This afternoon at 2:40 PM, County Commissioners voted to adopt Plan J, a compromise developed by John Libby, county consultant, and County Attorney Patrick McCormack during Veteran's Day weekend. Our School Board now has the chance to save face and adopt the same plan next Tuesday, December 13th.
The local Tea Party and Republican Party apparatchiks' politically-motivated efforts to split up West Augustine from the Town of Hastings failed. It takes a village. The efforts of American Legion Post 194 and NAACP succeeded. Rev. Ron Rawls deserves a round of applause.
Compromise worked.
It did not take long.
On November 8, 2011, the School Board voted for Modified Plan J.
On November 9, 2011, Judith Seraphin and I wrote the Justice Department and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about our School Board's actions, requesting an investigation pursuant to the Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
Last week, the School Board indicated, by 4-1 margin, that it would accept a compromise, dropping the oyster and leaving the wharf.
St. Johns County Commissioner J. Kenneth Bryan said how important it was in public life to "work together" and that "we'd be a lot better off" if people in Washington, D.C. learned to listen to one another and compromise for the public good.
I agree.
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
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