Mayor Teri Johnston didn’t stumble into politics, but rather, was swept in by the wind. As a native of Iowa, land of tornadoes, it’s nearly poetic. Growing up with three sisters, a mom that was a presser at a drycleaner, and a dad that worked at an alfalfa processing plant (“He always came home green”), Johnston didn’t foresee being mayor of the Southernmost City.
“I got into politics when we started fighting windstorm insurance hikes after Wilma,” said Johnston. Her neighborhood organized after the 2005 hurricane season and made their way to Tallahassee. “We just headed up there with a story and a picture.”
They got results: while there was an increase scheduled, instead rates were reduced and frozen for four years. Not glamorous, perhaps, but gritty.
“After that, I said to myself: ‘You have a voice, and look at what you can get done.’”
Johnston has continued to use her voice, intelligence, and unflagging work ethic to do just that, first as a city commissioner and now as mayor. While she is the second female mayor of Key West in history and the first out gay female mayor, she doesn’t trumpet these stats. Instead, she’s doing things like leading a city query into salary inequities between men and women.
“I don’t want to be a sound bite,” said Johnston, “I want to be substance.”
Tuesday, April 9
4:30 a.m. Rise and shine, walk Oliver and Gracie (two miniature King Charles Cavalier Spaniels), have two cups of Bustello while reading the paper and answering personal emails. 1.5 hours of working on Affiliated business for the day.
(I still do admin work for our construction company, Affiliated Design & Construction. I was in international marketing before and traveled the world, and then Dar said: Why don’t you do the admin area of my business? So, I joined her.)
7:30 a.m. to In my office at City Hall
7:45 a.m. Answer city emails and voice messages.
(I come in to about 45 emails each morning. I review and prepare for the day with Kim Romano, my aide, to set priorities and handle time-sensitive issues.)
9:00 a.m. to Sit in on the Chamber of Commerce Affordable Housing
10:00 a.m. Committee meeting to develop strategies to increase Key West workforce housing.
10:00 a.m. Worked on new building permitting program to roll out in mid-April called “Walk in Wednesday.”
11:00 a.m. Back to City Hall to meet with Bill Archer, the new executive director of the Boys and Girls Club.
(We discussed their lease at Reynolds School, due to expire in 2020, their fundraising efforts to get into the Bayview Park Boys and Girls Club provided by the City of Key West and determine an alternative use for the building after 6:00 p.m. when the children go home.)
12:00 p.m. Head home to walk Oliver and Gracie once around the block and give Oliver his noon medicine.
(Oliver suffers from encephalitis and has to take his medicine three times a day.)
1:00p.m. to Lunch and speaking to the “This is Me” LGBTQ club at the Florida
2:30 p.m. Keys Community College campus.
3:00 p.m. to Meet at 801 Bourbon Street with proprietor Jimmy Gilleran and
4:30 p.m. the Upper Duval merchants.
(We’re gauging the collective interest in expanding Mall on Duval into Upper Duval.)
4:30 p.m. to Prepare for a Wednesday morning meeting with the county,
5:00 p.m. Sherriff and city staff on KOTS.
(No evening meetings or events scheduled today! So will head home, find some food, watch the news, take a short bike ride, answer emails, work on taxes and head to bed at 9:00 p.m. to get up and do it again.)
