We've come a long way

I spoke to St. Augustine City Commissioners last night about progress over the last 450 years (or ten years or 224 days).

I spoke in awe at the Palm Beach Post reporting that St. Augustine is one of only four (actually five, counting St. Augustine Beach) cities in North Florida to recognize Gay equality by city ordinance.

I spoke of how training has consequences, thanking Chief Loran Lueders and training Sgt. Michael Etheridge, after the suspect who allegedly shot at Officer Lora Vaughn was captured successfully, without resort to bullets. If it happened in New York City, or even Palatka, the perpetrator might have been killed with 57 bullets, injury ten bystanders, I said, only slightly exaggerated excessive use of deadly force elsewhere (including surrounding St. Johns County).

As Sandra Parks says, "a budget is a moral document." I'm looking forward to active, full citizen involvement in the budget process. It's our money. It's our town. It's our time. St. Augustine residents: Rise and Shine.