Key West needs more and better care facilities for its senior citizens. This blog will discuss ways to do so. The grandiose give-away promoted by the "Florida Keys Assisted Care Coalition" is not the best way. We can do much better.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Letter to the Key West City Commission

(Since I am probably not going to be able to make it to tomorrow night's Key West City Commission meeting, I sent the following letter to the Citry Clerk to be read into the record during the discussion of "Resolution A", Mayor McPhearson's move to establish a role for the FKACC in defining the assisted living project.)

To the City Clerk:
Pursuant to Agenda item "(a)" of the Key West City Commission
meeting of Tuesday, Deember 4, 2007, please read the comments
below into the record. Thank you.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: David Lybrand, Key West, Florida
To: The members of the Key West City Commission

There is a major imbalance between affordable assisted care
facilities verses expensive NON-assisted care retirement
housing in the current FKACC plan. It is important that the
resolution assigning them as overseers of the assisted living
facility be amended before passage by the commission.

The current FKACC proposal provides free land subsidies to
the wealthy who wish to get into a nice NON-ASSISTED retirement
home at the waterfront. In contrast, the plan is very light on
providing actual affordable assisted care facilities.

It includes 87 expensive retirement homes -- some costing
over one million dollars -- for people who can still drive
and work and live without assistance. But it only provides 20
affordable rooms for those actually needing assisted care.
The other 20 assisted care rooms are planned to be MARKET RATE,
which few average Key Westers would be able to afford.

This imbalance must be corrected in the RFP process. I urge
the commission to amend the resolution to add language directing
the FKACC to correct their proposal to include MORE affordable
assisted living facilities, and LESS expensive NON-assisted
retirement homes.

With over 5 free acres to work with, there's no excuse for
only providing our average citizenry with 20 more affordable
assisted rooms. Please make sure that the FKACC understands this.
Thank you.

David Lybrand
Key West