6A Saturday, February 21, 2015* Florida Keys Keynoter
Opinion & Editorial
OTHER VOICES
Keys vs. Ithaca: The case for each place Hands down, our islands are the best
Ithaca is far superior to South Florida
By LARRY KAHN
By JEFF STEIN
[email protected]
Ithaca Voice
By now, most people know that the tourism agency in Ithaca, N.Y., has surrendered to the brutal northern winter and on Monday told people the heck with it, go to the Florida Keys. “Due to this ridiculously stupid winter, Ithaca invites you to visit the Keys this week. Please come back when things thaw out. Really, it’s for the birds here now. (Still want to Visit Ithaca? Are you sure? Ok, click here.) P.S. Send us a postcard.” The words were posted by Bruce Stoff, director of the Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention & Visitors Bureau, along with a screen grab of the Keys’ official tourism site showing snorkelers in beautiful aqua water at Dry Tortugas National Park. When the news went viral, we were contacted by Jeff Stein, editor of the Ithaca Voice, that small upstate New York city’s online newspaper. He felt the need to come to Ithaca’s defense as being a great place. He challenged us to convince him the Keys are a better place in which to live and vacation than Ithaca, where on Friday it was 1.7 degrees and where it will go below zero on Monday. Is he kidding? (Notwithstanding our cool blast the past few days; Friday, the Middle Keys stood at 53 degrees). Fact: It’s never snowed here. Fact: It never will. Fact: We have the only living barrier coral reef in the continental U.S. and the accompanying scuba diving. Fact: Our fishing is world-class. Fact: Our nightlife is teeming (Key West alone has more than 50 venues at which to hear live music). Fact: Our cultural past and present (some guys named
Upstate New York is a demonstrably better place to live than South Florida. This is not subjective opinion. It is a judgment formed by reason from evidence that ranges from the anecdotal to the statistical to the divine. After all, why else would God send a hurricane every few years to try to wipe Florida off the map? That’s a joke. What’s not a joke is this: In South Florida, men shoot off their privates while trying to clear their guns. They get bitten by alligators and then charged with trying to feed the animal. Florida’s crimes are so perverse and extensive that the national media loves compiling them in lists. In Ithaca, the most newsworthy arraignments in court are for acts of civil disobedience and accompanied by quotes from Henry David Thoreau. Your most notorious criminals are cannibals. Ours are vegans. In Ithaca, our mayor was elected at the age of 24. He’s 27 now. Most people in South Florida have grandchildren in their 30s. In Ithaca, we have free and fair elections. Florida’s electoral system is a noxious mix of rights restrictions, Tea Party extremism and hanging chads. Central New York is heir to a rich intellectual and political tradition that includes Frederick Douglass, abolitionism and the birth of the women’s rights movement. Florida was founded by Spaniards seeking gold and later converted into a slave state. Ithaca is where Cornell professor Carl Sagan unlocked the mysteries of the galaxy, launched the
A trumpet fish slides by a coral mount off the Keys. Hemingway and Buffett come to mind) can hold their own with any place. We’re considered by most people to be the most bizarre state. We embrace that. Don’t get us wrong. Ithaca’s a nice place — in the summer. It has some great parks and the indispensible Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It also has something called the Museum of the Earth, which sounds like a fancy name for the woods or something. But even Ithaca people want to get out of Ithaca. Many of them do, and many of them — successes in all walks of life — move here, to the Keys, meaning in their minds (and ours), the Keys are better than Ithaca. But don’t take our word for it. Key Wester John Padget — self-made millionaire, vice chairman of the Florida Board of Education and a former Keys schools superintendent — is Cornell University Class of 1958. He grew up on a farm in upstate New York near Ithaca. He milked cows. After his parents died, he was done milking cows. “I needed a place with allyear sun. I didn’t want to shovel anymore,” so he bought his home here in 1990 and has been living the good life ever since. Frank Hawkins of Tavernier is Cornell Class of 1962. The international investor and marketer once headed investor relations for
CELEBRATING OUR PAST
Knight-Ridder, which owned the Keynoter before selling to McClatchy. Which is it Frank, Ithaca or the Keys? “The Keys. Consider where I’m living, and I had a choice,” says Hawkins, who marks 20 years as a full-time resident this coming Tuesday. “It’s been a blessing. The community is wonderful. We love the water and everything but beyond that ... this is an incredibly tightknit community.” Mike Dunn of Marathon and Robert Foley of Islamorada also are Cornell grads — and now practicing veterinarians in the Florida Keys. Stephanie Scuderi graduated from Cornell — and is now senior vice president and director of business development for Centennial Bank in the Keys. We could go on but we won’t. There’s no need because it’s clear the Keys best Ithaca in so many ways. Except in winter. Ithaca has the best snow. Ithaca has the best frostbite. Us? Well, when our weather gets back to normal by Sunday or Monday, we’ll be out on the boat getting a couple lobster from the water. Maybe some nice snapper, too. We just hope this Keys weather won’t produce one of our biggest hazards — sunburn. Stay strong under your snow and in your cold, Ithaca. This margarita is for you.
Richard Tamborrino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Publisher Larry Kahn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Editor Valerie Serra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sales and Business Dev. Mgr. Kathie Bryan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Financial Director Todd Swift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Production Manager Carter Townshend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Circulation Manager PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY Contents copyright 2015 Keynoter Publishing Co.
Letters to the Editor
first manmade object to make it outside the solar system and penned global bestsellers about astronomy. Florida’s best-known public intellectual is Rush Limbaugh. The other side, no doubt, will argue that it’s cold in Ithaca. Shocker. We’ll take a little wind chill and four seasons any day over the swampy, malarial jungle you call home. It’s hard to imagine a place more beautiful than it is here. Of course, there’s our nationally recognized wine county. Then there are the streams that race through our cities and the natural falls that are the envy of the world, and lush forests with endless trails for exploration. Ithaca is the North American Seat of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. Does anyone need more evidence of divine support for our side? We are at the heart of the locavore movement. Hardly a week goes by without Ithaca getting some “best of” award: The fourth smartest city in America; the most exciting in the state; one of the most enlightened places to live; and the best college town in the U.S. The list goes on. By comparison, even
Florida’s own media recognizes South Florida’s wretchedness. As CBS Miami reported, citing national studies: “Miami is the most miserable city in the country, Fort Lauderdale seventh. Miami is the worst-run city in the country, we have one of the worst commutes, we are the most vain Americans and Miami Beach is one of the trashiest cities for spring break. “It never ends. “A new study claims we are the worst tourist kleptomaniacs. Apparently, when we travel, we steal more stuff from hotels than people from any other American city. A whopping 52 percent of us surveyed admitted to having sticky fingers at hotels, a lot worse than the 39 percent national average.” Did you catch that? Floridians, who count tourism as perhaps their key industry, suck at traveling. The author of the piece asks in the headline, almost helplessly: “Is South Florida really that bad?” Let us answer this one for him: Yes, yes it is. To make the distinction with precision: South Florida is where you go to die. Upstate New York is where you go to live.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Shriners thankful
This is Joe Pearlman of Key West in 1959. He was born in Romania in 1892 and, in 1904, immigrated to Key West with his family. He was in retail and construction, owning Pearlman’s Quality Store on Duval Street and the Monroe Land Development Co. and CBS Construction Co. He developed into a civic leader, including in Key West’s Jewish community.
This is a lake in Ithaca.
Everyone knows that when they flip on a light switch or fuel up their cars, they are using energy. But you might not realize that many of the products we use every day also come from energy — particularly natural gas, oil and coal. Besides generating 27 percent of America’s electricity, natural gas is used to make fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, plastics and fabrics, just to name a few. If you’re wearing a shirt made from nylon or polyester, you’re wearing a product that came from natural gas. The same applies to oil and coal. Besides supplying 95 percent of the nation’s transportation fuel, oil is used to make asphalt, aluminum, shampoo, cosmetics and much more. Every step of your morning, from putting on deodorant to driving to work, involves products derived from oil. Coal, meanwhile, supplies the largest share of the United States’ electricity, at almost 40 percent. Coal is also used to make steel, concrete, aspirins, soaps, carbon fiber, and more. Imagine life without roads, bridges, and sidewalks. That is life without coal. Divesting from natural gas, oil, and coal is akin to divesting from modern civilization. But that’s exactly what the so-called fossil-fuel divestment movement wants Floridians to do. The divestment activists don’t just want to take away Floridians’ energy, but also the soap, steel, and plastics, which make modern life possible. Floridians should tell these activists to take a hike. Thomas Pyle, president American Energy Alliance Oil and coal essential Washington, D.C. Imagine a group of activists that spends its time opposing companies that produce soap, surgical steel and sterile Firefighters reach out Many of our firefighters and staff conplastics used in hospitals because it is the “moral” thing to do. It sounds crazy, tribute a lot of time and talent to the Keys community in many ways, whether they but it’s already happening. The same groups pushing to elimi- are working on environmental projects, nate these life-saving technologies and helping seniors and others in need, workmany other everyday products will soon ing with animals or participating in the descend on South Florida. The leaders of many parades and salutes to local groups this movement are holding a two-day and organizations throughout the year. We are especially proud when we event to convince Floridians to divest any stocks or bonds from the companies hear stories of our personnel helping children by raising funds and conthat help make these essential items. In reality, these activists want tributing their time and effort to supFloridians to divest from modern life. port educational and social needs. On behalf of the Marathon Shrine Club, we would like to thank the citizens and visitors of the Middle Keys for their continuing support of our charity drive held on Feb. 14. We are the guys, girls and clowns you saw out on U.S. 1 with the funny hats asking for donations from passers-by at the stoplights at Walgreens and Bealls. Every penny we collected goes to the support of Shriners Hospitals and especially the Transportation Fund at the Mahi Temple, which is used exclusively to transport Keys and other South Florida children to the Shrine Hospital in Tampa or to one of the other Shrine Hospitals scattered around the country. At these hospitals, children are given free state-of-the-art orthopedic care and burn treatment, and the Transportation Fund ensures the children are able to get to the hospitals for the care and follow-up treatment without any cost to them or their families. Our local support, through generous donations, helps us continue to make sure that this perfect charity serves our children today and in the coming years. A special thanks to all that helped us raise more than $14,000 that day. If you know any youth under age 18 that could benefit from orthopedic, spinal cord or burn treatment, call a Shriner at (800) 237-5055 and get the ball rolling. Bob Warn, Dick Shaffer Bob Shaffer, chairmen Marathon
Recently, Monroe County Fire Rescue participated with other emergency service providers at Sugarloaf School’s Heroes Day. Monroe County Fire Rescue provided a ladder truck, tanker, engine, ambulance and the TraumaStar air ambulance for demonstrations and the on-duty crews were there to answer all the students’ questions. At the end of the demonstrations, International Association of Firefighters Local 3909 presented a check to the Sugarloaf School Physical Education department for $500 as part of the Adopt-A-Classroom program. Local 3909 decided to get involved in the program as part of a community outreach effort to help with future recruitment and retention efforts for emergency services throughout the Florida Keys. The goal is to get involved with the local schools and bring awareness to the young people of this community about the career opportunities in fire rescue and emergency services. By partnering with the schools, they can provide resources directly to classrooms to help local teachers. IAFF Local 3909 Secretary Casey Kyburz said, “We believe the future providers of emergency services will be coming out of our local schools and we would like to work in conjunction with Monroe County Fire Rescue and the Monroe County School Board to help prepare the students for that.” Further south in Key West, Deputy Fire Marshal Tim Leonard was recently recognized for contributions to the Key West Police Athletic League using his time, talent and knowledge as a former local boxing champion to help train the next generation of champion boxers. The Police Athletic League is a recreation-oriented juvenile crime-prevention program that relies heavily on education, athletics and recreational activities to tighten the bond between police officers and kids in the community. We are thankful for the contributions of all Monroe County Fire Rescue personnel, whether they are on duty and responding to emergency calls on a daily basis, or using their spare time to help others in our community. Jim Callahan, chief Monroe County
Letters of local interest are welcome, but subject to editing and condensing. There is a 400-word limit. Letters thanking an individual are welcome. Space does not permit publication of thank-you letters consisting of lists. Letters must be signed. Anonymous letters will not be published. Include a daytime phone number (which will not be published) where you may be reached if there are questions about your correspondence. Mail: Editor, Keynoter, P.O. Box 500158, Marathon, FL 33050 E-mail:
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