KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGGS

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Kill the Goose That Lays the Golden Egg is the modern rendition of To Kill the Goose That Laid Golden Eggs. An Aesop fable. Interpreted to mean unprofitable action motivated by greed.

Applicable to the Key West City Commission. They’re doing it again!

Residents, snowbirds and tourists can be defecated upon only so much. Then the bird dies. In this instance by fewer making Key West their home or place to visit.

This morning’s Key West Citizen reports the City Commission is proposing a parking rate hike. An additional $1 per hour. I can’t tell you with certainty what the rate is now. Only because it is different depending where you park. I suspect the Bight’s large lot is the most expensive.

The extra dollar will be distributed 40 percent to affordable housing, 37 percent to the gas tax fund to study implementation of alternative transportation methods, and 33 percent to the City’s general fund.

As to affordable housing, much has already been spent with little result. Studies and limited construction.

Alternative transportation methods? Key West hired several months ago a director of such. He has already garnered a grant to help with his work. I cannot believe big dollars are required to solve the traffic problem. Sit a bunch of residents down and they will immediately tell you what has to be done without pissing a ton of money away.

The 27 percent to the City’s general fund is a gimmick to receive more dollars that can be easily spent at the discretion of the Commission. Tax dollars do not seem to be enough.

To the Commission I say:  Keep it up fellows. You are going to keep people away. Destroy the economy of Key West. Perhaps, not a bad idea. Lets go back to the 1970’s when things were slower, quieter, cheaper, and there was no traffic problem.

Hotels, restaurants and bars are equally guilty. How much can they charge? Apparently the sky is the limit.

Great Ryder Cup finish yesterday. Watched it from home.

Dinner last night at Roostica. The Sunday special. Spaghetti in a pork meat sauce with meatballs and sausage. Just like my grandmother made! Love it!

My grandmother did her cooking on a large kerosene stove. The way it was done back then. I can still see her standing and cooking at the kerosene stove. The late 1930s through the 1940s. I was a young kid back then.

Diana Millikan wrote she had lunch at Roostica yesterday. Her first time there.

Diana is a snowbird. Recently returned. She is all over the island. Into everything. She went to the Casa Marina for the sole purpose of viewing the lobby’s wood beamed ceiling. She is at the library constantly digging up further William Hackley information. She is the one who came up with the Hackley maid being a rented slave.

Hurricane Matthew to be watched. Still a #4. Eventually will reach Cuba. Then supposed to turn north avoiding the keys and most of Florida. After that, who knows?

I worry. Cannot help it. I repeat, hurricanes are fickle. They change course without warning. Note also that Matthew went from a #1 to a #5 in one day.

Hackley complaning today his piles will not stay up and are very sore. I sympathize with him.

Big baseball anniversary today. On this date in 1951, Bobby Thomson hit the “shot heard ’round the world.” Last game of National League Playoff. Bottom of the 9th. Brooklyn Dodgers winning 4-2 when Thomson came to bat. Two on. Thomson hit a 3 run home run, giving the New York Giants the win 5-4.

I was in high school at the time. Working part time in a super market. Stocking canned goods on a shelf. The radio playing throughout the store. Everyone went crazy when Thomson hit the home run.

How far we have come. The game was the first major sporting event televised coast to coast.

To Victor at the Chart Room: I am supposed to meet someone at the Chart Room tonight at 6. Never met him before. He is a blog reader. I cannot find his e-mail to tell him I can’t make it. My heart doctor has rescheduled me to 5 this afternoon. Please tell him the new time is 6 thursday. Ask him to send me an e-mail confirming.

Thank you.

Enjoy your day!

 

OUTSTANDING GOLF…..PERHAPS THE BEST EVER

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My eyes have never seen a better round of competitive golf. The final day of the British Open. Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson battling. Hole by hole. The match one stroke either way. The final three holes decided the event. Stenson won by three strokes.

Both made spectacular shots. Their putting outstanding. I have never seen better putting. Twenty to thirty feet like a one footer. Stenson sunk a 51 footer from off the green.

Viewing the round made for a very pleasant afternoon.

Last night, I started with Schooners. Bar only half full. Enjoyed a drink while watching the natives.

Then to Mark’s. The new hotel across the street. The Mark only has an out door bar. Poolside. A nice area. Packed with couples in the pool and on lounges.

I did not stay. There was no one over 30 years of age.

Walked across the street from Marks to the Waterfront Brewery. A good crowd. No room at the bar. I left.

It was across the street to Pepe’s. Been a year or two since I have eaten there. Sat at the bar. Chatted with the bartender. He used to work at the Chart Room one night a week. Chatted with two guys from Marathon who drove down for the day.

Enjoyed the barbecued chicken. Half a chicken. The meal to order when at Pepe’s.

The back of Pepe’s menu has an historical page. Pepe’s got its start in 1909. Then at 202 Duval. Pepe’s now on Caroline.

The page commented Truman used to stop at the Duval Pepe’s to have coffee and talk with the locals.

The page further made mention that the two popular songs in 1909 were By the Light of the Silvery Moon and Who’s Kissing Her Now. I could not understand how the songs were that old. I hum them on occasion to this day. Danced to both tunes in high school and college.

It was the movies! Both made during my school days. With big time stars. Doris Day in 1953 starred in By the Light of the Silvery Moon. Who’s Kissing Her Now starred June Haver in the 1947 movie. Many vocal artists in the 1950s and 1960s recorded the song. Ray Charles, Ernie Ford, Bobby Darin, Perry Como and Dean Martin.

Fantasy Fest came early this year. Last friday night. This morning’s Citizens’ Voice carries a comment by an individual who claims he saw topless body painted women at 5 in the afternoon on Duval.

William Hackley makes mention in his diary entry of this date in 1855 that Baby is well. God bless!

The Republican Convention begins today. A success or fiasco? Time will tell. Trump’s people indicate its nature will be showbiz.

Trump and Pence were interviewed last night on 60 Minutes. I saw excerpts this morning on TV. Trump looked like an ass and made Pence look equally erratic in the portions I saw.

More police officers killed by a black in Baton Rouge.

These black killings of police had to happen. They were inevitable. I warned two years ago they would come if the killings of blacks continued.

Never forget, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Violence begets violence. Blacks are saying…..Stop treading on us!

Security will be heavy at the Republican Convention. Likewise at the Democrat Convention. Police officers are coming from as far as California to assist. Who pays for all the security? You. The taxpayer. The federal government gives $50 million to each Convention for security purposes.

Rome burned this day in 64 AD. We are told Nero fiddled while Rome burned. He could not have fiddled. The fiddle did not exist at the time.

Enjoy your day!