No response yet from City of St. Augustine to the request to respect Sunshine and Open. Records laws and to hold a special called meeting on extending Nights of Lights by two (2) days
December 21, 2025
Dear St. Augustine Mayor Sikes-Kline, Vice Mayor Blonder, and Commissioners Garris, DePreter and Springfield:
1. Please respond to my December 9 & 19 e-mails on Nights of Lights. including records requests pursuant to Florida Constitution Article I, section 24, F.S. 119 & 119.0701.
2. As requested December 9, please send any cost-benefit analysis, economic impact analysis and business case analysis for or against a two week extension of Nights of Lights.. If none exists, please so state.
3. Please schedule a special called meeting to discuss the requested extension.
4. Please cease and desist from any future violations of Florida's Sunshine law.
5. Falsely stating there has been a "Final Decision" when there has not been a vote suggests the City violation our Sunshine law.
6. Falsely accusing business owners and citizens of making "threats" or "intimidation" is not only defamatory, with no legal immunity -- it appears to be a violation of the First Amendment.
7. We, the people of St. Augustine and St. Johns County, have a right to your honest services, uncontaminated by misuse or abuse of public position. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. 1346; F.S. 112.313(6); Florida Constitution, Article II, Section 8(h).
8. Our First Amendment, and our Florida Constitution, Article I, Sections 4&5 -- in their majesty, protect our rights to free speech and our right to "instruct' you as our representatives.
9. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said this is the "most lawless" place in America. While citizens have repeatedly won First Amendment victories here, it's like President John F. Kennedy said during the Cuban Missile Crisis -- "there's always some poor S.O.B. who doesn't get the word."
10. Our City's actions and inactions are too often an affront to First Amendment values. See., e.g., New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964), which noted America's "profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open..." See Terminello v. Chicago, 337 U. S. 1, 337 (1949); De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U. S. 353 (1937). From this day forward, the City must stop threatening and insulting citizens, "like a dockside bully, in the words of St. Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons." The law is on our side. See Lozman v. The City of Riviera Beach, Florida, 585 U.S. ---, 138 1S.Ct. 945, 201 L.Ed. 2d 241 (2018), our United States Supreme Court 8-1 remanded a civil rights lawsuit for trial after Riviera Beach arrested Fane Lozman, a citizen activist speaking in public comment, in violation of his civil and constitutional rights. The case settled for $875,000.
11. Our First Amendment deserves "breathing space." NAACP v. Button,371 U.S. 415, 433 (1963) New York Times. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1974); Gasparinetti v. Kerr, 568 F.2d 311, 314-17 (3d Cir. 1977)(illegal restrictions on policemen’s First Amendment rights); Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 479 767, 772, 777 (1986)(O’Connor, J.)(newspaper entitled to breathing space in defamation case); Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 52, 56 (1988) (Reqhnqist, J.)(magazine parody of TV preacher entitled to breathing space); Keefe v. Ganeakos, 418 F.2d 359, 362 (1st Cir. 1969)(Aldrich, C.J.)(chilling effect on First Amendment by illegal suspension of teacher over sharing Atlantic Monthly article on Vietnam War); Parducci v. Rutland, 316 F.Supp. 352, 355, 357 (M.D. Ala 1970)(Johnson, C.J.)(chilling effect in illegal firing of English teacher over Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House).
12. Our Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 586 U.S. 215 (2015) that content-based laws targeting free speech rights require "strict scrutiny." North Carolina's Supreme Court explained in Moore v. City of Creedmoor, 345 N.C. 356 (1997):
“[Citizens] have a right to assert a public complaint concerning the negligence of public officials and to petition the government for redress of grievances. Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214, 86 S.Ct. 1434, 16 L.Ed.2d 484 (1966). The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment guarantees the right to criticize police officers. See Norwell v. City of Cincinnati, 414 U.S. 14, 94 S.Ct. 187, 38 L.Ed.2d 170 (1973) (protecting the right to non-provocative voicing of objections to police action); New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964) (protecting the right to criticize police chief in context of libel lawsuit). It should also be noted that once the government has opened a forum-such as a public meeting-to allow direct citizen involvement, it may not discriminate between speakers based upon the content of their speech. Madison Joint Sch. Dist. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 429 U.S. 167, 176, 97 S.Ct. 421, 426, 50 L.Ed.2d 376, 385 (1976).
13. In the "Pentagon Papers" case, a new Nixon-appointed trial judge, U.S. District Court Judge Murray Gurfein (later an appellate judge) famously wrote, ""The security of the Nation is not at the ramparts alone. Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know." United States v. New York Times Co., 328 F. Supp. 324, 331 (S.D.N.Y. 1971). Stop violating our "prized" American constitutional rights. Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252 (1941). Café Erotica v. St. Johns County, 360 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2004) struck down our County's overbroad zoning regulation of a business owner's large billboard criticizing the County's code enforcement officer, Mr. James Acosta, as a "fat ass Barney Fife," one who allegedly cost our County thousands of dollars in "lost lawsuits" due to selective enforcement. Your public pronouncements about not criticizing persons not present is a content-based restriction that does not withstand strict scrutiny. Your unwritten and unconstitutional orders violate the First Amendment's right to protected activity and are insulting, misguided, misanthropic. and dictatorial. They are contrary to the genius of a free people and are blatant viewpoint discrimination, in violation of the First Amendment and Civil Rights laws. See, e.g., United Teachers of Dade v. Stierheim, 213 F. Supp. 2d 1368, 1371 (S.D. Fla. 2002); Sherrill v. Knight, 569 F.2d 124, 129 (D.C.Cir.1977) ("arbitrary or content-based criteria for press pass issuance are prohibited under the [F]irst [A]mendment"); Quad-City Cmty. News Serv. v. Jebens, 334 F. Supp. 8, 17 (S.D.Iowa 1971) (stating "any classification which serves to penalize or restrain the exercise of a First Amendment right, unless shown to be necessary to promote a compelling governmental interest, is unconstitutional").
14. In Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 828-829, 115 S. Ct. 2510, 132 L. Ed. 2d 700 (1995) our Supreme Court held that "[d]iscrimination against speech because of its message is presumed to be unconstitutional ... When the government targets not subject matter, but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. ... Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination.").
15. Our St. Johns County and City of St. Augustine governments have repeatedly violated free speech rights and repeatedly lost First Amendment cases to its citizens, see Cafe Erotica v. St. Johns County, supra, including several cases brought by visual artists, Bates I & Bates II, as well as Celli v. City of St. Augustine, 214 F.Supp. 2d 1256 (M.D. Fla. 2000)(upholding $23,500 jury verdict for four hours of First Amendment violation re: St. Aug Dog newspaper rights to free distribution on St. George Street); Rev. Ruth Jensen v. City of St. Augustine, 3:05-CV-504-J-25HTS TRO (M.D. Fla. 2005)(ordering Rainbow flags flown on Bridge of Lions June 8-13, 2005 in honor of Gay Pride). The City was found guilty of viewpoint discrimination in both the Celli and Jensen decisions, which were swift justice and never appealed.
16. Supreme Court Justice Robert Houghwot Jackson, later our Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor, wrote for the Supreme Court in the landmark flag salute case, "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." West Virginia Board of Education v. Barmette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).
16. Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis wrote that our "government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928)(Brandeis, J., dissenting), dissent heeded and case overruled, Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967).
Thank you for your attention to this matter..
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998
On Friday, December 19, 2025 at 02:02:22 PM EST, Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com> wrote:
Dear Ms. Wissel:
A. I read the City's statements refusing to reconsider its refusal to discuss extending Nights of Lights.
B. Has the City violated Article I Section 24 of our Florieda Constitution by claiming to make a "Final Decision" unencumbered by a vote or a motion? Please send documents evidencing this "decision." If none exist, please so state.
C. Would you please so kind as to send me:
1. All drafts and final versions of City statements on Nights of Lights extension.
2. All staff and commissioner meeting minutes and notes on Nights of Lights extension.
3. All e-mails, memos and letters on Nights of Lights extension.
4. All draft and final responses to my December 9, 2025 record request, or any actual research or business plan.
5. All contacts with County Commissioners, State Senators and Representatives, State's Attorney, State Attorney General, Statewide Prosecutor, City Attorney, outside counsel, including insurance defense, union and employee association representatives, tourism industry advocates, Tourist Development Counsel, Visitor and Convention Bureau and news media and citizens..
6. All draft or final public notices for a special called City Commission meeting on Nights of Lights or before December 22.
7. All Sunshine law complaints or reviews or fraud of other criminal complaints about this materially false and misleading assertion of a ":Final Decision."
8. Any legal or strategy memos, declarations or affidavits by Commissioners or City employees,
D. Feel free to call me to discuss today, Repeated eforts to speak to Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline have been unavailing. Mayor, please schedule a public meeting and vote on Nights of Lights extension, No more Sunshine violations!
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
www.edslavin.com
(904) 377-4998
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