On October 27, 2014, City Commission will have on the consent agenda our City Attorney Isabelle Lopez's recommended finding of "legal sufficiency" that I have standing under Florida's 1985 law and court decisions to appeal from a demolition permit granted to destroy 90 year old Echo House.
The appeal will then likely be heard on or after December 8th by the new City Commission.
The precedent of "legal sufficiency" will allow historic and environmental activists to contest future demolition permits for historic buildings for inconsistency with Section HP 1.8 of our Comprehensive Plan, requiring compliance with our demolition standards in Chapter 28 of our City Code. Other inconsistencies may also be appealed from, without having to be an adjoining neighbor.
We will preserve and protect St. Augustine, where I have proudly lived since November 5, 1999 -- fifteen years.
Thank you, Commissioners and City Attorney Isabelle Lopez.
With this precedent: No more Wrecking Crews destroying our history in our Nation's Oldest City without City Commission appeals.
Our Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) will be expected to apply the law without fear or favor.
If not, we appeal to City Commissioners to overrule HARB.
If only it had happened when Flagler College and Florida School for the Deaf and Blind obliterated entire city blocks.
We shall overcome!
Happy 450th, St. Augustine!
Viva1
Disneyland and Pigland
ReplyDeleteHARB is in reality the cheap skate gangster government version of a Corporate Visual Identity Program.
HARB's main intent is to keep the physical plant of the hijacked Saint Augustine Tourist Factory down town area projecting the historic "brand"of the current gangster policy wonks. A great part of that "brand" is the look of the cutesy cutesy homes of the local residents. HARB virtually confiscates and controls the look of these properties by stifling and stultifying the creativity and bank accounts of city resident property owners with overbearing restrictive rules and expensive and time consuming permits administered by uptight anal sociopaths. At the same time these same Xtrevilist cretins allow "variances" for their self serving projects that; widen their sidewalks, further narrow already narrow streets (the public commons) in preparation for closing them; and add to the hodge podge amateurish knock off mall look of the city, etc.
The resulting "brand" reflects the corrupt process. The common resident thin blue wallets become ever thinner, the fat red wallets of the Xtrevilist sociopaths grow ever fatter, and the pigdebt [Pigdebt is the total amount of recompense due to those who have been harmed, financially, physically, and emotionally, by the willful and intentional immoral usurpation of the 'rule of law' by Xtrevilist pigs for selfish gain.] grows exponentially. At the same time the city now looks like a distasteful and disjointed stew prepared by a five year old with a severe attention deficit disorder. Given the poorly planned and way too excessive current construction projects parts of the downtown area rival Detroit in appearance, minus the robocop parking meters of course.
The difference between Disneyland and Saint Augustine is that Walt Disney paid for with his own money the land that Disneyland sits on, while the Saint Augustine gangsters who have hijacked the city through illegal and immoral usurpation of the 'Rule of Law' stole (and continue to tightly control through co-opted and re-purposed institutions like HARB), the public commons and resident properties.
People who attend phony and over controlled candidates debates where they are brainwashed and then go and vote are the problem. And a pox on the candidates for keeping the scam alive.
How many of you candidates have addressed the pigdebt?
Are you aware of the national pigdebt and how it affects events here in Saint Augustine?
Deception is the strongest political force on the planet.