St. Augustine residents were welcomed to speak out at last night’s City Commission on the future of Lincolnville and in particular, the future of the former M&M Market, a racketeer-influenced and corrupt organization the City of St. Augustine seized from the Patel family through a civil forfeiture lawsuit. See below.
Since John Regan became St. Augustine City Manager last year, our City government has turned over a new leaf. We're getting a City government that works for us, not against us.
In 2005, when I first spoke at a City Commission meeting, citizens were treated as bothersome pests by City Manger WILLIAM B. HARRISS, who threatened me with arrest after I spoke about the 14th and 15th Amendments and the City’s discrimination in annexations and services.
It took four years, but citizen activists investigated, questioned, exposed and ran off HARRISS. Good riddance.
HARRISS was a racist. So was HARRISS’ predecessor, WILLIAM POMAR. In fact, in 1998, then City Manager WILLIAM POMAR joked that he’d like to take twelve bulldozers, hubcap to hubcap, and tear down Lincolnville. About the same time, when utility work was being done in West Augustine, a supervisor asked what he was doing there. “They’re our customers,” he said. “They don’t vote,” he was told.
The City did not always respect Lincolnville. But then the Lincolnville community organized after Akerman Senterfitt, the City’s law firm, proposed bringing 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste back here and calling it a park.
That was so wrong that no one stood up to support it – not even the Akerman Senterfitt lawyers – after we were done questioning them on January 10, 2008.
Lincolnville also organized to stop a 2 million cubic foot boat storage facility that would have been taller than the Berlin Wall, cutting off our views of the San Sebastian River. Lincolnville won two key victories in 2008. Since that time, City Hall has shown new respect for Lincolnville, and we thank you.
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