Imagine a story. The Navy tells the city to take a hike and decides to use the Mole Pier for military purposes and not allow ships or civilians there any more. At the same time, The Walsh Family sells The Weston to new owners who actually care about the quality of guest stays rather then cruise ship fees and they no longer allow ships to dock at Pier B. Cruise Ship visits plummet. After a few months of difficult impacts, things stabilize and rents on lower Duval start to drop (sorry Spottswoods and Swift, but my guess is you will survive). New, unique businesses open up and expand employing people displaced from cruise ship related jobs. Our long stay business goes up with higher end visitors spending more per capita. $5 everything stores and tee shirt shops are replaced with local arts and nicer clothing stores. Our near shore waters no longer have 1000 jet skies circling the island all day, and the reefs no longer have 2500 people a day trampling coral and creating slicks of sun tan oil on the water. The Ducks go out of business and it no longer takes 30 minutes to cover one mile on Whitehead Street since there are fewer trolley and trains. A year goes by and our economy stabilizes, quality of life in Old a town goes up for residents and visitors, and Key West recaptures the funky, laid back atmosphere that made us famous. The reef begins to rebound with new coral and less bleaching. A study is done showing how a Town can rebound and be stronger without thousands of cheap cruise ship visitors flooding the streets. Unfortunately it is only a story.

The Navy is not interested in the city's money. They are simply tired of the city's refusal to live up to the terms of its years-old agreement to develop the Truman property. They're also tired of the city's get-rich-quick schemes such as mega-yacht marinas and mega-cruise ships.

They're tired of small-town crooked politicians like Rossi and his close association with the cruise industry.

They're tired of being denied access to their own property, via the Eaton St. entrance to the Mole.

Plus, they want the Mole left relatively open for their military use when needed.

The idea of raising disembarkation and docking fees for cruise ships, however, is one that's been too long coming. We're charging about one fourth of what most destinations charge for these floating trailer parks to invade their peace and quiet. Time we jacked out prices through the roof. Only bad part is-- despite what Panico & the Chamber of Horrors will tell you-- they'll pay it in a heartbeat.

I hope the Navy sticks to its guns (no pun intended) and tells Rossi and his cruise ship pals to shove it.

Remember the figures. 675k in net income. The general fund budget for the year is about 49 million! Our overall budget with all funds is close to 178 million! The 675k is a rounding error and could be made up with changes residents would not even notice! In spite of Mark "I love cruise ships" Rossi's bloviating, these floating sewers bring little in revenue to the city general fund vs the impact to quality of life for residents and long stay tourists.