How are the keys doing

[STraenkle]

I wanted to head down there over Christmas with my girls. Not sure how it has recovered since the hurricanes. any information would be great. Use to say at Knights Key, back in the college days, but I hear that is gone.

[Kevin]

Hey Scott,
Yeah knights key is being "developed." Marathon is looking better overall. Green is coming back on trees and bushes which helps a lot. There are still streets and communities in town that are pretty rough. Some small canals that were hit hard still full of trailers, boats freezers etc. Sisters Creek is all clear. I would not advise running boat at night. Still lots of random debris in water from storm doors to root balls. Occasional 80 foot boat broke in half floating keep up. They are burning debris at golf course so the smoke is horrible for many depending on wind direction. Of coarse the fire curtain is advertised by the local mafia as virtually smokeless.
Went to Big Pine yesterday. Don't go there or at least anywhere near the avenues. Looks like loaders and dump trucks have not been there yet. Insurance companies have up to 90 days to pay up so tarps are prevelent unless house was fairly new or roof was new. Old tile roofs just did not hold up well. Metal is the only way to go.
Starting to see vacationers again. Weekly rentals with people that have boats but they have no clue how to operate them.

[Tony Meola]

Kevin

Glad to hear you are starting to get back to normal. It will take a while. Some homes will be years before they are fixed. Up here in NJ we still have areas from Sandy that have not been touched.

[STraenkle]

Thanks Tony, I will look at Marathon area. Like to find something, but not sure how many rentals are back. Too bad about Knight Key, as a college student in Melbourne, we went to the keys every year and Knights Key was affordable and a lot nicer than most of the camp sites we found. Had some great times there, so of which I even remember......

[Kevin]

Almost normal for me. Put the fence gates back up after lots of yard clean up. My buddy brought my mustang back from Ocala a few weeks ago. He came down and towed it out before the storm. What a relief that was.
I even put the stone crab traps out. Other than needing roof replaced and a kitchen it is normal for me. I was fortunate like I mentioned in the other post. I don't know the statistics but many don't have a real home. It's aggravating to listen local "leaders" talk about getting more hotel beds up and running for tourism. People's heads are so far up their asses and they have lost sight of basic human needs and common sense.

[Tony Meola]

Kevin

Seems like most politicians have that problem these days. We have a local town election tomorrow and it is time for a change. The current set of Republicans have lost their minds and just don;t know how to negotiate.

They just spent a load of money on new DPW equipment. Granted badly needed but there is a but. They are trying to close down the waste mangement transfer station in town because they want to use the area for high density housing. I said why loose a ratable like Waste Management. If they want to stay so badly tell them they can stay if they buy us the equipment. But no, we want to add 1000 more cars to the road because according to them that is better than 40 trucks a day that don't move on a weekend.

Makes a lot of sense. UGH