Then wetlands were destroyed to build new docks
The docks still sit unoccupied.
The City was in a hurry.
The City was in a hurry to build 4.3 acres of "remediation" -- artificial replacement wetlands -- illegally trucking some 2000 truckloads of contaminated solid waste from the south end of Riberia Street to the Old City Reservoir -- an environmental crime. There was no permit. There never was one.
We caught the City red-handed. EPA and DEP environmental crimes investigators arrived on February 27, 2006.
FDEP ordered the waste deposited n a Class I landfill.
Under former City Manager WILLIAM BRUCE HARRISS and with $300,000 of legal and engineering advice from AKERMAN SENTERFITT and GEOSYNTEC, our City fought for years to put the contaminated solid waste back in Lincolnville, put dirt on top and call it a park. In November 2007, the City Commission, chaired by Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, Jr., voted to accept this plan.
We, the People fought them.
We won.
The waste is now in the Nassau County landfill -- 40,000 cubic yards of it.
So what happened to the project that they were so anxious to help with their illegal dumping?
Then the project went bankrupt.
WALLACE DEVLIN, Sr. no longer controls it.
Before DEVLIN lost his project in foreclosure, the St. Augustine City Commission wrongfully extended the old PUD in 2008 based on false promises by GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE that there was an agreement for a RADISSON or WESTIN HOTEL.
When I asked for a copy of the agreement, or sworn testimony, verifying any such agreement, louche Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. refused to ask for it.
None of his fellow commissioners cared to ask, either.
Developer mouthpiece GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE was not sworn in (McCLURE was never sworn in -- lawyers get to lie to Commissioners with impunity and immunity under the maladministration of Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR.)
The Sebastian Inland Harbor project went belly-up, like so many other speculative projects in the history of Florida.
Bankrupt.
Out of business.
The project sat vacant for years, a pile of dirt a monument to the monstrous absurdity of Florida politicians believing whatever they are told by developers.
Thus, any celebration today is premature.
In Historic City News, it is reported that “Thanks are due to Dan Bartok, Executive Vice President with Wells Fargo & Company, and the head official over bank-owned real estate, who worked with the buyers and the city to find the right buyer that can benefit our community,” said John Regan. “Our staff, particularly David Birchim and Reuben Franklin, have gone above and beyond to accommodate the Humphrey group, and it has paid off.”
What? "Accommodate?"
Do tell.
Do ask questions.
St. Augustine Record, Historic City News, whomever -- stop telling us that the city administration hung the moon.
What concessions will this developer demand?
Who owns it?
Don't tell us it's an LLC.
Don't tell us the answer is secret.
Who really owns it?
Who are the investors -- kindly name every single one of them, not just the LLC general partner.
Are any of the investors residents of other countries?
Are any of the investors involved in organized crime?
Do any of the investors have shady records with environmental violations?
Antitrust violations?
Campaign contribution scandals?
Who are the investors -- kindly name every single one of them.
Who are the actual beneficial owners? Name the living breathing people, not LLC sham corporate shells, please
Tell us.
Are they campaign contributors?
Talk to us like grownups.
Talk about costs and benefits.
Stop the PR puffery for ever grifter that comes to town, like ROBERT MICHAEL GRAUBARD, CHESTER STOKES and WALLACE DEVLIN, Sr. (developer of the failed, bankrupt Sebastian Inland Harbor Project and the speculator behind the proposed 7-Eleven at San Marco Avenue and May Streets).
There are trust issues with every single developer, and smugness is premature.
It is time for the City and County to stop trusting developers and start investigating and vetting them.
Destroyed wetlands, clear-cut forests, devastated history -- ENOUGH!
We want answers.
We want the truth.
Now.
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