Lincolnville has shared some 50 tons/year of volatile organic compounds from the Luhrs Plant, as well as a legacy of illegal dumping

Photo copyright Nasnville Tennessean (c) 1998 -- shows plume over Oak Ridge K-25 uranium enrichment plant from TSCA incinerator -- how much does City of St. Augustine and Florida Department of Environmental Protection expect of Lincolnville, the oldest African-American neighborhood, established in 1866? See below.

The Shame of Our Nation's Oldest City -- City Hall Disrespects Lincolnville, West Augustine Environmental Justice Communities (see below)

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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Letter: Soup kitchen wrecks plan to revive buildings

Letter: Soup kitchen wrecks plan to revive buildings



Philip Nash
Publication Date: 02/15/08


Editor: I have owned the vacant properties in Lincolnville at 82, 84, and 86 Washington St. for approximately eight years. I've just read the second story in The Record on vacant buildings in Lincolnville, and thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

The building at 86 Washington St. holds the shell of what was once The Cameo Theatre, a movie theatre built by the Barrett family (white) in 1947 to show films to a black audience. I bought that property in 1999 hoping to do something with it that might add to the community. I made the miscalculation of thinking that St. Francis House would not be in its current location much longer, and I'd be able to make something happen there. I have given up on the endeavor, and the properties sit vacant with a "For Sale" sign in front.

When I bought the properties I assumed that it was only a short matter of time before it became obvious to everyone, that a magnet for transient men in a residential neighborhood was not a healthy entity.

I hope it's not necessary for me to educate anyone on what a mess St. Francis House has made of the surrounding area over the years. I know there's a big effort in the works for relocation, and hopefully someday it will actually happen. Until then I think you can expect Lincolnville, and especially Washington Street to suffer such difficulties as described in the paper.

Philip Nash


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'I see a lot of opportunities to do work for God'

'I see a lot of opportunities to do work for God'



By ANNE C. HEYMEN
anne.heymen@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/15/08


Community is the focus for the new pastor of St. Paul AME Church, 85 Martin Luther King Ave.

The Rev. Ron Rawls, a native of Gainesville and a graduate of the University of Florida whose dedication to the Gators "runs real deep in the veins," assumed his duties at the 240-member church in December. Commuting from Gainesville where his wife, Meshon is a professor at the University of Florida law school, Rawls says he "loves" the oldest city. "I see a lot of opportunities to do work for God, and I see a lot of great people."

His focus will be on "community working together," and Rawls has already met with Dr. Joseph Joyner, St. Johns County superintendent of schools and other pastors in the area. A goal, he says, is to "identify issues and make sure we have a bright future in place for our kids."

He is also looking for a home here with he and his wife and children dividing their time between St. Augustine and Gainesville.

His family includes son Ron III, 22, attending the University of Florida; Kiara, 17, a junior in high school in Gainesville; Jamahl, 11, a sixth grader; and Darius, 20, his wife's brother whom the pastor and his wife have raised. Darius is attending community college in Gainesville.

Rawls is also attending school. Earning a B.A. in religious from Florida, he is currently enrolled at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, pursuing a master of divinity degree. He comes to St. Paul from Hamilton County where he served a congregation of about 180 in Jasper.

Dates in late 1800s

St. Paul AME Church, in the Southern District and Eastern Conference, dates back to 1873.

According to the church's Web site, the Rev. Richard James "saw the need of leading a small flock into organizing and building the first St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church on Maria Sanchez Creek." Today, that is the site of the Willie Galimore Recreational Community Center.

The first house of worship was an 10x12 foot building, but the membership soon outgrew that facility, and James, "with cooperation and assistance of members, built an addition to the building. The congregation worshiped there until 1888."

Another Web site notes:

"During the year 1888, a Building and Loan Association of this city made an attractive offer to the congregation. It was to erect a suitable building for the church that would reflect credit upon the rapidly growing membership. The members felt equal to the task and under the pastorate of the Rev. J.H. Hill, the officers and loyal members contracted with this Building and Loan Association for a lot on School Street and a commodious stone church. Payments were to be made regularly in quarterly installments, but God had not promised the sunshine without rain. It began to rain on the congregation for a short period of three years and in 1903, while the Sunday School was in rehearsal, agents of the company that built the church ordered the participants to vacate the building. The doors and windows were sealed. This was evidence that the officers and members had not kept their part of the agreement and the owners repossessed the building.

"This was indeed a sad time for the members. Many of them became discouraged and drifted here and there, but a few undaunted ones congregated on the lower level of the Benevolent Hall on St. Francis Street. The rain began to cease and a new day dawned for their beloved church."

In January 1904, the lot on M.L. King was purchased from $1,000 from William and Frances Van Dyke.

The worship schedule at St. Paul AME includes Sunday school at 9:30 a.m., worship at 10:45 a.m., Wednesday prayer at noon and youth and adult Bible study at 6 p.m. Wednesdays.

Motto for the 135-year-old congregation is "We've Been Expecting You at St. Paul AME Church. There's a place for you in the African Methodist Episcopal Church."

For further information about the church call 829-3918. The Web site is stpaulamecstaugfl.org.

The current steward board includes Jacqueline Bryant, pro-tem; Gabriel Holliday, secretary; James Allen Sr., Avis Chase, Joann Johnson, Reginald Covil, Rayfield Cullar, Barbara Jackson, Alert Manning, Hennie Patten, Karen Rowe, George H. Smith and Cora Tyson.

Trustee board members are Ben Stevenson, pro-tem; Ina Backman, Arnett Chase II, Kenneth McClain, J. Randy Johnson, Kathy Hadley-Smith, M. Joyce Ramsey, Frank Woods and James Allen Jr.


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For justice, we must work together and go to Washington, D.C.

Our efforts have nearly succeeded after two years (see below) but we must be vigilant. As Judithi Seraphin said, we must have full discovery. No more secrets.
As Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote in SECRECY, it is fatal to democracy for government to be keeping secrets from us. Our Nation's Oldest City dumped old city dump contents in secret, contracting in secret, keeping facts from us for two years. Those responsible must be fired and prosecuted for their wastrel ways. Enough.

For justice, we must go to Washington, D.C., with a petition to EPA to suspend and debar the City of St. Augustine and State of Florida from all federal funds until they comply with Environmental Justice principles and respect the rights of people in low-income and African-American communities.

City offers dumping remedy

City offers dumping remedy



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/14/08


The city proposed Wednesday to take old waste material to a landfill in Nassau County instead of returning it to its original Riberia Street site in Lincolnville, and neighbors couldn't be happier.

"I think this a great victory," said Lincolnville resident Judith Seraphin, who along with her husband Tony petitioned against the city's original plan. "They are going to keep it out of Lincolnville, and that's what we wanted all along."

The Seraphins filed a petition with Environmental Protection against the city's plan. As soon as the document was filed on Dec. 29, the project was frozen while the state investigated the plan, which is the usual procedure.

John Regan, city chief operations officer, is meeting with Nassau County officials today in hopes of striking an agreement to take some of the material to their landfill. The city would also take some of the solid waste to another landfill. And the city has found a way around the usual cost of $1 million to $2 million in tipping fees to dump the material in a landfill.

Cost was a major reason the city considering returning the fill to the Riberia Street site. Doing that would have cost about $800,000, the same as the new plan will cost, Regan said.

In addition, the city also would pay about $350,000 to monitor ground water and cap the old landfill site in Lincolnville, bringing the total cost to about $1,150,000.

In 2005, city staff took dirt from an old landfill site on Riberia Street and dumped it into a water-filled borrow pit on Holmes Boulevard. That was a violation state Department of Environmental Protection rules. The DEP fined the city and told it to remove the waste from the Holmes Boulevard site.

The city then entered a contract with the DEP to put the material back on the landfill site and form a 19-foot mound that would be monitored to prevent groundwater intrusion.

But many Lincolnville residents were vehemently against the plan. And after many public meetings, city staff began to research other options.

In the new plan, the city will pull out the material dumped at Holmes Boulevard and use heavy machinery to screen it, sifting out any solid waste. Regan expects that about 5 percent of the material is solid waste. The remaining 95 percent is clean soil that would be used to cover Nassau County's landfill, Regan said.

"Every landfill has to use daily top cover (soil) to cover the landfill to make sure birds and things don't remove items, as part of disease control," he said. "So, instead of Nassau County spending money on top soil, we would be providing it for them."

The city hopes Nassau County would then waive any fees, and the city would only have to pay for trucking the material there. The city would also pay to dump the solid waste in another landfill, not yet chosen.

The new project could also make the Seraphins' petition against the city's original plan moot.

On Wednesday, a judge with the state's Division of Administrative Hearings, overseeing the petition, gave the city 10 days to enter a new agreement with Environmental Protection and file a formal motion to stay, said City Attorney Ron Brown.

Karen Bishop, with Environmental Protection, said the agency is receptive to the new plan, and Regan said that department encouraged the city to pursue the latest proposal.

Judith Seraphin said she still wants the city to show all of its findings at the Holmes Boulevard and Riberia Street sites and reveal any closed meetings it had with Environmental Protection.

"If they don't, I'll file a new petition to get discovery," she said. "I expect to get answers."

The city has also discussed with Mike Fitzsimmons, DEP Northeast District Waste Program administrator, remedying the old landfill site on Riberia. The city plans to proceed with ground water monitoring and capping the site with clean soil, Regan said. The site was never monitored in the past. The price tag for that project is about $350,000.

If Nassau County agrees to the city's proposed plan, city staff will hold another public meeting with the Lincolnville neighborhood before bringing the project to the City Commission, Regan said.

"The public input has been very important, very critical, very helpful," he said. "The city is extremely pleased with this outcome. ... It shows the public process works."


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FDEP fine for siltation higher than for dumping in Old City Reservoir, disturbing Lincolnville dujmp without permits

Interesting. See below.

RiverTown developer fined for unacceptable siltation

RiverTown developer fined for unacceptable siltation



TIFFANY PAKKALA
tiffany.pakkala@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/13/08


RiverTown developer St. Joe Company faces fees totaling just over $45,000 for silt deposits that leaked into creeks near the Northwest St. Johns County development last fall.

The St. Johns River Water Management District Governing Board approved the penalty Tuesday during its regular meeting.

Under the punishment, St. Joe has to pay a settlement of $37,800 in fines and the company must reimburse the district's investigative costs of $704 and the Department of Environmental Protection's investigative costs of $6,617.

The investigation found RiverTown responsible for 12 separate instances of unacceptable siltation near the 4,170-acre development being built off State Road 13 in Switzerland. The waterways, which included Kendall Branch, Orange Grove Branch and Petty Branch, each lead into the St. Johns River.

The violations between mid-September and early October each showed turbidity conditions that exceeded state standards. The normal turbidity level for the waterways should be about 55 nephelometric turbidity units, or NTUs. Investigators found much higher numbers right after heavy storms hit the area. On Oct. 3, the worst day recorded, Orange Grove Branch registered 430 NTUS and Kendall Branch registered 222 NTUs.

Community members were the first to notice the murky waters. They reported it to St. Johns RiverKeeper Neil Armingeon, who then reported it to the district. He was especially concerned because the waterways feed into Hallowes Cove, an important fish, crab and shrimp hatchery. Clogged waterways could smother and kill organisms and plant life and block sunlight, changing the dynamics of the cove, he warned at the time.

St. Joe was required under its environmental resource permit to prevent siltation. According to the district's consent order, the company did take measures to control erosion, however those measures failed during a heavy September storm. The order said the company took "immediate and responsive action" to correct the problem. The controls failed again during a heavy October storm, and again the company took immediate action, the order said.

The consent order gives St. Joe Company 10 days to pay the fines.


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State's Attorney Won't Prosecute Sunshine, Records Violations and Spends Hundreds of Thousands Keeping Presentment Secret

State's Attorney John Tanner has a lot of explaining to do! See below, please. Great editorial in today's Record!

Editorial: Court should unseal Tanner presentment

Editorial: Court should unseal Tanner presentment



Publication Date: 02/13/08


Last February, The Record asked in an editorial for State Attorney John Tanner to unseal a grand jury presentment regarding his handling of his investigation into alleged abuse at the Flagler County Inmate Facility.

Talk about wielding power. Tanner launched the investigation after his daughter, Lisa, was arrested in 2005. A videotape shows apparent force being used in her interrogation at the jail, but we can't judge what's abusive because we don't know the norms for the process. However, after criticism that his investigation was more about his daughter than others, he dropped it.

A Duval County grand jury reported on Tanner's conduct on Dec. 18, 2006, after being convened for that purpose. We don't know what the presentment says because Tanner refuses to make it public. Now, 14 months later, the report is still sealed. But things may be different after a court hearing at 1 p.m. Friday in Circuit Judge Kim Hammond's courtroom in Bunnell. State Attorney Harry Shorstein of the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Duval County will request that Hammond order the presentment unsealed.

A presentment is not an indictment. It does not lead to criminal prosecution as an indictment does. A presentment identifies concerns that people may have erred but not gravely enough to be prosecuted.

It's a travesty that Tanner can keep this secret when he is charged by law with prosecuting other public officials who keep public documents secret. Does Tanner think he is above the law? Apparently so.

Tanner is our elected State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Voters chose him to protect their rights including access to government. Granted, some court documents and criminal investigations are shielded from public view by law. Presentments and indictments are routinely open.

Why the big secret?

It may have something to do with Tanner chasing a fourth term this year. If he keeps the presentment sealed long enough, his potential opposition likely fades because he's won other cases in the public's interest.

The rationale for the big secret escapes us. What doesn't is that more than $400,000 in tax dollars has been spent by Tanner's office protecting his secret. How many criminal cases have not been prosecuted by his staff because of the time and money spent protecting the boss?

Judge Hammond should order the presentment unsealed. Those who are criticized in grand jury presentments are given 15 days in which to respond. A repression hearing, if called for, is usually held on the 16th day. That should have happened in this case. The public deserves to know what the grand jury said.

If Hammond refuses, Gov. Charlie Crist, open government's champion, should investigate. If open government is the code of conduct for government officials and their offices, why does Tanner get a pass? What's he hiding?


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Guest Column: Public can fight St. Augustine 'City Hall'

Guest Column: Public can fight St. Augustine 'City Hall'

By Ed Slavin

Publication Date: 02/02/08


Folio Weekly termed me an "environmental hero" on illegal dumping. I merely did my job as a citizen.

Since February 2006, I have endeavored to learn about City Manager William B. Harriss and the illegal dumping. Questions were stymied by city ommissioners interrupting me with ridicule, rodomontade, and non sequiturs. Whenever a community or constituency goes to the City Commission to express their concerns, they're treated disdainfully, often leaving disillusioned, hurt.

Commissioners' hubris is nearly fatal to democracy and our environment - including forgiving a $15,000 tree-killing fine and approving the shipping back of solid waste to Lincolnville - without allowing any public comment, violating specific promises in each case.

Violations of free speech rights are indefensible and must be ended.

America was founded by visionaries who cherished free speech: Robert F. Kennedy said that if our Constitution were written in St. Paul's style, it would say: "But the most important of these is speech."

Free speech is everywhere under attack - locally, nationally and globally. Embittered, controlling, manipulative organizational oligarchs hate dissent and retaliate, yielding to immoral, infernal lusts to "reach out, reach out and crush someone."

From Harriss to President George Walker Bush to Russia's Vladimir Putin, "they know not that they know not that they know not."

Apparently not even oligarchs' own family members are safe from "gag orders" and efforts to chill/punish dissent. Mayor Joseph Leroy Boles, Jr. allegedly told his mother Maurine (a member of our city's history advisory board) to stop commenting on public issues (after I quoted her in The Record last year as supporting the proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Highway). Joseph Boles opposes "federalizing" history and park functions (neglected by our city and state).

"How low can City Hall go?" Threatening citizens with arrest, violating free speech rights, refusing to answer budget hearing questions (or televise budget hearings); attacking artists and entertainers (St. George Street and Slave Market Square a/k/a Plaza de la Constitucion); discouraging meeting attendance (removing 60 seats from the Alcazar Room); reducing your available time for public comments outside scheduled agenda items (from 8 minutes to 3 minutes per meeting); insulting persons asking questions; threatening to seek attorney fees against Dr. Dwight Hines for filing his successful Open Records lawsuit, with Boles demanding to make him "pay the piper" (our city wrongfully withheld more than 45 pounds of public records it claimed did not exist).

Where are the "sanctions"/prosecutions for City Hall's criminal, anti-social, anti-environmental, anti-worker acts?

Our St. Augustine government embarrasses us all: illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir (risking the health of untrained employees); wasteful spending ($22 million "White Elephant Parking Garage"); and suppressing free speech. It detracts from the beauty, history and image of our town.

Michael Dukakis said, "the fish rots from the head." City managers/staff are often surly, during commission meetings actually laughing and talking on cell phones when citizens and commissioners are speaking. Where are their manners?

Our city manager and city attorney sit with their backs to the public, never shown on-camera on cable-TV, speaking without being identified by name. Employees live in fear of retaliation if they speak the truth about Harriss and his reign of ruin.

Meanwhile, our county officials are more protective and vigilant to protect free speech rights, expanding public comment rights and clarifying First Amendment rights on county property (Amphitheater/Farmer's Market, Fairground and World Golf Village Convention Center).

Virtually all-white, all-male City Hall officialdom is isolated and an anachronism.

Every time St. Augustine City Commissioners violate First Amendment rights, a part of the soul of our city dies. Our Nation's Oldest City and its history and beauty are worth saving. We need greater transparency and accountability. See Clean Up City of St. Augustine, www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com for pollution and other scandals and solutions.

Get involved. Run for office. Support reformers. Vote. Write. Speak out.

We need a "clean sweep" - "a new broom sweeps clean." Why not display a broom in your car/pickup/lawn/porch? Prove wrong those naysayers who complain, "you can't fight City Hall."

Ask questions. Demand answers. This is advanced citizenship. Smile. It's 2008.

Ed Slavin is former legal counsel for constitutional rights with Government Accountability Project; worked for three U.S. senators (Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart and Jim Sasser); clerked for Chief Judge Nahum Litt of the U.S. Department of Labor; and wrote a biography of President Jimmy Carter for young readers (forward by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).


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Letter: Lincolnville's character, vitality hidden in blight

Letter: Lincolnville's character, vitality hidden in blight



Publication Date: 02/12/08


Editor: I read with interest Kati Bexley's article in Sunday's Record, "Blight mars community," about Lincolnville.

We bought a house on Oneida Street more than two years ago and have been steadily improving it. Among many repairs, we have replaced the roof, improved the foundation, replaced the back portion of the house, added a bathroom and laundry room and made small repairs too numerous to list.

We have a great deal of family in St. Augustine and dream of retiring there; we hope to live in our Lincolnville house. We are gradually (and at great expense) restoring it to its former grace and function nuts and bolts first.

We also are proud to be responsible landlords to Flagler College students. As an Ann Arbor native, I believe that the presence of a college or university enriches a community. While students may not always be the quietest neighbors (we live in a student neighborhood in Ann Arbor), I know that affordable housing is a necessary component to hosting a university. A diverse neighborhood in terms of age, race and socio economic status is full of vitality.

We love old homes 75 Oneida is the fourth we've owned, ranging from 80 to 140 years old. We take our responsibilities as old home stewards seriously. By celebrating and preserving old houses, we honor our past and protect the environment. Hold a pine lumber scrap from 1920 in your left hand and one from 1980 in your right; you will know immediately that the most decrepit old home is more solid than the fanciest new one.

While it's true that some houses in the neighborhood appear abandoned, we are delighted that the once-abandoned house next to ours is gradually being restored. We are hopeful that other houses will follow suit. We hope that Lincolnville remains affordable, retaining its lively, diverse character.

Karen Sikkenga & Richard Rickman

Ann Arbor, Mich.


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Letter: Suggests alternative sources for property tax

Letter: Suggests alternative sources for property tax



Publication Date: 02/12/08


Editor: I've read carefully the alternative sources for property tax put forward recently by County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel. Each of his ideas (four options) is either a tax levy or a tax increase. I find it interesting that many members of local government are attempting to punish the voters for exercising their right to vote for a decrease in property tax. I am committed to providing solutions to problems like he states. How about this? As you know, private industry confronts issues similar to this each day and they take actions similar to the following suggestions:

* More efficient management of existing assets

* Across-the-board reductions in compensation

* Reductions in staff, layoffs

* Elimination of unnecessary expenditures

* Basic austerity programs

It is time that government at every level comes home to their constituents; after all, government employees' pay comes from the paychecks of hard-working framers, roofers, doctors, nurses, etc.

I am certain Manuel was looking for input from a concerned voter.

Wayne Dawson

St. Augustine


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Environmental racism in St. Augustine evidenced by boarded-up homes in Lincolnville, failure to get CDBGs

See below. Any rational City Manager would be getting Community Development Block Grants to help poor people fix up their homes. That's what Sandra Parks (then Commissioner) did two decades ago, in concert with Errol Jones, now Commissioner.

Our City Manager, WILLIAM B. HARRISS, is too busy kissing up to speculators to help the people who do most of the working, living and dying in our community.

Our St. Augustine City governemnt refuses to do its job. Our city leaders must lead, follow or get of the way. Their refusal to answer questions about illegal dumping is inculpatory.

Our Mayor, JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, Jr., has referred to Lincolnville as being "south of town" in the context of where the dumping took place for years. How revealing.

Blight mars community

Blight mars community

Lincolnville gentrification comes up against an urban reality

KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/10/08


Life-long Lincolnville resident Linda James has been asking the city for years to address the problem of dilapidated, abandoned homes in her neighborhood that become shelters for homeless and drug houses.

It wasn't until recently, though, that the city began to do something, she said, although city staff members say they have been working on the problem for 15 years.

"(Residents have) been asking and pleading for them to do something for years," she said. "Now with new people moving into the neighborhood, something is happening."

Last week Mayor Joe Boles had city staff draw up a list of boarded up and vacant homes in Lincolnville, an historic downtown St. Augustine neighborhood. His request came after numerous complaints from new residents who renovated their homes and want to see the area change.

There are 50 houses on the list, with about half owned by black families, some who can't afford to maintain the homes, and half owned by investors. The houses are spread throughout Lincolnville and not confined to just one section.

Mark Knight, city planning and building department director, said many people bought property in Lincolnville when the housing market was hot, but since it's cooled they've done nothing with the properties.

"Some of these people were speculators, and they were either going to renovate the home and turn it over or hold onto the property for a bit and then flip it," he said.

The blighted homes create a hurdle for the neighborhood's revitalization, says Peter Romano, neighborhood association president.

"It's a real problem, and I don't see any magic wand you can put over it," Romano said.

City staff says Romano is right: There is little the Code Enforcement Department can do. City staff can act only if the run-down home is unsafe, such as if it were to fall onto a neighbor's house, or if it is a public nuisance, such as a drug house or a homeless hangout. The city can then do minimum repairs to keep the house from falling down and board it up.

The city then tracks down the property owner and asks him to reimburse the city for its expenses. If the owner can't, the city puts a lien on the property, but it can take up to 15 years before the city gets its money back for the abatement, Knight said.

The city spends roughly $10,000 a year on the process, he said. Tearing down the homes would be much more costly and a tedious ordeal because many of the homes are historic.

Knight said the city has been working on this issue for 15 years, but only in the last two years has the problem been thrust into the spotlight. That's when the neighborhood began to be speckled with renovated homes from new residents, most of whom are white.

"As new people moved into the neighborhood, they wanted something done about the abandoned houses," he said. "Code Enforcement deals with it a lot, mostly in Lincolnville."

James, who is also head of the neighborhood's Crime Watch, believes that black residents were ignored and the problem was shoved to the side, until now.

"For years, black residents wanted something done," she said. "Now that white residents are moving in, they're demanding something is done."


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Guest Column: Public can fight St. Augustine 'City Hall'

Guest Column: Public can fight St. Augustine 'City Hall'



Publication Date: 02/02/08


Folio Weekly termed me an "environmental hero" on illegal dumping. I merely did my job as a citizen.

Since February 2006, I have endeavored to learn about City Manager William B. Harriss and the illegal dumping. Questions were stymied by city ommissioners interrupting me with ridicule, rodomontade, and non sequiturs. Whenever a community or constituency goes to the City Commission to express their concerns, they're treated disdainfully, often leaving disillusioned, hurt.

Commissioners' hubris is nearly fatal to democracy and our environment - including forgiving a $15,000 tree-killing fine and approving the shipping back of solid waste to Lincolnville - without allowing any public comment, violating specific promises in each case.

Violations of free speech rights are indefensible and must be ended.

America was founded by visionaries who cherished free speech: Robert F. Kennedy said that if our Constitution were written in St. Paul's style, it would say: "But the most important of these is speech."

Free speech is everywhere under attack - locally, nationally and globally. Embittered, controlling, manipulative organizational oligarchs hate dissent and retaliate, yielding to immoral, infernal lusts to "reach out, reach out and crush someone."

From Harriss to President George Walker Bush to Russia's Vladimir Putin, "they know not that they know not that they know not."

Apparently not even oligarchs' own family members are safe from "gag orders" and efforts to chill/punish dissent. Mayor Joseph Leroy Boles, Jr. allegedly told his mother Maurine (a member of our city's history advisory board) to stop commenting on public issues (after I quoted her in The Record last year as supporting the proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Highway). Joseph Boles opposes "federalizing" history and park functions (neglected by our city and state).

"How low can City Hall go?" Threatening citizens with arrest, violating free speech rights, refusing to answer budget hearing questions (or televise budget hearings); attacking artists and entertainers (St. George Street and Slave Market Square a/k/a Plaza de la Constitucion); discouraging meeting attendance (removing 60 seats from the Alcazar Room); reducing your available time for public comments outside scheduled agenda items (from 8 minutes to 3 minutes per meeting); insulting persons asking questions; threatening to seek attorney fees against Dr. Dwight Hines for filing his successful Open Records lawsuit, with Boles demanding to make him "pay the piper" (our city wrongfully withheld more than 45 pounds of public records it claimed did not exist).

Where are the "sanctions"/prosecutions for City Hall's criminal, anti-social, anti-environmental, anti-worker acts?

Our St. Augustine government embarrasses us all: illegal dumping in the Old City Reservoir (risking the health of untrained employees); wasteful spending ($22 million "White Elephant Parking Garage"); and suppressing free speech. It detracts from the beauty, history and image of our town.

Michael Dukakis said, "the fish rots from the head." City managers/staff are often surly, during commission meetings actually laughing and talking on cell phones when citizens and commissioners are speaking. Where are their manners?

Our city manager and city attorney sit with their backs to the public, never shown on-camera on cable-TV, speaking without being identified by name. Employees live in fear of retaliation if they speak the truth about Harriss and his reign of ruin.

Meanwhile, our county officials are more protective and vigilant to protect free speech rights, expanding public comment rights and clarifying First Amendment rights on county property (Amphitheater/Farmer's Market, Fairground and World Golf Village Convention Center).

Virtually all-white, all-male City Hall officialdom is isolated and an anachronism.

Every time St. Augustine City Commissioners violate First Amendment rights, a part of the soul of our city dies. Our Nation's Oldest City and its history and beauty are worth saving. We need greater transparency and accountability. See Clean Up City of St. Augustine, www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com for pollution and other scandals and solutions.

Get involved. Run for office. Support reformers. Vote. Write. Speak out.

We need a "clean sweep" - "a new broom sweeps clean." Why not display a broom in your car/pickup/lawn/porch? Prove wrong those naysayers who complain, "you can't fight City Hall."

Ask questions. Demand answers. This is advanced citizenship. Smile. It's 2008.

Ed Slavin is former legal counsel for constitutional rights with Government Accountability Project; worked for three U.S. senators (Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart and Jim Sasser); clerked for Chief Judge Nahum Litt of the U.S. Department of Labor; and wrote a biography of President Jimmy Carter for young readers (forward by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).


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Who Is William L. Pence and Why Did He Waste Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars On Failed Notion of Sending Solid Waste Back to Lincolnville?

That's WILLIAM L. PENCE with the hat (above).

AKERMAN SENTERFITT lawyer WILILAM L. PENCE would rather fight than switch.

AKERMAN SENTERFITT lawyer WILLIAM L. PENCE wasted two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers money on a failed scheme to remove illegally dumped solid waste from the Old City Reservoir and bring it back to Lincolnville.

AKERMAN SENTERFITT lawyer WILLIAM L. PENCE wants the City of St. Augustine to keep paying him to avoid and evade answering questions and providing documents.

AKAERMAN SENTERFITT lawyer WILLIAM L. PENCE wants to intimidate and silence the Petitioners who blew the whistle on his scheme.

WILLIAM L. PENCE has no shame.

Shame on you, WILLIAM L. PENCE.

Shame on AKERMAN SENTEFITT.

Shame on the St. Augustine City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS and City Commissioners who would hire AKERMASN SENTERIFITT to waste our money, without even allowing the public to speak out on their nefarious plans to repatriate illegally dumped material to Lincolnville, an historically African-American community, founed by freed slaves in 1866.

What was WILLIAM L. PENCE's agenda? Making money for himself and GEOSYNTEC, which is no longer doing much of anything on the failed project.

Could it be his other clients wanted a precedent to allow them to do something equally stupdi and racist?

You tell me. WILLIAM L. PENCE's other tatterdemalion clients include:

Central Florida Gas Company
Chesapeake Utilities Corporation
City of Clearwater
City of Gainesville
Clearwater Gas System
Florida Public Utilities Company
Gainesville Regional Utilities
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Key West Pipeline Company
Peoples Gas System
Pepsico
Rockwell Automation
Tampa Electric Company

Whistleblowers knowledgeable about the above organizations, please E-mail Ed Slavin at EASlavin@aol.como or call 904-471-7023 or 904-471-9699. Let us know what Mr. PENCE has covered up in your town or corporation. Let us know who he's tried to intimidate. Let us know what organization Mr. Pence might have been trying to help with a precedent allowing contaminated solid waste to be moved back into a low-income and African-American neighborhood from the place where it was illegally dumped (our Old City Reservoir, which PENCE insists on calling a "borrow pit.").

Florida needs an improved False Claims Act that applies to law firms like AKERMAN SENTERFITT and WILLIAM L. PENCE and to cities, counties and special taxing districts.

If WILLIAM L. PENCE and GEOSYNTEC had wasted State of Florida funds, we could sue them under FLorida's False Claims Act. Ask your Florida state representatives and state senators why they go all soft and squishhy when it comes to regulating fraud, waste, abuse, misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance by governemnt contractors for cities, counties and special taxing districts.

Ask WILLIAM L. PENXCE if his conscience bothers him, wasting money from the City of St. Augustine for a racist solid waste repatriation scheme, without first spending one minute in meetings with local community leaders.

Ask WILLIAM L. PENCE if he is not a collossal waste of a great education.

Ask WILLIAM L. PENCE (the silk-suited supercilious flim-flam man with the feather in his hat, above), why his reckless, feckless law firm should ever get another dime of money from the City of St. Augustine or any other organizxation for "environmental" law work.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "this too shall pass."