Key Colony Beach, FL, spent its first few decades as a "sleepy little town with a fishing problem." A special kind of alchemy of sunshine and friendliness brought the fishing and boating and swimming and relaxing residents together into a little community where people took in each other's trash cans and caught up on all the goings-on at the post office.
Developer Phil Sadowski had a plan when he laid out Key Colony on 286 acres in Shelter Bay. Sadowski wanted to sell real estate to ordinary folk as a place to live, to vacation, to rent, and to share. The first folks here came in Airstreams rather than Gulfstreams. He built a little city that became a small town.
Sadly, it doesn't feel that way any more.
Now there's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you
And now you're starting to criticize little things I do
It makes me just feel like crying
'Cause baby, something beautiful's dyin'
You lost that lovin' feelin' ...
The song by Phil Spector, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil that Righteous Brothers first recorded in 1964 pretty well sums up what has happened here more than 50 years later.A large and growing group of KCB citizens, residents, and visitors knows "City Hall" is to blame for ripping our community asunder. A grass roots movement has grown up in the homes and the clubs and the condo associations to "Fight City Hall" and take back KCB.
The group, now numbering more than 300 on the mailing list, has loosely organized as "Concerned in KCB." Current Fishing and Boating Club president Joe Schmidt and current Inch Beach president Laurie Swanson are the public faces of the group.
Concerned in KCB got its name from the email username that many people recognize. Others have called the group the "City Hall Saviors" (Joe), "TeamKCB" (Laurie), and the "Kick the Can Crew." The latter was a deplorable attempt to deride the group that has become a minor rallying cry.
Concerned in KCB will always use these
email addresses to send you email.
You can reach us by sending mail to either:
Concerned in KCB <conchkcb@gmail.com>
Concerned in KCB <conch@keysmail.net>
Or email Laurie or Joe directly at:
Joe Schmidt <bigjoesbt@PeopleAreAsking.org>
Laurie Swanson <swansonfj@PeopleAreAsking.org>People Are Asking is a not-for-profit community group in the Florida Keys. Our mission is to identify (and maybe, just maybe, end) abuses of government power in the small cities and unincorporated areas of the southernmost islands in the United States.