OPEN LETTER
Jim Wortham, Cedar Key City Commission
Jim Wortham, Cedar Key City Commission
Cedar Key has been battered by the worst storm we have seen here in generations and the highest storm surge on record. While storm waters were still receding Cedar Key officials were working with County and State authorities to secure resources and emergency response personnel. Within days, Porta-Johns and restroom trailers, water and meals, military and law enforcement personnel, med units, and additional fire and rescue assets were in place to assist in the response and recovery. This pouring in of support resources far outpaced other communities hit equally or worse by Helene and is testimony to those folks who planned and prepared for a nightmare event such as this.
Divisiveness does not help, but thankfully there are many, many more of us who, in the Cedar Key tradition, put any differences aside and do everything necessary during these times to make sure that our friends and neighbors get back on their feet and have everything they need as quickly as possible.
During the past few weeks, we as a community, have suffered a catastrophic fire that consumed many of our businesses, participated in a coastal cleanup to benefit our amazing surroundings which are the reason why many of us are here, we prepared and braced for a monster hurricane, responded to the call and comforted our shell-shocked neighbors as we began to dig out, we dropped everything to prepare for another storm which exploded in the Gulf, and now we are on the long road to recovery and re-building our community.
As we embrace this recovery process, we all want to preserve as much as possible that which makes Cedar Key the best place in the world to live, but we also want to do what we can to guard against having to again suffer this level of damage and destruction. To accomplish this, some things in Cedar Key will have to change. We have already seen many City facilities move to higher ground; more will follow after this storm. Building requirements designed to strengthen structures against this type of onslaught while protecting neighboring structures will mean that new houses and businesses will look somewhat different than what we have had in the past. It will also mean that Cedar Key, as a community, will have to adopt a new focus toward permanent development only on higher ground and smarter, maybe movable businesses and facilities in lower areas. We will also need to reimagine our economy, of course aquaculture will remain once our farmers recover from these immediate losses, but we will need to carefully manage our visitor economy so that we can capitalize on Cedar Key’s natural beauty and charm in such a way that our restaurants and entertainment venues can thrive for the benefit of both visitors and residents alike. We also need to do what is necessary to keep those essential businesses upon which we all depend such as grocery, hardware, medical, and post office services.
The City, particularly through the Local Planning Agency (LPA) and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), can help. We need to quickly understand and implement policies and programs that allow our community to build back smarter and stronger without unnecessary hardships for residents and businesses. Because I am not an expert in any of these, I know enough to seek out those that are, and with these goals in mind, I am proposing a CRA workshop for the coming weeks to invite key business owners, residents, legal experts, and planning professionals to a panel discussion. The hopes are to identify and pivot toward affordable and meaningful actions that the City can take to enable our community and economy to recover as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, Cedar Key has been rapidly pushed to a crucial precipice. We have lost many of our businesses and homes in the relative blink of an eye. Many of us suffer from storm fatigue, heartbreak, and a wariness to invest more of ourselves after having to rebuild so many times. However, if we choose to do so, we can also make this an opportunity. The past few weeks can be the shove that we needed to finally embrace this new reality and build a community accordingly. If any town has a hope of accomplishing this goal, it is us, but only if we work together.
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