ST. AUGUSTINE MANAGER HARRISS REFUSES TO INSTALL PARKING GARAGE SECURITY CAMERAS UNTIL SOMEONE IS "ROBBED, RAPED OR MURDERED"

At last night's City Commission budget meeting, controversial City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS refused to install security cameras in our City's $22 million White Elephant Parking Garage on the basis that no one has actually been "robbed, raped or murdered" there yet.
In January, a Flagler College student patiently sat through an entire City Commission meeting, telling of $900 of unuinsured, deductible, uncompensated damage to his car when parked in the garage, showing photos of the smashed windshield while the car was parked in the Garage. The student wore a three-piece suit and was very respectful, a perfect gentleman whose presentation was almost scholarly.
The student's urgent concerns -- about the possibility of female Flagler College students being raped in the Parking Garage -- have fallen upon uncaring ears.
Nine months later, a smirking, laughing, jovial City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS responded.
No gentleman and no scholar, WILLIAM B. HARRIS that no security cameras will be installed. HARRISS responded to my question at last night's budget hearing by claiming that the smashed car was the "only" crime that has ever taken place in the garage and that he would not install cameras until someone was robbed, raped or murdered.
Under "premises liability" concepts, our City of St. Augustine (and its bondholders) are already on notice of the lack of security cameras. It is negligent and a breach of the standard of care for a parking garage to be unadorned by security cameras. HARRISS' statements, smirking and laughing could subject our Nation's Oldest (European- founded) City to large jury verdicts in the event of criminal activity.
Flagler College rents some 550 parking spaces in the Garage, many unused. In the event of a crime injuring one of Flagler College's students, will Flagler College also be held liable? Do Flagler College administrators, professors, students and parents know that Flagler is contracting for spaces in a city parking lot that is not equipped with security cameras?
As we look forward to St. Augustine's 450th birthday (2015) and Florida's 500th birthday (2013), what kind of a "host" would refuse to install security cameras?
What kind of supine City Commission would listen to the City Manager's off-the-wall response and NOT take action or request a report on the cost of cameras?
The architect of St. Augustine's underutilized $22 million White Elephant Parking Garage told me earlier this year that the Garage was prewired for security cameras, expressing surprise that there were no cameras yet.
In a City run based on flimflam, flummery and dupery, corners get cut, starting with public safety and our environment (our City has dumped the contents of the old illegal city dump into the Old City Reservoir, see below).
Our TRIM hearing process is supposed to allow public questions, but few have yet been answered. We await answers to the 140 questions (below).
It's our money.
What do you reckon?