THE 1995 CITY COMMISSION:
WARDLOW, WEEKLEY, TURNER,
BETHEL, CURRY, LEWIS, McCOY
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
We told you on our front
page last Friday morning that a
settlement in the long-running
Duck Tour Seafaris vs. the City
of Key West lawsuit was probably
going to happen Friday. At
noon that day, the City’s public
information officer sent out
a press release reporting that
the City Commission, sitting in
special session Friday morning,
had agreed to pay the Ducks’
investors $8 million!
This settlement ends a dishonorable
chapter in the history
of Key West government that began
in 1995 when City officials
began a systematic campaign
to illegally run the Ducks out
of business. Although the owners
of the Ducks had obtained
a City occupational license
to conduct tours of Key West
Harbor using brightly-painted World War II amphibious
vessels, City officials— under
pressure from Historic Tours of
America (HTA), the company
that owns and operates the
Conch Tour Trains and the Old
Town Trolleys— alleged that
the Ducks’ staff was also running
sightseeing tours on land;
and that violated the City’s
exclusive sightseeing franchise
with HTA.
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