From May 2, 2015
The New Key West Fire Department is Finally Complete - The Torture is Over!
It's over! Thank God, it's over! I won't have to deal with big burly
guys pushing me around anymore. I won't have to endure being bullied and
having to walk a couple blocks out to way to go to my office. They
didn't demand my lunch money - no they just made life a living hell for
the last year. They blocked the little lane that leads to the parking
lot behind my office. They erected barriers and diverted traffic so that
I could not get into my parking lot. For several weeks I didn't know
which street to take to work. I had to call a friend at local hotel to
ask if I could park there. And when I could park in our lot, my car got
thoroughly dusted with this mixture of concrete and dust that mixed with
the moisture in the air to create a tough coat of goo to cover my car.
Local politicians do what all politicians do - they invited
photographers over to the construction site, smiled for the cameras, and
took credit for the new fire station that was built to replace the old
one.
For many, many years the old fire station was also the police station
and city hall for Key West. The building located at the corners of
Simonton and Angela Street was built in the 1950s and worked just fine
for decades. But as the City of Key West prospered and as local
government grew (governments always grow - they never contract!), the
governing officials decided they needed to build more buildings to house
the bulging bureaucracy. Several years ago the police department was
relocated to North Roosevelt Boulevard. And after years of debating, a
new city hall is being constructed inside the walls of the former Key
West high school at the corners of White and United Streets. I'll write
about that some day soon. But for now I'd like to share some photos that
show the history of the old building and the new one.
The aerial photo above show the former city hall, police station, and
fire department located at the corner of Simonton and Angela Streets.
The two story parking garage and city hall annex are located adjacent to
the north. The phone company building is at the corner of Simonton at
Southard.
The above photo shows the building in 1962. There were two bays for
fire department vehicles. The police department entrance was at the
rear. City hall entrance was at the Angela Street doorway.
The above photo shows the back side of the building in 1965. The
parking garage had not been built yet. The city hall annex is to the
left. The larger building at the rear is the phone company building.
The decidedly ugly city parking structure is shown above. City fathers
tore down this eyesore several years ago. Later the city hall annex seen
to the right was taken down. The photo below shows the demolition of
that building in August 2011. For readers who care about governmental
efficiency, please note that the current batch of city fathers are now
considering tearing up the newly built parking lot to build a new
parking garage where the old one once existed. I think this is how
politicians work in most places. It's probably not something specific to
Key West. Of course, if they had to build buildings with their own
money, other decisions might be made.
The big trucks and construction equipment moved into my neighborhood in
March 2014. I took this photo from the back door at Preferred Properties
parking lot looking to the south. The old fire station remained active
in place while the construction of the new building took place. Within a
matter of a couple of weeks pre-stressed concrete slabs were put
together like LEGO blocks. However, it took months of work by various
trades to complete the mechanical, electrical, HVAC, roof, and
interiors.
I walked over to take photos of the project last August 13th. The old
fire station was still in use. As I passed by I looked over to the
picnic table where fireman sometimes sat to eat lunch and noticed this
bent over figure which I first though was a fireman.
I looked closer. I laughed out loud. Even the firemen were exhausted by all the commotion.
If you are familiar with the location, you know that this particular
corner floods like crazy every time there is a rain storm in Key West.
City fathers (the city dollars) have tried to fix the flooding at
various times over the years. Part of the redevelopment of this site
included new sewer and water service and a new attempt to take storm
runoff water away from the site. The one storm I witnessed moved the
water from the intersection about forty feet west - just about where the
yellow vehicle is shown above or in front of the entrance to the Garden
Hotel.
It took about three weeks to bring down the old fire station. She was a
tough old broad to be sure. As she finally succumbed to the heavy
equipment the visage of the new building began to emerge. Of course I
could "see" the building but I was trying to figure out what it would
actually look like. Now I had given a brief glance to the plans as they
appeared in the paper. That was useless. I needed to look at it myself.
The parking lot was paved. Sprinkler systems and light poles were
installed throughout the space. Palm trees and ground cover appeared
like magic. One day the place was barren. A couple of days later it was
like Samatha Stevens had twitched her nose to dumbfound Mrs. Kravitz.
CLICK HERE
to see more photos I took and some that I borrowed of our old city
hall, police station, and fire station and of our new Old Town Fire
House.
I live a couple of blocks away from the new city hall is being built. It's gonna be like Déjà vu all over again.
