2019-07-11

Hello Key Biscayne!

Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July last week. There’s really something to being on the Key for the 4th: anything goes, everyone is out and about and in a good mood, there’s parties all over the island, and it all ends sitting on the beach watching the fireworks.

There’s plenty of boring holidays you can use for a vacation. Don’t miss out on the one where the Key is at its best.

Now, on to le Rag…

Wild wild life Not a week after some crocs were spotted on the beach, Sunday two dwarf sperm whales were spotted on that same beach. This time the animals were much less dangerous, not because they were whales, but because they were dead. Well, the baby was dead, and then a vet made the decision to kill the mother. ☠️

(Key News)

Lock them up The Islander’s got some fun police reports this week, including $22k stolen from a car in a driveway, a crazy person yelling obscenities, racist remarks, and threatening the president at Milanezza, and a long read about a man who can’t handle that his golf cart was booted (Ed. note – fuck the booter). 🚓

(Islander News)

Incoming Scientists at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg’s College of Marine Science have mapped out the largest sargassum bloom in the world, calling it the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, as it stretches from West Africa to the Carribbean. They list a variety of factors for the increase in seaweed, ultimately blaming climate change, and say it’s probably here to stay. 🙃

(NASA)

Tuna wrap it up The Beach Club is looking for a new concessions vendor, so if you enjoy the cheeseburgers out there (or the tuna sandwich with everything and olives on wheat) you better go get your fill. Hopefully the new crew comes in with a beer & wine license. If you’re interested or know someone who is, email Donna Rice. 🥪

(Donna Rice)

On Tuesday of last week, the Village Council held a special meeting to allow the Key Biscayne Community Foundation to respond to some comments made by Councilmember Ignacio Segurola. Let’s lay out the timeline, in brief:

1. There is some talk in some circles about the influence of the KBCF on local politics, and the way the Village allocates money through them to various organizations.

2. At a budget meeting two weeks ago, without anyone from the KBCF present, Councilmember Segurola raises the issue of accountability of Village funds, and specifically mentions the KBCF (that mention was the key thing here). The rest of the council reacts harshly for the callout.

3. A special meeting is called for last Tuesday to give a chance for the KBCF to defend themselves.

So what happened at that meeting? The KBCF gave a presentation, about a hundred people came out to express their support of the KBCF (with maybe ~5 of them understanding the underlying issue), ~3 people came out to defend Mr. Segurola, trying to deflect and say he only called for accountability for everything in general, and then Mr. Segurola spoke and defended himself. Oh and then there was something about filing record requests against everyone that pissed everyone off, but ultimately was dropped.

By the end it did seem like everything was worked out, but with a weird aftertaste. Mr. Segurola definitely had it rough up there, and you can’t blame him for feeling like the meeting was called to chastise him.

The funny thing about all this is that there are for sure two, maybe three council members who would love nothing more than to detail every single dollar spent by the Village and slash expenditures out one by one, holding everything excruciatingly accountable, as Mr. Segurola proposes. Mr. Segurola likewise would almost certainly have full support of the KBCF if he had discussed formalizing the agreement between the Village and them. By calling them out, by antagonizing his fellow council members, he’s seemingly put himself in a weaker position to get all these things done. And for what?

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Stay cool out there. See you next week!

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