The Florida Keys set up checkpoints to keep tourists out. They may come down Sunday
With much fanfare, Monroe County Friday morning opened two checkpoints to keep tourists from driving into the Florida Keys.
Later that afternoon, Keys officials in several cities, who lobbied for the checkpoints to block the spread of the novel coronavirus through the island chain, learned the roadblocks could come down Sunday night, and they are angry.
“All incorporated areas are pissed,” a city official who did not want to be named said Saturday.
They learned the news in a conference call Friday afternoon and were given an undated directive from county Emergency Management stating the plan from the beginning was to only keep the roadblocks on the 18 Mile Stretch of U.S. 1 and County Road 905 up until Sunday.
That plan, however, will be evaluated daily, county officials said, meaning, the checkpoints could stay up longer.
The directive, obtained by the Miami Herald, states the sheriff’s office “is requested to initiate the checkpoints” on the 18 Mile Stretch of U.S. 1 and on County Road 905 Friday morning and “terminate the checkpoints at 6 p.m. on Sunday March 29, 2020.”
That news was a shock to officials in Marathon, Key Largo and elsewhere.
Several officials in incorporated areas of the Keys said they also didn’t see the document before Friday afternoon.
Islamorada Village Councilman Ken Davis said on a Facebook post Saturday morning that county officials, on a teleconference meeting with city managers and mayors Friday afternoon, said the decision on the checkpoints would be made unilaterally by two county officials.
“The Mayor of the County, Heather Carruthers and County Manager, Roman Gastesi have decided they will make the decision independently Sunday night, without input from the other municipalities,” Davis wrote.
Contacted by phone, Davis confirmed what he posted.
“Everyone should have a say,” he said.
The checkpoints were put in place as part of the county’s effort to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. County officials said publicly they were not in favor of erecting the roadblocks, but ultimately did so at the urging of municipal officials in Marathon and Islamorada.
Two municipal officials say the emergency directive stating the checkpoints are to close Sunday was released to them Friday afternoon around 3 p.m.
The county issued a press release Tuesday saying that the checkpoints were coming, but the statement never mentioned how long they would be in place.
“The stations are to begin operations by no later than early Friday. Only residents, property owners, and those actively involved in work in the Florida Keys will be admitted, including fuel tankers, delivery and grocery trucks,” county spokeswoman Kristen Livengood wrote in the March 24 release.
Asked why the Sunday deadline was not mentioned in the press release, Livengood Saturday responded in an email:
“Because this is a fluid situation, some of our press releases will be open ended.”
When the checkpoints opened Friday, they were staffed primarily with sheriff’s office deputies, but they were helped with troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol.
But Sheriff Rick Ramsay said Saturday that Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered all troopers off the checkpoint only hours after they opened.
“We had the resource yanked out within two hours,” he said.
DeSantis’ office was not immediately available for comment.
Without the troopers, Ramsay said it is going to be difficult for him to staff the checkpoints for 24 hours.
“We’re so strapped for manpower as it is,” he said. “We knew from the beginning this was unsustainable.”
After Hurricane Irma in September 2017, the sheriff’s office, with the help of several other agencies, staffed a checkpoint at the top of the 18 Mile Stretch to keep non-residents out as the island chain began to recover from the powerful Category 4 storm.
But with COVID-19, every county in the state, and all states, are responding to their own versions of the crisis, and no one has resources to spare.
”All 67 sheriffs in the state are in the same situation,” Ramsay said.
County Commissioner Craig Cates, of Key West, said the decision to take the checkpoints down wasn’t kept secret from the public.
“They were supposed to come down Sunday at 6 p.m.,” Cates said. “We’ll discuss it first thing at our Monday meeting with [Emergency Management], look at the numbers.”
Cates said public safety is always the priority but noted the checkpoints cost taxpayer money.
“It is labor-intensive,” Cates said. “I’m sure there was a lot of overtime.”
The mayor of Key West, however, said the checkpoints are likely to stay up past Sunday.
“I think that’s what everyone wants, particularly the municipalities in the Upper Keys,” said Mayor Teri Johnston. “It is the will of the county and the city of Key West will support it.”
Johnston was under the impression the county spokeswoman had put in the press release this week that the checkpoints were to come down Sunday evening.
But that wasn’t the case.
This report will be updated as more information is available.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 1:40 PM with the headline "The Florida Keys set up checkpoints to keep tourists out. They may come down Sunday."
