Last November, the citizens of Key West, Fla., troubled by the number of cruise ships and tourists descending on their idyllic home, headed to the voting booths to make their concerns known.
Voters passed three referendums that limited cruise ship visitors to a total of 1,500 per day; prohibited ships with a capacity of 1,300 or more from disembarking passengers; and gave priority docking to cruise lines with the best environmental and health records.
Now, five months later, backed by the cruise industry, Florida lawmakers are contemplating overturning that vote.
And, according to the Washington Post, it’s all legal.
“We battled the big cruise ship companies, and now they’re taking away my vote?” asked Kate Miano, owner of the Gardens Hotel. “I can’t understand how they can possibly do that.”
In a nutshell, State Rep. Spencer Roach answered that at a hearing earlier this month when he said, “We can’t simply have a group of 10,000 people closing down the port of Key West and holding the state of Florida hostage,” referring to the number of people who voted on the local referendum back in November.
Bills have already passed sub-committees and the state legislature in Tallahassee will take it from there.
John Wells, chief executive of Caribe Nautical Services, which is the agent for every cruise ship that docks in Key West, said there will be a dramatic loss of tourist revenue in Key West.
“We have 287 port calls scheduled for 2022,” Wells said. “Only 18 will meet the size criteria.”
But Key West treasurer Arlo Haskell said cruise revenue accounts for about seven percent of all tourist spending in Key West in a normal year. Ships will continue to dock, he notes, although only the smaller ones.
“The goal is to make Key West the premier small-ship destination,” Haskell said.
But cruise Industry officials say the vote will cripple cruise tourism in Key West and endanger hundreds of local jobs that depend on the big ships.
The final legislation is expected to be delivered to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the next few weeks.
