It's another day in a beatiful place.
The frogs, lightning bugs, butterflies and wildlife are coming back, after years of being dosed with organophosphates -- our Mosquito Control Commission listened.
Musicians will be playing all over St. Augustine for the Mumford & Sons festival tomorrow and Saturday -- at three free stages as well as at Francis Field. After years of busting musicians, artists and entertainers, none have been arrested since the death of Greg Travous.
After years of First Amendment violations and federal court victories, our City is treating citizens with respect.
The story of why Mumford & Sons chose St. Augustine was in Sunday's Record. hey liked our covering GLBT people in the Fair Housing ordinance.
It takes a village.
Last August, my friend Amy telephoned on her way to work, chagrined at Jacksonville's City Council voting AGAINST GLBT equality.
"We'll take care of it," I told her.
Our Mayor and City Commissioners, City Manager and City Attorney took care of it, with Commissioners voting to adopt a Fair Housing ordinance on the spot in late August (unanimously), then again on first and second readings (unanimously), rejecting the taunts of the Ku Klux Klan and the tormented, soulless Anonymice on hate sites (including the Record's own Anonymice posters).
The ordinance passed on December 10, 2012. The next day, City Manager John Regan told a Mumford & Sons conference call about the ordinance, saying how proud he was.
They grooved on it, realizing this is not the "most lawless" City in America any longer.
Sure, it has its faults. But St. Augustine (like St. Augustine Beach) has reached out to endorse GLBT equality -- St. Augustine Beach voed unanimously to enact both Fair Housing and Equal Employment ordinances.
Years before them, our Sheriff, David Shoar, and before him, our Mosquito Control Commission, adopted unanimous nondiscrimination policies for their own employees.
Years ago, our City illegally annexted white residential areas, decreasing minoriy voting strength, violating the Fifteenth Amendment -- we stopped it in 2005.
Years ago, our City treated GLBT people disdainfully, violating the First Amendment, resulting in United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams, Jr. ordering Rainbow flags to fly on our Bridge of Lions from June 8-13, 2005.
Years ago, African-American areas were denied equal services, violating the Fourteenth Amendment. Today, Riberia Street is fixed for the first time in history ($10 million project, in one piece instead of over ten years). Today, plans are afoot to provide sewer service for West Augustine, which will help bring new small businesses, home construction and a branch campus from Florida Memorial University (formerly Florida Normal, whose professors and students were run out of town for protesting segregation here).
Years ago, our City dumped its solid and sewage waste illegally in African-American areas, including 40,000 yards dumped in our Old City Reservoir. Today, the sewage pipes are fixed and the solid waste in West Augustine and Lincolnville has been cleaned up, and plans are being discussed for an aquarium and children's museum a the south end of Riberia Street.
Here in our Nation's Oldest City, "we take care of our own."
As Dr. King and other ministers have said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
With your help, justice prevails.
With your help, justice will continue to prevail -- the Tourist Development Council and the St. Johns County Visitor and Convention Bureau, Inc. must obey the law, and they will, including our Antitrust and Civil Rights laws. We will teach them manners. We will teach them to treat GLBT, Youth, Jewish, Hispanic and African-American tourists with respect, showcasing our history (instead of pandering to rich white male golfes and promiscuously violing Sunshine laws at the drop of a hat). We will teach them to stop discussing price-fixing in meetings.
With your help, we will teach the University of Florida, its historic properties and their lessees to stop wasting money with no-bid leases without security deposits, and to stop race and sex discrimination in hiring and promoting employees.
Don't be discouraged by a few remaining official oppressors at the county level, or with their Anonymice rudeness.
Don't indulge the nattering nabobs of negativism.
Many appear to be cognitive misers who have never had a happy day in their lives, especially now that equality rules our town.
Many of these same crabbed, crabby, bitter people had nothing nice to say when we were working to clean up our City government.
Some are people who always reflexively supported the ancien regime, heaping scorn, aspersions (if not asparagus) on those of us insisting our City comply with our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
Color them KKK, closet KKK, or just plain wrong.
With your help, we are winning.
The KKK will never again elect another City Commissioner.
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.
What do y'all reckon?
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