Saturday, March 07, 2026

Ed Slavin response to Sierra Club on Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County Commission (2024)

Here's my response to the March 2024 Sierra Club questionnaire re: Mosquito  Control Commission;


Good evening:
Thank you for your patience!  Excellent questions. 


Questionnaire to Candidates for St. Johns County 
County Commission 2024

Please provide answers to the following questions below, or on a separate sheet:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most important), where do
environmental issues rate when compared to other critical issues facing St. Johns County and
Northeast Florida? Please include a brief explanation of your rating.

Most important: 10.  Our frail planet, our city, county, state and nation are all threatened by pollution and climate change. Overdevelopment is destroying our quality of life.

2. What are the most significant environmental issues and challenges in St. Johns County? 

* Proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore deserves our County's support.  First proposed by the Mayor of St. Augustine, Walter Fraser, both U.S. Senators and our Congressman in 1939, this is an idea whose time has come.  https://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2023/10/support-st-augustine-national.html
* Developers demanding to be free of fair impact fees.  

* Secretive PACs and campaign contributions, corruption and conflict of interest. Corruption, as Al Gore wrote in 1992, in Earth in the Balance, often leads to environmental devastation.  

* Proposed 25 ideas for local government reform in 2022, one (1) heeded (County Sheriff body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras, long opposed by Sheriff David Shoar). County Commission has STILL not responded to 25 suggestions on government reform. Why not?




+ Support meritocracy amidst one-party rule by mediocrities in St. Johns County Commission





3. What actions have you taken in the past to demonstrate your concern or interest regarding our environment?
 

  2. Helping end pelagic whaling of endangered sperm whales by promoting development of jojoba oil seed crops, an exact duplicate for the oil of the sperm whale. The market system worked. (Working as intern and staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy, 1974-76).  
  3. Helping defeat coal slurry pipeline eminent domain legislation in U.S House of Representatives, helping preserve and protect precious scarce water from Madison Formation aquifer.  (11,500 word Crossroads Magazine (formerly Coal Patrol) investigative article, inserted into Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Joe Skubitz, Republican of Kansas, except for parts on campaign finance).  July 19, 1978: House Defeated Coal Slurry Pipeline Eminent Domain Legislation



  4. Exposing U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority purchasing and policies that encouraged steep slope strip-mining, corruption, coal quality fraud, antitrust violations and and conflicts of interest. With support from Fund for Investigative Journalism, helped secure GAO investigation verifying  concerns of Appalachian activists, led by Save Our Cumberland Mountains.  TVA's Coal Procurement Practices--More Effective Management Needed



  5. Winning declassification of world's largest mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) and testifying about it in Congressional investigation.  July 11, 1983: Al Gore's Mercury Pollution Hearing in Oak Ridge, Tennessee -- Largest Mercury Pollution Event in World History (4.2 Million Pounds). 



  6. Security clearance reforms protecting environmental, nuclear anjd other whistleblowers, and LGBTQ, people working for federal agencies and government contractors.  Helped win American Bar Association House of Delegates vote in February 1990, endorsing security clearance reforms that were implemented under President Clinton, halting a proposed Bush Executive Order that would have erased rights to fair hearings and due process.
  7. Environmental whistleblower law victories and precedents at U.S.Department of Labor, including landmark whistleblower case protecting federal environmental crimes investigators against retaliation for recusals or refusing to coverup wrongdoing.  FBI, HUD, EPA Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall (Ret.), R.I.P.



  8. Exposed intimidation of nuclear weapons plant whistleblowers. February 5, 1992



  9. Questioned aerial pesticide spraying program and winning reversal of illegal, no-bid SJC Mosquito Control Board purchase of $1.8 million luxury Bell Jet helicopter unadorned by nozzles, tanks, pilots, hangar or any plans for aerial spraying, winning 100% refund of deposit.
  10. Defeat of multiple unwise development projects in St. Augustine and St. Johns County,
  11. Adoption of employee whistleblower policy and sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. 
  12. Successfully reported City of St. Augustine illegally dumping a landfill in a lake to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree, after City Manager William B. Harriss had said he would not agree to put the contaminated solid waste in a Class I landfill without a court order.  2008 Folio Weekly cover story by Anne Schindler called me an "environmental hero."
  13. Reported City of St. Augustine illegal sewage pollution to National Response Center, resulting in fines and consent decree.
  14. Helped elect Nancy Shaver as in St. Augustine Mayor and Krista Keating-Joseph as County Commissioner, defeating pro-developer incumbents. 
  15. Helping secure preservation of historic iconic Fish Island as city park with state funds, rejecting proposed ruinous development by D.R. Horton, with fifty (50) witnesses, including former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Sherman Gary Snodgrass.




4. What organizations do you belong to? 

1000 Friends of Florida
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Democratic Party
St. Augustine Historical Society
Fort Mose Historic Society
Florida Historical Society
Sierra Club
Investigative Reporters and Editors  
American Assn. For Advancement of Science  
Florida Adventures in Railroading
WJCT

5. What is your position and suggested solution on these key issues affecting our county?   
- Climate change and sea level rise
+ Support federal, state and local legislation to preserve and protect us from carbon and methane pollution, protect our coasts and wetlands, promote biodiversity, restore balance,
+ Support County's acceptance of federal grants on climate change. 
+ Oppose Florida Governors' attacks on environmental protection, with frequent blog posts.
www,cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
+ Support a St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Spoke to every St. Johns County Legislative Delegation meeting since 2006 on National Park and Seashore.


- Growth management and development
+ Strongly support reform of our Land Development Code as we know it.  
+ We must have fair hearings, with full disclosures, lobbyist registration, expert testimony, cross-examination of all witnesses and background investigations of developers.  
+ Are our current local and state procedures are a honky-tonk medley of "regulatory capture," farce and kabuki dance?
+ James Madison wrote, "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. "
+ Affordable housing: we must reject "snob zoning," and allow duplexes and other auziliary dwellling units, preserving land and advancing affordable housing. 
+ We must adopt a Public Housing Agency.
+ We must comply with Fair Housing Act.
+ Let's start by re-writing our LDC and quasi-judicial hearing procedures.
+ For transparency, Commissioners must never meet with zoning applicants ex parte.  
+ St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver refused such meetings during her 1550 days as Mayor (making an exception when an applicant was allegedly being treated unfairly).
+ What kind of administrative judicial system lets zoning applicants meet secretly with elected officials?
+  Reject this corrupt system and will not be embroiled by it. 
+ We must require fuller corporate disclosure and better data. 
+ Require background investigations on zoning applicants -- know your customer! 
+ Are any zoning applicants involved in money-laundering,  
+ Environmental violations by zoning applicants must be researched by County staff and discussed publly in hearings.
+ We need full information on ex parte contacts with Commissioners, disclosed before hearings.
+ All ex parte meetings with Commissioners and staff must be videotaped and made a public record.  
+ As Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Secrey is for losers, for people who don't understand the value of the information.


- Trees and the proposed 14 point tree ordinance
+ Support proposed tree protection ordinance and spoke in favor of it, as did dozens of residents.  
+ I objected to four Commissioners' harsh response to First Amendment protected activity, evident retaliation against reform Commissioner Krista Joseph..

- Management of traffic and infrastructure
+ Support transit, impact fees and reform of zoning and planning as we know it.

- Septic tanks
+ Explore ban on new septic tanks in new construction
+ Monitor septic tank inspections and code enforcement.




6. What is your motivation for running to be a County Commissioner?
+ My first American ancestor escaped the British government-caused Irish potato famine in 1849, immigrating to Philadelphia with Irish neighbors at age six, the rest of her family died in famine.  My father taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "if you don't stand up to people in power, they walk all over you."   JFK was killed 22 days after I proudly wore a JFK costume on Halloween, at age six. At age 17.5, I went to work for his brother, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the day before my first Georgetown class, inspired after hearing Ralph Nader speak on August 28, 1974 (Feast of St. Augustine).   
Love this magical place. We need to preserve what we know and love, with National Park Service help.  http://www.staugustgreen.com 
Moved here November 5, 1999, after falling in love with St. Augustine when we visited in August 1992, right after first environmental whistleblower trial against Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  
Faster than a speeding dump truck, what we love about St. Johns County is being destroyed. 



7. If you are elected or re-elected, what initiatives would you introduce or promote to protect the environment of St. Johns County?
* St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore
* Environmental Regulatory Commission.
* Independent environmental impact statements for government project, as under NEPA.
* Lobbyist registration and background investigations.
* Video of every County Commissioner "ex parte' meeting with putative "developers."
* County whistleblower protection ordinance
* Reform zoning and planning as we know it. 

Thank you. 
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998


Posted by at 15 comments:

ED SLAVIN RESPONSE TO WASHINGTON POST May 12, 2025 article re: Mosquito Museum

Saw an odd article in WaPo May 12, 2025, and responded:

1. There were some 41% cost overruns on the $4.5 million Mosquito Museum. Why? Lax management. Anastasia Mosquito Control District Commission (AMCD) of St. Johns Commissioner Martha Gleason recently resigned in protest over financial mismanagement (41% cost overruns), but there was no mention in this article. AMCD has had the same auditor for some twelve (12) years. 
2. I filed to run in November 3, 2026 nonpartisan race, to help control wasteful spending, ask questions, and demand answers. 
3. As an 82nd ABN DIVN paratrooper (F. Co., 505th P.I.R.), my late Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943, contracted malaria, was awarded three (3) Bronze Stars, and helped liberate the first French town from Nazis on D-Day, before the sun even rose that day. 
4. The South Jersey Chapter of the 82nd ABN DIVN ASSN is named for my Dad, the "CPL Edward A. Slavin Chapter." I saw my Father's lifetime of suffering post-malaria. Possibly due to his being infected with malaria, it took my parents some twelve (12) years to have their only child. They prayed to St. Jude (patron Saint of hopeless causes).
5. My dad taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "you must stand up to people with power, or else they walk all over you." In his honor, I make records requests, write a blog, go to meetings, ask questions, demand answers and expect democracy. AMCD Commissioners have given themselves illegal bonuses, exceeding the $4800 annual pay cap in Florida law. Read more on my blog, www.edslavin.com
6. AMCD Chair Pangiotta "Trish" Becker is resigning, leaving the Board and Florida. This is not my first environmental battle. 
7. I was Editor of the Appalachian Observer newspaper at age 24. We won declassification of the largest mercury pollution event in world history (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, May 17. 1983), recommended for a Pulitzer Prize by the local DA, Jim Ramsey. May I please send the Post a proposed column on AMCD in response? St. Johns County government requires scrutiny.

No response from Jeff Bezos' Washington Post. 

Wonder why? 

----

From Washington Post, May 12, 2025:

Florida kids love this mosquito center. Just don’t call it a museum.

Standing water displays and artificial dog poop teach St. Johns County residents about mosquito control.

8 min
Mosquitoes feed in a contained area at the Disease Vector Education Center in St. Augustine, Florida. The center explores mosquito-related history and public health education. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
By 

ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida — Of all the creatures associated with Florida — alligators, flamingos, manatees — possibly the most consequential doesn’t show up in tourism ads or on travel websites.

Did you know that the mosquito prompted the invention of air conditioning? For that reason alone, it deserves some kind of special recognition. A statue, maybe? A proclamation? How about a museum?

St. Johns County in northeast Florida has seen fit to acknowledge the noxious insect with all three.

And now an eight-foot tall bronze statue of a fierce looking Aedes aegypti stands watch at the entrance to the Disease Vector Education Center — a.k.a. the mosquito museum, the only one of its kind in the United States. The museum sparked some outcry about public funding, but the community has warmed to it.

Despite its ponderous official name, the museum is a colorful, trippy delight: Outside is a mosquito-themed playground, complete with a sliding board designed to look like oversize versions of common mosquito hiding spots — a barrel of water on a stack of old tires. There’s a climbing block made from a concrete culvert (prime mosquito breeding grounds), and a dragonfly-shaped riding toy with a sign that reads, “Dragonflies are good to have around because baby dragonflies eat baby mosquitoes.”

The education center is ostensibly aimed at children but also geared toward teaching adults a little more about the No. 1 insect killer of humankind.

“Florida has the distinction of being one of the most pestiferous places on the planet,” said Gordon M. Patterson, author of “The Mosquito Wars: A History of Mosquito Control in Florida.” “That museum is teaching us that we need to learn something about mosquitoes and viruses and plants and water and our place in that ecology.”

A mosquito specimen is viewed through a microscope at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
A colorful signpost outside the center highlights local destinations. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
Preserved beetles and other insects are displayed at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
Mosquito larvae are observed under magnification in petri dishes at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

Inside are interactive displays that include a life-size rendition of the front porch of an old Florida cracker house. A lifelike model of a yellow Labrador retriever named Albo — short for the type of mosquito that transmits heartworm — sits in the front yard, near his water bowl. That’s another example of a mosquito attractant. So is a small but realistic pile of Albo’s droppings: a part of the exhibit that makes schoolkids squeal with delight, museum guides say.

Across from that is a realistic slice of swampland: dark green, shadowy and damp, representing ideal mosquito habitat.

Both large displays have touch-screen computers set up that encourage visitors to try to spy mosquito hideouts. Push the right button, and a spotlight shines down on the water bowl, or the flower pot, or the birdbath and a half-dozen other common yard items. It makes the point that mosquitoes can lay eggs in even a teaspoon of water.

A helicopter takes up a big space indoors. Visitors can sit in the pilot’s seat and pretend to control the chopper on an aerial spraying mission as a video of the St. Augustine coastline plays in front of them.

There’s an insectary full of live elephant mosquitos, which are large and look slightly alarming but are actually harmless pollinators that don’t bite people or animals. They do feast on other mosquitos — an unusual bonus.

Those are Genhsy Monzon’s favorites.

“When people come in, the usual reaction is, ‘This is not what I expected,’ but in a good way,” said Monzon, an entomologist and the coordinator at the education center. “They’re just in awe as soon as they walk through the door, and honestly I love that, because that’s the same way I reacted.”

Displays of live creatures — scorpions, ants, a huge honeybee observation hive — highlight arthropods, both the helpful (to humans) and the unhelpful. The exhibits walk visitors through the mosquito life cycle (“Wet, Bloody, and Brief”) and feature digital microscopes to take an even closer look.

A decommissioned mosquito control helicopter on display at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
A lab technician prepares mosquito larvae samples inside the center’s lab. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

“The kids just hear, ‘Oh, there’s bugs!’ and they’re curious,” Monzon said. “And there’s a playground. … We make it fun for them. And that’s why they want to learn.”

Monzon points out that the museum informs visitors “about all kinds of disease vectors”: ticks, tsetse flies, sand flies, black flies, lice and fleas.

Some of the exhibits in the museum look like something from one of the big theme parks 100 miles south in Orlando: large, detailed and visually striking. They were designed by engineers and artists who have worked at Disney World and Universal Studios.

But in keeping with the St. Augustine vibe — the historic Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is about six miles away — the mosquito museum is less about theme-park fun and more about education.

“We’re not Disney World here in St. Augustine; we are history,” said Richard Weaver, the mosquito control district’s business manager. “And really our museum ties into that very well.”

Weaver, who helped to research and design many of the exhibits, stops himself before he says more.

“I said the word ‘museum,’ which is banned by us.”

That brings up a thorny subject involving disease vectors, politics and tax dollars.

Mosquito control is serious business in Florida. Most of the state’s 67 counties and many cities across the state have districts that work full time to contain the insects, some of them with elected officials who oversee multimillion-dollar budgets.

A mannequin wearing mosquito control gear holds a pesticide spray wand. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
A colorful 3D model of a virus structure. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
The outdoor water feature demonstrates common mosquito breeding habitats. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)
The exhibit highlights mosquito biology through enlarged models, microscopes, and live insect displays. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

Mosquitoes are disease vectors, which means they can transmit diseases between species. Among them: malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, and Zika virus. More than 700,000 people die each year from vector-borne diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

Controlling them is key to keeping Florida survivable for 23 million residents and 143 million annual visitors. The Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, founded in 1948, is one of the best-known agencies dedicated to mosquito control. Researchers there work with universities and governments around the world, along with groups such as the World Health Organization.

Executive Director Rui-De Xue had the idea of a building a mosquito education center after visiting one in China several years ago. Supporters envisioned it as another tool in “understanding the tiny yet formidable mosquito,” as the center’s visitor guide puts it.

There was pushback from some residents and county commissioners about using tax dollars, but the mosquito district — which has an annual budget of about $9 million — forged onward. The district’s board said it makes sense to educate the public about things people can do to control mosquitoes: clean birdbaths every few days, empty the dog’s outdoor water bowl daily, dump out anything that holds standing water.

To get past the consternation over what critics called a bug museum, the name became the Disease Vector Education Center.

Monzon said more than 11,000 people visited in the first year, many of them part of school groups. The museum closes Mondays and Tuesdays to host school field trips. The rest of the week, it’s open to the public with free admission.

Sandra Gewehr visited when she was in town for the annual Arbovirus Surveillance and Mosquito Control Workshop last year. She recommends it, calling it a “smart and unusual choice” for tourists, especially families.

“While the subject matter is serious, the center does an admirable job of making it approachable and fun for children,” said Gewehr, who is director of research and development at the European Mosquito Control Association and based in Greece. “There are elements designed specifically to engage younger audiences — things they can touch, see up close, and interact with.”

Patterson, a history professor at the Florida Institute of Technology as well as a mosquito book author, gave the museum designers some tips and mosquito information. He likes the final results. There’s a historical timeline and exhibits that show the “epic battle” between humans and mosquitoes that was once mostly waged with chemicals — DDT used to be the insecticide of choice — and, more recently, with environmental controls.

The mosquito-rearing area at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

He’s especially pleased with one display that lets visitors feed live mosquito larvae to a tank full of gambusia, also known as mosquitofish. The fish can consume up to 500 larvae a day and are seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to chemicals.

“I was knocked down at the level of expertise that they were able to deploy,” Patterson said. “We oftentimes think of history as just being driven by figures who stand on podiums and give talks, but sometimes something as small as a grape seed can cause more mischief and lead to more changes in the human population.”

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