MONTHLY REPORT--KEY WEST BUREAU--JUNE 1988

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-01355R000400070007-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2013
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 1, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)0/0
Monthly Report -- Key West Bureau 'No?
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO
Chief, Operations Group
DATE STI
June 1988 m
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
RECEIVED
FORWARDED
INITIALS
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
.
C/Ops
1 4 JUL1988
C/EUS
4.
DD/FBIS
?
D/FBIS
---
.
7.
PO/RA
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Ani
.
SA/CD
.
lo.
C/AS
11.
C/BU/AS
11 c/pERS
3..
14.
C/AG
1
eto
A-
[ 1 5.
Exec. Reg.
FORM 610 USE PREVIOUS
1-79 EDITIONS
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STAT
"tin"
l%1111/01
FBIS
FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
KEY WEST BUREAU
MAIN P.O. BOX 1056
KEY WEST, FLORIDA 33041-1056
NAVAL AIR STATION
FBIS-4043-88
1 July 1988
MEMORANDUM TO: Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
THROUGH:
SUBJECT:
I. GENERAL
Chief, Operations Group
Monthly Report--Key West Bureau--June 1988
1. As sham turned to farce, things in Haiti came apart once
again when the military overthrew President Manigat and we scrambled
to report on the media treatment of it. After the Wire alerted the
bureau chief late in the night of 19/20 June to the flash material
being filed by Panama, we got in touch with our lady
in Port-au-Prince, in the wee hours of Monday morning. Not
surprisingly, she was already monitoring the radio even then and
practically dictated an FYI on the spot. Although we lost
communications with her later in the day when Haiti's telephone
operators hunkered down until events sorted themselves out, we
eventually were able to receive copy when she switched from her
telephone-tethered PC to the embassy's communications system to get
her translations to us.
2. According to things were not nearly as bad this time
around, especially compared to events last November when the patron
saints of windshield smashers and tire burners ran amok. Her only
disappointment was that Panama had stolen her thunder by beating us
to the gun with all those timely press agency reports.
II. OPERATIONS
A. Monitorial/Editorial
1. In addition to the coup in Haiti, Cuba kept us busy with its
own media excitement. First, Havana TV was quick to pick up
Panamanian accusations against FBIS, referring to us as a "CIA
creature" with electronic ears "in the service of evil."
2. In other major stories, the Cuban media gave full play to
this month's quadripartite talks in Cairo aimed at a negotiated
settlement guaranteeing the independence of South-West Africa and
ending the fighting in Angola. Radio Reloj also scored some
propaganda points reporting on the visit by a South African brother
and sister to their soldier brother who is recuperating in Havana
from his wounds received in Angola.
3. On the weather front, both radio and TV reported on
torrential rains this month which caused extensive damage to Cuba's
sugar plantations and raw sugar supplies. The rains
STAT
OFFICE: [phone]
[phone]
[phone]
TELEX: 803046
STAT
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triggered the worst floods in 30 years, claiming at least two
dozen deaths, the loss of much livestock, and the evacuation of
thousands of people. Surprisingly, Havana radio also reported
during the storm that a tornado had destroyed 5 M1G-21's on the
ground near Camaguey.
4. We were also witnesses this month to extensive media
coverage of two visiting VIP's--Afghanistan's Najibullah and
Nicaragua's Danny Ortega--as Fidel continued to play host to a
passing parade of ardent admirers and advice seekers.
5. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, the fragile political and
economic order of things in the Dominican Republic reminded us
once again this month of our precarious grip on the poorly heard
radios from that country. As part of the larger plan to improve
this coverage, the bureau chief has arranged to visit Santo
Domingo later in July to meet with embassy people and discuss the
problem.
B. Lateral Services
We were pleasantly surprised to hear from HQS that Elliott
Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs,
had commended us for our coverage of Haiti and Cuba. State is
also an avid fan of our cruising messages on what and how the
Soviets are broadcasting out of Cuba.
C. Communications
1. A seemingly minor spill of our copy in HQS after the Miami
Radio Relay Facility had rerouted our traffic this month quickly
turned our commo on its ear. At month's end, a worldwide format
change had at least put a temporary fix to this ASCII/Baudot
conversion problem.
2. Amazing as it was to south Floridians, a barge cut our
underwater fiber-optics phone line at the end of the month--the
seventh time in less than two years that the only line to serve
the Keys with all its communications has been severed--leaving us
without any means to get our copy out for over eight hours.
Southern Bell announced afterward that it is "considering"
installing a back-up system--either another cable or a microwave
transmitter.
D. Technical
1. Monitor/Editor
this month came up with
a neat use of DoubleDos to give in Port-au-Prince
more flexibility in doing her work. Coordinating with ADD, Irma
conceived of a software arrangement that would allow Maria to
switch between Write Now and ProComm so that she can continue to
process while she waits, sometimes longer than we would like, to
get a phone line to hook up our PC with hers. At month's end, we
were awaiting receipt of the software that had been tested
successfully at HQS.
STAT
STAT
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STAT
2. Bureau Engineer installed a Liebert UPS
to our BACHGEN PC, providing 100 percent protection against loss
of processed material due to power glitches or outages.
E. Cruising
1. Radio Taino--the Spanish and English service intended for
foreigners visiting Cuba--made front page headlines in the Miami
Herald this month by staying on the air way past its normal
shutdown time at sunset. As a result, we received calls from the
FCC and State wondering what was going on. Despite newspaper
speculation that the Cubans were retaliating for plans to launch
a "TV Marti," our cruising message put things in perspective,
since the radio station had announced earlier that it would be
staying on late for several days to broadcast an international
music festival at Varadero, the famous beach resort near
Matanzas.
2. Taino was back in the news later in the month when it
again began staying on the air late into the evening hours and
potentially interfering with U.S. stations. The extra broadcast
hours this time also used a new frequency and featured lots of
reasons tourists should take advantage of inexpensive prices and
spend their hard currency vacationing in Cuba. We continued to
monitor the station's behavior closely at month's end.
III. ADMINISTRATION
A. Personnel
1. our contractor in Port-au-Prince, broke her elbow
in a fall at the embassy late in the month. Intrepid warrior that
she is, though, she was back on the job the next day, arm in cast,
pecking away at her PC keyboard with her one good hand. In a more
pleasant time earlier in the month, she received news of her
promotion. The well-timed announcement came on the eve of her TDY
here, giving us an ideal excuse for a party.
2. our first monitor/editor to be hired in
almost a year, is scheduled to EOD on 1 August. We hope to
welcome Pedro and his new wife to Key West later that month after
he completes a couple of weeks of processing and orientation at
HQS.
3. One of the few times we have ever caught our
chief teletypist, off guard occurred on 10 June at a surprise
promotion party. The normally chatty Duke was truly speechless,
especially when informed we were on the level and there were no
strings attached.
B. Buildings and Grounds
1. As if miracles never ceased, the contractor hired by the
Navy finally finished patching our roof this month. The work order
went out last August.
STAT
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STAT
2. Thanks to the efforts of , who rescued some FY87
monies back from the Navy where they were hopelessly entangled,
we now have a spacious pre-fab storage shed to provide much needed
room for our spillover. Although the building was originally to
be made of concrete block, we were happy to get the metal shed,
especially after waiting in vain so long for our Navy friends to
get on with the construction.
3. Work continued at the housing site this month as we
covered the poor quality ceilings on our back porches with
sheetrock for a more finished appearance.
IV. VISITS
To the bureau:
1.
members,
2.
3.
4.
route to
5.
6.
7.
and the rest of the DpS&T CDC
career trainee/Admin Staff, 8-9 June.
Port-au-Prince contractor, 6-8 June.
, former Panama Bureau cruising monitor, en
Okinawa, 18-19 June.
Bob Guill, Cohen and Dippell engineer, 16 June.
Navy Captain Schreckengaust, CINCLANT Deputy IG, 22 June.
Intelligence Analysis Reserve Unit 0166/Office of Chief of
Naval Operations (25 people), 24 June.
8. Commander Jessie Ross, new Naval Security Group Activity
Key West commanding officer, 27 June.
9. Colonel Louis Mcadory, new U.S. Forces Caribbean J-2, 30
June.
V. COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
1. The bureau chief attended change of command ceremonies on 17
and 30 June for the Coast Guard Detachment on Trumbo Point and the
Naval Security Group Activity here on Truman Annex. The outward
bound commanding officers--Captains Norman Saunders and Lauren
Nelson--were good friends of the bureau and will be missed. Fair
winds and following seas to both.
2. Please see attached Miami Herald article on development and
high cost of living ijhe Keys.
le , Key West Bureau
Attachments: Political Cartoon
Miami Herald Article
cc: C/Panama Bureau, C/Paraguay Bureau
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-
JIM MORIN'S VIEW
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:hi lir A. 1 ORR The Miami I lem14
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ARE THE KEYS
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e?r?
The islands are in,
but the locals are
out. Squeezed out.
Priced out. The
onch's in a crunch.
By GREGG FIELDS
Herald Business Writer
"r
E was born in Key West,
a fifth-generation Conch.
But Joe Bethel runs a
bait shop in Marathon
now and doesn't like to '
visit his hometown.
"It's nothing but tourists," he
complains.
It's getting to be that way in
Marathon, he adds. And in Plan-
tation Key. And Islamorada.
? And Key Largo.
"What the Keys needs is a ., ?
good hurricane," he says. "It'd
, get rid of all this cheap construc-
tion."
Truth be told, a hurricane is al-.
' ready raging in the Keys ? a hur-
ricane of development. In the last '
decade the island chain's economy
has boomed, bringing millions ?
of tourists, thousands of jobs ?
and dozens of problems.
Local residents, in a curious
irony, haven't benefited all that '
much from the boom. While
hordes of tourists visit every ?''s
year, the locals have watched
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KEYS /from /
their market penetrated by nation-
al chains ? from K mart to Marri-
ott. While thousands of jobs have
been created, thousands of people
have moved in, so wages haven't
risen much more than anyplace
else.
And housing prices have soared
out of reach for many people.
Throughout the Keys, residents
are doubling up with roommates,
working two jobs and living in plac-
es that are almost uninhabitable, .
but better than no place at all.
"That's the price of paradise, or
so I'm told," lamented Valarie
Wheeler.
She is a waitress at both the
Green Turtle and Whistle Stop
restaurants in Islamorada.
"To me, it's become just anoth-
er place to live because I end up
working 12 hours a day, six days a
week."
There's also concern that devel-
opment may damage the Keys' ?
fragile ecosystem. Environmental-
ists weregaghast at a government
plan ? halted for now ? to allow
offshore oil drilling. The Keys has
North America's only living coral
reef.
Perhaps nowhere in Florida was
? the fight between environmental?
-
ists and developers so bitter as
with the Port Bougainville residen-
tial community in Key Largo. The:
project was approved, but the de-
velopment failed and is now fenced
in.
Last year, dozens of the endan-
gered Key deer were killed by
speeding motorists. And sportfish-
ermen say the growth in their in-
dustry and commercial fishing has
-
depleted fishing stock in local wa-
ters, hurting business. Last year, i
charter boats weren't allowed to
- bring in kingfish during the winter
because of the shortage.
? "I'm going to have to give it up,"
said Floyd Lewis, who charges
, $200 for a half-day fishing. "Peo-
ple won't pay that kind of money
for a boat ride."
? Most important, there's fear
that the Keys ? otherwise known
as Monroe County ? will lose
their distinctiveness. Florida's an-
kle bracelet of sun-washed coral
'atolls always was a delightful mix
of contradictions: hip and historic,
laid-back and rebellious, rural yet
worldly. In short: paradise.
"We want to retire here," said
George Martin, of Jupiter, who
was visiting Islamorada recently.
In fact, the Keys remains a spe-
cial place to many people, prob-
lems notwithstanding.
"It's worth it to me," says Jack
Steffney, who has been a charter
boat captain for 31 years in the
Keys and who contends the waters
are still a good place to fish and
make a living.
But even Keys lovers complain
of traffic, crowds and high costs
caused by the boom. And many
Keys residents are asking: What
price paradise? It's a question that
other parts of Florida must one
day answer when they confront
the economic issues facing the'
Keys.
"Unfortunately, the Keys have
been discovered," said Bowman
Brown, a Miami attorney who dis-
covered them himself a decade
ago. -
Between 1970 and 1980 the
population jumped 20 percent, to
63,188 from 52,586, according to
Census figures. Between 1980 and
1986, the population went up an-
other 14 percent, to 72,471. The
numbers sound small. But so are
the islands.
Brown recently remodeled his
Key Largo retreat. But he's con-
cerned that the encroachment of?
strip shopping centers and heavy
traffic will make Key Largo, the
closest island to Miami, a quasi-
suburb.
"I think (growth) should have
been controlled more, more like
Sanibel and Captiva," Brown said.
Certainly, the Keys are still ap-
pealing.
"What hasn't changed is the
small-town atmosphere," said Jim
Gibbs, director of the Islamorada
Chamber of Commerce. "What
has changed are the traffic pat-
terns."
Residents use another analogy.
What has changed are housing
costs, they say, and what hasn't
changed are wage levels.
Largely, because of real estate
prices, Census figures routinely
show that the Keys is the most ex-
pensive place to live in Florida.
There's simply a shortage of land
on which to build. In a county
that's only half a mile wide, things
fill up fast. Then prices rise.
In addition, much space is owned
by resorts or part-time residents.
The result is residents scramble
for housing even as homes sit emp-
ty much of the time.
The Keys economy makes it dif-
ficult to buy or rent a good home,
too. The economy is dependent on
' just one industry ? tourism ?
and just one season ? winter.
(The lone _exception is scuba div-
ing, which peaks in July and Au-
gust.)
Because good money can't be
earned all year long, household in-
come can't match the higher home
costs. Per capita income in Mon-
roe was $14,026 in 1986, below
the state-average of $14,630. But
the cost-of-living index is nearly
10 percent higher than the state
average, making Monroe County
the state's most expensive. Hous-
ing is 17 percent higher than the
state average.
The seasonal swings also make
budgeting difficult.
"If you're smart, you put sor e
money away during the season,"
said Susie Morgan. She earned
$50 a day serving a six-table sta-
tion in a restaurant last season.
Morgan had a large, comfortable
home in upstate New York before
moving to the Keys a few years
back. When she and her husband,
Bobby, went house shopping re-
cently, they had to settle for a dou-
ble-wide trailer on Plantation Key.
Economic leaders say the afford-
able-housing crunch could have se
vere ramifications. Tourism lives -
and dies on service workers. Many
of them don't earn much, and it's
doubtful that those workers can be
attracted if forced to live in sub-
standard housing.
"These people making $200 to
$250 a week can't afford it here,"
said Dick Drake, executive vice
president of TIB Bank of the Keys
in Key Largo. "And what do you do
with a tourism industry once you
run out of service people?"
- If help-wanted signs are an indi-
cation, jobs are going wanting al-
ready. Unemployment is virtually
unheard of in the Keys, with sur-
veys putting it at less than 4 per-
cent.
But despite the unquenched
thirst for workers, the average
wage per job was only $13,642 in
Monroe County in 1984 compared
with $16,716 in Broward and
$17,723 in Dade, according to
Census figures.
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? more. Drake estimated that the
average home in Key Largo costs
, $135,000. hi Dade it's $104,000
and in Broward $95,000.
"This is unfortunately becoming -
a rich man's resort community,"
Drake said.
Employers say they are power-
less to bring wages up. Many Keys*.
businesses are small and. not par-
ticularly profitable.
For instance: "There must be
15 dive stores go out of business
- every year in the Keys," said Don
Joyner, who runs a dive shop in
? Looe Key.
Joyner said a dive shop's costs
are high. The air compressor used
-to fill scuba tanks cost him $40,-
000. A dive boat can run more than
, $50,000.
So even though his shop has an-
nual revenues of $350,000, Joyner
can't be terribly generous on wag-.
es.
? "I pay $7 per hour, with time
k. and a half for over 40 hours," he
said. "That's not much, but most .
, people around here pay minimum
5. wage," which is $3.35 per hour.
' The Keys4 ecenomic challenges .
are particularly acute in Key West,
1- even though the job base is slightly
more diversified because it's the
county seat and the Navy has per-
sonnet there.
Two million tourists pour into ?
; Key West annually, making even
- more demands on the available
space. The tiniest house in the Old s
:
Town area can cost more than
$150,000. The Key West Board of
Realtors says the average single-
family home there costs $167,000.
? Mobile homes average $70,000. '
The cheapest one-bedroom apart-
ments start at $450 monthly.
"All property managers sur-
?
veyed reported extremely low va-
cancy rates," said Mary Hamilton,
. executive officer of the board. "
According to Key West Mayor
Richard Heyman, that's giving rise
to an alarming economic trend: the 4,
working homeless. *
"There are many homeless on .;
our streets who are working every
day," he said. -They sleep in their
cars or stay with friends, he said.
Or they pay inflated prices for
temporary shelter. Heyman says I
tiny sleeping rooms go for $100 a
week.
Landlords demand stiff deposits
because Key West attracts tran- 4
sients. That makes it even more
difficult to get a nice place.
Business leaders say the housing
shortage is being felt in other ar-
Copyperoved for Release 2013/06/25 :
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? .?-??V ? ??????. --r"-
e along the city's Duval Street corn-
mercial strip. The city is trying to ?
get' government grants to bus in
workers from other keys.
The service worker shortage is
? particularly important because the
city's prime market is upscale
""travelers. The Marriott, the Hy-
att, and the Pier House are among
I: the elegant hostelries, carrying
I. some of the highest room rates in
Florida.
In Key West, average room
rates can top $150 a day during
peak tourist season, according to
John Markham, a principal with
Pannell Kerr Foster accounting
firm. In Greater Miami, in con-
trast, rates top out at about $100,
Markham said, At the new Hyatt
resort in Key West, the cheapest
?.?
; in-Season room is $265.
Heyman says the upscale ?den-
. tation will continue as Key West'
,- develops as a center for interna-'
tional arts festivals. And an esti-
? mated 20 percent Of the city's.
tourists are gay men, a group with
large disposable income. Accord
ing to the Key West Business
Guild, gay travelers spend about
$125 each day in addition to their
rooms.
"The real' question is whether
4 we'll have enough employees to
; give people their money's worth," ?
said Walt Marlowe, president' of
. the guild.
"I think Key. West is a great
place to live," he added. "But all of
us have to realize we're a small
town with big-city problems." '
To be sure, many people in KO
, ? As Monroe
West realize it. Pritham Singh,-for 4 County's
instance. He is developing a Inas-
population
sive resort community around the edges up ...
former retreat of President Tru=
man. Included in the. Truman An-.
neic plans are two upscale hotels,
60 shops, 241 housing units and a
:yacht club. Singh's also building
;1,- some "affordable" condominiums
that will sell for less than $100,-;
; 000.
' "Housing, I think, is taking Care
? of itself," Singh said. "That'.
doesn't mean the city should let,.;
? up. But in Key West, it's a solvable h
problem." " ? -':).,?....?1980 1986
Singh said he thinks 'the city's ,,
, other economic problems While:
painful ? are simple growing:
pains that eventually, will reach
I equilibrium. ?
'You have so many positive
things that people are looking for
! an Achilles heel," he said. "People ,
point to housing, or they raise the '
labor problem and say you can't
find good people to work. We.
haven't had that problem." .
!?
.?
may need 1,000 affordable hous-
ing units. Singh's building 162, and
.people who will work for him are
given preference.
Affordable housing "is the No. 1
issue facing the community," Hey-
man said. ;
7.
CIA-RDP91-01355R000400070007-2
Welcome as Singh's affordable
condos are, they're not enough.
'Heyman estimated that the city
And lately, people have been
thinking about the future of Key
West's black community as well.
Property values have soared in the
black neighborhood called Bahama
Village.
"I could get $100,000 for this
place right now," said Alfred
,- Whitehead, sitting on the front
porch of his 'home. He paid $2,000
for it in 1930. ?
But if Bahama Village residents
sell out, they'll have to move away
, to enjoy their real estate profits.
Then Bahama Village, which has
got through plenty of bad times,
might not make it through the
good ones.
"Most folks these days, if they
can get a few dollars more, will
sell," Whitehead said. He sighed.
"If you got a good place to live,
: why get rid of it? Where you gonna
go?" -
...per capita .
income stays *. but the cost
below Florida's of living soars.
average...
, 1980
The price of.
an average
single-family
hOme-in Key
West:
--rr7rxm.,4
1986 . 1981 1984 198;
. .
........11.????????????^
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