One hour on dock appeal -- wasted time?

SIDNEY FRANKYN ANSBACHER, LL.M, Esq.
No time limit for his clients' administrative appeals -- Fourteenth Amendment violation?
Partner in all-white UPCHURCH, BAILEY & UPCHURCH law firm

ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ, Esq

Four St. Augustine City Commissioners, led by the nose by City Attorney ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ, had no time limit for the appeal by UPCHURCH, BAILEY & UPCHURCH attorney SIDNEY FRANKLYN ANSBACHER, representing a homeowner that wanted a dock too long and in the wrong place, as found by the Planing and Zoning Board.

No time limit was announced, and ANSBACHER took 40 minutes -- twice as long as was allowed for other appeals, including my appeal sof the demolition of two historic properties.

Commissioners did ANSBACHER's job for him, asking him about the standard of review and other points he should have made in his looooong, boring presentation.

Watch the nearly one-hour administrative appeal hearing here (item 6A).

ANSBACHER has on occasion represented the City of St. Augustine in litigation, including its unsuccessful defense of the Sunshine lawsuit brought by Dr. Dwight Hines, Ph.D., in which Assistant City Manager TIMOTHY BURCHFIELD falsely stated in an affidavit that there were "no documents" -- ANSBACHER learned that there were, and produced 45 pounds of documents and computer records wrongfully withheld by the City relating to truck transportation of illegally dumped solid waste in the Old City Reservoir, in the case where our City illegally dumped a landfill in a lake.

The wasted time on the dock appeal made people concerned about the mobility study wait, and wait and wait, without good cause.

Every one of America's 3000 counties has at least one law firm like UPCHURCH: they represent the rich and powerful and act like they own the town. Founded and run for decades by segregationists, including FRANK UPCHURCH, Sr. -- who was a Democratic lawyer who left the 1948 Democratic National Convention in opposition to its civil rights platform, helping support Dixiecrat STROM THURMOND -- UPCHURCH's clients include:

Here's the partial UPCHURCH, BAILEY AND UPCHURCH client list:

A. D. Davis Construction Company, Inc.
American Culinary Federation, Inc.
Atlantic Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Inc.
Harbor Community Bank (formerly Bank of St. Augustine)
Barnacle Bills, Inc.
Bozard Ford Co.
Camachee Cove Yacht Harbour
DiMare Construction Company
TD Bank (formerly First Federal Bank of North Florida)
Flagler College, Inc. (General Counsel)
Flagler Hospital, Inc.
Hastings Drainage District
Lightner Museum
Maguire Land Corp.
Marine Supply & Oil Company, Inc.
Ameris Bank (formerly Prosperity Bank - General Counsel)
Ring Power Corporation
Sleiman Development Group
Southeast Aero Services, Inc.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Inc.
St. Johns County School Board (General Counsel)
St. Johns County Tax Collector
St. Johns County Welfare Federation, Inc.
The Bailey Group
ThompsonBaker Agency, Inc.
University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (General Counsel)
Wiles Family of Companies, Inc.

Footnote: One good thing -- ANSBACHER wore a tie.

BACKGROUND: I've consistently offered to lend ANSBACHER a tie every single time he appears before local boards and commissions, sans proper dress for a corporate lawyer.  At a recent County Commission meeting, I showed the Commissioners the tie I had offered to lend the otiose, orotund, SIDNEY FRANKLYN ANSBACHER, LL.M, quite possibly the most boring lawyer I have ever heard, "as sebaceous a fatass as ever made chair squeak," in the immortal words of Robert Penn Warren in All The King's Men.