City's cruise ship hearings get under way
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff Writer
KEY WEST — The city will
hold the first of two public meetings tonight to gather residents' and
business owners' input on one of the city's most controversial forms of
tourism, cruise ships.
The city has started a
cruise ship quality of life study and will receive more input in its
early stages with 6 p.m. meetings tonight at Key West High School, and
Wednesday at Old City Hall.
The study is planned to
be completed during the first quarter of 2005. Additional public
meetings will be held toward the end of the research period to brief the
public on findings and further solicit input.
In addition to public
meetings, the city will be conducting Key West resident and business
mail surveys relative to cruise ship activity, as well as on-site Key
West visitor, cruise ship passenger and crew surveys.
The study came out of a
lawsuit filed by the resident group Last Stand. The group sued the city
in 1999 on the grounds that the city could not legally turn the Outer
Mole Pier into a full-time cruise port.
"It was never properly
planned or permitted," Last Stand board member Elliot Baron said.
Baron and others have
complained about the increase in the number of cruise ship passengers
coming to Key West during the past several years. They say too many
cruise passengers crowd the island and affect the quality of the visit
for tourists. Cruise ship supporters say the ships bring millions of
dollars to city businesses each year.
Cruise ship passenger
counts at the three cruise ports in Key West went from 630,856 in 1999
to 995,092 in 2003. The city has seen a 4-percent decrease in passengers
so far this fiscal year because the Outer Mole Pier has been closed for
several months while the Navy dredges a shipping channel there.
The city is expecting 521
cruise ship port calls bringing in 951,288 passengers in the 2004-05
fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Those figures are based on a
99-percent occupancy rate on the cruise ships.
The hearings come just
weeks after the City Commission discussed raising disembarkment fees to
help balance the general fund budget.
City Commissioner Harry
Bethel proposed increasing disembarkment fees by 50 cents to make up
shortfalls in the budget. However, the city is limited in what it can
charge, because of a 2002 amendment to the River and Harbors
Appropriations Act of 1884.
The law has yet to be
challenged, and each time Key West talks of raising fees, cruise line
officials are quick to remind the city of the law, city officials say.
"It was an unintended
consequence of a law focused on an Indian tribe in a small village where
cruise ships didn't even stop. They went after a mosquito with a sledge
hammer," Baron said "It has never been tested."
The City Commission did
agree to raise disembarkment fees by 60 cents to meet increased security
standards handed down by the federal government, and has until September
to decide whether to increase them another 50 cents.
Florida-Caribbean Cruise
Association President Michelle Paige reminded Key West officials that
this would be the second straight year the city has hit cruise companies
with a sizable increase, and cautioned about pricing themselves out of
the market. Paige called last year's $2.60 increase excessive.
"I guess they will have
to wait to see what next year's disembarkment totals look like," Paige
said.
Puerto Rico charges
$10.30 per passenger, but has volume incentives that bring the figure
down to $8 per passenger, Paige said. Puerto Rico is looking at
increasing fees to $13.25 per passenger, with an incentive to bring it
down $5 if the cruise ships can bring in a certain number of visitors
each year. The Cayman Islands charge $10.27 for ships that come
year-round and $12.12 for seasonal ships. Cozumel charges $3.72 per
passenger, Paige said.
tohara@keysnews.com |
