Come to tonight's City Commission meeting to state your views about our 450th commemoration budget, the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, and our legacy. Decisions are made by those who show up.
Stetson Kennedy's widow, Sandra Parks (former Commissioner) says "a budget is a moral document."
Is the 450th budget bloated? Is it being spent on the wrong things? Is it foolish to talk of legacy without talking about America's Best Idea -- Our National Parks? Yes, yes and yes.
One year from today is the 450th anniversary of our Nation's Oldest City.
Two City Commissioners -- Leeana Freeman and Nancy Sikes-Kline have asked questions. Demand answers. Expect democracy. Don't let Mayor BOLES pout and don't let his allies shout them down.
Our City initially wanted federal fu planning to match Jamestown in spending $44 million. That never happened. Funds were not even forthcoming for the federal St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission, which should have taken an active role in planning. Only a pittance has been allocated for the federal commission, and answers are not forthcoming about what, if anything, it might be doing.
To date, the approach of Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. to the 450th is happy-go-lucky -- spend money, don't ask questions, don't talk about the National Park and Seashore, let the federal 450th commission wither on the vine in secrecy, ignoring Sunshine requirements of FACA. He reminds me of the BP geologist who testified in federal court: "I’m not sure it was a lack of communication or awareness as much as a ‘we can get away with this’ attitude . . . . " (page 18, footnote 22 of Judge Barbier's September 4, 2014 order finding recklessness by BP in 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill).
Our Castillo de San Marco and Fort Matanzas point the way to a future in which current state parks, water management district lands and forests are preserved and protected forever. Our legacy must be a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, first proposed 75 years ago by Mayor Walter Fraser, Senator Claude Pepper, et al. and supported by Maurine Boles, Sheriff Shoar, et al.
Our history and nature must be preserved in these beautiful places -- we already own them -- it must be preserved and protected from Senator Thrasher's proposal for golf courses and Governor Scott's demands for developers and the county's demand for roads not needed (like your County Commissioners wanted to build across Twelve Mile Swamp).
Meanwhile the Visitor Information Center, a museum, needs to open late, so people can enjoy it after work and after arriving here and checking into their motels. It must stop closing at 5 PM -- banker's hours. It was a disgrace that the Journey exhibit closed at 5 PM every day. Our ethnocentric St. Johns County Visitor and Convention Bureau, Inc. and our other-directed St. Johns County Tourist Development Council were not exactly generous in public retains and advertising for Journey: 450 Years of African-American History. But with daily closing at 5 PM, no wonder our attendance figures were so pitifully small for both Journey and Picasso. We need a vision and a business plan, not hick hacks who only know to imitate Jamestown, while saying "we don't want to reinvent the wheel."
Controversial, embattled cSt. Augustine, Florida Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, Jr. (a/k/a "The Forever King")
Photo credit: The late GREG TRAVOUS and HANS HOLBEIN the younger
No comments:
Post a Comment