The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-12-05

largest public body Of recen,
times that does not include 2
lawyer in its membership. A,
the governors suggestion we Sc,
about obtaining the services OF
a competent attorney as a public
service gift from some public.
inspired agency.
This contribution was made by
the Florida Power and Light
Company which assigned Will M
Preston to our service. I want to
say here that I do not know of a
man in the state who was better
equipped by character, personal
ity, public interest, and overall
resourcefulness to- accomplish
the task set out for him.
Will Preston has attended every
meeting of the commission and of
its committees, has made innum-
cradle trips throughout the state
and to Washington and New York
on the commissions business and
at no expense to the state. Those
members of the commission who
could afford to do o, too, have
served without cost to the tax
payers, giving freely of their
time, their money and their tai
ents without hope of compensa-
ton. Our $12,50O annual appro-
priation was barely enough to
Over rent, the yearly salary of
the abstraction, employed to keep
up to date the records of the Of
flee.
Our stationery has been given
us and nearly all of our printing
has been done at no cost to the
state. Such promotion as we
have found necessary has been
privately financed. -...
Our first property-acquisition
effort consisted of two letters to
the private landowners, one from
the commission and the second
from the governor asking for do
nations of land. >.a ..... :
The response was a complete
void. ..... ... .
Next we asked the landowners
to fix value on their land so
that we might negotiate for ex-
changes with state-owned lands
outside the area.
The response here was unim-
pressive. In a few instances we
were offered trades that put a
most fantastic valuation on the
lands in the Everglades fast
neSSeS.
We had no money for purchas-
ing directly or through condem-
nation, and it became quickly
evident that we would have to
in most instances. We
had arrived at an overall value
for the needed land of approxi-
mately 100000 from numerous
test appraisals. For instance, we
found that on the tax books of
Dade and Monroe counties, in
which the Park is located, 366, 1872
acres of privately-held and need
ed lands were assessed at 81 an
acre. Twenty-four thousand adj
ditional acres were listed at 81
an acre and the remaining 10000
at from 81 to $15, or total valua-
ton of less than, 100000. AS
you know, real estate in Florida
is presumed to- be appraised at
100 per cent of value
AS a further contribution we
had, an offer-a first offer-from
the largest owner of land in'{the
area of some 10000 acres for IS
an acre with ST. more for the min
efal rights. i, j'H'.. El,1, 'D.l /,
Then we had am appraisal from
the us. Soil Conservation Serv-
ice based on the surface use value
of the lands which indicated ap-
proximately $4,000 acres to be
worth $75c; $4,000 to be worth
SIS. and the remainder SIS or less,
or nearly 100000 total.
Applying these and other fig
ures to the appraisal factors, such
as accessibility, salt water infil-
tration and such, we concluded
that two millions of dollars would
do the Job and set out to get that
amount.
We could raise this sum in two
ways; by popular subscription or
by legislative appropriation.
There were several money-rais-
ing organizations ready to do that
lob for us, but invariably it re-
solved itself into commission
paying proposition and we could
not figure how the job could be
done for less than 10 per cent or
100000 which would leave us,
assuming that the campaign
would succeed, with $2O0,OOO less
than we figured we needed:
In the meantime, our activities
had resulted in some unfortunate
developments. For instance, the
good will and promotion which
we had engendered had brought
land pirates into the field: The
number of private owners OF lands
in the area rose from l57 to III
within a few months. Most of
these new people were being
bamboozled. In one instance an
elderly couple from New Eng
land paid $4,000 for nine lots
upon which they were told they
could build their Florida home
and live their declining years IN
III 4,.on;co1 naradiSe surrounds