LUHRS LEAVING -- GOOD RIDDANCE? IF CONTAMINATION, WHO WILL PAY FOR CLEANUP?

Not one City Commissioner mentioned Luhrs leaving St. Augustine at last night's Commission meeting. It was eery -- like when Flagler East Coast Railway (a Fortune 500 headquarters) left town, taking 200 good jobs with it (and the impact on our economy is enormous). Perhaps Commissioners have already been privately briefed by controversial City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS. Or perhaps they don't give a fig.

Some fifty (50) tons per year in volatile organic compounds was emitted into the sky under Luhrs' reign here, according to the St. Augustine Record and EPA TRI data.

Now that Luhrs is leaving, the City must ask, is Luhrs' site contaminated? How about our San Sebastian River?

If so, who will pay for cleanup? Rich New Jersey boatbuilders? Or those of us here?