Thanks to Mayor Nancy Shaver for presiding at a fair hearing, August 24-25, 2015, with a full record.
No Thanks to other-directed Commissioners ODD TODD DAVID NEVILLE (R-PROCTORVILLE), NANCY SIKES-KLINE (R-DEVELOPERS), LEANNA A.S. FREEMAN (R-WEEKSVILLE) and Vice Mayor ROXANNE HORVATH, who were "persuaded" by a biased University of Florida "Opinion Paper" never subjected to scientific peer review and never focusing on our zoning, planning and community leaders. What lugubrious goobers.
The notion of putting thirty (30) hotel units at the site of the DOW MUSEUM OF HISTORIC HOMES (in which Florida's government invested $2.1 million and in which Kenneth Worcester Dow invested 61 years of effort is corrupt, inane and dangerous.
What rich person would want their Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus or other fancy-bears car shorted out and ruined because some would-be hoteliers (DAVID BARTON CORNEAL and OLD ISLAND HOTELS, INC. ) did not have enough sense to foresee the massive rains and sewage pollution, which have been documented for decades?
What rich person would pay $500/night for a boutique hotel room with no valet parking when it drizzles?
This is not a business plan -- it is a game plan for disaster.
I remember the horrified look upon the countenance of a Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) mediator who met with me (and University of Florida lawyers by phone in my discrimination case against the UF Levin College of Law) at the conference room in our City Financial Services Building at 50 Bridge Street, near where this photo was taken on August 25, 2014. She was parked in front under similar routine flooding conditions, in a hybrid car in danger of shorting out -- I recommended she move her car to higher ground.
We need a development moratorium. No more permits. No more PUDs. We need it. Now. No more development in our historic downtown. Until and unless the $100 million that Mayor Nancy Shaver and Governor RICHARD LYNN SCOTT are discussing is invested in a pumping system to keep St. Augustine from being inundated.
What do you reckon?
Don't forget that the UF report may have violated sunshine laws. It was commissioned in the dark and was obviously prepared as evidence ..it was cited as evidence. Per ethical guidelines a public official of course is allowed to seek expert advice to explaqin items which the official does not understand, however, a public official cannot conduct official business in the dark...having a report prepared then entered into evidence would certainly seem to be "official business"
ReplyDeleteThe public shold have been made away that a report was commissoned - we then could have been part of the report process to ensure accuracy and fairness or conversly we could have raised objections in the event the author's of the report refused to follow proper procedures.
This was a scam job all the way around - however, I am not sure if the results are based on corruption or just plain ignorance of ethics and proper procedure. Most likely a little of both...these commissioners ain't the brightest bulbs