Peter Francis Romano, Jr., R.I.P.

Peter Francis Romano, Jr. (SAR)

Peter Francis Romano, Jr. 68, died Saturday after suffering a heart attack on Thursday.
Mr. Romano was a certified public accountant, a forensic accountant, an advocate of the new urbanism and city planning. He long chaired the Lincolnville Neighborhood Association, at a time when Lincolnville had a serious crack cocaine problem (M&M open air drug market) and worse, an environmental injustice problem, including sewage effluent emissions and plans to repatriate a landfill illegally dumped in a lake.
Mr. Romano in 2006 had the courage to run for Mayor against JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR., then endorsed by thirteen former Mayors. Mr. Romano brought activists together who had never met one another, cooking wonderful spaghetti in his beautiful home.
He was a wit, a sage, and recognized St. Augustine corruption for what it was -- Chicago writ small, as he and I agreed.
A native of Brooklyn who retained his accent, graduating from the University of Illinois, Mr. Romano spent years in corporate finance, mostly living Portland, Oregon. Mr. Romano fell in love with St. Augustine and worked to preserve and protect it.
Mr. Romano was often seen riding his motorized electric bicycle around town. Disabled as a result of an amputation, Mr. Romano suffered from diabetes but kept his good humor, attending city meetings and questioning authority figures' flummery and baffling figures.
Mr. Romano passionately advocated restoring trolleys in St. Augustine and prepared a video showing what a trolley system would look like, interspersing videos of local streets and beaches with video of Brighton Beach, England and other locales with trolleys.
A self-described "RINO," (Republican in Name Only), Mr. Romano would attend local Republican meetings and be appalled by their bigotry.
Mr. Romano admired other activists, including fellow conservative C.P.A. John Sundeman: attending a meeting of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, Mr. Romano and I watched in awe as Mr. Sundeman eviscerated AMCD with statistical evidence on its crazy purchase of a $1.8 million no-bid luxury jet helicopter incapable of killing a single skeeter. Mr. Romano admiringly turned to me and said, in his Brooklyn accent, "Dis guy's a real bully with da numbahs."
Mr. Romano empowered activists to ask questions, demand answers and make St. Augustine a much better place, a fun place where citizens no longer cower in fear at disapproval by inept city managers and corrupt developers.
Mr. Romano will be greatly missed.

(Corrections in italics above re: date of death).