Commissioners were right and just to sunset the controversial TDC. See below.
TDC badly needs an audit, including examination of every single purchase over $1000 and comparison of every single ad invoice to the tear-sheets.
TDC needs cool new members, including well-informed and cultured people who will help to promote the arts and music and culture and the St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Parkway.
See www.staugustgreen.com
As Commissioner Mark Miner said, "It's a signal to the county that we're going to start fresh." As Commissioner J. Kenneth Bryan said, "We need an outside auditor... We don't really know what we've been doing the last 10 of 15 years that's been successful."
As a result of the sunsetting, TDC will delay its Destination Master Plan until Dec. 31. This means that the overpaid "branding" consultants who failed to appreciate St. Augustine's African-American history and our community's natural beauty will have a chance to redeem themselves
They need to discuss "branding" in the context of the proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Parkway. See www.staugustgreen.com
As for support for the Arts -- two words (courtesy of the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts: "Art Works." As the Record reported:
Jay Dick, director of state and local government affairs for Americans For The Arts, of Washington, D.C., said the arts are a $166.2 billion a year industry which produces $30 billion a year in tax revenues.
"The arts receive government funding of about $4 billion a year, so you see the arts are a great investment," Dick said. "In St. Johns County, it is an $18.7 million industry that brings in $577,000 in tax revenues."
St. Johns has 564 arts jobs employing 1,645 people.
"People don't realize how many people are out there who get their paycheck from the arts," Dick said. "A little bit of money invested in the arts goes a long way."
Meanwhile, the City of St. Augustine continues to try to find ways to harass and aggravate our artists, whom City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRIS prefers to arrest instead of encouraging them to live and work downtown, as the National Endowment for the Arts is working on. That's why we need to fire HARRISS (a/k/a "WILL HARASS" and defeat his compliant "Gang of Four" Commissioners in next year's City Commission elections.
What do you reckon?
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