WHAT ARE FALSE ARREST AND FALSE IMPRISONMENT? THE NAMES OF THE TORTS COMMITTED BY CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE AGAINST REP. STEARNS ON JULY 4th

See below. City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS must go. Imprisoning fireworks-viewers in the Parking Garage? Outrageous! Thank you Rep. Stearns for speaking your truth. See below.

City's July 4 traffic control questioned By U.S. REP. CLIFF STEARNS Washington, D.C.

City's July 4 traffic control questioned



By U.S. REP. CLIFF STEARNS
Washington, D.C.
Publication Date: 07/25/08

My family and I attended the Fourth of July celebration in St. Augustine, and as with so many, we really enjoyed the fireworks. Unfortunately, this wonderful event was ruined by the extreme difficulties we, along with thousands of others, found in leaving the celebration.

I had parked our car near the Castillo de San Marcos where I thought there was legal parking. At approximately 9:45 p.m. we prepared to leave in order to avoid the traffic crush at the end of the fireworks. The show appeared to continue for another 5 minutes and around 9:50 p.m. people began lining up to leave the parking lot.

To our dismay, we learned that the mayor's office had instructed police to put padlocks on the exit gates for the parking lots. I assumed that the police would open the gates after the fireworks. I sought out the police to find out when the gates would open.

I found two officers in a vehicle at the end of the lot and said that it had been around 25 minutes since the show ended. They responded that the gates would stay locked for 45 minutes to an hour to allow pedestrians to get by. This begs the question how can you lock down traffic in St. Augustine when the goal is to disperse it? Even if people got to their vehicles, they could not move through the entire city.

After a Gator (football) game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with 92,000 people, the fans disperse relatively quickly without a vehicle lock down. After attending Super Bowls in Miami and Phoenix, I found that we could leave the area in our cars in a very short time. In Washington, D.C., the fireworks normally attract more than 500,000 people and traffic is never locked down. And the area of the fireworks is smaller than your city. It occurs between the Washington Monument and the Capital.

The fact that there was no notification that our cars would be locked down was especially frustrating. Once the locks were removed, we were all funneled into one lane in front of the "Ripley's Believe it or Not!'' museum. Although the Bridge of Lions was open at this time, the police barricades directed all traffic north at the intersection in front of the Ripley's. Barricades were up prevent traffic to the bridge.

I respectfully asked three officers to consider removing the barricades at 10:30 p.m. so that traffic could access the bridge, which was open. After 10 minutes, the barricades were finally removed, and after waiting 30 minutes, the cars made U-turns at the museum. None of the traffic lights were set to allow exit of the traffic. All traffic was funneled onto a single lane at a stoplight. People were waiting more than 30 minutes to go 10 feet.

I urge city government to contact other cities of a similar size to find a better way to handle traffic without locking down our vehicles. I wonder if it is even legal for city government to lock down vehicles without our consent if we are parked legally.

Again, I urge the city to correct this situation for the people of St. Augustine and for the thousands who visit this wonderful city in anticipation of a good time.

#

Cliff Stearns, of Ocala, represents Florida's Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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FBI Investigates Jacksonville's City Hall

FBI Investigates Jacksonville's City Hall

News4Jax.com
July 21, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation has widened its probe of public corruption in Jacksonville, Channel 4 reported on Monday.

The FBI has begun conducting an investigation at Jacksonville's City Hall, focusing on a controversial contract that was previously examined by a grand jury.

Channel 4 learned on Monday that one of the latest targets is the mayor's office and how it handles city contracts with former employees, stemming from an investigation into Prologic -- a computer consulting firm hired by the city and run by the mayor's former chief of staff and good friend Scott Tiegle.

While the grand jury did not find any wrongdoing in the city's contract with Prologic, it did have a lot of criticism.

Several e-mails show that the FBI has begun questioning city employees about Prologic. The city's attorney Cindy Laquidara said they are cooperating.

"I can't speak to any particularities on an FBI investigation. I just can tell you that of course they have asked employees within the city to cooperate. The city always cooperates. We have the same goal," said Laquidara.

The current study is the latest in a string of FBI investigations in the area. Earlier this year, at the Jacksonville Port Authorities, the FBI raided a business owned by a board member Tony Nelson.

Nelson has since resigned from the board, and the FBI continues to investigate several port contracts with which he's involved along with other former port employees.

Also, the FBI began last month looking into St. Johns County Commissioner Thomas Manuel.

While the FBI said it could not speak to specifics, special agent in charge James Casey said, "I think it's fair to say that there are public corruption cases going on in all the FBI divisions across the country, and Jacksonville is one of them. So, there are likely investigations here."
===

CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS ADMITS SUNSHINE VIOLATION (POLLING COMMISSIONERS ON SEWAGE PIPE LEAK)

WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

It was in the Record's editorial on July 20th -- see below
EDITORIAL: Pipeline Repair Took Too Long

Pipe line repair took too long

Publication Date: 07/20/08

The St. Augustine City Commission has approved spending up to $1 million to replace a broken pipeline the city's known about for four years.

In good times, the 1,600-foot pipeline transported treated water from the city's wastewater treatment plant on Riberia Street into the Intracoastal Waterway. Since at least 2004, it has squandered treated water on a salt water marsh ecosystem. The marsh is not dead, it's just not the way it should be, brown in color rather than vibrant green.

The original cost to remedy the broken pipewas estimated by a private consultant at $2.5 million to $3.9 million. "We could have done it faster; it would have meant a lot more resources and we would have had to just open up the bank account," said John Regan, the city's chief operations officer, last week.

City Manager Bill Harriss concurred. He said he polled the City Commissioners individually at the time and each agreed that it was too costly and that a cheaper process should be found.
snip

2)

Thanks to Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D. for calling this research to my attention:

From 2008 Government in Sunshine Manual "The Sunshine Law is applicable to meetings between a board member and an individual who is not a member of the board when that individual is being used as a liaison between, or to conduct a de facto meeting of, board members. See, AGO 74-47 (city manager is not a member of the city council and thus, may meet with individual council members; however, the manager may not act as a liaison for board members by circulating information and thoughts of individual council members). Compare, AGO 89-39 (aides to county commissioners would not be subject to the Sunshine Law unless they have been delegated decision-making functions outside of the ambit of normal staff functions, are acting as liaisons between board members, or are acting in place of the board or its members at their direction).

For example, in Blackford v. School Board of Orange County,
375 So. 2d 578 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979), the court held that a series of scheduled successive meetings between the school superintendent and individual members of the school board were subject to the Sunshine Law. While normally meetings between the school superintendent and an individual school board member would not be subject to s. 286.011, F.S., these meetings were held in "rapid-fire succession" in order to avoid a public airing of a controversial redistricting problem. They amounted to a de facto meeting of the school board in violation of s. 286.011, F.S.
Similarly, in Sentinel Communications Company v. School Board of Osceola County, No. CI92-0045 (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. April 3, 1992), the court found that a series of private meetings between a school superintendent and individual school board members which were scheduled by the superintendent to present and consider staff recommendations concerning the administrative structure of the school system and to privately address any objections or concerns that the board might have, should have been held in theUse of nonmembers as liaisons between board members

The Sunshine Law is applicable to meetings between a board member and an individual who is not a member of the board when that individual is being used as a liaison between, or to conduct a de facto meeting of, board members. See, AGO 74-47 (city manager is not a member of the city council and thus, may meet with individual council members; however, the manager may not act as a liaison for board members by circulating information and thoughts of individual council members). Compare, AGO 89-39 (aides to county commissioners would not be subject to the Sunshine Law unless they have been delegated decision-making functions outside of the ambit of normal staff functions, are acting as liaisons between board members, or are acting in place of the board or its members at their direction).

For example, in Blackford v. School Board of Orange County,
375 So. 2d 578 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979), the court held that a series of scheduled successive meetings between the school superintendent and individual members of the school board were subject to the Sunshine Law. While normally meetings between the school superintendent and an individual school board member would not be subject to s. 286.011, F.S., these meetings were held in "rapid-fire succession" in order to avoid a public airing of a controversial redistricting problem. They amounted to a de facto meeting of the school board in violation of s. 286.011, F.S.
Similarly, in Sentinel Communications Company v. School Board of Osceola County, No. CI92-0045 (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. April 3, 1992), the court found that a series of private meetings between a school superintendent and individual school board members which were scheduled by the superintendent to present and consider staff recommendations concerning the administrative structure of the school system and to privately address any objections or concerns that the board might have, should have been held in the sunshine. The court said that its decision should not be construed to prohibit individual board members from meeting privately with staff or the superintendent for informational purposes or on an ad hoc basis. However, "[i]t shall be construed to prohibit the scheduling of a series of such meetings which concern a specific agenda." Thus, the court enjoined the board and its superintendent "from holding any further closed door meetings to formulate Board policy, discuss matters where Board action is contemplated, or otherwise conduct the public's business."
In Citizens for a Better Royal Palm Beach, Inc. v. Village of Royal Palm Beach, No. CL 91-14417 AA (Fla. 15th Cir. Ct. May 14, 1992), the court invalidated a contract for the sale of municipal property when it determined that after the proposal to sell the property which had been discussed and approved at a public meeting collapsed, the city manager met individually with council members and from those discussions the property was sold to another group. The circuit court found that these meetings resulted in a substantial change in the terms of sale and that the execution of the contract, therefore, violated the Sunshine Law.

Thus, a city manager should refrain from asking each commissioner to state his or her position on a specific matter which will foreseeably be considered by the commission at a public meeting in order to provide the information to the members of the commission. AGO 89-23. See also, AGO 75-59 (the spirit, if not the letter, of the Sunshine Law requires official decisions to be made in public after a full discussion by the board members; thus, the board's director should refrain from calling each member of the board separately and asking each member to state his or her position on a matter which will foreseeably be presented for consideration to the entire board in open session). Cf., AGO 81-42 (the fact that a city council member has expressed his or her views or voting intent on an upcoming matter to a news reporter prior to the scheduled public meeting does not violate the Sunshine Law so long as the reporter is not being used by the member as an intermediary in order to circumvent the requirements of s. 286.011, F.S.).
Not all decisions taken by staff, however, need to be made or approved by a board. Thus, the district court concluded in Florida Parole and Probation Commission v. Thomas, 364 So. 2d 480 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), that the decision to appeal made by legal counsel to a public board after discussions between the legal staff and individual members of the board was not subject to the Sunshine Law. Accord, Inf. Op. to Biasco, July 2, 1997 (administrative officers or staff who serve public boards should not poll board members on issues which will foreseeably come before the board in order to avoid being used as a liaison between board members, although an administrative officer is not precluded from contacting individual board members for their views on a matter when the officer, and not the board, has been vested with the authority to take action).

So, once again, the question recurs: is there any crime that WILLIAM B. HARRISS will commit that the State of Florida, State's Attorney Tanner, FDEL or FDEP will ever prosecute?

BREACH OF FAITH?: -- ST. AUGUSTINE RECORD TRAMPLING OF JOURNALISTIC ETHICS – PRINTING SELECTED REPUBLICAN POLL EXCERPTS -- FICKLE FINGER OF FATE AWARD

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award

BREACH OF FAITH?: -- ST. AUGUSTINE RECORD TRAMPLING OF JOURNALISTIC ETHICS – PRINTING SELECTED REPUBLICANS-ONLY POLL EXCERPTS

I could not believe my eyes this morning. See below
A Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award goes to the St. Augustine Record newspaper for its habitually biased political reporting, as most recently demonstrated July 24th by a front-page story on portions of a Republican poll allegedly made available by an elected Republican Party official up for re-election, who deleted poll results about his race.
The suspect Republican poll questioned only Republicans, not Democrats, Libertarians, Greens or Independents.
Apartheid politics of division?
Glowingly galactically stupid Gooberishness?
As Adlai Stevenson said, "I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance."
Invite our friends at the Record to practice journalism without fear or favor, complying with the applicable standard of care and from this day forward free of gratuitous editorial opinions by biased reporter Peter Guinta.
Reckon the Record could actually do its own reporting.
The truth will set us free.

BIASED ST. AUGUSTINE RECORD REPORTING OF REPUBLICAN'S POLL -- Undecideds to decide election County Republicans like Bush but are cool on Crist

Undecideds to decide election

County Republicans like Bush but are cool on Crist

By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/24/08

Two incumbent St. Johns County Commission candidates lead their opponents ,and a third commission seat is a statistical dead heat but the number of undecided voters is so large that they'll decide the fate of the commission candidates, a local survey of 880 likely Republican voters indicated this week.

The poll found:

* Incumbent county commissioners Cyndi Stevenson and Ben Rich lead in their races.

* District 5 candidates Ken Bryan, Randy Brunson and Gary McMahon are in a statistical dead heat.

* President Bush is viewed in a positive light by 66.7 percent of the participants.

* Less than 50 percent see Florida Gov. Charlie Crist favorably.

* About a quarter of the respondents view both in an unfavorable light.

* Republican candidate John McCain would be chosen by 87 percent, Barack Obama by 11 percent.

#

Only Republicans were polled, but because St. Johns County contains 65,929 registered Republican voters -- 52.9 percent of the total 124,660 voters -- the party essentially controls county politics.

Democrats number 34,053, or 27.3 percent; nonpartisan voters 19,519, or 16.7 percent; and other parties 5,159, or 4.1 percent.

In the presidential poll, independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr both registered less than 3 percent, undecideds 10 percent.

The poll was conducted July 17 and 18 by Dixie Strategies LLC of St. Augustine, a company that is co-owned by Jon Woodard, the sitting Republican State Committeeman for St. Johns.

Woodard said he wanted to learn how his own re-election campaign for state committeeman was going. But then he added questions to the survey about County Commission races because, he said, "I was curious."

The survey asked: If the commission election were held today, for whom would you vote?

For District 1, incumbent Cyndi Stevenson got 34.88 percent and challenger Albert J. Abbatiello got 18.37 percent. That means 46.75 percent were undecided, the highest undecided percentage of any question.

A third District 1 candidate, Merrill Roland, was not included in this survey because he isn't a Republican and because he faces the District 1 primary winner in November.

For District 3, incumbent Ben Rich got 36.05 percent, Mark P. Miner 21.82 percent and undecided 42.13 percent.

For District 5, Ken Bryan got 20.27 percent; Gary McMahon 19.49 percent and Randy Brunson, 16.37 percent.

Undecideds here were 43.87 percent.

Woodard said the margin of error in the District 5 race is plus or minus 4.3 percent, meaning the District 5 race is essentially even.

"This poll was not commissioned by any candidate or party," Woodard said. "We have no business with any of these candidates. But if I were one of them, this poll would tell me a lot. If I found myself behind, I'd step up my efforts. If I were ahead, it might be easier to raise money. It can be used both ways."

Dixie Strategies first compiled a random sample of likely GOP voters and gave lists of their telephone numbers to a subcontractor who did the actual calling for the survey. The information on Woodard's race was removed from the poll information that was released.

Statistics Professor Ed McDonald of St. Johns River Community College said this poll was "pretty darn accurate," even though there wasn't a large sample. McDonald said he taught Woodard the model for this poll and the mathematics behind sampling an audience to get an accurate picture of voters' choices.

Sampling means finding willing, qualified respondents from all areas of the county, sometimes taking into account factors such as race, age, gender or economic level.

"This information could be helpful to Republican candidates and give them guidance," McDonald said. "Candidates in local elections often don't get quality sampling and information."

What is certainly remarkable about the Bush question is that even after eight high-profile years in office -- Hurricane Katrina and the FEMA debacle, the nation-searing tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, and the endless war in Iraq -- a solid 10 percent of Republicans here still remain undecided about how they feel about their president.


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MAYOR BOLES BOYCOTTS LINCOLNVILLE DEBATE, : ERROL JONES LEAVES EARLY, DUCKS QUESTIONS; DAN SULLIVAN LATE FLUBS ANSWER, SAYS ST. AUGUSTINE "PARADISE"

At last night's Lincolnville Neighborhood Association forum, approximately 50 people watched as Commissioner ERROL JONESS, bragged about himself and otherwise said nothing of substance for three minutes, then left -- with JONES arrogantly refusing to be part of the debate. JONES is being challenged by LNA VP Judith Seraphin.

City of St. Augustine Parking and Traffic Committee Chair DAN SULLLIVAN arrived late and insulted questioners, defending the White Elephant Parking Garage. SULLVAN actually said, in response to a question about St. Augustine having been called "the most lawless city in America" that St. Augustine was a "Paradise." Others in the audience and on the panel disagreed, including Leeanna Freeman and Judith Seraphin, who noted the lack of equality and the large number of businesses in city-owned and state-owned buildings that do not employ any African-Americans.

St. Augustine Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. refused to attend the LNA meeting, claiming to have an out-of-town visitor (unnamed).. BOLES is the one who (with Commissioner ERROL JONES) pushed through the aborted plan to bring solid waste back to Lincolnville.

(more)

City faces $31,000 fine for defective pipeline

City faces $31,000 fine for defective pipeline



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/22/08

The city could pay $31,000 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for allowing a pipeline behind its Waste Water Treatment Plant to leak into marshland.

John Regan, city chief operations officer, and other city staff met with the DEP Northeast District on Monday and said the department proposed fining the city $31,000.

But Jodi Conway, DEP spokeswoman, said the department has given "no finalized penalty amounts at this point."

"We haven't concluded looking over all the information on the enforcement side to determine the penalties," she said.

The 1,600-foot pipe, located in Lincolnville off Riberia Street, has been leaking into the marsh for years. The failing pipe was meant to dump treated water into the Intracoastal Waterway, but it instead leaked the fresh water into the saltwater marsh, where it sat stagnant.

That caused the area to become a vibrant green compared to the surrounding brown marsh, according to DEP.

Regan said the proposed DEP fine is for the city's actions from 2005 to 2007, when it failed to fix the pipe. Bob Leetch, former city public works director, reported to DEP in 2005 that the pipe was leaking. City Manager Bill Harriss said it was not fixed because it cost too much money.

Leetch also said DEP never followed up with the city, and the pipeline "fell off the radar." Leetch then left the city on his own accord in 2006.

Regan said of his meeting Monday, "(DEP) was very concerned about the time frame from 2005 to 2007."

"It was 2007 when the city picked up steam in addressing the problem," he said.

Leetch's proposal to Harriss to replace the pipe cost more than $3 million. In the last month, city staff has found another way to install a new pipeline for $1 million.

Leetch said there were rumors of problems with the pipeline in 2004, and the city repaired the pipe in 2003 and 2007. He said, once he got involved in 2005 and saw the pipe was leaking, he wrote a letter to DEP.

A DEP wetlands expert said last week that the marshlands surrounding the pipe are fairly healthy.

Regan said the city will likely come back to DEP with a counter offer to the proposed $31,000 fine.

"We have not agreed yet. We plan to have ongoing discussions (with DEP)," Regan said. "We are committed to working this out with the state."


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Here's the DEP and City of St. Augustine "Spin"" Leak not hurting marsh DEP officials say the ecosystem is still 'pretty healthy'

Goobers from City of St. Augustine, Florida and State of Florida Kayak in Marsh, Make Unscientific Claims in Two-Part Harmony


Leak not hurting marsh

DEP officials say the ecosystem is still 'pretty healthy'

By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/19/08

Marshlands surrounding the city's leaking Waste Water Treatment Plant pipeline aren't that damaged, Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials said Friday.

"It's a pretty healthy ecosystem," said Jim Maher, DEP Environmental Resource Permitting Program Administrator, said of the marshland.

The 1,600-foot treatment plant pipe, located in Lincolnville off Riberia Street, has been leaking into the marsh at least since 2004. The failing pipe was meant to dump treated fresh water into the Intracoastal Waterway, but for years it has instead leaked fresh water into the salt water marsh, where it would sit stagnant. This has caused the area to become a vibrant green compared to the surrounding brown marsh, according to DEP.

Maher and Greg Strong, DEP Northeast District director, kayaked out to the pipeline Friday and said the environment "didn't look that bad."

"I've been doing this job for 20 years, and it didn't seem to be a major threat," Maher said.

But that doesn't mean the city is in the clear from facing Environmental Protection fines, Strong said.

"It's still under review," he said. "We've got some things to go through with that."

City staff put off replacing the pipeline because of cost, and the city manager has said the original estimate was more than $3 million for the project.

Environmental Protection also will take samples from the marsh and investigate more thoroughly what effect the pipeline's effluent has had on it, Maher said. The treated fresh water dumped into the salt water marsh has disrupted the ecosystem, according to DEP.

Recently, St. Augustine City Commissioners voted to spend roughly $1 million to install a new pipeline.

City staff is searching for a company to install the new pipeline.

City staff expects the entire process of putting in the new pipe will take no more than six weeks at a cost of about $1 million.

The money will come from surplus funds in the city's utility budget.

Timeline

# 1960s -- metal pipeline is constructed

# 2004 -- The year city staff learned the pipe was leaking.

# December 2005 -- Former City Public Works Director Bob Leetch had an engineering study done on the pipe. It shows there are "major problems" with the pipeline. He alerts the Environmental Protection and City Manager Bill Harriss.

# Mid 2006 -- Leetch tells Harriss the pipe needs to be replaced and it would cost $2 million-$3 million. Harriss says that's too much money and says no.

# February 2006 -- The city has an engineering diver inspect the pipeline. It shows there are 120 feet missing from the pipe and several gaps and holes.

# June 2007 -- The city repairs two major breaks in the pipe.

# July 2008 -- The city obtains environmental permits to fix the pipe, but expects to replace it.


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Letter: Off drilling off Florida, Alaska not answers

Letter: Off drilling off Florida, Alaska not answers



Kate Merrick
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 07/21/08

Editor: The American people are understandably concerned about sources for our energy needs, but drilling off the coasts of our beautiful Florida and Alaska are not the answer, in my opinion.

Regardless of claims to the contrary, it would certainly do great harm to the natural environment which has already suffered enough at our hands. Degradation of the environment is blamed for the increase and severity of hurricanes, cyclones, and other storms. Moreover, the experts tell us that those sources would provide very little of our nation's energy needs.

In The Record of July 13, I was surprised to read that "...what the president hasn't told you is that the oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands with the potential to nearly double U.S. oil production." Congress is supposed to be voting of the "use it or lose it" legislation very soon, meaning the big oil companies must develop these resources or lose their leases.

Once the oil barons stop calling the shots in this country, the floodgates on alternative energy development will open along with many new jobs.

When it comes to saving money, just watch the "creativity out of necessity" of the American people.

advances in solar, ideal for sunny states like ours, are producing nanosolar film, which promises to be much cheaper than solar panels.There are farmers in the U.S. who have produced their own power for years using methane produced from animal manure. Methane can be made from trash and garbage as well.What potential.

There are people in St. Augustine who have converted vehicles to alternative energy sources like used cooking oil.

It's time for forward thinking beyond fossil fuels and beyond nuclear, with its deadly waste. We need environmentalists in elected positions.

Also, when will we be recycling glass in St. Augustine?This is 2008.

Kate Merrick

St. Augustine

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EDITORIAL: Pipeline Repair Took Too Long

Pipe line repair took too long



Publication Date: 07/20/08

The St. Augustine City Commission has approved spending up to $1 million to replace a broken pipeline the city's known about for four years.

In good times, the 1,600-foot pipeline transported treated water from the city's wastewater treatment plant on Riberia Street into the Intracoastal Waterway. Since at least 2004, it has squandered treated water on a salt water marsh ecosystem. The marsh is not dead, it's just not the way it should be, brown in color rather than vibrant green.

The original cost to remedy the broken pipewas estimated by a private consultant at $2.5 million to $3.9 million. "We could have done it faster; it would have meant a lot more resources and we would have had to just open up the bank account," said John Regan, the city's chief operations officer, last week.

City Manager Bill Harriss concurred. He said he polled the City Commissioners individually at the time and each agreed that it was too costly and that a cheaper process should be found.

Friday, officials from the Department of Environmental Protection, toured the site in kayaks. "It's a pretty healthy ecosystem," Jim Maher, DEP Environmental Resource Permitting Program administrator, told The St. Augustine Record.

While that comment is encouraging, it's just one of many in a lengthy DEP review process. It does give city officials hope as they make their case for the pipeline replacement and ecosystem repair.

City officials and DEP will get together this week.

The gravity of any damage will be determined by DEP. The state agency also will review the city's proposed fix, running a new pipeline along an area away from the damaged marsh. In short, there are no fines nor any consent order to the city yet, said DEP spokeswoman Jodi Conway last week.

A chance comment by Harriss last year when some repairs were done to the pipeline indirectly affected the city's solution. "I looked at it and said, 'Why can't you just put a big garden hose across the water?" Harriss said Friday.

Regan passed the comment toa contractor's repon another city job. He told Regan the concept is used in the oil industry but had not been tried with treated wastewater. Now it is going to be, if DEP approves.

We're glad the pipe is getting replaced. But it was too long in coming, regardless of the cost savings.

We don't like the city facing a possible DEP fine.

The City Commission should have been more proactive and had Harriss bring the problem in 2005 to a public meeting for discussion.

With the public watching, the elected commission could have debated the issue openly, called for a wider range of repair/replacement optionsto review and perhaps found alower priceby putting the job out to bid. The fix could have been made sooner and less treated water would have gone into the salt water ecosystem.

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Letter: City should not rush FPL renewal

Letter: City should not rush FPL renewal



Ed Slavin
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 07/18/08

Editor: St. Augustine City Commissioners will hold a public hearing July 28 on proposed Ordinance No. 2008-13, which would extend for 30 years the Florida Power & Light franchise to operate in the city of St. Augustine.

The franchise doesn't expire until June 2009. What's the rush?

If the FPL-drafted franchise agreement passes, St. Augustine and St. Johns County residents will be deprived of the once-in-a-generation opportunity to buy out FPL and start our own city-county electric system.

Let's consider the possibility of public power -- like Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Clay County and other Florida towns -- 25 percent of Florida's population has public power (and almost 100 percent of Tennessee residents).

St. Augustine may be too small to take on FPL by itself, but why not work together with St. Johns County and Jacksonville?

Tell commissioners not to rubber-stamp yet another horrible franchise deal with another poorly-regulated utility monopolist. Remember the rush to judgment on Comcast's cable television franchise? Our city got snookered, with citizens stuck with a bad deal for 15 years.

City commissioners don't know how to negotiate with powerful corporations.

The hasty FPL franchise renewal deal must be stopped.

At least two new city commissioners will take office in December. Let them vote. Let's all vote on it. There's plenty of time to consider a referendum for a St. Augustine/St. Johns public power system, buying FPL's equipment and negotiating with JEA, Gainesville and Clay Electric to buy power.

Let's stop monopolistic FPL's 30-year franchise deal. What's the hurry? (Campaign contributions?) Let's learn more. Ask questions. Demand answers. Don't let city commissioners sign our rights away. Let's stop coddling ruthless, energy monopolists. Let's start planning for our energy future, right here.

Speak out on July 28th at City Commission at 5 p.m., 75 King St. It's our future.

Ed Slavin

St. Augustine


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Letter: Objects to raise or Wuellner

Letter: Objects to raise or Wuellner



Bruce and Marilyn Kendeigh (retired)
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 07/18/08

Editor: I read with interest in The Record on July 15 that the St. Johns County Airport Authority Board has approved a salary increase for the executive director. Any time that anyone responsible for tax fund expenditure gets a pay raise, especially with tax money as part of the increase, should be open to scrutiny and comment from the average taxpayer affected by the Airport Authority Board's largesse.

I'm assuming that the Record article was accurate: " Mr. (Ed) Wuellner currently makes just under $114,000 annually." Interesting. If our taxpayers would like to go to the minutes of the Airport Authority for Dec. 4, 2007, one would find that Wuellner had, at that time, an annual salary, approved by the Airport Authority Board, of $103,500 (not including the perks of an Authority-owned, two-story brick home, marsh view, a large SUV, provided by the Airport Authority for personal use). Free home, free SUV, no house payment / rent. the Authority discussed salary increases, per the Authority minutes, while Wuellner was in attendance, a situation approved by their attorney, Douglas Burnett.

Fast forward to today. St. Johns County Airport executive directory's salary, Dec. 4, 2007, $103,500 ( plus the freebies provided).

I guess my comment would be, since the Skybus fiasco (at, the executive director's quote, "We spent about $4.2 million for the facility, but FDOT reimbursed us for all but $ 500,000." As Board member Jack Gorman said, 'Ed, that's still tax money.'

What was the Airport Authority elected board thinking? A salary increase of 20 percent in salary for poor performance. Skybus failed. Why did St. Johns County residents/taxpayers pick up the tab for the lack of due diligence (for Skybus solvency) by Wuellner.

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DOG and PONY SHOW – GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION WON’T DISCUSS ROOT CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS -- the simple palpitating truth of the matter

DOG and PONY SHOW – GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION WON’T DISCUSS ROOT CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS

See below. The simple palpitating truth of the matter is that homelessness skyrocketed under President Ronald Wilson Reagan due to his Administrations’ cynical pressures on Administrative Law Judges in the Social Security Administration to rule against disability claimants. Rep. Barney Frank said ALJs ruling too often for the disabled were sent to "remedial judging school."

That was not discussed last night.

Nor was the “gigantic sucking sound” of good-paying jobs exported due to NAFTA and other multilateral trade agreements passed on the “fasttrack.”

Nor was the phrase "structural unemployment" uttered once.

For all of the wonderful words last night, one waited for an apology – but evidently being a Repug means “never having to say you’re sorry.” Claiming credit for local innovations, George W. Bush’s homelessness interagency group meets only four (4) times a year.

Not one public question was allowed.

Last night, a group of twelve (12) from the dog and pony show dined at Gypsy Cab afterwards, including the federal guest speaker from Atlanta, St. Augustine Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., Chief Operating Officer JOHN REGAN, St. Augustine Beach Mayor CHARLES O'Brien, et al.

One would have approached these august personages and asked about root causes, if one thought they would have been up to such a discussion. Instead, their approach was, "let 'em eat Power Point presentations."

In the words of the little boy at the Superdome in New Orleans during Katrina, that’s “pitiful.”

Local mayors agree to 10-year homeless plan City, Beach to work on decreasing homelessness

Local mayors agree to 10-year homeless plan

City, Beach to work on decreasing homelessness

By CHAD SMITH
chad.smith@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/17/08
Ending homelessness is usually a philanthropic mission.
But at a summit Wednesday night, a federal expert told a group of city and community leaders, homeless advocates and citizens that it can, and should, also be a fiscal one.
Michael German, an Atlanta-based regional coordinator for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, told the crowd of about 150 at the Flagler College Auditorium that the typically cold-hearted, profit-driven private sector could benefit from the warm-hearted work of housing homeless people.
To make his point, German told the story of "Million-Dollar" Murray, who was the subject of a 2006 New Yorker piece that chronicled the problem in Reno, Nev.
Murray Barr, a homeless man, racked up the most expensive medical bill in the state, but all the money spent didn't save him.
"He died on the street," German said.
German and his agency are encouraging municipalities to change the way they approach homelessness to get the ultimate win-win: getting more people off the streets while saving taxpayers money.
They can do that, he said, by developing 10-year plans to deal with the issue and by putting more resources toward chronically homeless people, who represent a small portion of the homeless population -- 10 percent to 20 percent -- but who use about 50 percent of government services.
According to agency statistics, several cities with 10-year plans saw decreases in their chronically homeless populations between 2006 and 2008: Gainesville's dropped by 18 percent, Miami's by 50 percent and Atlanta's by 8 percent.
But, German said, "Without (city leaders') support, it will go nowhere."
He got two more mayors' attention. At the summit, St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles and St. Augustine Beach Mayor Rich O'Brien signed commitments to develop plans for their cities.
Boles is hoping the plan and the data from the agency will convince the "hard-headed" to come on board and get them to "say to themselves, 'You know what? It's cheaper for me to help out than it is for me to turn my head,'" he said.
German also said communities have had success with one-stop centers where the homeless can get housing, food and veterans' and medical services.
St. Francis House Executive Director Renee Morris, who is attempting to bring such a center to St. Johns County, attended the summit and said it will cost about $3 million to construct the building, which would be built on Dobbs Road off State Road 16.
Morris said the organization could use the private-sector support that German was pushing for. So could the roughly 1,500 homeless people in the county who she hopes to serve.
She brought up an unidentified transient man who was found dead in the woods near The St. Augustine Record building off State Road 312.
"It breaks my heart to think he died alone," Morris said, "and we could have helped him."

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FIRST COAST NEWS: JAXPORT VICE CHAIR RESIGNS UNDER FB I INVESATIGAATION

Tony Nelson Resigns from JAXPORT

The vice chairman of the Jacksonville Port Authority stepped down.

Tony Nelson resigned in a letter to Mayor John Peyton Tuesday afternoon.

"Thank you again for the opportunity to serve Jacksonville Port Authority board," wrote Nelson.

"At this time I believe it is in my best interest and the best interest of the port that I resign my board position. I wish Chairman Morales, the board, and the port continuing success in this exciting time of growth."

The FBI raided two of his businesses earlier this year.

Investigators won't say exactly what they're looking for but the probe included a subpoena for documents related to contracts, employment, and policies and procedures.

Nelson is the second JAXPORT executive to resign amid the investigation.

Ron Baker stepped down from his post as Chief Financial Officer last month.

First Coast News
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=113854&catid=15

The Arrogance of Power, St. Augustine, Florida Style!

Rodney Dangerfield

Like Rodney Dangerfield, American citizens get "no respect" from governments when we exercise our patriotic duty to criticize them. Curled lips and closed minds characterize the disgruntled crew in City Hall.
Here in St. Augustine, liberty is under siege by our all-powerful, unaccountable City Manager, who has little respect for our rights or opinions, as proved by convincing Commissioners to ban art, music and entertainers from St. George Street, helping ruin our historic street, its ecology and economy.
Arrogance! You can cut it with a knife – the air of hostility directed by City managers against every St. Augustine resident who ever made a suggestion, asked a question, or criticized City management.
When our City's management dumped 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste in our Old City Reservoir, our Commissioners didn't ask tough questions. They gave in to the whining of our City Manager, presenting him with an award, while insulting citizens who reported the problem.
When our City and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) agreed to bring the solid waste back to Lincolnville, our Commissioners would not let any of us speak at their unusual November 13, 2007 morning meeting. Not one Commissioner spoke against the plan. With noses in the air, they quickly adopted Commissioner Errol Jones' motion to dump solid waste in Lincolnville.
When citizens halted the dumping plan, not one city official thanked anyone who helped bring our governments to their senses.
Mayor Joseph Boles and City Manager William Harriss are disrespectful toward the rights of free people to dissent.

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA CITY MANAGER WILLIAM. B. HARRISS -- He Exemplifies the "Arrogance of Power"

Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., Malfeasant Mayor of St. Augustine Florida

At the July 14th meeting, after several activists (Dr. Dwight Hines, Ms. B.J. Kalaidi, Mr. David Thundershield Queen, Judith Seraphin and me) spoke their minds on City pollution, tree-cutting, developer-coddling, government waste and other issues, Mayor Joseph Boles smirked that this was "the entertainment portion" of the agenda. Our Mayor mocks dissenters. He and our City Manager don't care what we think.
They make ill-advised decisions and are mad as hell whenever they are caught (which is frequently).

J. William Fulbright, author of "The Arrogance of Power"

The late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.) called it the "arrogance of power."
From the moment our citizens first walk into City Hall to a City Commission meeting, we're treated as objects. Enough mockery of citizens speaking to our City government.
Too many local officials don't lead -- they mislead. They remind me of the 1986 Common Cause Magazine cartoon, "The Unaccountables," about Iran-Contra scandals -- resembling a movie poster, it says, "They Lied! They Cheated! They Just Plain Forgot!"
Case in point: the City's Chief Operations Officer told Judith and Tony Seraphin on January 10th that there were no problems at St. Augustine's sewage treatment plant (other than illegal dumping). He didn't disclose the leaking pipeline. On July 14, Regan said no e coli had been emitted in the past year. This is pregnant with the admission (established by FDEP records) that there's been a problem with pollutants in city sewage effluent, contaminating our saltwater marsh, (including cyanide, as the City's 2006 letters to FDEP prove).
Our thin-skinned city, state and federal governments let us down on pollution, which could threaten our water, air and land. They never admit errors, caterwauling at criticism. Enough.
America's Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and their "sacred honor" to advancing the cause of liberty against the tyrannical King George III.

King George III

We have a right to ask questions and hear truthful answers. We need leaders who respect diversity, cherish liberty and equality and take the time to spend tax dollars wisely.
We need a St. Augustine National Seashore, National Historical Park and National Scenic Coastal Highway. We need to cut wasteful spending and guarantee accountability and transparency.
What do you reckon?
Ed Slavin
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
P.O. Box 3084
St. Augustine, FL 32085-3084
904-471-7023
904-471-9918 (fax)

TIME MAGAZINE: Is Florida the Sunset State? Says Miami historian Arva Moore Parks. "We don't seem to know how to learn."

Time Magazine
Thursday, Jul. 10, 2008
Is Florida the Sunset State?
By Michael Grunwald/Miami

Water Crisis Mortgage Fraud Political Dysfunction Algae Polluted Beaches Declining Crops Failing Public Schools Foreclosures

Greetings from Florida, where the winters are great!

Otherwise, there's trouble in paradise. We're facing our worst real estate meltdown since the Depression. We've got a water crisis, insurance crisis, environmental crisis and budget crisis to go with our housing crisis. We're first in the nation in mortgage fraud, second in foreclosures, last in high school graduation rates. Our consumer confidence just hit an all-time low, and our icons are in trouble--the citrus industry, battered by freezes and diseases; the Florida panther, displaced by highways and driveways; the space shuttle, approaching its final countdown. New research suggests that the Everglades is collapsing, that our barrier beaches could be under water within decades, that a major hurricane could cost us $150 billion.

We do wish you were here, because attracting outsiders has always been our primary economic engine, and our engine is sputtering. Population growth is at a 30-year low. School enrollment is declining. Retirees are drifting to the Southwest and the Carolinas, while would-be Floridians who bought preconstruction condos in more optimistic times are scrambling--and often suing--to break contracts. This is our dotcom bust, except worse, because our local governments are utterly dependent on construction for tax revenues, so they're slashing school and public-transportation budgets that were already among the nation's stingiest. "This may be our tipping point," says former Senator Bob Graham.

Florida was once a swampy rural backwater, the poorest and emptiest state in the South. But in the 20th century, air-conditioning, bug spray and the miracle of water control helped transform it into a migration destination for the restless masses of Brooklyn and Cleveland, Havana and Port-au-Prince. Florida developed its own ventricle at the heart of the American Dream--not only as an affordable playground and comfortable retirement home with no income tax but also as a state of escape and opportunity, a Magic Kingdom for tourists, a Fountain of Youth for seniors, a Cape Canaveral for Northerners looking to launch their second acts. Even the soggy Everglades, once considered a God-forsaken hellhole, became a national treasure.

But now the financial and environmental bill for a century of runaway growth and exploitation is coming due. The housing bust has exposed a human pyramid scheme--an economy that relied on a thousand newcomers a day, too many of them construction workers, mortgage bankers, real estate agents and others whose livelihoods depended on importing a thousand more newcomers the next day. And the elaborate water-management scheme that made southern Florida habitable has been stretched beyond capacity, yo-yoing between brutal droughts and floods, converting the Everglades into a tinderbox and a sewer, ravaging the beaches, bays, lakes and reefs that made the region so alluring in the first place. "The dream is fading," says University of South Florida historian Gary Mormino. "People think Florida is too crowded, too spoiled, too expensive, too crazy, too many immigrants--name your malady."

Still, the winters really are great! And this doom-and-glooming might sound familiar. In 1981, TIME declared crime- and drug-plagued South Florida a "Paradise Lost." The region then embarked on an epic boom. Southeast Florida--including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach--ballooned into the nation's seventh largest metro, while southwest Florida--Naples, Cape Coral, Fort Myers--became the fastest-growing metro. Last year 82.4 million visitors found their way to this lost paradise. And last month Governor Charlie Crist unveiled a $1.75 billion deal to buy the U.S. Sugar Corp. and its 187,000 acres of farmland, a move that would help restore the Everglades. It's the state's best eco-news in decades.

So lifers like seventh-generation Floridian Allison DeFoor--lawyer, lobbyist, historian, Episcopal minister, environmental consultant and Republican operative--are disinclined to panic just yet. "Sure, it's the end of Florida as we know it," DeFoor quips. "It's always the end of Florida as we know it."

Florida's history is lush with volatility and flimflam. As Groucho Marx's real estate huckster warned in The Cocoanuts in 1929, "You can even get stucco! Oh, how you can get stucco." But eventually, the lies always seemed to come true, because there were always new dreamers from cold climates, and worthless swampland was just a drainage canal and a zoning variance away from becoming a golf-course subdivision.

Yet even boosters admit that Florida's Miracle-Gro has created many of its current problems. "We need steady growth, not crazy growth," Crist says. There's a sense that paradise has been ruined by awful traffic, overcrowded schools, overtapped aquifers and polluted beaches. The land of Disney dreams for the middle class is now a high-cost, low-wage state with Mickey Mouse schools and Goofy insurance rates, living beyond its environmental and economic means in harm's way. As peculiar as it sounds, this go-for-broke state of boundless possibilities--the land of Kimbo Slice, Miami Vice and Mar-a-Lago--might be leading America into a new era of limits.

The Busted Dream

Juan Puig embodied the Florida dream, proving that an ordinary guy with moxie could make a fortune and enjoy the high life by selling the dream to others. A Cuban immigrant, he started his career as a janitor and then a baggage handler at the Miami airport, living in a Hialeah apartment without air-conditioning, peddling sunglasses to co-workers on the side. In the 1990s, he discovered real estate, rehabbing and selling a few foreclosed duplexes, then developing town houses and branching into condo conversions as the market went nuts. He soon built a statewide empire with 300 employees, including a staff priest who blessed his projects. He bought a waterfront mansion in Coral Gables, a fleet of classic cars, a Ferretti yacht, huge collections of fine wine, Cuban art and luxury watches. Just last year he spent $80,000 on an antique billiard table.

Puig's financial records were a mess, and his accountant was a convicted felon with ties to the Colombian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar. But that never seemed to bother Puig's investors or lenders, who kept showering him with money as long as condo prices kept soaring. It certainly didn't bother Puig, who explained in a recent deposition that he never paid attention to his books, in part because his expertise was in matters like where to advertise property and whether to paint the doors yellow or white, and in part because he never imagined the Florida housing market could tank: "Of course, I trusted that the business, like always, would be successful."

Of course, he got stucco. Now that South Florida has tied Las Vegas as the nation's fastest-tanking real estate market, Puig is bankrupt, with $80 million in debts. His mansion was liquidated for $11.4 million, and his yacht went back to the bank. At Puig's bankruptcy auction, bidders competed for a necklace studded with 226 diamonds, a Sopranos pinball machine, a 1965 Ferrari, nine designer bikes and other bubble baubles. The billiard table went for $25,000. "It's amazing how fast it all came crashing down," says Puig's criminal defense attorney, Joel Hirschhorn.

In the Paradise Lost days, Hirschhorn worked the white-powder bar, representing Medellín cartel leaders and other cocaine cowboys. Then he wore a pinkie ring with a two-carat diamond; now he wears Brooks Brothers and defends fraud cases. "It's where the action is," he explains with a grin. An epidemic of inflated appraisals, exaggerated incomes, straw buyers--and the lax regulation to enable it all--has made Florida tops in mortgage fraud, according to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute; in a recent Palm Beach County case, a grocery cashier's salary was listed as $344,000 a year. And Paul Singerman, bankruptcy counsel for Puig's companies, is even busier. His firm represents the Florida home builders Tousa Inc. and Levitt and Sons, which happen to be the nation's two largest bankrupt home builders, along with droves of failing contractors, landscapers and architects. "I got two calls from window distributors this week," Singerman told me. "A tile guy called this morning."

Keep the cell phone on, Paul. In some Miami high-rises, the foreclosure rate is as high as 1 in 4, and owners who still own are getting nailed with huge condo fees to make up for the lost revenue. Florida banks repossessed 620% more property last year than in 2006, and they're starting to unload nonperforming real estate loans for as low as 30¢ on the dollar. Miami topped a recent list of America's worst housing markets, just ahead of Orlando, with Tampa fourth. From 20% to 40% of the speculators who waited on lines to buy preconstruction condos during the boom are expected to walk away from those investments before closing; many are turning to a new cottage industry of get-your-deposit-back lawyers. "The ambulance chasers are everywhere," says developer Jorge Pérez, the so-called Trump of the Tropics, whose Related Group faces more than 100 lawsuits by remorseful buyers. "We've gone from euphoria to panic in a year."

And we haven't hit bottom. The glutted Miami market already has a five-year inventory, but Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures says 22,000 more condos are still under construction downtown, which will double the supply. "Just wait. We haven't even started to feel what we're going to feel," he says.

That's also true in Florida's exurban boomtowns, communities like Homestead, Port St. Lucie and Kissimmee, that subprime borrowers flocked to for cheaper land and better deals. Now their homes are going back to the bank, and their neighborhoods are dotted with unmowed lawns and mosquito-infested pools. "Those lower-priced options are the places that are going to hurt for a long time," says Wayne Archer, head of the University of Florida's real estate program.

The problem is, even those lower-priced options aren't cheap. Florida's prices remain higher than the national average--especially when you count sky-high property taxes and insurance premiums that can be as burdensome as mortgage payments--while its wages are lower. Fitch Ratings warned that when a big hurricane hits, Florida's insurance market "could effectively collapse." That won't jump-start a recovery.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Nobody used to worry about the Big One hitting Florida, because it was a waterlogged wilderness. "It is a land of swamps, of quagmires, of frogs and alligators and mosquitoes!" a Congressman scoffed. "A man, sir, would not immigrate into Florida--no, not from hell itself!" In 1880, Florida ranked 34th of 42 states and territories in population, and the census found only 257 residents in most of South Florida.

Florida's leaders believed that if they could just drain the swamp, they could turn a peninsular wasteland into a recreational, agricultural and residential paradise. They failed catastrophically. In 1928, a hurricane blasted Lake Okeechobee, killing some 2,000 pioneers that their promises had drawn to the Everglades.

But U.S. Army engineers eventually made the dream come true by imprisoning Lake O behind a giant dike, subduing the Everglades with 2,000 miles of levees and canals, seizing control of nearly every raindrop that fell in southern Florida. Their all-out war on natural water flow made the bottom half of the state safe for an unrestrained building frenzy that began after World War II and basically continued until Juan Puig bought his billiard table. Florida now has 18 million residents, most of them south of Orlando. Such progress had a price. Half the Everglades is gone. The rest is polluted, disconnected and infested by invasive species ranging from fast-growing ferns to pythons.

And South Florida is having an ecological and hydrological meltdown, the legacy of a century of plumbing and dredging and growing without much thinking. The Everglades ecosystem now hosts 69 threatened or endangered species, and its rookeries and fisheries have crashed. Massive algal blooms are turning Florida Bay into pea soup. The region's reefs have lost up to 95% of their elkhorn coral; persistent red tides have made it tough for sunbathers to breathe at the beach.

Now the rainiest swath of the country is running dry, facing a specter of structural droughts. And the dike around Lake O. is leaking so badly that water managers routinely dump billions of precious gallons out of the lake to avoid a 1928-style calamity, ravaging estuaries and draining the region's water supply. This spring the lake fell so low that 40,000 acres of its exposed bottom burned out of control, along with 40,000 acres of the perennially parched Everglades National Park.

We have water, water, everywhere, but much of South Florida's per capita use is 50% above the national average, and we've lost half the wetlands that used to recharge our aquifers. So water shortages threaten to limit growth in a way that wetlands regulations or bad headlines never could. "Florida is astonishingly wasteful," says Cynthia Barnett, author of Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S. Now the Orlando area is pushing to suck water out of rivers to its north, local utilities are jacking up water rates as much as 35%, and South Florida's water board may cap withdrawals from Everglades aquifers. "The idea of water shortages down here never occurred to anyone," says environmentalist Shannon Estenoz, a Crist appointee to the board. "But we've got to change the culture because the status quo is unsustainable."

It's not just gator-huggers who say that. Back in 1995, a 42-member commission stocked with bankers, farmers and developers released a unanimous report declaring South Florida unsustainable, warning that the ecosystem's destruction was hurting people as well as panthers by lowering water tables, increasing flood risks, fueling gridlock and replacing paradise with "mind-numbing homogeneity, and a distinct lack of place." In the words of the novelist and columnist Carl Hiaasen, the bard of Florida's decline, "You don't have to be a wacko enviro to want your kids to be able to swim in a lake or maybe see an animal that isn't in a cage or a seaquarium. And even people who don't give a rat's ass about the panther will care when saltwater comes out of their faucets."

That's why Democrats, Republicans, the sugar industry and environmentalists came together in 2000 to support a $12 billion plan to revive the Everglades, the largest ecosystem-restoration project in history. But the project has stumbled and stalled, which is why Crist's sugar deal is so exciting. It will essentially take Everglades restoration back to the drawing board, reviving hope for a free-flowing River of Grass and a stable water supply.

But quality of life remains the biggest risk to the Florida dream. So many Northeastern transplants are leaving Florida for other states with less congestion and better education systems that they have their own nickname: Halfbacks. In 2000, Florida attracted 19% of the nation's migrating seniors; by 2006, it was only 13%. Florida still has some of America's richest ZIP codes, but it ranks among the worst states in school spending and health coverage.

The GOP-controlled legislature has responded to the state's woes with protracted arguments about evolution and other Terri Schiavo--style social issues as well as legislation proposing crackdowns on bikers who pop wheelies, students who wear droopy pants and truckers who hang fake cojones on their rigs. It also slashed $5 billion from the state budget. "I just got in an argument about whether we're 50th or 45th in the nation in graduation rates," says Florida house minority leader Dan Gelber. "What a great debate to have."

"The Outlook Is Always Bright Here!"

I was already feeling grumpy about all this when I watched a lecture by the University of Miami's renowned coastal geologist Harold Wanless. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had predicted a sea-level rise of up to 2 ft. by 2100, but Wanless meticulously explained why 3 ft. to 4 ft. is much more likely--assuming the world can slash carbon emissions enough to slow global warming. I live in Miami Beach, so I didn't care for his PowerPoint slide showing much of Miami Beach under water. "That's if we get our act together," he said. Then he showed a slide of all Miami Beach submerged. "That's if we don't."

I felt better after talking to the bubbly Crist, who's like human Prozac. "How can you not be optimistic about Florida?" he asked. "Is there a more beautiful place on the planet?" He then recounted a story that probably won't help him in the GOP Veepstakes: "John McCain told me, 'It's tough in those Rust Belt states. You really feel a bit of depression in people's outlook. But when you get to Florida, people feel great.' And it's true! The outlook is always bright here!" When I reminded him of Florida's growth-challenged economy and growth-ravaged environment, he took no offense. "We're going to make a new Florida!" he declared.

He means a sustainable Florida. He's been doing his part environmentally, pushing a sweeping energy bill through the fractious legislature, fulfilling his pledge to be the "Everglades governor." His greatest challenge, though, is economic sustainability, attracting high-wage industries that don't depend on perpetual growth. His predecessor, Jeb Bush, lured a few biotech firms, with the help of lavish subsidies, and Crist has targeted green-tech sectors like solar power as well as global trade. But not even corporate titans who enjoy Florida vacations seem eager to relocate to a high-priced state with a service-economy workforce and troubled schools. "The decisions about relocating high-paying businesses are made by people who value education, and Florida isn't ready for the modern economy," says Graham, the former Senator. New corporate subsides will be a tough fiscal sell. "The politicians have told us: Not if it costs money," says Space Coast economic-development director Lynda Weatherman. The shuttle will be canceled in 2010, and her region may lose 6,000 jobs. "Six thousand one, if I can't figure out how to attract new ones," she says.

Still, did I mention the winters are nice? As baby boomers retire, as Hispanic markets expand, as leftist dictators harass wealthy South Americans, some people will always want to come to Florida. In anticipation of the next boom, developer Pérez has set up a $1 billion fund to buy distressed properties, and Zalewski of Condo Vultures has been besieged by foreign investors. "Eventually, Florida is going to grow again," he says.

The question is whether it will grow up. If Florida can reinvent itself, it can be the tip of the American spear, showing the nation how to save water and energy, manage growth, restore ecosystems and retool economies in an era of less. But that will require a new kind of reinvention. "We know how to crash and how to recover," says Miami historian Arva Moore Parks. "We don't seem to know how to learn."

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SUNSENTINEL.COM: Voter registrations in Florida show 'huge swing' toward Democrats GOP is way behind in Florida registrations

Voter registrations in Florida show 'huge swing' toward Democrats
GOP is way behind in Florida registrations

By Anthony Man | Political Writer
July 12, 2008

An escalating number of voters registering as Democrats is providing evidence that the 2008 election could produce a wave of support for Barack Obama — and trigger a decades-long shift of party allegiance that could affect elections for a generation.

The numbers are ominous for Republicans: Through May, Democratic voter registration in Broward County was up 6.7 percent. Republican registrations grew just 3 percent while independents rose 2.8 percent.

Democrats have posted even greater gains statewide, up 106,508 voters from January through May, compared with 16,686 for the Republicans.

"It's a huge swing," says Marian Johnson, political director for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. "I looked at that and said, 'Wow.'"

FPL's 30 Year Franchise Deal With the City of St. Augustine Must Be Stopped -- Come to Commission on July 28th and Support Debate on Public Power!

Last night, St. Augustine City Commissioners passed on first reading Ordinance No. 2008-13, which would extend for thirty (30) years the Florida Power & Light franchise to operate in the City of St. Augustine.
The franchise does not expire until June 2009.
Haste makes waste.
The only detectable concession by FPL is annexation of its SR 16 substation.
If the franchise agreement passes, St. Augustine and St. Johns County residents will pay more for electricity for 30 years.
We need to consider the possibility of public power – like Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Clay County and other Florida towns.
St. Augustine may be too small to take on FPL by itself – but we should be talking to St. Johns County and Jacksonville about it, instead of letting our lousy lawyers con us into another horrible deal.
Remember the rush to judgment on COMCAST’ franchised? We got stuck with a bad deal for 15 years.
These City Commissioners don’t know how to run business operations and they damn sure don’t know how to negotiate.
The corrupt franchise renewal deal should be stopped.
At least two new Commissioners will take office in December.
There’s plenty of time to consider a referendum for a St. Augustine and St. Johns public power system, buying FPL’s poles and wires and negotiating with JEA for power supply.
The defeatist attitude showed by Chief Operating Officer JOHN REGAN once again shows no imagination, no ethics and little interest than in pleasing his boss, City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS.
Stop the 30 year deal with FPL. Let the people learn more about electrical generation and choose for themselves. The clowns who just authorized three billboards to stay past 2016 have no business deciding on the energy future of our town.
They have no energy (SUSAN BURK was falling asleep last night) and no interest in protecting the public.
Come to the City Commission on July 28th and speak out on our right to have a debate on public power.

I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all. -- Ogden Nash

Last night, St. Augustine City Commissioners voted 4-1 to let CBS OUTDOOR ADVERTISING and FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY maintain a series of ugly-ass billboard bordering the Sebastain River for eight (8) more years -- until 2016, past the time when we hope the Pope, the President and the world will visit our Nation's Oldest City on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of our city and the 500th anniversary of Florida.

Thank you, Commissioner George Gardner, for voting no, "on principle."

To Mayor JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., City Attorney RONALD BROWN, City Manager (a/k/a Mangler) WILLIAM B. HARRISS, Vice Mayor DONALD CRICHLOW, Commissioner SUSAN BURK, Commissioner ERROL (a/k/a ERRONEOUS) JONES -- your vote for ugliness is the shame of our City. All your taste is in your mouth. Your actions are against the peace and dignity of the people of St. Augustine. Your vote would gag a maggot.

Former Mayor Gardner was right and y'all were wrong. When the billboards were knocked over and re-erected without permits, CBS OUTDOOR ADVERTISING and FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY broke the law. Our City's Code Enforcement officials and our City's Code Enforcement Board found that CBS OUTDOOR ADVERTISING and FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY broke the law.

Rather than spouting platitudes about the weakness of our billboard law, City Attorney RONALD BROWN should have prepared an actual legal memorandum and discussed it like an adult. Too afraid to litigate, local government attorneys would rather not fight -- they're lickspittles for the rich and powerful, whether wicked evil Henry Flagler's FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY, CBS OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, FLAGLER COLLEGE, ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD or foreign investors from India, China, Korean, Austalia, Canada and elsewhere.

The record of their ugliness speaks for itself. Who are Ms. BURK and Messrs. HARRISS, BROWN, JONES, CRICHLOW and BOLES? Small-minded ninnies resplendent in their nincompoopery, somehow expecting to celebrate our 450th with ugly billboards at our entrance corridor. Ms. BURK and Messrs. HARRISS, BROWN, JONES, CRICHLOW and BOLES are all about making our beautiful City of St. Augustine resemble "God's Own Junkyard."

In the immortal words of poet Ogden Nash:
"I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree. Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all." --


When you see the Sebastian River billboards, vote for honest government officials on August 26th and November 4th -- let your vote count now more than ever.

Vote for reformers. Vote against BILLBOARD BOOSTERS JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. and ERROL (a/k/a ERRONEOUS) JONES. When you see them, HARRISS, BROWN, BURK and CRICHLOW, tell them off. That's what our Founders had in mind. Don't cower tgo power.

And when you think CBS and FLAGLER EAST COAST RAILWAY, think about not buying their dumb ole watered stock. Say no to corporate blackmail and inept City Attorneys.

See excellent November 2007 article below by reporter Peter Guinta, below:

Three billboards must go



PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 11/21/07

St. Augustine's code board this week ordered three standing commercial billboards removed from the marshfront north of King Street and west of Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

The City Commission passed a "no more billboard" ordinance like many municipalities in Florida a long time ago because they detracted from the scenic quality of the city.

Mark Knight, director of planning and building, said, "The ordinance made all billboards illegal."

Some that were already standing were permitted to stay until they were damaged more than 50 percent.

Matthew Mercer, a St. Augustine attorney, argued on behalf of the city that these three billboards were repaired illegally after they were knocked down in a storm.

That rebuilding violated city codes.

Mercer presented eyewitness, expert testimony and photographic evidence to prove the signs were in violation.

His opponent, Fort Lauderdale attorney William McCormick of Ruden McCloskey, represents Infinity Outdoor of Florida Inc., owner of the signs.

McCormick did not respond to phone calls asking for comment. But he argued that it's difficult to assess the damage to a downed billboard.

He compared the "fair market" value of each sign's future revenues estimated at $130,000 with the amount Infinite Outdoor spent on repairs, which was much less than 50 percent.

The problem began June 12, when a heavy storm struck St. Augustine and knocked the billboards down.

The company then rebuilt the signs without informing the city.

Two of the billboards in question are joined in a "V" shape and advertise Chick-Fil-A restaurants and a local sightseeing train company. The third stands just north of King Street and advertises Adam & Eve, a store on South U.S. 1 selling risque cards and products to adult customers.

Mercer said, "The code doesn't assess a billboard's future revenue. It refers to its installed value."

The board voted 5-0, with two of its seven members missing, to have the signs taken down.

Infinity Outdoor has 30 days to remove them. The company can appeal the board's decision to circuit court.

"But if the signs are not removed within 30 days, a $250 per day, per sign fine will continue to accrue during any appeal," Mercer said. "If they chose to appeal and lose again, they are responsible for the fine."

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City of St. Augustine's King Street Boil Water Notice of July 9 -- Well Hidden on City Website -- Falls Far Short of EPA Standards -- See Below

http://www.staugustinegovernment.com/the-city/documents/Notice-BoilWaterExtensionKingSt070908.pdf

Public water systems must notify their customers when they violate EPA or state drinking water regulations (including monitoring requirements)

FROM EPA website on boil water notices

Public water systems must notify their customers when they violate EPA or state drinking water regulations (including monitoring requirements) or otherwise provide drinking water that may pose a risk to consumer’s health.

Water systems test regularly for approximately 90 contaminants to make sure that no contaminant is present at levels which may pose a risk to human health.

Unfortunately, water quality can sometimes change. Despite the efforts of water suppliers, problems with drinking water can and do occur.

When it does, people who drink the water have a right to know what happened and what they need to do. The public notice requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act require water suppliers to provide this notice.

EPA sets strict requirements on the form, manner, content, and frequency of public notices. Notices must contain:

* A description of the violation that occurred, including the potential health effects
* The population at risk and if alternate water supplies need to be used
* What the water system is doing to correct the problem
* Actions consumers can take
* When the violation occurred and when the system expects it to be resolved
* How to contact the water system for more information
* Language encouraging broader distribution of the notice



* Figure 1: The Required Elements of a Public Notice PDF (1 pp, 7 K) (About PDF)

EPA specifies three categories, or tiers, of public notification. Depending on what tier a violation or situation falls into, water systems have different amounts of time to distribute the notice and different ways to deliver the notice:

* Immediate Notice (Tier 1): Any time a situation occurs where there is the potential for human health to be immediately impacted, water suppliers have 24 hours to notify people who may drink the water of the situation. Water suppliers must use media outlets such as television, radio, and newspapers, post their notice in public places, or personally deliver a notice to their customers in these situations.
* Notice as soon as possible (Tier 2): Any time a water system provides water with levels of a contaminant that exceed EPA or state standards or that hasn't been treated properly, but that doesn't pose an immediate risk to human health, the water system must notify its customers as soon as possible, but within 30 days of the violation. Notice may be provided via the media, posting, or through the mail.
* Annual Notice (Tier 3): When water systems violate a drinking water standard that does not have a direct impact on human health (for example, failing to take a required sample on time) the water supplier has up to a year to provide a notice of this situation to its customers. The extra time gives water suppliers the opportunity to consolidate these notices and send them with annual water quality reports (consumer confidence reports).

Fact Sheets

* Read a fact sheet about public notification
* Read a fact sheet about the revisions in the new rule

Safewater Home | About Our Office | Publications | Questions and Answers | Links | Office of Water | En Español

New pipeline will cost $1M ----- City of St. Augustine Commissioners decide to replace leaking water line

New pipeline will cost $1M

City decides to replace leaking water line

By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 07/15/08

St. Augustine City Commissioners voted Monday to spend roughly $1 million to install a new Waste Water Treatment pipeline to stop it from leaking into the marshlands.

The 1,600-foot pipeline has been leaking treated water for at least four years in the marsh behind the Waste Water Treatment Plant, located in Lincolnville off Riberia Street.

Judith Seraphin, a city commission candidate and Lincolnville resident, said that in the last year she worried there were problems at the plant, but city staff assured her nothing was wrong. She believes E. coli has leaked from the pipe into the Intracoastal Waterway.

"It bothers me greatly that each one of you (city commissioners) didn't care enough about our health to notify us that there was a problem down there," she said. "I'm really, really angry because it affects my health."

John Regan, city chief operations officer, said there are "no health problems from the water."

"To put it into perspective, you would have a higher health risk swimming in a public pool then you would swimming in the effluent," he said. "This is the same water we're using to spray (the Water Treatment Plant) lawns and wash our trash trucks."

The treated fresh water dumped into the salt water marsh has disrupted the ecosystem and caused the area to become a vibrant green compared to the surrounding brown marsh, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP has said the quality of the water from the pipeline is in compliance.

However, the DEP also is determining whether the city will be fined for the leaky pipe.

The city recently was fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for taking old landfill material from a site across the street from the Water Treatment Plant and dumping it into a water-filled borrow pit off Holmes Boulevard.

Seraphin, along with her husband, Tony, filed a petition with DEP against the city's original plan to fix the issue, and the project was frozen while the state investigated the plan, which is the usual procedure. The city then found a new plan to handle to waste.

Judith Seraphin warned she would keep her eye on the pipeline issue.

City staff will now start searching for a company to install the new pipeline. Regan has said he hopes the entire process of putting in the new pipe will take no more than six weeks at a cost of about $1 million.

He said the money will come from surplus funds in the city's utility budget.

City staff found a way to cut costs in the new pipe's construction using technology and equipment common in the oil industry. The new pipe would be fused together in the Intracoastal Waterway and then floated across the marsh during high tide and pulled into place.


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CITY MANAGER WILLIAM B. HARRISS' "WARPED TOUR" LIKE NIXON'S FINAL DAYS

WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant



WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

No one defended City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS last night. Not one Commissioner spoke up when David Thundershield Queen and I called for him to be fired for cause (after a suitable Due Process hearing, which HARRISS has never afforded any City employees).

HARRISS is truly warped, smirking as his environmental crimes are discussed.

HARRISS has five votes on the Commission and is the dull Republican Lord of All He Surveys in City Hall, a civil rights violating racist extremist who has deposited 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste in our Old City Reservoir, allowed a sewage effluent pipe to crumble, polluting our salt water marsh with high nutrient freshwater.

It's time for HARRISS to go. He needs to be hailed in front of a Grand Jury. See United States v. City of Venice, Florida, involving far less severe sewage effluent pollution of a a marsh and park in Venice, Florida (five federal felony guilty pleas)



WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant


WILLIAM. B. HARRISS Photo credit: J.D. Pleasant

Warped Tour attendance officially pegged at 8,880

Warped Tour attendance officially pegged at 8,880



From Staff
Publication Date: 07/15/08

The official count is in -- 8,800 concert-goers packed into the St. Johns County Fairgrounds on July 13 for the Vans Warped Tour 2008.

Ryan Dettra, general manager of the St. Johns County Fairgrounds and the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, said 6,000 tickets were sold in advance, and 2,800 more were sold at the gates throughout the day-long music festival.

The Vans Warped Tour, in its 14th year, is a summer music and extreme sports festival that stops in more than 40 U.S. and Canadian cities from June through August. St. Augustine was the 17th stop on this summer's tour.

Dettra also said that everyone in the county had a good response to what was the biggest event held at the revamped fairgrounds so far. He hopes to bring the tour back next summer.

"Other than the parking issue, everything went smoothly," Dettra said, speaking of the long lines of traffic on State Road 207 leading to the festival.

Some fans waited an hour and a half or more to get in the parking lot of the fairgrounds.

Renovations on the St. Johns County Fairgrounds were completed in 2007 -- offering a covered arena, more seating, restrooms and showers, and other amenities. The facility is owned and operated by the county.

The fairgrounds are located in Elkton, about seven miles from St. Augustine on State Road 207.

For information about the Vans Warped Tour, go to www.warpedtour.com. For more about the St. Johns County Fairgrounds, go to www.sjcfl.us/fairgrounds.

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