Egbert the Egret and Me

St. Augustine Pics, http://www.staugustinepics.com/black-and-white/better-things/

Lightner Museum staff calls her Ebert the Egret. She is tall, graceful and dines on koi in the Lightner Museum Fish Pond.

On June 8, 2015, the tenth anniversary of our Rainbow flags flying on the Bridge of Lions, I left the City Commission meeting and took a walk across the stone and concrete bridge over the cement pond. The egret was standing in the middle. I was six feet away. I spoke to her, moving closer. She looked at me. I looked at her. I walked closer. I continued speaking. We regarded each other, the beautiful building and the koi, and the beauty of our Lightner Museum and City Hall. I walked closer, and she stepped aside and flew a few feet away to let me pass. What a beautiful moment. It's a wonderful life.

I went to the john, returning to City Hall Aviles Room just in time to hear City Attorney Isabelle Lopez talking about her crabbed and crabby interpretation of my right to standing on DAVID BARTON CORNEAL's demolition of Carpenter's House, one of nine homes built from 1790-1910 that CORNEAL demands to turn into a Planned Unit Development and $500/night hotel suites.

As I entered the room, Mayor Nancy Shaver called my name. I walked the length of the room, to the podium, without donning my jacket (one of Stetson Kennedy's jackets), wearing Herblock's American flag tie. I opened my mouth. Words came out. People spoke in support of my right to standing to challenge what RFK would call "willful, heedless destruction of our natural beauty and pleasures." You can see the video on June 8, 2015 meeting agenda item 6 at www.cosatv.com

What a beautiful town we live in. We've made it better, we're making it better and we will continue to make it better. We're all in it together. It takes a village to save a village. Let's do it for Egbert the Egret, and all who love St. Augustine.