant cash hoard, and how it hurts our wallets.

Woman’s Hope Concert Tonight

PHOTO: JUST A FEW OF THE LOCAL
STARS APPEARING, left to
right above, top row— Libby
York, Kim Gordon, Melody
Cooper,. Second row— Randy
Thompson, Kathleen Peace
and MiMi McDonald.

The fourth annual Woman’s
Hope Concert, scheduled
for tonight, Friday, March 19, at
8pm at the Tennessee Williams
Cabaret Theatre, has an all-star
cast— and 100% of the proceeds
benefit the Florida Keys
Healthy Start Coalition.

Top female headliners, including
Kathleen Peace, Libby
York, Melody Cooper, Kim
Gordon, Christine Cordone,
Maj Johnson, Melissa Tausche,
Lenore Troia, Cindy Lu, and
Mimi McDonald as Ms. Sarah
Palin will be joined by special
guest Randy Thompson in this
one-of-a-kind concert produced
by the Key West Woman’s
Club.

Two More Performances For Always . . . Patsy Cline

The long anticipated return
of the Red Barn Theatre’s
acclaimed production of Always
…Patsy Cline is here! This
musical tribute, which stars
Pamela Hand Lockwood and
Joy Hawkins, tells the story behind
the music of the legendary
singer Patsy Cline. Always …
Patsy Cline, which is based on a
true story, runs for three nights
only, March 18 – 20, at the San
Carlos Theatre, located at 516
Duval Street.

Patsy Cline, whose life
and career were cut tragically
short in an airplane crash, is
considered one of the most acclaimed
female vocalists of the
20th century. Her hits placed
consistently on the country,
pop, and adult contemporary
charts, making her one of the first
“crossover” artists of her day.

Special Tuesday Performance Added For Shirley Valentine

Shirley Valentine, the one woman play that tells the story of
an ordinary English housewife who takes herself on an extraordinary
life adventure, continues through Marth 27th at the Red
Barn Theatre, located at 319 Duval Street. A special performance
has been added for Tuesday, March 17.

This Tony Award winning comedy by Willy Russell features
the amazing Joan O’Dowd who “embodies Shirley Valentine with
flair” and delivers a performance so disarmingly delightful that
audiences are immediate drawn into the stories of Shirley’s “hum
drum” life and her “mega brill” plan to do something about it!

“It’s been like visiting an old friend,” says O’Dowd who
first performed the role fifteen years ago at the Red Barn Theatre.
“An old friend that you’ve grown to appreciate and understand
through the years.”

Tickets are available online at http://www.redbarntheatre.com or
by calling the Red Barn box office at (305) 296-9911.

IT'S THE LAW: Home Payments: Should You Just Walk Away?

by Brandon Dimando
and Michael Barnes

Part 1 of a series

In these tough financial
times, more and more families
are simply giving up their
homes and walking away.

Banks and other lending institutions
must make the decision
to chase them or in some cases,
let them go.

Many, who have been able
to pay their mortgage, in the
past, now have new challenges
to face. Due to unemployment,
falling home values, or relocation,
many cannot sell their
homes for what the bank wants
them to pay. In growing numbers
homeowner just “Walk
Away” from their home and
the payments they can’t make
anymore.