145th anniversary of St. Augustine Lighthouse -- free admission October 14th, poorly advertised by maladministered 501c3

Our St. Augustine Lighthouse has free admission today.  Password "JSL" (Junior Service League) for St. Johns County residents.

Who knew?

Belatedly announced in this morning's St. Augustine Record and on WJCT, Jacksonville NPR affiliate at 9:50 on Melissa Ross's "First Coast Connect" program.

Happy 145th anniversary to the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Inc.

The administration of the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum, Inc., has a lot to learn about humanity and humility:

• It charged its employees for ice water working in the hot Florida sun until I reported it.
• It obtained federal trademark protection for "Nation's Oldest Port" twelve (12) times.
• It seeks federal legislation designating a "Nation's Oldest Port National Heritage Area" to obtain federal grants for itself, while refusing to support St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore legislation, first proposed by Mayor Walter Fraser in 1939,
• It euchred St. Johns County into selling the property for a song, selling our County Park after the briefest of discussions, promoted by then-Commissioner CYNDI STEVENSON.
• It privatized public land, fencing it off, denying neighbors the right to walk their dogs there.
• It sought too-many tree-killing permits for its privatized property building expansion.
• It obtained federal funds for a lecture series in a non-ADA accessible building up wooden stairs, until I reported it to the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• It was silent last night when the site of St. Augustine's first Lighthouse was being debated without archaeological evidence to protect it, as St. Augustine Commission accepted a Trojan Horse "gift" from Dr. Stanley Paris of land adjoining our City-owned Yacht Club building, rented out for a song by the private club, with intensifying use for special events adding to pressures on the lovely Lighthouse Park Neighborhood.
• It belatedly announced free admission for its 145th anniversary the day of the event, choosing the incredible shrinking St. Augustine Record (tiny squib) and still-off-the-air Jacksonville NPR affiliate WJCT, which is only heard locally on live streaming internet audio today.   (WJCT puts the "PR" in NPR.

There's a lot wrong with the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Inc,, starting with the inflated salary of its Executive Director, KATHY ALLEN FLEMING.

Now that the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Inc. has some 66 employee's, they deserve a union -- a free democratic trade union to represent their interests, not those of the conservatives who dominate its board.

Employees deserve the right to collective bargaining and agreements on wages, salaries and working conditions.

Any employer that charges its employees for water needs a union vote.

The National Labor Relations Board office in Tampa stands ready to conduct an election.

Lighthouse employees deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and consideration. Now.

Happy 145th anniversary to the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Inc.