Folks in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and a host of other cities still can book a plane ticket online and land at Key West International AIrport a few hours later. Similarly, people with boats can show up in Keys waters, anchor offshore, then head ashore to one of our island communities to provision their vessel. An estimated 100 boats are currently in unmanaged mooring fields off Marathon.
And therein lies the problem.
“Locks only keep out honest people” is how Key West City Manager Greg Veliz described the city and county efforts to keep Keys residents safe from nonresidents coming to a town that’s closed to visitors, possibly from coronavirus “hot spot” areas of the country.
Motorists attempting to enter the Keys by car are stopped at a checkpoint and asked to show proof of residency, deliveries, employment or property ownership. No such documentation is required for passengers arriving by air or water.
Key West resident and local bartender Tom “TK” Kraker, who has lived here for 33 years, had a suggestion to help close the airport loophole.
“If the county can establish a successful checkpoint at the top of the Keys and stop people who do not belong here, can the county also set up a checkpoint just outside the Key West (and Marathon) airports to check for the same credentials before they enter Key West and Marathon?” Kraker asked The Weekly.
Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers and Veliz said there has been no discussion of such a measure as of April 14.
“I’m hearing that the numbers of people getting off commercial flights is not that great,” Veliz said. “But there are still a lot of private planes coming in.”
Carruthers pointed out that everyone arriving at Keys airports gets screened by airport paramedics, but is not asked for the same documents as motorists in Key Largo.
“By and large, most people coming into the airports are returning home to the Florida Keys,” Carruthers said. “Everyone gets their temperature taken and is required to fill out a questionnaire that asks where they’ve traveled and where they’re staying in the Keys. They’re also ordered to self-isolate for 14 days or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter. Those questionnaires are given to the health department, which is meant to ensure that they truly do self-isolate.”
But as usual, enforcement becomes difficult, Veliz said.
“I’m really comfortable with what we’ve done with regard to our protective measures. But there’s a fine line between martial law and running a city,” he said. “Most of the people who are here illegally in illegal vacation rentals are drawing attention to themselves with rental cars, rented bikes and other activities that prompt our residents to call our hotline to report them, and we’ve followed up with notices to appear in court.”
On a related note, Veliz emphasized on April 14 that, “although I never weigh in on any Facebook or social media conversations, I read everything, and I will say that we have not taken back any of the notices to appear that were issued to illegal renters and the associated rental agents. We have not ‘walked back’ any of those notices,” Veliz said.
