"It is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." Those are the words of Justice Robert Houghwot Jackson, America's prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.
Today the St. Augustine Code Enforcement Board will hear an appeal by CLAUDE LEONARD WEEKS, Jr. from more than $10,000 in fines for his illegally destroying a 210-year old Spanish colonial building at 62A Spanish Street, without permits.
Come testify. Come watch. Watch on cable tv. Watch on www.cosatv.com
Share your knowledge of the events of September 25, 2014, a date that will live in infamy. Be prepared to appeal to City Commission if the Code Enforcement Board errs, pursuant to Section HP 1.8 of our Comprehensive Plan.
The facts are as follows:
1. LEN WEEKS owns -- and as his own contractor destroyed -- a 210-year old historic building and putting workers' lives at risk by trenching all the way around the building, violating City of St. Augustine ordinances by working without any permits.
2. A City report finds that LEN WEEKS admittedly disobeyed instructions and requirements of City employees, including City Planning and Building Director David Birchim, City Historic Preservation Planner Jennifer Wolfe, City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt, City Building Inspector Inspector William Franke.
3. LEN WEEKS also failed to follow the advice of his own engineer, William Freeman and his own architect Jerry Dixon.
4. This is not the first time that LEN WEEKS has worked without a permit in the historic area of Our Nation's Oldest City.
5. LEN WEEKS chairs the City of St. Augustine Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB).
6. LEN WEEKS also chairs the City of St. Augustine Parking and Traffic Committee.
7. LEN WEEKS also serves on the all-white St. Augustine Visioning Committee.
8. LEN WEEKS is partner with Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. in a no-bid lease from the City of St. Augustine for 81 St. George Street, at 1/5 to 1/10 of market rates, sublet without City permission to the current owners of FLORIDA CRACKER CAFE and SAVANNAH SWEETS.
9. MAYOR JOE BOLES IS LEN WEEKS' ATTORNEY AND BUSINESS PARTNER.
10. LEN WEEKS has a Master's degree in Construction from the University of Florida, has been a licensed general contractor since 1977, chairs the Historic Area Council of tbe Chamber of Commerce and has long demanded arrests and criminal prosecution of artists and musicians and entertainers on St. George Street, while seeking special rights for property owners.
As Justice Robert Jackson began his prosecution at the Nuremberg Trial, "The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated."
"Let justice be done though the heavens fall" is the ancient equitable maxim.
1 comment:
Yes, Mr. Weeks DID these horrible things while CHAIRMAN of HARB, with almost 40 years' experience in downtown building, and fully knowing the requirements.
Apparently, he, too, believes he is above the law. That codes, safety issues, permitting -- none of it applies to him.
This need not be a spectacle. Just apply the codes/laws to the letter and as though Len Weeks is any other human being in St. Augustine.
He is nothing more than that.
He must pay.
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