Soul Food...

The Key West Citizen reported on our mission to clean Christmas Tree Island.
I could have not done it better my self.
Check out this LINK to the story

Residents tire of Wisteria Island trash talk

'Army' of volunteers spend Sunday on cleanup detail

BY MANDY BOLEN

Citizen Staff

A group of Key West residents, weary of complaints about trash-strewn Wisteria Island, spent Sunday cleaning the offshore island and shuttling boatloads of garbage back to a Simonton Street staging area.

Theo Glorie, owner of the Coffee Plantation on Caroline Street, said conversation in his shop recently has focused on the island, its future and the newspaper articles it has generated.

"Everybody got disgusted," said Glorie, who then began organizing the weekend cleanup.

The project included a huge Dumpster donated by Waste Management, gloves from West Marine, volunteers willing to load their boats with people and trash, and Arnaud Girard's Key West Water Taxi shuttling both back and forth from Simonton Street to Wisteria Island.

The crew overfilled the huge Dumpster, and hauled off car batteries, dinghies and more than 20 old mattresses.

"There was an army of people," Girard said. "We took all the old matresses off and so many old chairs. We left only a small doghouse as everyone agreed that that was the acceptable maximum density for the island," he joked.

"It was nasty, but it felt really good."

The privately owned island, now inhabited by only the homeless, became the subject of debate in recent weeks after a development company asked the city to annex it to allow for luxury residential development. The request since has been withdrawn, and the City Commission last week refused to add a referendum to the Oct. 2 city ballot that would have asked voters whether they support annexation of Wisteria Island.

"We are not fighting the developers in this situation," Glorie emphasized. "This was strictly environmental and we were afraid that all this crap would eventually end up in our harbor."

The cleanup may continue next weekend, but Girard is continuing work on the island this week to determine what work remains, Glorie said.

"It all started in a coffee shop," he said. "Nobody ever asked for anything."

mbolen@keysnews.com