Item B11
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date:
5/15/02
Division: Mayor McCoy
Bulk Item: Yes
No
x
Department: BOCC-3
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Approval of Proclamation proclaiming that the year 2003 be called The Year of Marti in Key West and
Monroe County,
ITEM BACKGROUND:
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
TOTAL COST:
BUDGETED: Yes No
COST TO COUNTY:
Mayor
NTH YEAR
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
No
APPROVED BY: County Atty _ OMB/Purchasing
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
DOCUMENT A TION: Included:
To Follow:
AGENDA ITEM # g//
,
DISPOSITION:
Revised 2/27/01
jfMapor'1)
llroclamation
WHEREAS, the architect 01 Cuban Independence, Jose Marti, often visited the Keys-the .Cradle of the
Cuban Revolution" -and gave to the City of Key West "what was left of his heart"; and
WHEREAS, January 28, 2003 marks the 150" anniversal}l of the birth of Jose Martl-author of "Our
America"-to whom monuments already stand in the cities of New York, Baltimore. Tampa, Miami and Key West;
and
WHEREAS, The Florida Keys have been America's gateway to the Caribbean, facilitating trains and ferries
from the U.S. to Cuba, utilized by President Cootidge and others; and
WHEREAS, The Keys' trail right-of-way will soon be dedicated as the 106-mile Overseas Heritage Trail. the
southernmost end of the East Coast Greenway, connecting Calais, Maine to Key West. The Trail will link bicyclists,
skaters and pedeslrians to other modes of transportation, including water transport; and
WHEREAS, the freedom to travel implies lhat those traveling to Cuba, Mexico and other neighboring
nations should have a choice of watercraft as well as aircraft. and that such modes should tow or carry other
modes, such as skis, bicycles, barges and automobiles; and
WHEREAS, the "Bridges to the Cuban People Ad (HR 2138, S1017) is expected to be passed in the U.S.
House and Senate. lifting restrictions on travel to Cuba and further facilitating citizen diplomacyi and
WHEREAS. the eaI1iest versions of the bicycle were built at the time of Jose Marti's birth; and
WHEREAS. Key Wesfs official motto. "We are all one human family", celebrates lace to lace, people to
people exchanges strengthening citizen diplomacy; and
WHEREAS, Emest Hemingway-a favorite son of the Keys.-dedicated his Nobel Prize and beloved book.
'ThfJ Old Man and ThfJ 59'10 the people of Cuba; and
WHEREAS. Commodore Jose Miguel Escrich, of Club Nautico Intemacional Hemingway de Cuba has
extended goodwill and friendship to the people of the Keys and to the American Game Fish Association, saying that
"/he sea that divides us is the sea that wiN unite us.
NOW, THEREFORE. by virtue of the power vested in me as Mayor of Monroe County, Florida, I. CHARLES
'SONNY' MCCOY, do proclaim in the County of Monroe that the Year 2003 be called
THE YEAR. OF MARTI
and that Jose Marti be declared an honorary citizen of Key West and Monroe County, thai ferry selVice between
Key West and Havana be reinstituted as soon as possible, that these ferries be known as the Jose Marti Ferries,
that the Jose Marti Ferries accommodate the Jose Marti Bicycle Tours (now being planned), providing a waterbome
gateway for people to people exchanges and that on January 28,2003 the U.S. Postal Sarvice issue a slamp
honoring Jose Marti as a great patriot of the Americas.
DATED this
15" day of May 2002.
CHARLES 'SONNY' MCCOY, MONROE COUNTY MAYOR
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