Letter: City fails Lincolnville residents again

Letter: City fails Lincolnville residents again



Judith Seraphin
Publication Date: 02/15/08


Editor: The Record and Staff Writer Kati Bexley alerted readers to more than fifty (50) boarded-up homes in our Lincolnville neighborhood on Feb. 10.

No thanks to greedy speculators, who buy historic homes and let them fall apart.

No thanks to overpaid, unimaginative St. Augustine city officials, whose incompetence and racism are rampant.

Our African-American neighbors complained for decades about boarded-up homes, with "15 years" inaction by ineffective officials. At least one unlisted boarded-up home is not listed on our tax rolls. Enough excuses.

Speculators, squatters and crack-houses must be brought before criminal courts.

Code enforcement laws must be enforced against speculators, or new laws enacted. Federal grants must be sought to help low-income homeowners (as then-Commissioner Sandra Parks and current-Commissioner Errol Jones obtained some 20 years ago).

If City Manager William Harriss cared about poor African-Americans, he'd apply for grants; he wouldn't have waited 15 years for new white residents (like my husband Anthony and me) to demand action.

Our city government tragically, systematically deprives Lincolnville and West Augustine of essential city services, spending less in our neighborhoods than elsewhere outrageous, intentional discrimination.

It's a disgrace our beautiful city has such a lousy government. Our uncaring city hierarchy appeases speculators, discriminating against and hassling small businesses and the rest of us.

This "hassle-you" city government is unfit to lead in the 21st century: illegally dumping solid wastes in minority neighborhoods for more than 100 years; making excuses; absurdly proposing to send illegally-dumped contaminated solid waste back to Lincolnville from Old City Reservoir; refusing to discuss solutions to our problems (like proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Highway), which would preserve crumbling buildings, protect nature, attract longer-staying, bigger-spending historic and ecological tourists, and lower city taxes.

St. Augustinians, unite: Reform, renew City Hall.

Judith Seraphin


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