Ray Atkinson started this blog in 2014 when he moved from his childhood home in Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA (Walk Score of 0) to get his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University (Walk Score of 100). He has a sustainable transportation lifestyle in Key West, Florida, USA. His email is gismap1@gmail.com. The postings on this site are of my own and don't reflect or represent the opinions of the City of Key West, for which I work. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayplans
“Key West at Eye Level” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. I am trying to focus on positive things as I have many negative thoughts regarding the approaching immigration nightmare. One positive thought is how I got a new bike rack installed near my home in Key West. I saw a neighbor’s bike locked to the speed limit sign pole, so I used the Key West Connect app to work with my coworkers to install a new bike rack near the existing bike rack.
Photo credit: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
The next few months are going to be life-changing for thousands of documented, legal immigrants and their families in Key West. Many of these immigrants are about to lose their jobs and legal status. I bike, walk, and ride transit with immigrants daily. They are some of my closest friends in Key West. While I struggle with learning new languages, they are helping me to learn and practice my French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish skills. I am returning the favor by providing them with opportunities to learn and practice their English skills. Since I do not want to risk losing my job by spotlighting the immigration nightmare, does anyone know how to spotlight this situation without receiving backlash from all levels of the government?
“Key West at Eye Level” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. I am going to keep this post short because I do not enjoy writing about depressing topics. As the below graph of the Cow Key Channel Bridge shows, Key West is experiencing a major year-over-year drop in bicycling. The Cow Key Channel Bridge is located between Key West and Stock Island. While the northern part of Stock Island north of US 1 is part of the City of Key West, the southern part south of US 1 is part of unincorporated Monroe County.
Cow Key Channel Bridge is located between Key West and Stock Island. Source: Google Maps
Since the homes on the northern part of Stock Island are usually more expensive than the homes on the southern part and most people who bike in Key West are low-income people, I think it is reasonable to assume that most of the people who bike live on the southern part of Stock Island. Many of these people, who likely work as low-income construction and hospitality workers in Key West, live on Stock Island because they can’t afford to live in Key West.
The southern part of Stock Island also has many Haitian and Hispanic residents. Many of these residents are in the process of losing their legal status. Many Haitian and Hispanic immigrants have told me that they no longer feel safe biking because ICE and other federal agencies have been focusing their immigration enforcement efforts on popular bike routes.
Haitians who have a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will likely lose their legal status and start being deported on February 3, 2026. Many Hispanics will also lose their legal status and be deported in 2026. How far do you think the year-over-year bike usage will drop for the rest of 2025 and in 2026 at the Cow Key Channel Bridge?
I want to end this post by sharing something fun that happens on the Cow Key Channel Bridge. I took the below photo on Easter. While the event likely did not have much racial diversity due to the nearby Haitian and Hispanic residents likely having to work on Easter, I am thankful that the fun event happens.
Future Blog Post
I hope to feel comfortable writing longer posts again someday. What do you want to read?
I have been thinking about many things. I miss writing long posts but I need to be more careful than usual due to the current local, state, and national political environments. I think the new A Clean Slate for Key West PAC summarizes my thoughts on my preferred vision for the future of Key West.
I miss working with former Key West Planning Director Katie Halloran! She did amazing work to try to prioritize people over cars in Key West. She interviewed me for my job. She created a welcoming space when I needed to talk with her. While I only knew her for less than a year, I enjoyed nerding out with her about local and statewide planning issues. Everyone who works closely with and inside the Planning Department on a daily basis is grieving her resignation. Thank you to Chris Hamilton for blogging about her quiet revolution!
What We Lose When We Lose Good People Katie Halloran’s resignation as Key West’s Planning Director isn’t just a personnel change — it’s a turning point. Over five years, she helped reshape the city’s planning culture, delivering civic spaces, affordable housing, and climate-resilient infrastructure that now define our downtown. This story isn’t about the politics […]
I am keeping this post short and vague because I do not want to give Florida’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) or the Trump Administration’s Project 2025 any ideas. I mostly wanted to write this post to share that I am nervous about the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and sustainability jobs and related work. While many Americans are focused on federal DOGE cuts and how Project 2025 will be implemented by the Trump Administration, which I am also concerned about, Florida has a state-level DOGE and is implementing Project 2025 in Florida. Local jurisdictions, including Home Rule cities like Key West, are required to comply with Florida’s DOGE audit or face penalties. Do you know how Home Rule differs from Dillon’s Rule? Do you think Home Rule will survive the DOGE audit and Project 2025?
Future Blog Post
I hope Florida’s DOGE audit and the Trump Administration’s Project 2025 will end soon and not directly impact my life or people who I care about. I want to return to my usual blogging topics. Have you or anyone you care about been directly impacted by Florida’s DOGE audit or the Trump Administration’s Project 2025?
By Chris Hamilton. Story is cross posted at KONK Life on July 20, 2025. View on Substack. Follow us at Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown on Facebook. Key West’s workforce increasingly lives beyond the island, pushed outward by housing costs and pulled into long, exhausting commutes. With infrequent transit and few alternatives, driving becomes an expensive […]
“Key West at Eye Level: Part 1” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. While I honestly miss having enough time to publish long blog posts, I am thankful to be enjoying Key West so much that I do not have enough time to publish long blog posts anymore. I am still trying to publish at least one blog post each month. Since I have not published a post in June yet, I wanted to quickly publish a post before I participate in the Key West Pride Parade. I identify as a demisexual, so I personally celebrate Pride. June is Pride Month, so happy Pride Month!
I believe most Americans think that the ICE raids are only happening in Los Angeles. While I am also concerned about what is happening in Los Angeles, ICE raids are also happening in Key West. The Key West City Commission scheduled a special meeting tomorrow, June 30th, to discuss the ICE raids. I submitted public comment. I took the below photos as I walked around Key West. I think the photos show proof of how the Key West community has a strong heart for being One Human Family. I love living and working in a community that supports being One Human Family!
Source: photo by Ray Atkinson
Source: screenshot by Ray Atkinson
Source: photo by Ray Atkinson
Source: screenshot by Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
I hope the ICE situation improves soon. Since President Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill has plenty of funding to hire more ICE agents and Governor DeSantis has ordered the construction of Alligator Alcatraz, I am concerned that the ICE situation will get worse before it calms down. I want to return to blogging about more enjoyable topics like how much I enjoy living and working in Key West. How is the ICE situation where you live?
I am not sure how many Americans celebrate May 30th as National E-Bike Day, especially since the day was only created by Lectric eBikes in 2023. At least National Bike Month, which is in May and was started in 1956, has a longer history. As the below timeline shows, the first e-bike was patented in the US in 1895. The first two-wheeled transportation contraption was built in 1817, so the day’s history is much older than 2023. Did you know that National E-Bike Day exists? If so, how are you celebrating today? Are you riding your e-bike?
Since today is National E-Bike Day, I want to share my e-bike presentation again. The City of Key West also posted my presentation. As a heads up, you cannot comment on the City’s videos. Feel free to comment on my blog post. I plan to share more about my e-bike planning efforts during these in-person workshops, which will be held at the Bahama Village Community Center in Key West on June 6th and 7th. Refreshments will be provided! I am not sure how many of my readers actually live in Key West. Do you plan to participate in one of the workshops?
Future Blog Post
My girlfriend and I have been discussing whether to buy e-bikes. I used to have e-bikes in other cities, but I have not felt comfortable buying any e-bikes in Key West. My January 14th post explains more about the issue. While my girlfriend keeps telling me that my health is worth spending money on, I want to make sure that I feel comfortable with the expensive e-bike that I decide to purchase. My girlfriend and I are concerned about me losing weight by riding pedal-only bikes. Riding an e-bike requires less physical effort than a pedal-only bike. We currently ride pedal-only bikes because we have not found a bike shop in Key West that will repair the e-bikes that we want to buy. Unfortunately, the e-bikes that the bike shops sell do not fit on the bus bike racks. I am working to order bus bike racks that will fit e-bikes, but this order may take a long time.
Even if Key West Transit’s vehicles can fit all e-bikes, my girlfriend and I want to bike beyond Key West. Many transit systems throughout Florida do not have bus bike racks that fit e-bikes. Due to how many transportation operators ban e-bikes, we do not want to risk being stuck somewhere that we cannot bring our e-bikes with us. I realize that many e-bike users in Key West do not take their e-bike beyond Key West. As a planner, I want to plan for when people decide to start taking their e-bike beyond Key West. I am realizing that my “future blog post” section is getting long. I look forward to sharing more about this importation topic in future blog posts. Are there certain aspects of e-bike planning that you want me to focus on?
Most places in the US call today, May 16th, Bike to Work Day. Since not everyone works and not everyone works on Friday, I want to encourage what the Bay Area does by calling today Bike to Wherever Day. My girlfriend’s situation is a prime example. She works Saturday-Wednesday, so she has Bike to Work Day off work. I think most event organizers, transportation planners, and transportation demand management (TDM) professionals think everyone works Monday-Friday. I am thrilled that my girlfriend has been biking to work or putting my folding bike on the bus every day!
While I do not want to embarrass my girlfriend, she could not even ride a bike when we first met in January. I taught her how to bike, and now she keeps asking to borrow one of my bikes and ride with me. We are trying to buy a bike that fits her short legs and her desires, so she does not need to keep borrowing my bike. Since many of my previous dates resisted my requests to bike, I am thankful that my girlfriend loves biking. She is trying to get in shape to bike longer distances. I think she looks very attractive, but I agreed to help her lose weight. She is helping me to gain weight. Due to how small Key West is, all of our bike rides are less than three miles. We take our bikes on transit when we want to go on trips that are further than three miles. While Key West can still make car-free living easier, we love living in a city that does not have miles of car-dependent suburban sprawl.
Future Blog Post
I plan to share more about how my girlfriend and I are enjoying our car-free lifestyles in the car-dependent US. While we have been taking cute and fun photos together, she asked me not to share any of the photos online. Since I am working on exciting projects at work, I also plan to share about these projects. Do you prefer Bike to Work Day or Bike to Wherever Day? Are you participating?
I represented the City of Key West last week during a presentation to the Southeast Sustainability Directors Network (SSDN). I was asked by SSDN staff to present on e-bikes and e-trikes after I was the only SSDN member to keep questioning other members about why their electric vehicle (EV) plans did not include e-bikes and e-trikes. While I realize that e-bikes and e-trikes do not need as much funding assistance as electric cars and buses and the US is a car-dependent country, I do not understand why e-bikes and e-trikes are not included in the usual EV planning processes. Since my presentation relates to Earth Day, I wanted to share it to celebrate Earth Day. As you may notice, the video is currently uploaded to my personal YouTube account. I am working to upload it to the City of Key West’s YouTube account. Does your EV plan include e-bikes and e-trikes?
I have an exciting personal announcement to share. I met my first girlfriend in Key West! I am purposefully not sharing her name because I want to respect her desire for privacy. She is a beautiful and caring Haitian woman. We started as friends in January 2025 to do a language exchange. I have also been teaching her how to bike and swim. We biked to the grocery store together. I am helping her get comfortable with biking to work. This is unique because many people in the US only want to do recreational biking. I am thankful that my girlfriend is excited about doing both recreational and transportation biking. Since she asked me not to share any photos of her on social media, I need to ask her whether she feels comfortable with me sharing any photos of her on my blog. I want to respect her desire for privacy. I love how we are both smiling in photos, so I would love to show everyone photos of us being happy together. Her birthday is on May 8th. Happy early birthday, my love!
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